Bowhunting is a close-range game, but today’s vertical compounds, top-tier accessories and arrows allow us extended-range practice sessions. Nothing will boost your shooting confidence and accuracy like long-range practice.
by Jace Bauserman
Bowhunting is a close-range game. However, slinging carbon at extended distances during practice sessions and at 3-D shoots is becoming common practice for many archers.
And, frankly, it should be. Nothing will boost your accuracy and in-the-field lethality like double-distance (more to come on this) practice.
I agree with long-range shooting and promote it as a practice tool. If you want your shooting confidence to sore and become lethal in the woods, nothing helps like stretching the distance between you and your target.
I spend most of my spring and summer practice sessions doing double-distance duty. This means I spend over 80 percent of my range time shooting Easton arrows twice as far—with broadheads and without—as my maximum kill distance.
What Is Kill Distance?
Kill distance is how far you feel confident dropping the string on a big-game animal. This should differ by animal. The animal’s body position and body language should be considered.
My maximum range is 80 yards. When hunting pronghorn and mule deer, I will drop the string from 80 yards if the animal is fully broadside or quartering away and has no idea I’m anywhere around.
Too far? That’s not for anyone but me to decide. I know the work I put in, and my last six 80-yard arrows have resulted in 10-ring hits.

For me to be effective from 80 yards and in, I shoot thousands of arrows each year from 120 and 130 yards. No, this isn’t actual double distance practice. If I dial my Spot-Hogg Boonie to 160 yards, I’ll send an arrow right through the sight’s housing. My max distance with my Hoyt Carbon RX-9 Ultra is 133 yards.
If you can practice twice as far as your max hunt distance, you’ll be more lethal than ever this fall.

With that noted, there are some things you’ll need to do to your archery setup to be accurate at long ranges. A great archer can have sub-par gear. That archer will only experience frustration when they start stretching the sight tape beyond 60 yards.
Thousands of deer have shot with a Whisker Biscuit rest and a fixed three-pin sight that hit the under $40 mark. Take that same setup and try shooting sub-six-inch groups at 80 yards, and you won’t experience the same success.
Here’s what you need to know about building a shooter that will boost your long-range game and make you lethal no matter where you decide to chase animals.
The Bow
Some may tar and feather me here, but don’t get too caught up in axle-to-axle length. Traditionally, a longer axle-to-axle bow meant a more balanced platform, but improvements in riser design, accessory attachment, etc., have changed the long-range shooting game.
In years past, my axle-to-axle sweet spot was 33 to 34 inches, but in 202 and 2023, my favorite arrow slingers measured 30 and 31 inches between the axles, respectively. The same was true in 2024. This season, my go-to is Hoyt’s 33-1/2-inch axle-to-axle Carbon RX-9 Ultra.

I typically prefer a shorter, more compact bow for hunting the western mountains and whitetail hunting out of a treestand or ground blind. I’ve discovered that modern-day bows, even those that are vertically challenged, sit like a well-trained Labrador at full draw and aim like a dream. Select a bow that feels good in the hand and balances well at full draw, and you’ll be fine.
The Weight
Bow weight is a matter of preference, and most archers add or subtract weight from their vertical rig via stabilizers and stabilizer weights.
Today, at age 45, I like my hunting bow to be on the lighter side. You’ll find some long-range bowhunters who promote a lightweight build and some who frown on it. I feel incredibly stable at full draw if my bow-mounted accessories are weighted and attached correctly (more to come on this), and I use a front stabilizer between 12 and 15 inches in length on my RX-9. This year, I have opted not to use a back bar for 3-D or hunting.
My other compound, Hoyt’s 29-1/2-inch Alpha AX-2, is a tick heavier. The bow weighs 4.25 pounds, but I’m currently running a less-than-three-inch Hoyt Short Stop stabilizer. This reduces weight. I don’t need a longer stab because I won’t be shooting the bow beyond 60 yards (it’s my turkey and whitetail bow). I can’t believe this bows full-draw pointability with such a short stabilizer. This says a lot about Hoyt’s innovation.

I have shot the bow’s head-to-head out to 120 yards. There is no question I get an accuracy boost with the RX-9 Ultra. The bow’s longer axle-to-axle rating and stabilizer setup play a role in this.
Accuracy, though, comes down to confidence and feeling. As long as you’re not shooting a stab with a length between 4 and 6 inches, which will do nothing for bow balance besides reducing some noise and oscillation, you can be very accurate at distance without shooting an overly heavy bow equipped with a front and back bar.
The Rest
I’m not going to burn a lot of word count here. We can argue about whether a limb-driven or cable-driven rest promotes better accuracy at another time. It’s important to remember that both rest styles are remarkably accurate because both fall away and prevent the arm from contacting the arrow shaft or the attached fletchings.

I like the Integrate Mountings System, an option on many modern-day bows, and is compatible with QAD’s Integrate MX2 drop-away rest. The mounting system eliminates Berger hole mounting, which eliminates the mounting bar and mounting screw, reducing weight and setting the face of the rest flush in-line with the back of the riser. This in-line system promotes better balance and ensures absolute lock-down via a two-part locking system.
The Sight
Like the rest, your choice of sight will be based on personal preference. The main thing to remember is that the sight needs to be moveable to achieve dial-to-the-yard accuracy. When shooting distance, you don’t want to pin gap, or at 80 yards, see where the 50-yard pin is on the target, glance up and find your 20-yard pin, and then move your 50-yard pin to where your 20-yard pin is. This is a recipe for less-than-precise shooting.
You want a sight with a yardage wheel that allows you to select the correct sight tape and then dial to the exact yardage. Please take the time to choose the proper yardage tape. Follow manufacturer directions and spend days checking and double-checking to ensure your tape is the right one.
I am more accurate with a single-pin moveable or a multi-pin moveable with all pins set on a vertical plane. Pins from the side of the sight horizontally jam up my sight picture and produce shooting anxiety. My go-to on my Hoyt RX-9 Ultra is Spot-Hogg’s Boonie PM (Pic-Mount) Triple Stack. Designed to work with Hoyt’s In-Line System, the sight mounts to the front of the riser via a Picatinny-like rail system. With my sight and rest in line with my riser, bow weight is reduced, and bow balance is improved. Many bow makers like Mathews, PSE, and others are creating accessory systems that make sense — take advantage of them.
The Arrow
If you want to be a long-range assassin, consider your arrow and fletch combination seriously. For me, standard diameter arrows fletched with 2-inch ultra-stiff vanes don’t cut it. My go-to arrows are two of the best long-range missiles ever produced (in my opinion—Easton’s Axis 4MM Long Range and X10 Parallel Pro.
The small diameter of both shafts allows them to cut through the wind, and Easton has optimized the Axis 4MM Long Range for proper FOC. I like a FOC between 12 and 16 percent, and that’s easy to achieve with this shaft, as it is with other micro-diameter arrows. A smaller diameter gives the wind less surface area to press against, and when you select the correct spine based on the poundage of your bow, you get a forgiving shaft that will make you feel like a better shot than you are.

Regarding fletch options, I shoot AAE’s low-profile Hybrid 23s in a four-fletch right-helical orientation and Flex-Flech’s 2.5 Pros in a four-fletch right-helical.
In my experience, the main thing to remember regarding vane selection is to avoid ultra-high-profile, super-rigid vanes. They will create lots of drag and don’t guide the arrow, as well as longer, lower-profile vanes.
The Tune
You’ll only be as accurate as your bow and arrow combo allows. Every arrow should be shot through the paper to confirm a perfect tear, and only arrows that create an ideal incision should make the final cut. If you have a flyer or two in a dozen shafts, you can nock-tune (rotate the nock on the shaft) to clean up the tear. I have found this to be especially true when shooting quality micro-diameter arrows.
If you need an experienced bow tuner, take your bow to your local pro shop and learn from an expert.
Final Thoughts
Yes, I skipped releases. You can be accurate with any release if you develop an excellent shooting system and learn to execute a surprise release. The main thing to remember when building your long-range system is to shoot a bow outfitted with accessories that give you shooting confidence and an excellent opportunity to be accurate.
Enjoy the process, and have a blast sending carbon at longer ranges. Nothing will prepare you for punching lungs like sending arrows at distances between 60 and 130 yards.