26 PETERSENÕSBOWHUNTING 09 • 20 19
How to Use Your Sight’s Bubble Level
BETTER
BOWHUNTING
I
n mylastcolumn,I listedthe
10 featuresI considerman-
datory in a Western bow-
huntingsight.Theyare:
- Brightpins(fiberoptic)
- Bubblelevel
- Abilitytoshoottoatleast 60 yards
without any adjustments (five or
morepins)
- Repeatability
- Ruggedness/reliability
- Gangadjustment
- Ability to aim spot-on at longer
distances(a“floater”or“slider”pin)
- Ease of adjustment (individu-
al pins,gang adjustmentand the
“floater”pin)
•2nd- and 3 rd-axisadjustmentcapa-
bility
- Lightweight
shottothenext,you’llmissinthedi-
rectionyouleanthebow. You’llthen
betemptedtomoveyoursightpins
togetbackontarget, butthesead-
justmentswillonlyworktemporar-
ily—thenexttimeyoushoot,your
arrowsmaystriketheothersideof
thebull’s-eye.
Incorporatinga bubblelevel into
your sighting system will prevent
this from happening. Many sights
offeradjustablebubblelevelsthat
canaccountforan archer’snatural
cantatfulldraw.So,onceproperly
calibrated,thebubblewillhelpyou
maintainconsistentformregardless
oftheshotangle.
WhenI startedshootingcompeti-
tivearchery, I shotintheNFAABow-
hunterclass.Itsregulationsforbade
usfromusinga level,whichdidn’t
makea lotofsensetome,butthose
I covered pin brightness in the last
issue, so now we’ll continue down
the list and discuss bubble levels and
their importance when shooting and
hunting out West.
Bubble Levels
In order to consistently hit the
bull’s-eye, you must hold your bow
at the same angle during each shot.
Notice I didn’t say the bow must
be held vertically. Most archers de-
fault to a vertical position, but many
archers cant, or lean, their top limb to
the right (for right-handed archers).
That’s just fine. Canting the bow isn’t a
problem as long as it’s done in exactly
the same manner and degree for every
shot. As long as you adjust your sights
accordingly, you’ll shoot just fine.
However, if you do happen to cant
the bow a little differently from one
Canting, or leaning, your bow to the right or left at full draw isn’t a problem — as long as you do exactly the same way on every shot.
If you do cant the bow a little differently from one shot to the next, you’ll miss to the right or left, depending on the direction of the cant.
