What are Bow Sights

01/26/2017
Bow Hunting
Bow Hunting

Bow sights are a very important part of a compound bow setup for bow hunting (accessories for compound bows include a single pin bow sight). They are made up of the fiber optic sight and the peep sight. It is not a requirement to have your hunting bow set up with sights, but they do make your bow hunting life easier. There are some bow hunters that are good with instinctive shooting, that is shooting without sights, but with a compound bow I have met very few of them.

The first part of the bow sight setup is the fiber optic sight. This is a device with sight pins, (usually 3 to 5) that have fiber optic wires of varying colors. You set the sight pins to the distance you will be shooting. The top sight pin is the shortest distance usually set between 15 and 25 yards depending on what and where you are hunting. The distance for the other pins will vary depending on your shooting skill and the compound bow you have. I have my sight pins set at 20 yards, 30 yards, and 40 yards. Most compound bows don't have a whole lot of drop off between 5 and 20 yards, at least not enough to get you out of the kill zone on most big game animals.

Fiber optic sights are made by many different companies and each has many different styles to choose from. I believe the best styles are the ones that have fiber optic wires wrapped around the whole bow sight. These collect more light than the ones that just have a piece of fiber optic wire on the sight pin. More light collected means it will be easier to see your sight pin in low light conditions. This is a big plus especially in whitetail bow hunting because many of the shot opportunities you get on a whitetail will be in the early morning or near nightfall.

The second part of the bow sight setup is the peep sight. The peep sight goes directly into the string. It is basically a device that creates a hole in the string used to line up the fiber optic sight and the target area. You will definitely need your archery shop tech to install this accessory for you to avoid damage to the string. Peep sights come in a variety of sizes but I recommend the 1/4" peep because it will give you better focus in low light conditions. Most peep sights have a piece of rubber tubing going from the peep to the cable on a compound bow. This tubing makes sure the peep is square with the fiber optic sights when you draw the bowstring back to full draw.

Setting up your bow sights is a pretty simple task. Once you have the fiber optic sights installed on the riser of your compound bow and the peep sight installed into the string, you just have to shoot to set it up.

Once you have your shortest pin set, just move back to the distance you want your next pin and repeat the process. Do this for each of your sight pins and distances.

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