Hi my name is Bob McDowell and I am from Independence Missouri, I am now fifty two years young. I see reasonably well at medium ranges, that is a little longer than my arms, without glasses; but any farther or any closer it's a bit shall we say foggy... ouch that gives me a headache. Bow hunting is a passion and since introducing my son and one of the boys he went to school with to bow hunting it has become some what competitive... not the hunting part but the backyard target practice. When these boys started it was pretty fun teaching them to shoot but ten years later, well... Now target practice is not so bad because it is in the light, maybe under a shade tree, but in the light. Now if the distance is just right and the light is just right the old man does good enough to keep close with these young men, now 26, but the truth is on the wall or in the freezer. It seems that I have become a better guide than I am shot and the proof is on their walls. Where do those sights go, they were right there in the back yard at target practice. Last year I had a onehundred-fourty class whitetail stand at eight yards from my tree. Slam dunk shot right? I draw back and anchor, touch my nose to the string, relax my hand and what's wrong? What doesn't look right? Why doesn't it look like it did in the backyard? Now this was a good deer and I did not have buck fever, but right then the sight picture looked different and the left eye was fighting for dominance I had a panic attack right there at full draw. Where is that peep hole? Well he is at 8 yards no problem I can hit that centered instinctively. So I let it fly, right under that brisket, all I got was hair. Shooting from the ground in the back yard is easy, move to tree stand in the woods in the evening and put your eye behind a peep and it's, "which way did it go, which way did it go". Its not a matter of seeing fiber optic pins, you can buy pins that are still seeable when you can barely see a deer. The problem is that with older eyes you need more light to see, period, than when you were on that other side of forty. When you put a peep in front of one eye the other eye can take dominance, close one eye and the deer disappears like Merlin. I have used multi pin,single, and Pendulum for hunting and still use multi for target practicing in the back yard, but they are getting harder to focus the stronger my prescription gets. Just try to explain that to these young salesmen. About the first week in June I went to shoot a 3-D course and of course a lot of targets are in the deep woods. It was then I discovered that in some light I can't even see the pin holder and it was mid morning. Things change as we get older, "don't get caught waiting for the paint to dry"! So now I have been looking for a new hunting sight before season, one nightmare about that big one I missed soooo close is enough. I have discovered that a bright red fiber halos and yellow about disappears when I put my "glasses" on and the only thing I can see clear is green at .040 melted out to about .050. Enough said for .019 pins. But even if I can see the pins I still have the problem of needing a sight that I don't look though a peep, that I don't have to focus pins, that I shoot with both eyes open and that I can adjust the size of the aming dot. I find there is some help out there for some eye problems but if you need Bi-vocals or Trifocals don't let these young salesman discourage you. We have earned the right to enjoy our later years so if you have to crank down the poundage and try something new.
(note:this story was edited slightly from original)
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
