Bowhunting Tech Tip- Peep Sight

Hey everybody this is PJ Reilly from Lancaster Archery here with another bow hunting tech tip. Today we're going to talk to you about peep sights. One of the keys to accuracy with a bow and arrow is to is consistency. You need to be able to look through your sight the same way each and every time. A lot of hunters can be afraid of a peep sight because it's another thing they have to deal with. When you draw back you have to make sure your head's aligned to look through the peep sight to see your sight. In a pressure situation with a big buck that can be problems for some people. For those of you who choose not to use a peep sight, one thing you're going to have to do is develop a way that you can consistently look through the sight every time. Without a peep sight your head can be out of alignment by just a little bit and you're not going to know it because all you're doing is looking through the scope. But that inconsistency can affect accuracy. So one of the things you may want to think about doing is at least using a kisser button. That ensures that you're coming to the same anchor point each and every time. Another reference is maybe you can lean your nose into the string at full draw. Again that's another reference point for you to make sure you're looking through the sight at least close to the same spot every time. Personally I like using a peep sight. I think it takes a lot of the guesswork out. It's a way that I can know that I'm aiming the exact same way each and every time at full draw. A peep sight is a device that sits in your bow string. You're actually going to separate the strands and insert the peep sight in the middle. You need a bow press to do that or you can take it to a bow shop. They'll do it for you. But anyway it sits exactly in the middle of the string. It's aligned to your eye at full draw. So you can use a buddy to help you. You come to full draw and have someone slide it up or down the string to match your eye looking through the scope. Once you got it in place it's tied in. Now it's not going to move. There's two basic types. There are free floating peep sights and there are ones that are connected to your cable by a rubber cord. That cord makes sure that the peep aligns straight every time so you can look through the sight. Some bow strings can stretch and the peep sights that are not attached to your cable they can turn left or right. With a lot of the current modern bow string materials if it's pre-stretched that shouldn't be a problem. Target archers are going to use real small peep sights. They want that for precision. We're bow hunters. We're more concerned about light getting through early morning, late evening. That's our time. So a larger peep sight will still help you get the benefits of a peep sight but it will also allow light to get through. A quarter inch peep sight is a good place to start. That's a great bow hunting peep sight. It lets enough light through that you can see your sights and the target beyond it. Ideally you want to be able to look through your peep sight and have that view through the peep sight perfectly frame the scope that is on your sight. So for me I have a 316th peep sight that perfectly matches the scope on my sight. What that does is it makes sure that your peep sight and your sight are perfectly aligned every time. If you look down through the peep sight and your scope is a little bit off to the left right you can make the adjustment and bring everything into alignment. For me personally I like using a peep sight. I think the benefits that it provides for accuracy far outweigh the issues with light. I'll sacrifice the last 15 minutes of light in order to be accurate every time I shoot. I want to know that when I draw back and take aim that my arrow is going exactly where I want it to and with that I feel that I need a peep sight. That's our bow hunting tech tip. If you have any questions you can check us out at LancasterArchery.com