Which One Do You Think I Should Hunt With Index vs Thumb

There's two things I want to find out today. The number one thing is do I shoot a handheld or an index better? We're going to try to find that out. Number two, did I make Riley a good sight tape for his new elk arrow? We're going to find out about that. Roll the footage. Hi, Riley James, Dan Staton here. Today we are going to figure out a couple things. One, how did I do on your sight tape, Riley, with your new FMJ Max arrow build for elk? And then I'm going to shoot the handheld versus index old lift versus lift X. See if we can see a difference. Got a 40-yard uphill shot. And nice shot, Riley. 11-11-8. Lift 29 with the handheld. This is about 60. Dot Riley. Looks like Riley is an 11 and I got a pair of eights. So far, shooting like ----. 65-yard sheep. That looked low. Low. Oh, Riley just missed a 10. So all eights across. Shooting pretty good. Bedded ram. 40 yards. A couple of dots. It was really windy this day. It's our excuse, but it's true. A couple of 11s and an eight. Not bad, huh? The hallway elk. 60 yards. Not a bad shot on this one. What'd you do? Punch it? No, I just... Oh, that was the dip bang? Yeah. Bedded elk. It's weird going back and forth from index to handheld. You're using the Scott SS? Yep. Good release. We got a 10-8-11. You're not doing too bad here, bud. That side tape seems to be pretty good. Yeah, it was pretty spot on. This is 40-something. I like the camera angle on this. Tens across the board. It's a big 10. I don't like white targets. 40-yard fox. 11-11. Oh, just missed. That's still good shooting. I think this was 70-yard stag. Eights and a 10. I think this is where the lift with the handheld starts to accelerate past. Not terribly, but... That's interesting as you get more fatigued. I don't know. Maybe I just get warmed up better. Oh, Riley with the truck winner shot. That was like a 58-yard shot or something, but good. Nice shot. Some 10s and 11s. The kneeling was like 33. This was a surprisingly hard shot for me. I don't like kneeling. I usually hit a little low in the pin movements more, and obviously it's windy. You can see, but... Yeah, with the incline in the wind, I shot pretty far left, I thought. This hillside is not flat. It looks flat on camera, but it is sloping, so you kind of have to cam into the hill a little bit. My target shot out pretty bad, but 10-8-10. Not bad, Riley. You're doing good, man. I think my sight tape I built for you is decent. Pretty darn good. That's a bad shot. That's an 11. That might be a 5. Yeah. Lost my hot melt in that target. I'm not happy about it. That usually never happens. This is a bomb. This is a 100-yard shot. Both those breaks felt good, and then we were trying to clear Riley's... I think you nicked your housing. Yeah, I do as well, but I still hit the target. Not bad. Pretty good shooting, buddy. I think it's a 70-yard sheep. We're trying to get ready for tack. Oh, just missed the 10. Final score, 15 targets. Riley with 130, the Lift X with the index 140, and the Lift with the handheld 150, so I shot straight up, hit quite a few 11s to make up for, I think, a 5. I can't remember, but what did we learn? I mean, what I learned is I was consistently adding two yards after the first two or three shots. I just noticed I was a little low, and that's because I'm not using my broadheads, but the sight tape was, I mean, laser accurate after that. It was great. I think making the sight tape for your broadhead at altitude, which is where you're going to be hunting, is going to be smart. It does have more drag. I don't think it's going to show up 30 yards or less, and it'll start to rear its ugly head a little bit. You have to add a little bit more once you get past 30, but when you put that broadhead on, you don't have to move your rest up. I just think you should make a sight tape specific to your broadhead, and then right before you leave as well. I think you should redo that right before elk season, because it may change a little bit, more arrows, more string stretch, or cable stretch depending on your situation. What strings are you running? I just have match strings on right now, and they've been great so far. For me, I think this was more of a lift, 29.5, which is just one of those bows that's always fit me absolutely perfect, and I did put 70-pound mods on, so I dropped down from 82 pounds to 72 pounds. There's a lot of volume with that bow when we go shoot a morning round at Montana, then we'll shoot an afternoon, and we'll do that three days in a row, and then plus practice range. For volume-wise, I'm going to use that bow, and it's going to be my, like I've said all along, I'm going to use that bow for my antelope hunt, probably any whitetail hunt where I'm in a saddle where I need to hook on and just leave it hooked on the D-loop, bear hunting included, although I did use the index in Alberta, I did use the handheld in Saskatchewan, probably don't have a lot of, I think I have one mule deer hunt, so I'd probably use that in a mule deer hunt, anywhere where it's just going to be a longer shot, and I have more time, and the animal probably won't know or be aware of my presence, whereas in elk hunting, things could happen really, really fast, and I think the index, just keeping it strapped to my wrist, getting hooked on, getting the click fast, pulling through in a real intense moment, in 50 yards or less type environment, that thing seems to be pretty good. The score reflects that I shoot a handheld better. I don't think it's the bows, I think it's the release aid, I do think I can execute a little bit better with a handheld, but I don't think I execute terribly with the index, that I'm still convinced I want to use that and the Lift-X for fall this year for elk, which is great. So, what do you guys think? Riley's getting ready for elk season, Dan's getting ready for elk season, are you getting ready for elk season? We're trying to tinker to figure out what gives us the most confidence. Comment below, what are you doing that gives you most confidence, separations in the preparation. Thanks for watching, we'll catch you on the next one.