Things You Should Know Before Buying a Bow Peep Sight

The bow peep sight is a zooming device used in a compound bow to bring the target close to your sight. It helps you to aim your arrow accurately.

There are various types of peep sights available in the market. They are good for various type of uses and suitable for use in various bows. Before you buy a peep sight for yourself, it is better to know the requirements and needs of you. Besides these things, there are some technical matters which you also should know about bow peep sights. In this article, I am going to tell you some things that you should know before buying a bow peep sight.

Things You Should Know About a Peep Sight Before Buying

In this post, you will come to know about some important things about a peep sight before you go and buy one for you.

Right Hand or Left Hand Bow?

It is obvious that a right-handed person generally shoots a right-hand bow and a left-handed person generally shoots a left-hand bow. That's simple enough, but when you've never shot a bow before, you could easily get confused about how bows are oriented for right and left-handed person. A right-handed person holds a bow actually in the LEFT hand and draws back with the right hand. Similarly, a left-handed person holds it in the RIGHT hand and draws back with the left hand. So, choose the orientation of the bow based on the hand that draws the bow but not with the hand that holds the bow. It is important to know the dominant hand because according to that dominant hand, your peep sight will be set on the bow.

Fixed Pin vs Adjustable Pin

There are two main types of bow sights available in the market. Among them, one is fixed pin sight and another is adjustable pin sight. Like the other bow hunting gears, each of them has its own pros and cons.

Fixed pin bow sights give you strong confidence that when the time of shooting finally comes, you would not have to stuck fiddling around with setting the pin to the proper distance. There is a simple drawback, you have to select the proper pin for the distance you are thinking to shoot, aim and shoot. Just make sure you select the correct pin. Sometimes archers fail to shoot at the target because they fail to choose the correct pin when they put into pressure condition.

This is one of the reasons why some hunters love to use a moveable pin sight than a fixed pin. These sights feature a single pin that can be slide up and down by just moving a lever. Most of the times, you will see marks that are indicating various yardages. You just slide the pin in the correct position for the yardage that you are about to shoot, drawback, aim and release. In this case, there is no chance of choosing the wrong pin but it may take some time to adjust the pin. If you are in a hunting ground and the animal moves away from the position, you need to re-adjust the pin or adjust the aiming point accordingly.

How Many Pins Should You Shoot?

 

There is a general rule that never uses more pins than you need. A few numbers of the pin makes it simple to see through and keeps you away from making any mistake in excitement during the game. For the whitetail hunters, one pin is enough. You just hold a few inches’ lows for the shots under 15 yards.

If you are planning to shoot more than 30 yards, then a three pin sight is a better choice. You can set the pin for 20, 30 and 40 yards. This gives you great flexibility and minimizes the confusion in the sight picture. If you want to shoot more than 40 yards, a sight with five pins can be a great option for you. This sight will allow you to shoot in 20, 30, 40, 50 and 50 feet distance. It is useful while you take a long following shot such as you to want to hit a deer which is running away from you after being shot for once. In these critical times, having a sight with five pins can really come handy.

Sight Pin Diameter

There are a lot of sizes for the pins of a bow sight. It is general that a larger pin is more visible in low light conditions but it will be a little less accurate in longer ranges because it will cover up more of the target and will not allow you to aim properly. But nowadays some fiber optic pins are developed which are small in size but still visible in low light condition.

Another technique that you can use is mixing the pin sizes to match the shot distance setting. You can use large diameter fibers for shooting with short-range pins and smaller diameter fibers for long range pins.

Round Pin Guards

 

Round pin guards will offer you some advantages than square pin guards. You may not realize it but your pin guard can help you to aim better. You can center the pin guard in your peep sight rather than centering the pins individually. Using this will allow you to use the same exact anchor point on every shot near and far.

If you want to center the pin guard, you have to use a much larger peep sight which will give you another advantage.A large peep will allow more lights to go through and that will be helpful to see better at dawn and dusk. It gives you a better view of the field also while tracking the animal and when aiming. Some pins come with various colors at their back to assist in aiming.

Sight lights

There are some bow sights which come pre-tapped to accept a small screw-in light that can help illuminate your sight pins in low light conditions. This small facility can really come handy. Before using it in your hunting, check the rules and regulations of that particular area because some states don’t allow any electronic devices for hunting that includes this small sight lights.

Conclusion

A bow sight is very important equipment to have in your bow for a better aiming experience. These are some basic features that a good bow sight should have which I have described in the above article. So, when you will order your peep sight for your bow, check whether it has all these specifications or not. It is a good option to go hunting with all necessary gears and equipment of your bow. So, be aware and make sure you buy the right bow peep sight for a good hunting experience.