This past weekend while watching a bowhunting episode on YouTube, I witnessed a couple guys miss and pass what should have been slam-dunk shots on elk. They were sneaking in as close as possible to bulls with cows, then kneeling beside conifers and waiting for elk to wander within bow range. The footage was exciting, but in two cases, the bowhunters fell victim to problems with aiming.

Specifically, these archers used movable single-pin bowsights, which meant they had to guess which yardage an elk might appear, or hope to have time to range an animal, then adjust their bowsight accordingly before drawing their bow.

In one instance, a bowhunter guessed that the herd bull would appear in a tree gap at 70 yards. He dialed in his single-pin bowsight for 70 yards and waited. Suddenly, the massive bull appeared much closer, probably 20 yards. The animal paused for a split-second in the open, but it didn’t give the hunter enough time to adjust his single-pin bowsight for the closer shot. He didn’t feel comfortable guessing where to hold his 70-yard pin on a 20-yard bull, and for that decision I give him credit for passing. Earlier in the YouTube episode, a bowhunter missed in a similar scenario.

Just because fixed-pin bowsights are considered “old school” by many of today’s bowhunters, that doesn’t mean they don’t work well. In the author’s opinion, this design has important advantages.

Even though I spend my time in the whitetail and turkey woods, I can’t help but think I’d appreciate the simplicity of a fixed-pin bowsight during an elk hunt, too. In fact, I’ve been on a couple elk bowhunts, and while I never released an arrow, I never felt disadvantaged with my fixed-pin bowsight. For bowhunting in the Midwest, I have pins set for 20, 30 and 40 yards. When I have an elk hunt on my calendar, I add a 50-yard pin. Any elk that appears beyond 50 yards has won that battle; 50 yards is my maximum on an elk, no matter the animal’s size, body position, etc.

I can appreciate the clean view of having only one pin floating on an animal’s chest, but frankly I’ve never found it troublesome to have three or four fiber-optic pins on a bowsight. When I settle into a treestand, I simply find objects in my shooting lanes that correspond to my pin settings and then put away my rangefinder. When a deer arrives, I know exactly which pin to use. In my opinion, the fixed-pin bowsight is still the better mousetrap.