Bow sights really have come a long way since I first shot a bow. Back then, I remember having pins that were painted different colors. My sight more resembled a bear trap than an actual bow sight. These days, we are beyond lucky with access to top-of-the-line engineered bow sights. And there are a lot of them to choose from.
On that note, especially for those who are new to bowhunting, I want to take some time here to point out some features of bow sights that I personally believe make life much easier, whether at the range or in the field hunting. These are going to span past the point of run-of-the-mill pros like being durable, ease of use, or having a slider sight.
Hopefully, by the end, you’ll have some tools to help narrow down your search if you’re in the market for a new bow sight.
Shopping for a new bow sight? Check out our guide to finding the best sight for your particular setup.
Bow Sight Features to Pay Attention To
Mounting Options
Some time last year, I ended up running into a situation where I needed to switch from a Picatinny mount on my bow sight to a traditional side mount. This happened because I ran out of room adjusting my windage sighting in.
Because of this, I needed to switch to a traditional side mount to gain that extra windage. Had I not had the option to simply switch to a standard side mount, I would have been screwed and needed to buy a new bow sight. I’ve also run into a situation where I needed the ability to move a sight closer or further away, and a dovetail fixed that.
Different mounting options out there include the side mount, dovetail, and Picatinny. I’m not going to tell you which one is best for you, and that’s the point. Being able to switch between them to cater to your setup goes a long way, hopefully right into the mark you’re aiming at.
Gang Adjusting Sight Housing
While we’re talking about the potential of running out of room adjusting a sight during sight-in, I’ve gotta touch on something else that has saved my bacon. And that is being able to gang adjust the sight housing.
Now, I’m not talking about your simple windage and elevation adjustments that move the entire housing. This is usually done by either micro-adjusting screws or by manually sliding a sight left, right, up, or down. I’m referring to detaching the sight housing completely from the body of the sight and moving it to a different place, reattaching and using the regular adjustments from there.
Sights with this feature will either have set slots or fixed screw holes to move the sight into. This is a much-appreciated feature in my book.
Easy Access to Screws
Bow sights these days are littered with screws that do all sorts of things — everything from holding metal sight taps on and zero stops to unlocking elevation, windage, and axis adjustments. This is all fine, but you need to be able to get to these screws easily.
Some bow sights out there make it difficult to get to certain screws via your traditional archery tool. I’ve had to use certain tools provided by the company, and I’ve also had to remove pieces in order to make an adjustment. This is a bummer and makes the whole process of getting dialed much harder.
So, pay attention to the location of the screws you’re going to need to have access to, and know what you’ll potentially have to deal with in order to use certain bow sights.
Micro-Adjust Is the Way
I’m a guy who finds something that works and sticks to it. It’s my comfort zone. In the case of adjusting bow sights, I never had a problem with the old-school hand adjustments we’d have to make. In fact, I prided myself on being good at this. Once I tried micro-adjustment, everything changed.
While I was prideful, hand-adjusting my sight, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times of frustration doing so, like over-adjusting a pin in a certain direction. Or accidentally losing your starting position and having to re-sight in to find it. Hair-pulling moments, folks.
Those moments came to a halt when I tried micro-adjusting for the first time. Things didn’t slide around on their own. I could very minutely adjust my sight in any direction. All of this resulted in getting a bow sighted in much quicker. Time is money, as well as more arrows downrange.
Adjustments: No Tools Needed
All of this talk about adjustments wouldn’t be right if I didn’t touch on the tool part of this. Or, I should say the benefits of not using one. More and more bow sights these days are switching to a toolless adjustment system. Basically, this means that you don’t need an archery tool to do something basic like adjusting elevation and windage.
It sounds like it’s not that big of a deal, but trust me. Once you experience the moment when you realize you don’t have to go grab an archery tool and can adjust on the fly, you’ll get it. It’s such a convenient feature, and I personally think it should be a standard these days.
I do want to point out that with these toolless sights, you’ll still need a tool to adjust something like 3rd axis. I’m mainly referring to making basic windage and elevation adjustments. Who knows, though. The future might produce a completely toolless bow sight.
Final Thoughts
To be very blunt, quality bow sights are not cheap, and they each differ a little bit in design. These designs are not cookie-cutter from sight to sight. Because of that, I think it’s important to know what you’re getting into before pulling the trigger on a new sight (pun intended). Know what you want out of a sight, and to contrast that, know what you don’t want out of one.
We’re lucky to be able to have access to so many options these days and to be able to have as much of a say as we do with our equipment like this. Take advantage of it. I thank the hunting gods that I don’t have that bear trap attached to my bow anymore. That bow sight of the past is a paperweight in comparison to those of the current day.
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