Uphill and downhill

[gman1]

I need some help from my fellow members.

I believe that if I am shooting up hill or downhill ( lets say at a 45 degree angle) that in both cases I aim lower than if I were shooting in flat country?

Any assistance is always very much appreciated.


Gman ( that turns 70 in a few months and wants to get at least one more elk hunt under his belt!!)

 

[ceby7]

That is correct, you want to shoot for the true horizontal distance to the target which on both uphill and downhill shots is less than your line of sight distance to the target.

 

[Slugz]

Angle compensating rangefinder helps in that area a lot also.

 

[rjroberts15]

It really only matters for 350+ yards and an angle greater than 30 degrees.
Like Slugz said the angle compensating range finders will take care of the math.

 

[Mountain10mm]

That is correct, you want to shoot for the true horizontal distance to the target which on both uphill and downhill shots is less than your line of sight distance to the target.

Exactly right. A 45 degree angle is steep and would affect just about any shot. Remember that old trigonometry stuff, the horizontal leg of a 45 degree angle is 71% of the hypotenuse. So an animal at 100 yards line of sight at 45 degrees (up or down - they are treated the same) would actually be taken as a 71 yard shot. Not a big deal at 100 yards, at 300 yards line of sight, you would shoot as if it's 210 yards - that could make a significant change in point of impact. As others have said, most rangefinders now have a built in program that gives the horizontal distance to the target, no need for trig. in the field. Just know your rifle's hold over and you are good to go.