What are the farthest and closet shots kill shot made

Skyshot said:

Killed a groundhog at about a 1/2 mile back in 1978, before the days of laser rangefinders, with a 7mm mag shooting 140 Sierra. I was with some friends cooking out and having a beer one evening and we saw a ground hog that was in a clover patch across the valley from my house. We were talking about how far he was and one thing led to another and I made the comment that I thought I could hit the critter with the big 7. One of my buddies said it would take at least five rounds, and so the bets were on.

I went in the house and got the model 700 7mag and few few rounds and my sandbag. My first shot was a miss by about three feet from the splash I saw. The groundhog dove in his hole. I did a little elevation adjustment and in a couple of minutes the hog popped back up. On the second shot, there was no splash anywhere and the hog disappeared. And of course all my buds were laughing and saying that I couldn't even hit the damn ridge. But I knew it was a hit.

We hopped in the jeep and rode across the valley to the clover patch. It took a while to find the correct hole, but my friend picked up this huge boar groundhog out of a hole. We laid him out and found that the round had entered his nostril and exited out the back of his head. Pay up boys.

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LOL
"Here, hold my beer. Watch this... "

Closest was barrel touching animal. Had dove fall into the back of the truck, even caught one falling out of the sky before (wish there was a video of that one).

Not sure of the farthest, the neat ones were just the "one in a million" shots, the others were just knowing what was going to happen at that distance.

Longest-big game: whitetail doe at 310 yards with a Ruger #1 in .270 Winchester with a 4X Leupold scope. Yes, I know, many of you have made longer shots. But I shot offhand. I was in the woods, she was in an open field, and I had to make the shot standing because I could not see her if I kneeled, sat, or lay down. Last day of the season and the missus wanted venison!!

Longest shot small game: Prairie dog at 100 yards with an iron sighted .22 LR. Luck. Broke his neck.

Shortest shot: Nine-point whitetail buck at 13 steps with a .54 caliber Thompson Center Hawken. Breathtaking!

Closest was about 30 feet. First whitetail buck,had to shoot left handed, so being that close helped with the fever and all. Longest was 401 yards in Colorado. Hit a cow elk in the lungs with the first shot, and she stumbled,then headed for the willows."Gotta break a leg" I told my buddy sitting next to me,"before she reaches the trees." Second shot took out both knees,and she went down. He looked at me like I had the luck of the Irish. I had been spending lots of time at the range.

Hmm, closest shot was a big mule deer I killed in New Mexico. I had glassed him up from about a mile away, but I didn't have anyone with me to keep him in the glass, while guiding me with radio. So I decide to sneak up the back side of the slope he was standing on, and try to get a 300 or yd shot. When I got up there, he wasn't there. But since I had approached from the up wind side of him, and had done so with great stealth, I managed to walk right up on him while he was bedded down. When he stood up, he was only about 20' away, standing broad side, and I looked down the barrel of my rifle and put one right through the heart and lungs, bingo, DRT. I used a Rem. 700 chambered in .270 win., shooting a 130 gr. Hot Core, with iMR-4350, and a Leupold 3x9 that I didn't need or use at all.

The longest, I think that would be an antelope hunt I did years ago. I glassed him up from over a mile away, more like 2 miles actually. I crawled on my hands and knee's, and when I had run out of cover, I was still well over 600 yards away. So I set up my tripod shooting stick, took my time, and when everything felt right, I let one fly. I was shooting the same Rem. 700, chambered in .270 win. with a 130 gr. Hot Core sailing at 3100 fps., Leupold 3x9x40.

So I placed the lateral cross hair about 6" above his shoulder, then put the vertical hair right behind his front legs, and let it fly. It went straight through and through his heart and lungs and out the other side. He hit the ground, but then he immediately stood up and started running. He didn't know where the shot came from, so he started running at a slight angle away from me, but still offering me another broad side shot. So while on the run, and now knowing that my hold over was good, and the rifle still in the tripod, I put the vertical cross hair even with his nose, and the lateral cross hair again was about 6" above his back line, maybe just a tad higher hold over, and let another fly. That one hit him in the neck, he flipped hooves over head, DRT. I walked off both shots from my tripod, and the first shot was 620-ish steps. The second shot I took was about 670 steps. I later measured my average step, and it was about 38". I had heard stories of big game running dead, especially antelope, but I always thought it was an exaggerated myth, but after that experience I learned it does happen.

GS

Closest shotgun about 5 feet running deer whole load in neck, that's as jumped out of way.Yeah I will admit to luck on that one. Longest with rifle was365 yards lazered, 7 rem mag shooting 140 nozler partition Federal Premium out 28 foot tower with solid rest. Rifle zero was 200yds put heavy horizontal cross hair {heavy leuopold} bottom level with top of back, one step fell over. 1 dead 6 point. Rifle was Browning Abolt with boss.

I almost forgot, my closest shot I can recall was on a yote. My best friend and I were sitting on top of a rock pile, probably 25' high and calling. A few minutes into it, we both heard some of rock shuffle behind us, when we stood up and turned around, we had a yote standing at out feet, literally at our feet. Obviously, this dog had never seen a human. I simply pointed my .270 win. at him and shot, dead yote.

Actually the whole story behind that yote was pretty interesting. After my buddy and I had killed that yote, we skinned him right there, pelts were worth a little bit at that time. Anyway, I was holding him by the neck, no gloves, while my buddy was pulling the hide down. He had a tough spot that wasn't releasing, and gave the hide a hard jerk, the neck slipped out of my hands, and a fang ripped the palm of my hand open. Not real deep, but enough to draw blood.

At the time I was living almost 300 miles away, so I had to drive home that afternoon, cause I had to work in the morning. I got home around 10:00 pm, and then picked up the new paper to relax for a few before hitting the shower, only to see that Pima County, which was where I had been hunting, had a warning about a rabies epidemic, and obviously, yotes were involved. So I immediately called the Pima Co. health dept and explained what had happened, that the yote wasn't at all spooked by us standing up, and that he had walked right up to us. They felt, were actually adamant that I get the head to them that night, pronto. The time line was pretty tight, considering it had already been about 8-10 hours since I killed it, so I needed to get it to them before the sun came up and started warming the brain up, thus destroying any chance of confirming it's health. And I was approaching a dead line before having to start the injections, which BTW cost something like $2500.

So I drove all the way back to Tucson, then I had to walk about a mile or so in the pitch dark with only a flash light, while trying to find this skinned yote, and hoping that nothing had already grabbed it. I found it, took it almost 40 miles across town to the health dept, where they had a someone waiting to inspect the brain. All said and done, the yote didn't have rabies, I got home just in time to shower and go to work, dog tired!

GS

The closest that mattered was a cape buffalo bull at about 15 feet in full charge. I killed him with the second barrel of my .470 NE double rifle using a 500 gr Barnes monolithic solid.

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That'll put some hair on yer backside!

Mine won’t compare with most of what I’ve read so far but here goes...

Longest, well not my longest but long for the rifle (for me anyway) and memorable:
Whitetail buck moving (not running) shot at 97 yards with a Thompson Center Hawken .50 cal. with iron sights I had just built from a kit. 177 grain round ball with 90 grains of black powder is the load I remember. One shot right behind the shoulder going through both lungs.

Closest:
Cottonmouth water moccasin shot ½ pace away with a 12 ga. side by side double barrel shotgun with squirrel shot. Hunting alongside a river I almost stepped on the thing. Something caught my attention, either the smell or noise, I jumped straight up and shot the moccasin’s head off at the same time. Probably lucky I didn’t shoot my foot off too LOL. Funny, the only animals I saw the rest of the day were snakes. Shows where my attention was after.

Honorable mention, again long range for the gun:
Beer bottle (ha) from 30 long paces (I’m 6’ 2”) with a .22 LR Derringer. When I was a teenager I used to keep a .22 Derringer that my father gave me in my tackle box. Eight of us went camping alongside the Ouachita River one time and that evening by the campfire one of the guys saw my derringer. Of course we then had to set up a beer bottle and give everyone the fun of trying to hit it. I sat the bottle 30 paces away on a tree stump and the guys tried several times each, all missing in the campfire light. Then I was challenged since it was my gun. I raised the derringer, fired and broke the bottle on my first (and only) shot. Sheer unadulterated luck!! At that range you could put the derringer in a vise and never hit the same place twice. I kept my composure, put the derringer back in my tackle box and didn’t say a word. The guys thought I was a really good shot. Little did they know no one is that good.

Caper

Closest shots <10 yards on moving hogs.
Furthest shots 205 yards on a hog
190 yards on a coyote
160 yards on a bobcat

All were at night with thermal gear using a 6.5 Grendel shooting 123 gr Hornady SST ammo

I will add that few places I hunt give me much of a choice for a shot much beyond 200 yards, LOL.

Deer at 10 yards. Felt bad shooting it with a .308 but thats what I had.

Coyote at 500 yards. Also with a 308.

Neither one are my best shot though. Knocked a crow off the top of a 150 Ft high Douglass fir with a .357 Taurus snub nose.

Shortest I guess 2' I was turkey hunting back against a tree calling to tom about 60yrds in front of me & hear running through leaves from behind me left side . I rolled over onto left elbow raised rather hurriedly my 12 ga & shot tote in face he slid to a stop nose to barrel.
A large 9 point straight down with Mathews single can bow muzzy broad head
Longest whitetail 614 yrds rem 700 7mm 140gr ballistic tip broadside on big power line 300yrds between poles on a six pack bet with landowner.
A5x5 elk at 907 by rangefinder same 7mm 140 btbt loaded to 3210 prone on one mountain top to opposing face of next mountain he was facing up hill & client would not attempt shot so I filled my tag just before dark no discernable wind his goal post for guides .
I used to practice a lot when younger only a couple thousand rounds a year nowadays
Several whitetail running 295 was longest tote to around 400 running around 600 standing
You have to shoot running shots like a duck or dove , offhand swinging
Does a duck killed with a shotgun but not shot count . I was standing on a 6 ' high creek bank lined with privite hedge three mallards light in creek behind me & then get up coming over bank but under the privite one was so close I couldn't get the long barrel between he & I so I walloped him on the neck with the barrel DRT

The longest was about 75 meters with a muzzle loader. At the time I felt it was a bad idea but the deer jumped twice and went down.

Closest... about 2 meters but it was accidental. There was a rabbit in my garden munching on my lettuce and after asking twice very politely he refused to stop. I had my Dad's truly ancient 9 shot .22 revolver that you could literally lock in a vise and not hit the same place twice. I fired once intending to frighten it away. I don't know which of us was more surprised that I hit it.

I skinned it and soaked it in brine then fried it. Served it to Dad with baking powder biscuits and milk gravy. Dad gave me a stern lecture on shooting rabbits out of season and a box of .22 LR cartridges.

Had a cotton tail hightail it out of a bush once. It was about 25 feet away. Took a bead on it and let it fly. Perfect head shot...... with a river rock. Dropped it on the spot, rolled on its back, legs kicking for a couple of minutes. As I stood there reflecting on my "greatest" hunting experience, it got up on it's little feet and hopped away like nothing ever happened.

Farthest I've ever made was a Jackrabbit at about 450 yards with my grandpa's 1903 with a K4 scope when I was about 16. I didn't need a rangefinder because it was at one end of a 40 acre piece and I was at the other end.

Closest was a badger at about 4 feet. Shooting almost straight down out of the bed of a truck with a 22. I don't know what I did, but that badger decided that I needed to die and came after me while I was cleaning ditches. It took 4 shots before it finally died.

The closest that I ever saw was a rooster pheasant that was almost touching the muzzle of my brother's shotgun. It came up and flew the wrong direction, directly at my brother. He shot it at a range of about 2 inches, maybe. It may have been in contact with his gun. Needless to say, it was dead. When he went to pick it up, he grabbed one wing and it went wing-head-wing-foot-tail-foot in a line extending to the ground. There was nothing in the middle. All the good meat was gone.

Matt

longest and shortest kill shots

The longest kill shot I've ever made on a deer was 95 paces with a 12 ga rifled 20" Ithaca Deerslayer mounted with a cheap Simmons 3X9 scope and shooting Remington Copper solids.

The closest shot I ever made on a deer was 9 yards (steps) with a Remington 760 pump 30.06 loaded with 150gr Nosler Ballistic tips over 57.5 gr of IMR 4350 with a Bushnell 3X9

Neither deer went further than 15 yds.

The other 45 deer were all in between with crossbow, compound bow, Ruger Redhawk, Savage 20 ga. rabbit gun with bead sight, Marlin 336 in 30-30 and a 1893 Spanish Mauser in 7mm Mauser
I would say most shots in and around 15 to 20 (bows) and 35 to 60 yds (firearms).

30 yds this year with Marlin 30-30. 170gr Speer DeepCurl flat nosed over 34.5 gr IMR 4350 with a 50YO fixed 4X Bushnell Banner.

Shot a big buck in the butt when I was a kid! He was at about 5 or 6 feet.

J.B.

With 2 witnesses, a portable bench shot on a prairie dog: 346 Yards.

Short.... two flying blue grouse with a High Standard 22 and birdshot. Maybe 20 feet in 1968.

Laser measured a prairie dog at 336 yards with my Remington 700 VSF .223. I've killed a few a bit further than that, I think, but they were not measured, with my Kimber 84M .204. Closest shot was a possum with a single shot 410 at 6 feet. He was eating a chicken in my friend's chicken coop. Actually, I've killed dozens of sparrows on cold winter nights in sheds, barns and garages with my trusty Red Rider BB gun and many of those were as close as a few inches. Ahh, those were fun times.

I had another chance for a really close shot yesterday. Slow driven hunt, a buck walking a path directly towards me. I could've waited a bit longer as it seemed totally oblivious to my presence; 2' of snow, dead calm, 0°F = noise and scent are almost non-factors.

At 20 yards or so I ran out of patience and put a .44 through its lungs.