Who will be honest.

[jmorris]

Killed these 6 from 82 miles, I didn’t even use a gun, just a cell phone, three if you count the one at the trap and my neighbors.

 

[lg&m]

I have taken a shot out to about 250-275Y & missed. Most shots are 100Y or less.
I did make a shot at around 200Y on a running deer.
IMO most hunters are not very good at range estimating. Also I think shooting at distance is a great skill but so is hunting & if you can't get closer then 200Y ( in most cases) You need to become a better hunter not a better shot.

 

[Legionnaire]

I've shot steel out to 900 yards. Longest shot on whitetail was 200 yards give or take, most were under 100; closest was 10 yards (Ruger SRH .44 Mag). Groundhogs out to 300-350, but I don't consider them game animals.

 

[JJFitch]

You would have to be a pretty lousy hunter if you can't get closer than 300 yards to an animal.

Wyoming Pronghorns!!??

Smiles,

 

[JJFitch]

One of the previous posts reminded me that two deer were "front bumper takedowns"!

One was a little Blacktail at 25 miles an hour in a residential neighborhood! One was a young Eastern Sierra Muley at about 60, towing my boat, down hill in a slight right hand turn! My son was about 12 and his first experience with having to kill an animal to stop the suffering. He was pretty quiet for quite a while. When we talked about it he said he understood and was "kind of happy that the coyotes' would be eating good tonight"!

Nowadays I just take pictures of the deer eating "Mom's" flowers!

Smiles,

 

[entropy]

Ironically, my longest game shot was a doe @125 yards, and with a muzzleloader. With a rifle, 75. With a shotgun, 50. Coyotes aren't game, I have shot at them out to @200.

 

[zdc1775]

The furthest I have ever shot game animals was a whitetail deer outside Abilene TX at 518 yards according to GPS. That was when I regularly shot at 500 and it was perfect conditions for the shot.

If I had to average all the various game animals I've killed with firearms I would guestimate it at between 100 and 150 yards. With the hunting rifles I have now I mostly limit my shots to around 300 yards.

 

[taliv]

i practice cold bore shots on 3" targets at 400. i used to do it at 500, and 6" targets at 600, but I moved this summer and only have 400 yard range at the moment. i had targets to 1100 yards, but always focused on first shot hits at more reasonable "mid" ranges. given my % of success, I have a pretty high degree of confidence I could take game at 500-600, but that's my self-imposed limit (excepting coyotes). if i was hungry, sure, i'd shoot at 1000 yards, and expect i'd not be hungry long, but i'd feel pretty bad if i gut shot or worse, leg shot, or hit a jaw or something. so i'd never do that just for 'sport'.

 

[CraigC]

Two observations. First and foremost is that most people can't estimate range. What a blowhard says was 500yds was probably more like 150. Two, I never understood why people need to lie about such things. We've all been in a gun shop when those guys come in and start blathering. I had the displeasure of working with one of those types. They're easily spotted. Who do they fool?

I would guess 150yds on deer sized critters and 250yds for varmints. Where I typically hunt now, 100yds is a long shot. I just really don't care at all about sniping at game from a distance.

 

[glockgod]

There are places in the West where longer than average shots are the norm because of mountainous terrain or lack of concealing vegetation. ( My dream was to go elk or moose hunting but too old now,even if I had the chance). But to blaze away instead of getting closer if possible I can't see.

 

[FL-NC]

I would if I had the opportunity to do so. I know I could do it with some of my rifles, because I have hit much smaller targets than a deer's vitals at pretty long distances. I have shot prarie dogs at 700. I hit a steel E-type at 1 mile with a 308. The reality is that the longest range I have ever shot a deer is 210 yards, if I remember correctly. Where I hunt here in Fl, 100 yards is a LONG shot due to terrain and vegetation. I read somewhere that almost all deer killed in the US are shot at 100 yards or less. Looking at the targets of many hunters at the range zeroing their rifles, there's a whole bunch of them who have no business shooting at anything more than 100 yards. This year I shot one at a whopping 40-something yards (whoopie).

 

[IdaD]

Two observations. First and foremost is that most people can't estimate range. What a blowhard says was 500yds was probably more like 150.

There’s some definite truth to this. I started carrying a rangefinder maybe 10-15 years ago. Just a little lightweight one from Cabelas but it seems pretty accurate. It’s helped me get better at estimating ranges accurately but I still like to pull it out before longer shots if I have time just to check myself. Or at least after I get the animal down so I know how far it was.

 

[armedwalleye]

I grew up as a bowhunter. I like short accurate shots and try to place myself to make them. Furthest ever was 175-200 on a 10 point whitetail, and I will in all honesty state that that one shot skewed the average pretty significantly.

 

[Sniper66]

I get a kick out of listening to others relate their exploits in hunting. Their stories are entertaining and some of them are even true I frankly don't know people who take risky shots. Everyone I hunt with or know about wait until they are mostly certain the shot will be successful. We nearly always hit what we are aiming at. I spend time scouting and consequently place my blind near known game trails. The result being that most shots are under 100yds. My rifles are zeroed at 100 yds and I can hit a quarter at that range. Last deer I was not in my usual well planned spot, but had a steady rest and shot the biggest buck of my life at 200 yds, which is the longest deer shot of my life. My longest measured shot on anything was a prairie dog at 326 yds with a .223 on the 5th shot.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

30 yards or less. They were all ground squirrels with a scoped .22 LR in a small almond orchard -- anything much further would have been on one of the neighboring properties.

 

[daniel craig]

I have been hunting for 45 years. I've hunted the West, Midwest and West TX. I've taken White Tail, Mule and Coues deer. Rocky Mtn Elk, Black Bear, Mt. Lion. All types of furbearer critters and varmints.
When I get with a group of hunters and even buddies of mine. Out come the stories of " I shoot my animal at 550-800 yards on average. And on and on they go how they are true snipers of the hunting world. I am sure every now and then a few do attempt to take an unethical shot that far.
Theses super hunters are shooting 243, 7mm-08, 270, 30- 06, 300 Savage, 25-06 and 7mag.
I do my small game / varmint hunting with my 243 and my big game with my 30-06. The longest shots I've ever taken were at varmint (whistle pig, badger, crow and coyote) all at about 420 yards.
I'd say 95% of all my kills have been 250 yards or less.
Took my 1st bull elk in 93 outside Flagstaff at 95 yards. A really nice 6x6 Do hunters now a days really shoot that far the majority of the time? I find it very hard to believe these fine people are being truthful on most of their hunting stories.

Most of the deer I’ve ever harvested have been under 75 yards. It’s just the nature of where I hunt and how I view hunting. I don’t find it taking super long shots to be impressive hunting I find it rather sad actually. Learn the craft get closer.

I will say a lot of people vastly overestimate distance. When I worked firearms retail I’d do a social experiment with the hunters and ask them how far away the other side of the store is/was. Most people would give an answer between 100 and 150 yards. It was just shy of 75 yards. That’s a giant wall in a flat/well lit area when they’re calm and collected. Add hunting conditions to that and factor in height above the ground if they’re tree stand hunters and I believe that a lot of people truly have no idea how far they’re shooting (without a range finder).

 

[Hokkmike]

A guy told me once he downed a deer at 200+ with iron sights on his Model 94. Maybe he did; maybe he didn't.
It is part of the lore - part of the fun. I remember when I was younger and got into the caliber war arguments - great fun over a plate of wings and a cold drink.
Bolt action vs. pump vs. lever by Ruger, Winchester, Savage, etc., all great stuff to bandy back and forth.
When buying a new gun doing the research, comparing features, and reading the reviews adds to the process.
My l-o-n-g-e-s-t shots have been at groundhogs at about 500 paces. Typical deer shots have not exceeded 150.
If somebody tells me stories of longish shots that seem incredible I tell them to "pass the wings" and I try to enjoy the moment.

 

[Captcurt]

Wyoming Pronghorns!!??

Smiles,

Yeah. One thing that I learned when I went out west was you seldom see mulies and prairie goats that aren't staring at you. They might be 1/2 mile away, but they have you in sight.

 

[lightman]

A lot of hunters can't accurately estimate range and others tend to lie about their shots. Between the two it makes for some interesting stories! And then you have those guys like the 3 pages here that are truthful and accurate.

My longest shot on a game animal was 320 yards or so. The deer was standing still, I was on a stand with a good rest and had an accurate rifle and I knew the distance. But most all of my deer have been under 200 yards. I've shot Prairie Dogs out past 600 yards. Once again, with an accurate rifle over a rest. That rifle has a range card taped to the stock!

Its almost as much fun listening to those yahoos that don't have a clue as it is to be around knowledgeable gun guys telling true stories!

 

[GAF]

I think my longest shot deer hunting was about 80 yards. Sometimes I still think some of those shots were lucky .

 

[JJFitch]

Yeah. One thing that I learned when I went out west was you seldom see mulies and prairie goats that aren't staring at you. They might be 1/2 mile away, but they have you in sight.

Yup, I met up with some hunters in Wyoming that were from Penn! All of a sudden they became acutely aware that "out west" we do have to make those 300 yard shots! 's

 

[Garandimal]

Have managed to get by w/o a range finder low these many years in the field... well over four decades.

All my stories are about Cochon de Laits, Barbecues, and Sausage.




GR

 

[Chuck R.]

Yeah. One thing that I learned when I went out west was you seldom see mulies and prairie goats that aren't staring at you. They might be 1/2 mile away, but they have you in sight.

I first noticed that out in SD. We were hunting a 3000 acre ranch that belonged to one of the captains I worked with and spotted a group of whitetails in a field on the other end of a corn field section. When we stopped the truck to glass them, they lifted their heads and ran off. I'd never seen a reaction like that from deer that far away before. My SD native captain said "we shoot them from far off around here".

Kind of like that line in Quigley Down Under; they've learned how to stay out of rifle range.

 

[Howland937]

Longest on a deer was 188 yards with a T/C Black Diamond ML, off a bi-pod from prone. Just dropped in it's tracks. I'd practiced out to 200 yards, and even lobbed a couple at 250 but I knew 200 was max.
I have however missed deer standing broadside in a picked soybean field in the 75 feet range. Yes, plural. Bow and shotgun.

Also, I hardly ever add weight to the fish I catch, but accusations have been made about them growing in the days and weeks afterwards. I do make sure my arms are stretched as close to the camera as possible though.

 

[HowieG]

With the number of them that I have killed in traps, my average is likely better expressed in feet than yards. All those zeros would drown out the long range shots. Not only that lots of places I have hunted line of sight wasn’t ever more than a few hundred yards at most.

Others have different experiences than me though. I can tell you one thing a prairie dog hunt 100 yards would be pretty boring.

I disagree. A 100 yard Pdog hunt can be a fascinating game of sneak and peek on brushy ground with a small bore, light rifle. I do it as often as I can with my K Hornet.
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