POLL: Your maximum rifle range on Deer

[Nulle]

Comfortable at 400 with my 7mm.

[gspsonny03]

I've shot a couple at around 400, but I prefer them to be around 200. My eyesight just isn't what it use to be.

[foto]

Comfortable out to about 150 yds. Sighted in at 100. Where i hunt there ain't anyhwere where you could take a 150 yd shot let alone see something at that distance. Farthest I have ever seen deer is around 75-100 yds and 99% of the time you won't be able to due to ground cover and you'll see them much closer 10-70 yds. Wish i could say more but my shooting range tops out at a 100 so shooting 200-300 at game would be bad sportsmanship. If I ever go out west I will definitely find another range and try long distance but for now I just have no hands on experience at that range nor a need for it. take care.

[bigbrother]

Ol spark and I have both shot deer approaching 800yds. Yes they were 1st shot kills, no "spotter" rounds were fired. BUT, we also knew exactly how far away they were: measured with a WILDE (sweedish optical range finder used in WWII for artilery). I know from experience there are only 2 lazers you can buy over the counter that will range a deer beyond 600 yds. Both are from Leica and only one of them does it all the time. We also knew the exact wind speed (our longest shot was in a 4.7mph cross wind). We use a Kestrel wind meter as it gives us wind speed, barometric pressure, and temperature readings. As a side note, these shots were made from a standing position using a solid rest (not against a tree) but from an ultimate tripod.

The gun was a custom 6.5x284 firing handloaded 140g Hornady AMAX bullets. (actual BC of .618 w/ muzzle velocity of 2940fps)

All of that being said, it all falls upon the hunter. We are the only ones at the moment of truth that can make the decision to take the shot or not. We are the ones that have to live with knowing we made a good decision or bad.

I typically fire well over 200 rounds a summer through my 6.5 at groundhogs and other targets out to as far as I can see them. I know exactly where my bullet will hit. Some might take that statement as b.s. and I understand as it's hard to believe that a gun will put all shots into 1/2moa at all distances fired. Note I said 1/2 moa at all distances. A 1/2" gun at 100yds doesn't mean it will shoot less than 4" at 800! You need to shoot your gun at the distances you want to hunt at. This isn't to say that my gun won't miss; it is simply a mechanism. It still requires a human to hold and pull the trigger. That is where the error comes in and where we as hunters need to take responsibility.

When someone tells me that they shot an elk or deer at 800yds and just held the cross hairs on his back I feel a great sympothy for them. They don't realize what they are doing to the hunting community and they apparantly have no concept of ballistics. When we long range hunt, we use a drop and wind chart for the particular gun we are shooting. The deer we shot at 742 yards 2 seasons ago, we adjusted up 17.25 moa: now lets talk about math....
We all know that 1 moa at 100 yds is one inch...4 at 400..7.42 at 742yds. So you want to know how high you needed to hold over your desired target to hit dead on at 742: 7.42 in x 17.25 = 128" high (10'-8").

In the hunting world, that's too much for the average person to think about. And that's all I have to say about that.

[ghost stalker]

thanx big bro. i do need to invest in a range finder sooooon.
knowing the actual distance is everything. i used to think i was just a good shot , but last fall i was hunting some open fields for mulie which i am not used to but i am very used to clear-cuts and timbered areas. i spotted up a heard of deer with a good buckin a large field. guesstimated it to be a lil over 800yds and my buddie and i figured that if i could half the distance i'd be within my comfortable shooting range.
well after the second shot hit about 50yds my side of the deer i realized that the deer must have been over 1000yds away to begin with. i took another 150yds off the distance and another shot came up 10yds short. all this time the heard just looked around when i shot and kept feeding. not feeling good about getting any closer i chose to take another aproach but the light began to fail and i couldn't clearly make out the buck any more. all this being said, i think if i had a range finder i could have either got closer for the first shot or determined earlier that i needed to take another approach and would have had a buck.
a range finder would really help in new terrain. especially open fields. i am used to the bush where you have trees and stumps and rocks but it is a whole different ball game in the flats.

[JackRabbit]

you have to feel confident.i've made some pretty far shots only because i was sure of myself.other times i didn't feel confident and didn't take the shot,the last thing i want to do is loose an animal because of poor shot placement,whether it be a gogher, a big bull moose or that trophy whitetail.constant shooting sure helps build confidence.

[L. Cooper]

If a hunter doesn't KNOW the range, the effect the wind of the day will have on his bullet at that range, the exact holdover for the range he knows is correct, the actual level of accuracy of his rifle at that range, he shouldn't shoot.

In addition, if conditions at the time prevent him holding his rifle where it must be to deliver the shot properly (that means a proper shooting rest of some sort), he shouldn't shoot.

My contention is that in real hunting situations the range at which I can say I have all those factors managed seems to be way shorter than many people here are using. Without special equipment, almost no one should be shooting beyond the known "point blank range" of their set up. (I assume everyone knows what that phrase means to most shooters).

There are posts on this thread that are from people who have the equipment and who know enough about ballistics to take very long shots, and there are posts from some who obviously should never shoot beyond 250 yards. Real hunting is not a theoretical activity. Things are going to suffer and die. We need to keep the suffering as unlikely as possible.

Because of all the variables, I can't say what my longest range is. Is the wind blowing? How hard? What direction? Same direction over the whole distance? Same velocity over the whole distance? Do I know how far away it is? (Beyond about 250 yards my range estimation by eye gets really bad. So does everyone else's.) Do I have my shooting sticks? What zeroing choices did I make at the range? You can see what makes me so nervous.

In real life I have very seldom shot at anything beyond 300 yards. I'm one of Bigbrother's more average people. When I'm hunting, I can't handle the math much beyond 400 yards, and unless hunters are carrying specialized equipment and have practiced using it on gun ranges that allow shooting at extreme ranges, neither can they. So they shouldn't shoot.

Then there is the whole question of what hunting is all about. Is it not important to hunters to get closer than a half mile to their game? What role does "the hunt" have in such decisions? I suspect there are a lot of bow hunters who see discussions like this missing a very important point.

[bigbrother]

I think this whole discussion is based simply on "your maximum rifle range on deer." Most of the people involved in this discussion hunt via other means as well. The "hunt" means different things to different people. In the end, we are all hunters. There is a very important point to this discussion and it is that if we truly think about every shot opportunity, conditions, and variables the answer to the initial question will vary.

I happen to fall into the bow hunting fraternity as well, as do a lot of the others (note posts / replies in the bowhunting forum). As a matter of fact, the last deer I shot in January was with a bow at 12 yards but I enjoy hunting a variaty of ways. For me the hunt is simply about being outdoors enjoying all it has to offer. Whether it's comraderie of hunting long range with my dad, or the solitude of the forest bowhunting alone, or the fast paced deer drives with my relatives, or calling in a spring gobbler, or a host of many other instances.

At the end of the day, I'm always satisfied with the decisions I've made while hunting. It's hard to emphasize the importance of that fact.

[ghost stalker]

i feel we are getting a little off track or mabey some people never were on track. now don't take this wrong or as anything other that a discussion point, but this thread i think is more of a pi$$ing contest like i can do this better than you! but in a nice clean way. i understand big bro and cooper very much but i think it is more of a general question "your maximum rifle range on deer." i know that everyone would like to take a 200 yd shot at a nice whitie buck on the skyline and see him drop like a sac of potatoes. not the longest shot or the shortest shot but one we all dream of.
i think the question is more of a " if you were on your back 40 that was just SURVEYED and a buck was at a certain marker could you KILL it?" i could be way off track myself but what the hell? it's a discussion group and thats what we are here for.lol


enjoy my blathering...or not!
hapy shootting.

[Evan03]

this thread seems to be ontrack, unlike others we currently have rolling along.

variables do change from shot to shot, day to day and is difrent with every shooter envolved.. i dont see this as pissing match to see who can shoot the farthest. we all know our capabilities and abilities. we should know when a shot can be taken and have 90% clean kill rate. doesnt matter if that shots is at 5 yds with a bow or 300 with a capable rifle.

300 is very well within reach for alot of hunters with todays and yesterdays calibers.

Evan

much abliged to whoever did that for me. thanks

[JackRabbit]

I to believe this thread is right on track.The question asked was what is your furthest one shot kill on a deer.With moose being the largest of the deer family.I'm sorry that some have to use mathimatical formulas.But i shoot cus I luv it,whether targeting or on game.But seriously I'm very confident at taking 400yd shots and frankly I find 300yd shots gimme's.Thats why we target practice at long ranges,to be able to make the shot .Remember shoot be happy

[Ol` Joe]

I`d be very confident in a 200-250 yd shot on deer size game if sitting or a tree limb ect to rest the rifle on. The only problem I have with that kind of shooting here where I hunt is the Balsam and Cedar insist on standing in front of me 25 yd away. I`m lucky to see 75 yd let alone get a shot at any greater distance. 75% of the deer I`ve shot wouldn`t be "long range" for a spear.. of course 200 more yd in the swamp would just be that much farther I`d have to drag `em and I`m getting too old for that if there`s a way around it...

[rainydays]

When using my .257 Roberts and having a decent rest, I limit myself to 300 yds.--tr

[deadonat100yards]

i shoot a Remington 700 in .308 and a 22 inch barrel. A leupold scope (3-9x50). I shot a doe at over 200 yards in the spine and she dropped like a rock.The n the next week i shot a 7 point buck at 300 in the neck and he dropped like a rock.didnt even know the distance. and to beat it all...... i was standin up durin both shots! beat that.

[Rocky Raab]

Lots of folks limit themselves to three football fields away.

But I never played football, so for me it's a 3-wood and a wedge