POLL: Your maximum rifle range on Deer

[bigbrother]

I know it's a good thing that I can shoot more straight than I can hit a golf ball!

[Adirondacks]

Goes to show that you should read
the thing first.
I thought it was "what is the longest
that you have shot a deer?"
To that I answer 1. I have never taken
a deer further out than 100 yds. That's
a product of where I hunt. Mountain
woods.

To the question what is the max for
my gun. I'd go 300. Actually I'd probubly
not make that shot but I would make
one somewhere between 2 and 3
hundred yards. My gun could handle
300 yards but I wouldn't take the shot
unless it had a real good rest.
Not usually the case.

[go to guy]

I shot my first deer in Kansas with a .308 at 240yds.

[WyoShooter]

I shoot a 7mm mag. using a 160gr. handload and along with the scope I use for it I am totaly comforatable and confident with it out to 500 yards shooting prone.

[California Hunter]

For us, 300 yards is not considered long range. But, know your rifle; know your ammunition; use a rifle capable of a clean kill at longer ranges; and be at least adequate in estimating range. A good shortcut (assuming you hunt where long shooting is routine) is to sight your rifle between 4.5" and 6" high at 100 yards. You hold low on hair to 250 yards and high on hair to 400 yards. Read the following article to follow the logic. http://www.kifaru.net/posimag.htm

P.S. - Great Question.

P.S.S. - Practive, practice, practice.

[hnter]

With my 50 BMG, 1000+ yds is no prob. They drop like a rock !!!!!!

The prob is finding the carcass. So ya use a spotter with a spotting scope and FRS radio ta keep ya on line.
Yeh, I know this is gonna raise a stink, so what?.
Keeps yer blood movin!
Hnter

[Brant Buster]

I'll pick a round that humanely and ethically can dispatch a deer to 300 yards, then I add on a 100-yard (buffer) extra.

In over 30 years of hunting, I've actually only shot at and killed one pronghorn at nearly 400 yards. Everything else has averaged 100yards-plus to usually less than 300 yards.

The 400 yard antelope was after I had time to calculate for a slight breeze and drop.

[Mike Moss]

I would rather let a deer go than wound it. The longer the shot the harder it is.

I might take a shot over 200 yds but only if I had the laser and data with me.

[dakotah]

When I was much younger, I shot a Whitetail at about 800 paces. It dropped immediately - 165 grain 30-06. Shot it off hand and the deer was running full out. The bullet had to go somewhere and it did but luck -- no kidding. Would not do that again.

I shot an antelope this year at 440 paces. The conditions were perfect.

[Evan03]

300yds is a long shot anywhere you are or how you cut it.

most people shooting that far arent shooting that far on paper. 1-200yd world is alot difrent than 200- and further things change drasticaly and i dont think guessing yardages past 300 are even in the question

most all calibers are dropping close to 4 feet at 500yds most are dropn even more than that.

i am not pointing fingers at anyone ive been there myself killed one deer past 300 with my 270win with luck alone and young stupidity.

knowing what i know now i would still make that shot but i would not guess the range or not practice at the range out to distance i plan to shoot. for me 300 is as far as i go and i punch paper at that range and can keep groups well inside 5"s mosty my rifles will print half that out that far.

if any thing local is any indication im willing to bet that most people dont shoot past 100yds ever untill they are looking at game in the cross hairs. even i was giulty of that.

[dakotah]

If you hunt on the prairie good luck on keeping all your shots under 100 yards.

[THE KING OF HUNTING]

300 IS MY MAX

[Common-senseEA]

take the distance you can sucessfully shoot a 6 inch group standing sitting prone or bench and cut that down by 25% and that should be your MAXIMUM shooting distance in the field. When you are dehidrated or just ran to the top of a hill your 400 yard shot from the bench just turned into a 600 yard shot from the bench in the wind. most people dont have any buisness shooting past 250 yds in favorable conditions anyway. know your abilities and dont exceed them for the sake of a wounded animal.

[Ridge Runner]

well for the guys who dial it up, once the bugs are worked out on the range it basicly gets down to where they're rounds run out of steam. If they can dial to 600 or 700 and hit where they are holding, then its just a turn of the dial away to get as far as possible. if they're data is right, ballistic programs are only as good as the accuracy of the info you feed it.
Remember this, the dialing up is just simple math to about 700 yds. I can routinely hit a 4" circle to 700, but from there on I start to waiver, at 800 a 10" circle is about the best I can do, at 1K its not even close, I know what I need to work on and I'll get it fixed, just takes time.
Any way I feel confidant to 800 yds if the wind is favorable, took a doe last week at 585, bang/flop.
RR

[rattus58]

This poll is a little confusing for me in that I'm not exactly sure what it was asking... The Longest Range that I WOULD shoot, or the longest range that I HAVE shot a deer.

The Digital Gentleman pretty much has it right , you can HIT anything at any range you are profiecient at.

However, there are some practical limitations that I have come to understand over the years as I have aged. When younger, I dropped a deer at a little over 400 paces, probably about 300 yards from my point of shooting on the terrain I was hunting. That was with a .308 Remington BDL with open sights. A fluke for sure.. and a long story... and not the point.

What I have subsequently learned about shooting long range, is that though you may hit the deer, you may never FIND the deer.

Finding the spot that the deer was standing in when shot at long range is difficult in many circumstances, and if it doesn't drop right there.... DRT as in Dead Right There, an EMT coined phrase my son passed on to me about some of the steamy summer nights they spent in certain So. Carolina city sections, can require dusting off our tracking skills.

When a deer runs, your chances of locating it is inversely proportionate to the distance of the shot, and assuming that the your "visual imprint" of the deer's surroundings will remain static as you approach its assumed location is something we all quickly learn is a myth.

From what I have learned from some old timers, is that YOU need to direct a second party to the presumed shot location when distances stretch. If you are by yourself, the job is very difficult and next to impossible. It is easier if you are above the deer and can clearly locate an outstanding physical feature of terrain (not a treestand... a hill or mountain side) on long shots.

What IS a long shot. Most of my acquaintences seem to agree that anything over 150 yards brings brings an increasing degree of difficulty in tracking an animal that has run for most of us.

This brings us back to two fundamentals for shooting. Proficiency and observation. Proficiency is something that we can all probably intuitively agree on. Observation is something most of us are deficient in.

Close shots don't present the problems that longer range shots do. Wind direction and velocity are one. Terrain features we are shooting over is another, both for the shot and for tracking. The animals demeanor. The fact that it is standing still at the shot is not the same as is it alert, is it poised to jump, is it in an flight or fight attitude, and any number of other cues that many of us miss when we pull the trigger.

It takes only a tiny fraction of a second for a bullet to reach game, even at several hundreds of yards, yet in that same fraction, an animal can just twitch and cause shot placement to be off by several inches. Add to that the grouping you shoot, the wind and thermals, and you may end up with a dead deer walking (running) that we have to follow up on.

How far out can you kill a deer? I saw a video a few years ago on shooting running deer. As a part of that video, there was a trailer about these guys shooting at deer at long distance... like 500 to 600 yards. They had set up, set up markers and spotters, and sighted in for this distance. The gun was a 300 mag of some kind. As the video closed, they had taken a shot at a deer on this far hillside with the words "you got him!" as the deer bounded down the side... They didn't show any recovery.. so I don't know if the "got him" or just "shot him".

Aloha...