Long shots on game

Silverado

Silverado

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Next year, I plan to kill a deer and/or antelope at 400 yards or further. How much further depends on the conditions. I intend to master the rifle for this particular application, and will only take the shot if I'm certain.

That being said, please tell me about your long shots at game. I'm not so much interested in the hail marys, but rather slow, certain, decided shots at these ranges.

Captain Deadly need not reply.
 
plugged a bear @ a 270yrds a few years ago, so far that's the loggest kill.

I would invest in a good bipod, range finder, a vertical turrent on your scope and a whole lot of practice ammo.

good luck with this endevor, we'll need pics of course :D
 
My longest lasered kill on a game animal was 480yards on a pronghorn.I was shooting prone off of a bipod with a custom 7mmstw driving the 140gr ballistic tip at 3500fps.I lasered the distance so I knew the exact distance and the holdover required.It was virtually calm at the time,so windage was not a concern.My second longest kill was 434 yards on a whitetail with the same gun and load.I was shooting off of a solid rest with a slight breeze blowing directly toward me.Again the distance was lasered before the shot was fired.I should add that I regularly practise out to 500 yards with my rifles,so I have made shots at these distance many times on targets.
 
260 yards on a mulie buck

140 gr @ 2600 fps

thats my longest in the field. I do not care to take long shots while hunting
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stubblejumper said:
My longest lasered kill on a game animal was 480yards on a pronghorn.I was shooting prone off of a bipod with a custom 7mmstw driving the 140gr ballistic tip at 3500fps.I lasered the distance so I knew the exact distance and the holdover required.It was virtually calm at the time,so windage was not a concern.My second longest kill was 434 yards on a whitetail with the same gun and load.I was shooting off of a solid rest with a slight breeze blowing directly toward me.Again the distance was lasered before the shot was fired.I should add that I regularly practise out to 500 yards with my rifles,so I have made shots at these distance many times on targets.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the type of preperation and conditions for the shot that I'm referring to.

We also have a 500m range here, and practice on clay birds out to that distance when the wind's calm. Actually 7mmSTW is one of the calibres I'm considering....
 
Silverado-I live in Fort Mcmurray,so we shoot at the same range.If you want some help with information on setting up a 7mmstw just ask and I will be glad to help out.
 
I've made a few out to the 500 mark , but prefer them inside that.
Where I hunt on the river I know every rock , becuase I've shot at all of them!
The longest shot I have every made was not my most memorable however.

Long distance shooting of animals has more to do with careful calculations and
precision shooting ,than actual hunting .
Stalking animals has more to do with hunting than precision shooting, IMHO.

Cat
 
So if you see a game animal and it's 200 yds away, are you going to keep walking until it is 400 yds. away? Seems to me to be a lot of hassle to keep checking back over your shoulder with your rangefinder until you are 400yds. away, the animal may get wise to you because this year everyone with a T-3 in WSM is using TSX for 400yd. shots!
 
I shot a WT buck @ 427 yds last year. I practice out to 500 and conditions were perfect. No wind, a fence post for a rest and a guy with the spotting scope. One shot, bang flop, broadside perfect heart/lung shot. It took out 1 rib on entry and 5 at the exit. The other deer with him never moved. We walked to within 200 yds of them and my buddy popped a doe from the same group. 30-06 with 150 gr Hornady SST handloads(around 2850 fps @ the muzzle)
 
Over the years I have shot 2 deer, 2 moose and 3 Elk at ranges from 450-530 yards. All were shot with big 7's or big 30's. All were shot under ideal conditions and in areas where I knew every rock and stump and the distance to them. I don't care for these long shots though, and as I have grown older, I have also grown more cautious. I much prefer shots at under 400 yards, and under 300 is better still. That being said, I still practice right out to 600 with my 30-338 and 7mm Mag. I know the trajectory of those Partitions intimately, and if I decided to take a long shot, I know exactly where the bullet will land. These days I carry a rangefinder, since depending on guesstimation doesn't cut it at all. Regards, Eagleye
 
Nailed a caribou at just over 400 m (mesured by ski-doo odometer) with a Savage .308 shooting 110 gr. Speer spire points. While it was not quite a "Hail Mary" shot I think the sign of the cross entered into it somewhere along the line.:rolleyes:
 
Practice, practice, and more practice. You have to get very intimate with your rifle to be able to make these shots consistently. Personally, I can't even see at 400 yards, so I don't shoot at that distance. Long shots are rare in the areas I hunt (swamp, hardwood ridges). Still, it would be fun to do some long range hunting.
 
My longest shot was on a nice pronghorn at 370 paces (probably about 350 yards with my short legs) with a 30-06 and 150 gr Nosler BTs off a bipod. I had to hold the cross hairs on his back and about a foot into the wind, but it was a bang / flop kill. I'm not very comfortable taking long shots, so I try to avoid them.
 
I lasered and headshot a groundhog at 495yards off a bi-pod with a 25WSSM.
I was pissed because DarrylDB lasered it too and I could not claim a 500yard shot.
I am a little offended that you would think Captain Deadly would jump on this thread. Nothing wrong with long shots on Game when practised and using the right equipment. Captain Deadly shot a whitetail at 450yds with a .270 Remington 7400 with a 8X scope and using the top of a fence post for a rest. This is not unethical or improper for a practised shot.
Now if you were going to say you wanted to shoot a Pronghorn at 400 yards in the head... thats a horse of a different color.:)
 
My longest shot so far was a mule deer at 537 yards. It was very clear out, little wind and slightly an uphill shot. After getting set up we lasered the deer and waited for a broadside shot. The shot rang out of my .300 Wby Mag, the deer did a 180 and started to head down hill and after about 20 yards piled up on a small nole.

When we got to the deer I couldn't see any blood or an exit wound so I started thinking this one of those "hit him in the antler and knocked him out" things I keep hearing about but it turns out that the shot just clipped the top of his heart and never did exit.

If I could give two pieces of advice to anyone that likes to or plans to start taking "the longshot" while hunting they would be: always try to get into position for a closer shot (remember these are live animals we are shooting) and second practice with the same rifle you will hunt with in as many different situations and at as many different distances as you can. When you've been shooting at ranges of 800-900 yards all summer long... the 400-500 yard shots are that much easier.

Ivo
 
I dropped a whitetail buck 418 paces across an alfalpha field. Had plenty of time, no wind and used my .270 Win. with 140gr Accubonds loaded to 2970fps and topped with my Leupold M8 6x scope. We judged the range using the fence lines for reference and were out by about 20 yards. The bullet took out the heart, destroyed the lungs and exited behind the off-shoulder. All conditions were perfect, as was the sight picture or I wouldn't have squeezed the trigger.
 
A 'number' of years ago, while on a Moose hunt, my partner & I spotted a Mulie Doe up close to the edge of a slash, quarting away but looking downhill at us at about a 60 degree angle. I had a tag for a Doe so my buddy said "shoot it"! As this was his first big game hunt & after 'considerable' discussion, I asked "how far"? He is a pretty good judge of distance and estimated, 450 + yds. After he mentioned, "you've said how good that gun can shoot, show me". I agreed to one shot, .300wm, 180gr Sierra SBT, 69gr of IMR 4350, CCI 250 primers & shooting dead on @ 100yds. Even @ 9 x on the scope, it still looked a long ways away. I put the cross hairs between her ears, then raised it to between the top of her ears & squeezed the shot. I had a good rest from a log & using my coat to help.... The gun did shoot
really well. The shot was right on the money & she went over backwards & never moved. I know this doesn't meet your suggested guidelines for a more planned shot, but it was & is my best. If my partner hadn't egged me into it, I would have just watched it through the bino's.
 
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