Stand on yur hind legs and shoot like a man... How far is too far off hand?

I always look for some sort of support, even when game is not around , same for shooting lanes. When walking , a shot under 100 meters is easy off hand, but would still lean up against a tree for a better look.

My pack is my friend , love to shoot off my pack at any distance that the rifle / cartridge will put meat in the freezer
 
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I took a quickly trotting moose once at 275 off hand. By far my longest off hand shot, seeing it is the only off hand animal I have taken.

Apart from him running, conditions were perfect. I thought I shot a little low and I was right, it was low on the vitals, but still made a mess of his innards.
 
Standing offhand shots out to 100 yards if I have been hiking, 150 yards if conditions are perfect beyond that it gets dicey for me. I have only taken an offhand shot out to 60-80 yards when hunting I always seem to find a rest or drop to my sitting position.

I often use the sitting position with my elbows on the front of my knees. I practice a ton from that position and find I am confident out to the furthest range I am willing to shoot at game from the sitting position. It gets you above the vegetation but is stable. I also have found that even if a deer has made me when I am doing spot and stalk dropping to a static sitting position keeps them around longer than if you had moved a few feet to use a tree as a rest (maybe it is a less threatening pose?).

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Depends how much one practises. Sighting in off a rest isn't practising.

My guess, the average shooter, who is calm and not out of breath should be able to hit a broadside stationary deer in the vitals. Moving around and taking time too find a rest within 50m's might cost you the opportunity.
 
Our rifle range has a dueling tree set up at 200 yards with 8" plates. I can't hit them off hand often enough to reliably claim 200 but from 100 it's not a problem so 100 yards or so is what I'm comfortable with. I can hit the plate at 200 reliably if resting against one of the posts that holds up the range roof.

Maybe it's the influence of years of shotgunning but I find more success in hitting longer targets with the rifle if I'm moving laterally and touch the trigger just as the reticle crosses the target. Trying to hold steady on a stationery target is a lot tougher. Anyone else find the same?
 
riden said:
I took a quickly trotting moose once at 275 off hand. By far my longest off hand shot, seeing it is the only off hand animal I have taken.

Apart from him running, conditions were perfect. I thought I shot a little low and I was right, it was low on the vitals, but still made a mess of his innards.
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You're a better man than 'most'. 275 yds/M's, offhand, Moose was trotting, you were 'calm'???????????????? What do you usually shoot for a group, offhand, @ 275, yds/M's?
 
Shot a running buck this year at 170yds,and another walking about 140yds.These shots are as far out as I want to shoot(closer the better).About double what I practice.
I practice at our local range alot on the running deer target at 80yds.
 
If you'd asked this 4 years ago, my answer would have been (on standing animals clearly in the open) 150 yds for deer and 200 yds for moose. However, that fall I shot a standing deer at 213 yds. That was the first year I'd had the use of a range finder. I've adjusted my estimates to 200 yds for deer and 250 for moose under similar conditions.

On a walking deer I'd shoot about 75 - 100 yds, and a running deer, no more than 40 yds.

I almost exclusively take off-hand shots. When I try to use a rest, things seem to go in the dumper in a big hurry.
 
I've been practicing a lot recently, and can repeatably ring the gong at 200. Don't think I try quite that far on real game unsupported though. Leaning against a tree or rested is a whole 'nuther story.
 
Claybuster said:
Our rifle range has a dueling tree set up at 200 yards with 8" plates. I can't hit them off hand often enough to reliably claim 200 but from 100 it's not a problem so 100 yards or so is what I'm comfortable with. I can hit the plate at 200 reliably if resting against one of the posts that holds up the range roof.

Maybe it's the influence of years of shotgunning but I find more success in hitting longer targets with the rifle if I'm moving laterally and touch the trigger just as the reticle crosses the target. Trying to hold steady on a stationery target is a lot tougher. Anyone else find the same?
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Yep, but I do it vertical, I sink though my target while exhaling, naturally lowering the point of aim as I exhale, when I cross the target I fire and try to imagine keeping the flow down during recoil.

With a light rifle with good balance and a sling (my .260 Ti comes to mind), I'm confident to 200 yards on deer sized game.
 
For me its about 100 yards. I do practice to 200 yards. At the local range we have a steel gong at 200 yards but it still seems pretty far for me. The best I have done to date is 6 out of 10. I picked up a 6mm Remington this past year just to practice with at the range:)
 
Claybuster said:
Maybe it's the influence of years of shotgunning but I find more success in hitting longer targets with the rifle if I'm moving laterally and touch the trigger just as the reticle crosses the target. Trying to hold steady on a stationery target is a lot tougher. Anyone else find the same?
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I am a shotgunner as well, and I sort of relate to how you describe your reticle on target. Trying to hold steady is not only tougher, but I think it is impossible so I don't even try without a rest. What I do is try to move in small circles or small infinity signs. That is when I am calm enough to remember my standing gopher technique. This year I shot a wt buck at 60 yards. This is the shortest game shot I have made in the last 19 years, but it is also the longest and only offhand shot in that time. I can be on paper every time at 100, but I need some kind of rest to hit our range gong at 200.
 
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