What range do you hunt to?

How far do you usually shoot when hunting?

  • 50yds-100yds

    Votes: 60 27.4%

  • 100yds to 150yds

    Votes: 33 15.1%

  • 150yds to 200yds

    Votes: 31 14.2%

  • 200yds to 250yds

    Votes: 9 4.1%

  • 250yds to 300yds

    Votes: 29 13.2%

  • 300yds plus

    Votes: 57 26.0%
  • Total voters
    219
Most have been under 200 yards. Longest was 425 and a couple in the 300 range. I hunt in the same areas as Dusty61 and agree that it is getting more common to have to take longet shots especially later in the seasons here.

I regulary practice shooting from field positions at a 300 yard and 400 yard metal plate (12-14" square) so will take a long shot if I have to.

44Bore
 
Shot one a couple of years ago at 410. Wouldn't do it now...out of practice but if you shoot a magnum, have a mil dot and practice, and never rush it....I don't see a problem. I have made 800 m shots (target shots). Practicing those long shots with tracers helps.
 
I generally practise to 500 yards from field positions,and my longest shot on a game animal was 480 yards.I carry a laser rangefinder,so I do not guess at yardages.Under perfect conditions,I would attempt a shot at a big game animal at 500 yards,but only under perfect conditions.I reduce my self imposed range according to wind,and the types of field rest available at the time.
 
I normally don't shoot if I think a shot is over 300 yards. For game, as opposed to varmints, it's about how close you stalk, not how far you shoot! Last Thursday I did cleanly kill a whitetail buck at 322 yards, one shot, but that was a very rare exception because I knew the range and my rifle exactly and had a very solid rest.

I have all my big game kills recorded in a journal and could calculate, but I estimate that for over 80 big game kills to date, my average range was less than 100 yards. And I DO hunt the wide open prairie as well as forest habitats.

I think that I'm a better than average shot, but don't know how that could be measured. I practise a lot on my private range, shoot a couple of boxes of shells most every week except in winter. I can easily keep all my shots on a 14" steel gong at 250 yards any time, but only with crossed stick rests, bipod, prone, or some other very solid rest. Any significant wind, or shooting from less steady field positions makes shots over 300 yards unethical because of the high chance of wounding - at least for me. But then I believe that a shooter should be prepared to punch his tag after drawing blood, whether or not the wounded animal is recovered. That cuts down drastically on "hope shots" taken at extreme range or at briefly glimpsed running game. I hold guests invited to hunt on our land to that standard. So, I think that hunters should shoot at any opportunity when they feel confident they can make a good shot - whether that's 50 yards or 500. Standing shot or running. Just live with the consequences.
 
The vast majority of my shots have been inside 150 yards. I've shot four animals outside of 250, the first a large bull moose was as close as a bangflop as you can have on an animal that large. The second was a mulie doe at 350 yards no problems, almost facing me dead on, made a good shot buty on exit damaged the meat on a back leg. The third an impala at 259 yards facing me and I missed a bit high, shot him in the face, blew the lower jaw all to hell, dropped like a stone. The fourth was a whitetail buck on Thursday at about 250 yards.

This one didn't work out exactly perfect, first the deer was slowly walking and I didn't factor that in, second it was quartering towards me a bit which I didn't notice as it was moving through tall grass. I hit the deer a bit too far back, peirced the diaphragm, gut bag and clipped the off back leg on exit. The deer kept walking through and small set of trees to the otherside of the cutline, now I have no rest just an offhand 200 yard shot which I missed with. I tracked the deer for another 3-400 yards into the bush where I found it and finished it.

The observation I make is it's much harder to judge small things like it being a bit of a quartering angle or the deer moving slowly, or the effect of the wind making it more likely that you will be doing some tracking. I haven't lost any of these animals and in all cases there was no way to get closer that would have made these shots easier(ie better rest). I do a fair bit of practise at ranges out to 300 metres and am very confident to pie plate accuracy off decent rests to that distance.
 
I took my deer this year at 200yds and would have had no problem going out to 400yds but thats my limit with my rifle. The longest shot on our property shooting in a safe direction is only a touch over 300yds.....limit with my 24'' fully rifled slug gun and open fiber sights is 150yds and my muzzle loader is the same 150yds.....
 
The last shot for me was about 285 yds, centerpunched the lungs on a mulie buck. Reason being for that shot is that he was with a harem of does and i was spotted, so set up the 'pod and let the 140 gr failsafe do the rest. Good ole 280 rem.

MulieHunt08005-1.jpg


I have stretched a 243 out to 325 on a doe and have hit coyotes out to 336 yds with my 280. I know how they perform in those ranges and feel 100 % confident shooting that far.
 
I am pretty comfortable at 350-400 on deer sized game if teh winds are 10km or under.

Most deer shot, as this year one at 25 yards the other at 50 are about as far as I can see in most neck of the woods.

In the Hardwood Hills of N-E Ontario you dont get many shots past 100-150 but in the fields you can push it to 350-400
 
Shot a dry doe this fall with shotgun @ about 45 yds, and a good 10 pointer out west with the old 308 at about 120 yds.

Yes they were on the move but one shot kills none the less.:D

Vermin shooting on the other hand, can get to much further ranges, but that's half the fun of shooting at vermin. So I voted for the under 300 yds one.:)
 
While I much prefer a shot under 300 yards, I always practice out at ranges that exceed that by a fair margin. As some have mentioned, most shots are close in, but some of the areas I hunt offer a long poke with few options, such as getting closer. My longest shot was a hair over 600 on a muley, but I had perfect conditions and two rangefinders/spotters. If a stalk is possible, I like that option better than a long shot. Regards, Eagleye.
 
I voted 300 yards plus.
That said I have only ever shot 3 animals past 300 yards, (antelope 365, Whitetail 350, Muledeer 320) and all three were under the most ideal of conditions. For the most part If I can get closer to an animal I do. That's what hunting is...

I live in southern Alberta where ranges can be long. So to be ready for hunting season I shot about 100 rounds a year at targets between 3-500 yards from field positions. NOT from a benchrest.

Like I said I have shot 3 animals past 300, but they were all under 400. I have seen deer out at those ranges that were big enough to make my blood run cold, but have passed up the shot because conditions weren't right/good enough to be certain.

I think having the ability to make long shots, and knowing when to actually do it are two different things.
 
I shoot 30-06 with handloads, and normally limit myself to 300 m . I don't have a rangefinder, target turrets on scope, or any other long range toys. My longest kill was 390 m on a large body buck. I estimated 300 to 350, aimed dead on, and watched the splash in the snow just under the rib cage. The next shot I put the crosshairs just under the spine, and down he went. Now I just limit to 300 or less.
 
9 out of 10 times my hunting shots on big game are within 150 yrds, ...
Shoot out to 500 metres though at target and varmint.


What I do find a bit odd is the reasoning for long range shots being, "there isn't enough cover, or the animals are spooky, etc etc etc"

How were they ever taken before? and what limits to do you set.

Because I could shoot an elk at 1000yrds, should I ?
 
deer range

Of 35 deer taken, one was 294 yards from a "tree house", rested and rangefinder over a BC field . Another down a fenceline in Manitoba at 225 yards. The rest all under 100 yards from the ground. My feeling is the closer the better.
Geoff
 
I can count on one hand the amount of times I've had to shoot past 200 yards on big game. Id say my average shot distance is 80-120 yards
 
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