Why the yardage exaggeration

I can offer a little help to those that have a little trouble with distance determination. I make and sale what the Army calls Ranger beads and the Marine Corps calls a pace counter.
I will send the first five forum members that PM me a free pace counter. I’ll even cover the shipping.


I have several different colors. (Pace counters on the left)

Long distance stuff.
Some rather dynamic language and antics.
This part 2.
Cried I laughed so hard.
Dunno who this guy is.
Again..........language warning.
Wont imbed it due to that.
But here's the link........

guy tosses around a Barret w a SWFA SS scope.

We got a good kick out of this one at work.
youtube is: WJigzhSx6bM

Even my ol lady watched it........said hmmmm, sounds like you have a brother.
LMAO.

Didn't read all the responses in this thread but what I find amusing is that I know my abilities and have been questioned as to my abilities to shoot as well as I do knowing full well people who can out shoot my abilities at will.
Guys like Tom Knapp RIP, Jerry Miculek and John Whidden really exist and it's humbling to me.

The distance estimating overage may be a male thing. You know that a certain male "member's" length is often estimated at a round number, like a foot long. That's probably very close to a 50% exaggeration. Carry that over to the hunting game and shots that may be a hundred yards seem like 200 or more, and increases incrementally with each telling of the story.

Being an old surveyor/engineering type, I tend to estimate distances truer to actual measurements. My paces may be a bit shorter than one yard though, and pacing down a road may result in a bit higher yardage than the true measurement. Close enough for me; however and NOBODY ever rounds distance/length estimates DOWN, do they?

Picher said:

...Being an old surveyor/engineering type, I tend to estimate distances truer to actual measurements. My paces may be a bit shorter than one yard though, and pacing down a road may result in a bit higher yardage than the true measurement. Close enough for me; however and NOBODY ever rounds distance/length estimates DOWN, do they?

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Remember way back in Surveyor Class we were required to register our pace and step-off several loops for grade.

30"/pace = 12/10 yards.

Terrain is the tricky part.




GR

I have walked off a shot, and walked it back, to verify.
Sometimes repeated.
Also had others verify.
If I call it certain distance, it's that far..........or farther (always err to the short).

The shot is the shot, is what it is. No need to lie about it.
Want it farther? Shoot one farther. Pretty d*mn simple.

Back in the day I used hear stories like this from coworkers during coffee breaks.
"Yup I shot a moose at 600 yards with my new my 7mm Whammer." Funny thing is that it took them 40 rounds to sight in at a range and they had never fired a round offhand, kneeling, or sitting with it.
They still weren't entirely sure it was sighted in afterward. They just ran out of ammo.

Probably the farthest shot I've witnessed and that could reasonably be paced off was when I went rockchucking with a former coworker of mine. Jerry was a dedicated varmint guy, heavy barreled everything and always off bipeds or a rest and with glass you could count the hairs on a housefly's willy at a mile.
He was shooting a 22-250 over flat terrain and terrorizing a prairie dog town. End of the day he zapped one and we decided to walk off the distance just so he had legit bragging rights (hence my presence), with one of those wheel things surveyors use.
Given the variations in the ground, the machine marked his furthest hit at 750 yards and some change. That was the only time I could say with certainty someone could connect at such a distance while hunting. Yes, he had bragging rights and I had to back him up because I saw it with my own two eyes. It was a nice day, too, but I was only there as his spotter.

VHA required witness.
Had one field that offered a 500 yarder on chuck.
Never got a chance at him from the opp corner.

A coworker had the measure wheel, his cousins place had a 450 w hill behind.
He and his buds tried .308's w match bullets.
Nobody even got close LOL (way low).

Buddy use to go PD poppin. This back in the 80's/90's.
Had a few past 500.

Farthest kill shot I have seen personally, was by my brother-in-law. Was over at his house when we spotted a yote walking across the back part of his field. He grabbed his 270 and rested it up on a fence post. Bang, 2 seconds later, he fell. One shot kill. He said that he held over about 2ft and didn't know for sure he would hit it. Drove down to find it, was a perfect (lucky) shot right in the heart. He got his range finder out later and was just shy of 400yrds. I would prolly never try a shot that far, furthest would be 200 yrds. Around here, unless you are shooting in a clear cut cow pasture or a good straight power line ROW, would be good to get a 100 yrd shot.

I must admit that I have no experience shooting game at over 100 yards, and that was woods hunting years ago with a Marlin .30-30 with open sights. However, even at that range you need the basic skills of trigger control, and some practice shooting offhand and from a rest.
I learned to shoot using a target pistol offhand in formal bullseye shooting before I ever shot a rifle. Those skills served me very well.

I once had the opportunity to shoot a very nice heavy barrel .30-06 Remington with a large target scope, set at about 12 power, at a modest 100 yards. I was sitting on the ground and braced my elbows on my knees and effortlessly drilled a pop can dead center, which was a bit of a revelation to me. Extrapolating, if you could so precisely and easily drill a pop can at 100 yards with that rifle while sitting, then a similar 400 yard kill shot at a deer should not be difficult at all if you had the elevation right.

Still, the average hunter is not using such a heavy and accurate rifle, probably won't have the opportunity to get into a braced position, and many won't have the trigger control skills to make a 400 yard shot even if they were in a sitting position.

Normally I do not believe claims like that especially on the internet. I used to have a grouse hunting buddy that told me about fantastic shots on deer. I went on a hunting trip with him and stood beside him when our whole party saw him shoot a deer, a big buck that spooked out of some willows It ran across a field and by the time he stopped the truck and we all piled out it was crossing the 1/4 line fence. I did not shoot as I thought it was impossible. He shot and said he got it. We got there and it was dead with a neck shot a 1/4 mile away. It happens but not to mere mortals. It was off hand with a belted Winchester .284 lever action.

357smallbore said:

Just PM you. Am I one of the 5?

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I didn’t get your PM. PM me your shipping info and I’ll send one your way.

The story goes...........pops picked up a gal for a date, driving by some places he hunted chucks.
Had borrowed a BLR in .243win. Forget what scope it had. Proly just a 3-9X.

He saw one,stopped the car off the road. Got out and with damsel as witness, popped. it in back corner.
I've hunted that field.
Was over 400. Offhand.
He figured he'd get close and could make a story, as she wasn't a hunter/shooter.
Boom and it was dead.

Making the shot was a pretty good trick.
Acting like it was something he always did, was an even tougher act.
I never asked about that days other details LOL

On a calm day, a bullseye at 400 is a bullseye at 100 just held a little higher
Some folks seem to forget that

I’ve seen some insane shots before on deer but they were luck. Friend of mine shot a buck at 340 yards running. He used a 270 with a cheap 3-9. Shot it right through the ass as it jumped a fence, fell dead on the other side. We figure the deer broke it’s neck on the fall. It was a shot that shouldn’t have been taken but he somehow made it a clean kill.

Same friend shot a doe running at 250 yards with two shots. Deer piled up after second shot. Found two holes both within 2 1/2 inches in the boiler room. Wouldn’t have believed it but four of us watched him do it. I account his feats to the gigantic horse shoe he’s got crammed up his arse.

My grandfather shot a coyote at 350 yards with a 30-06 off a fence post down across a pasture. Said he was as surprised as the coyote was when he hit it. My uncle still has the tail.

Farthest I’ve ever poked was a gopher at 310 yards. Bipod, laser ranged, .222 I’d shot enough at the range with hand loads to have absolute confidence.
But most of my deer were between 5 and 150 yards.

Hookeye said:

On a calm day, a bullseye at 400 is a bullseye at 100 just held a little higher
Some folks seem to forget that

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Yeah. I just shot a service rifle match, and the difference between 200 yards and 600 yards is about 16 clicks. (I would not shoot an animal at 600 yards, however.)

I pre-laser spots along the old county road we hunt. It's been a snowmobile trail for years and it's pretty narrow, about 10 feet, so we can't laser a deer crossing before it's gone, so we spot various things like boulders, downed trees, etc. Four hundred yards is a long way down that road, especially before the sun comes up. I try to limit my shots to about 350 yards and have a holdover chart taped to my rifle stock. I urge others that I hunt with to use a high shoulder shot that will drop a deer in the road. If a deer isn't dropped in the opening, chances of finding it are much lower, due to low evergreens on each side in some areas. We want to find downed deer quickly and without tramping all over the area.

I do have a friend that is a shooter we dream to be.

First time I shot with him, it was a medium size soup can at maybe 100 yards. He was using a .45-70, offhand. Yeah, right. He hit it every shot until empty.

He shot a bedded deer with a .44 Mag S & W. Deer jumped up and started to run. 2nd shot was within an inch of the first. Deer got maybe 20 yards

Was on stand muzzle loader hunting when a pack of coyotes came in. Got the first one with the muzzle loader. Others started to run. He got three with the .44

The shots he makes I would consider nearly super human. But yeah, for for every shooter like this there are a thousand that think they are, at least in their own mind

Picher said:

I pre-laser spots along the old county road we hunt. It's been a snowmobile trail for years and it's pretty narrow, about 10 feet, so we can't laser a deer crossing before it's gone, so we spot various things like boulders, downed trees, etc. Four hundred yards is a long way down that road, especially before the sun comes up. I try to limit my shots to about 350 yards and have a holdover chart taped to my rifle stock. I urge others that I hunt with to use a high shoulder shot that will drop a deer in the road. If a deer isn't dropped in the opening, chances of finding it are much lower, due to low evergreens on each side in some areas. We want to find downed deer quickly and without tramping all over the area.

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I do similar, when ever I sit in a spot for a while I basically build a "range card" by lasing in terrain features. Only takes a couple minutes and has helped me more than once when an animal was just 'passing through'. Ditto with the dope chart taped to the stock, although 90% of he time it's 'hold on hair' for anything out to 350.

Hookeye said:

I'd like to kill a chuck or yote at 500.
Never even taken a shot that far.
Saw my dad hit one w .22-250 at 550 once. Made it down the hole though.

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Furthest woodchuck and coyote kill my hunting buddy and I have had was 400yards on a woodchuck with a 22-250 and 50gr V max. That rifles wears a 20x scope. I took one around 275yards with a 223rem on a woodchuck and 300yards on 3 coyotes while woodchuck hunting. 22-250 dropped the dad with a neck shot and I hit a pup with the 223 but it ran away. 3rd dog came back into the field to check on dad and we both fired and the dog jumped and rear end tucked ran away. Furthest deer shot was about 100-110 yards with a 45-70. Closest was 40yards with a ML.

Chuck R. said:

I do similar, when ever I sit in a spot for a while I basically build a "range card" by lasing in terrain features. Only takes a couple minutes and has helped me more than once when an animal was just 'passing through'. Ditto with the dope chart taped to the stock, although 90% of he time it's 'hold on hair' for anything out to 350.

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Yes, I have the distances pretty well set and only check holdover for the longest shots. My .270 is sighted-in well enough out to 350 yds.

Once, while holding the rifle down on the board hard, I shot a nice buck at about 250 yds. and actually saw the bullet hit the ribcage where I was aiming. That was really memorable!

I believe a large part is the fact that range estimation is a learned skill that takes practice to learn and maintain, and most people dont, nor, have much reason to.

Where I hunt, its possible, depending on direction to go 400ish, however, every deer we have seen has been inside 200, and those we have killed, inside 100 easily..

Picher said:

Yes, I have the distances pretty well set and only check holdover for the longest shots. My .270 is sighted-in well enough out to 350 yds.

Once, while holding the rifle down on the board hard, I shot a nice buck at about 250 yds. and actually saw the bullet hit the ribcage where I was aiming. That was really memorable!

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I'm normally also shooting a .270, 130 Noslet BT @ 3100, so a little under 7" drop at 300 when sighted at 200, which is just a bit under the 'hairline'.