What your longest ethical range on whitetail deer

My farthest shot I would take on a deer would be 425 yards. The rifle and cartridge I use (7mm08) has enough to get there and provide ethical terminal performance.

I have shot the rifle, scope, and ammo out to just over 800 yards. A 6" plate was hit with a cold barrel at 500 yards so at 425 it's a range, dial, and shoot affair.

Eight or ten years ago i shot a whitetail doe at a lasered 416 yards using a .30-06 and my handload. There was no wind and i had a good rest. In about 1956 i killed a sheep killing dog at over 600 yards using my 1940 model 70 Winchester in .220 Swift, my longest shot on a critter.

Since 2000 the vast majority of my hogs and deer were killed with .50 and .54 caliber muzzleloaders. Most of my shots are from blinds or tree stands and average <60 yards. Less frequently i make stalks, the stooping and crawling hurts too much. But the mark of a good hunter ain't shooting animals from stands or sniping at long range: It's sneaking up and putting a round ball in the critters ear.

If I still had my Contender pistol I would be good out to 150 yards. It was a 7mm TCU with 120 Nosler BT. I took 2 with it but they both were inside 50 yards. I drilled a few crows out to 150. My GP100 357 I limit to 50 yards although I can keep most shots on a 8X11 sheet of paper at 100.

I believe the maximum ethical range for big game is the 475-500 yard range.

I haven't had many opportunities to shoot game past 200 yards. Only once at about 225. I practice regularly at 300 and feel confident at that range. There is a 6" steel plate hanging at the 300 yard line at the range where I shoot and I can't recall ever taking a shot at it and missing with any of my hunting rifles.

I've shot out to 600 occasionally and if conditions were perfect, if I had a range finder and plenty of time to set up the shot with no wind I might take a shot as far as 400. But that is my personal limit. I feel that if I had more opportunities to practice at longer distances I could get to the point where I'd have the confidence to shoot farther.

I know people who can ethically take shots well past 400 yards. But at my current skill and confidence level it wouldn't be ethical for me.

Stuff gets pretty hairy at 700-750 even in nearly-ideal conditions. I won’t even blink at 400.

With a bow it's 60 yards under ideal conditions. With my 7mm Rm it would be 400 on a calm animal. My 45-70 in Ohio would be 200 yards My 629 Smith&Wesson would be around 80 yards.

I have always thought that a quarter mile shot was a good poke (440 yards). Of course the conditions need to be ideal to reach out a quarter mile.
The longest shots I have taken at game is around 250 yards. They were not easy shots with the weather conditions for one and a extreme shot angle with the other. I was successful with both.

Longest I ever made was 200 yards. That’s about my skill level. That’s also about the max of my desire level. Further than that just wouldn’t feel like hunting to me, I don’t know why.

What does “ethics” mean in a hunting context? Nothing, probably. That was solved when you decided to hunt.

If I double lung a deer at 10 yards with my bow, is that ethical? If so, why?

If I shoot and wound a deer at 1000 yards, is that unethical? If so, why?

I’m a meat eater. I don’t apologize or make excuses for my diet choices or my ability to feed myself.

I would be comfortable with 120 to 150 yards with an offhand shot on a deer size animal. (Scoped rifle) In the last 15 years I have not had a shot over 80 yards.
I hunt the woods of Wisconsin central forest. In this area one would be lucky to even see the deer at my maximum comfortable range. My deer kill this year was about
80 yards.

Hypothetically 750-800 in perfect conditions.
But there's any number of variables that'll cut that in half quickly.
Many are easy to point out terrain, wind, shooting position, accuracy of the weapon.
One that stands out to me when people talk about shooting past 300-400 yards is time of flight, 1/2 a second is a long time for an animal easily capable of 40 feet per second. You start getting TOF over 1/2 second and you can have everything figured perfect and the animal takes a step after you pull the trigger.

The ethics of killing is always a fun topic. I’m not sure if that is set in stone. I know for a fact I have passed up easy shots at very close ranges when I didn’t feel like cleaning one that day. If I were starving I am not sure how far one would have to be for me to not at least try, likely out of sight.

I passed on a 40 or yd shot this season, too much brush between him and me, plus he took a step and obscured his vitals. Only could clearly see the back half, rear quarter, let him walk.

In an earlier post I mentioned taking a couple of mulies at 400+. I need to clear that up. It was the last day that we could hunt because of a front moving in. There were 4 does and a buck working their way up a steep hillside across a deep canyon. I had a good rest off of my pack and shooting prone I was sure that I could hit. But how far was he? I cranked my scope to 8 power and compared his body size to the duplex reticle. I guessed 400. My rifle was 3" high at 100 yards which put in on at 275. That should put me 12-14" at 400. When the buck stopped I held about 6" over his withers and squeezed one off. At that same moment Mr. Buck took a step. I saw him mule kick and knew that I had hit him too far back. He made 2 jumps and stopped behind some brush. I was waiting for a clear shot when he fell and started rolling down the hill. He would hang up in the oak brush, kick his self loose and roll head over heels down the steep hillside finally stopping when he hung his rack in the brush. The buck had moved at least 2 feet while my bullet was on it's way. I had hit him in the center of the hams taking out the femoral artery. This makes me wonder how far a deer could move during a 1000 yard shot. Things need to be perfect before I pull the trigger on anything over 200 yards.

H&Hhunter said:

What do you base that on? I’m just curious as to your criteria.

For me it is the rifle and it’s accuracy potential. The scope, how much shooting have I done with that rifle, scope and load at range. My field rest, is it rock solid? The weather, there are days that I’m perfectly comfortable to 500 or even 600 yards. There are days when I’d keep it to 300 or less. Visibility and most of all gusty winds over terrain features will severely limit the range I’ll shoot.

And of course the caliber I’m shooting that day.

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I base my opinion on the following criteria:

Rifle and load capable of at least 1.5 MOA
Load with a MPBR in the 300+ yard range
Projectile capable of adequate expansion at 400+ yards
Solid rifle rest (prone or sitting + bipod or firm improvised rest)
Capable rifleman that has practiced shooting at 475-500 yards in field positions and is capable of hitting the vital area of his quarry with repeatability.
Good shooting conditions (clear sunny day and calm winds)

When I hunted Wyoming in my 20s I was comfortable with 300 yards or so, and got a couple at near those ranges. The past 20 years hunting in MI I think my longest kill was about 120 yards. I doubt where I hunt I would ever get a shot at much over 150. Last years buck was about 80 yards.

Optics, bullets, and a lot of everything has changed over the last 30 years.

Jeff

About 60 yds, with a revolver or shotgun with slugs, I don't use rifles to hunt at the moment

I've shot 2 whitetails at over 400 yards. One was aprox 450 based on a square 40 acre parcel and the ditch he was just across. One was a roughly estimated 600 yards. Both were with my old Rem 788 .308 with the Nosler solid base soft point. Neither were anything resembling confidence shots, but both were known wounded deer. Both died with my one follow up shot. No doubt some luck on the 600 yard fellow, as I was aiming for the shoulder and hit just under the antlers with a WAG on wind and holdover. I was shooting by "feel" on the latter, based on LOTS of practice over the same sod fields with very plentiful at the time military surplus ammo.

Now back to the real world. I hunt with a relatively heavy .280 rem. It has a stock designed for solid holds from field positions. It is significantly flatter and less susceptible to wind than my old .308. It is capable of sub-MOA accuracy. My max range on a deer would be 400 yards if I could see that far anywhere I hunt and the conditions were near perfect. I've thrown too many "random 8s" on an otherwise clean 300 yard high power target to not respect the gremlins that come into play when the distance stretches out. An 8 out the side is still a dead deer at 300. 400 you're pushing your luck and better be good at trailing. At 5 or 600, it's a clean miss or a lost animal. Far too often, even in good conditions, that score disk comes up "8" when you know you punched a 10. I've scored the national junior champion and he challenged the score on 2 8s I ran up that cost him an important match, he was so sure they were 10s. The gusts of wind were at the pits, not the firing points or wind flags. Gremlins.

With my Savage MSR-10 in .308 I'd shoot up to 300yds. That's the max distance I have practiced and I am sure I can put one in the vitals with a good rest. If I got nervous I would not shoot. With 165gr accubonds and my 16in barrel my max range to have them expand (1800fps) would be about 450yds. Someday I will be able to shoot further, for now I can work on shooting quicker or tightening my 300yd groups out. Where I hunt there is only one shooting lane on the whole ranch past 300yds so I'm not in a hurry to need to shoot further than that.

Depends on location, conditions, animal behavior, shooter, weapon and ammunition. I don’t usually get chances to practice shooting at moving targets with a rifle, so when I do get a trotting deer, I usually wait for it to stop. Sometimes, that means I wait a while for a shot. Sometimes, that means I don’t get one. The Coues buck I killed this year was one that was close and moving quickly when I first saw him, but standing motionless at >3x the distance when I killed him at 130. I’ve killed them at 300. That’s pretty far, really, especially if a hunter zeroes at 100 the week before the season and never shoots farther or practices during the off season.

Standing broadside, motionless, feeding, bedded, etc, I’m ready to shoot to 400 with either of my main scoped centerfire hunting rifles (.243, .270). With enough practice, in the right situations, I might work that up to 500 with the .270. I know it’s capable mathematically, but I’m not ready with this rifle to use it at that range yet. 6.8 AR, I’ll limit myself to 300, because of math and my understanding of the cartridge and it’s capabilities. My lever action .357 with brass bead and buckhorns? 50 yards - I don’t shoot it accurately enough past that, even if a load is capable farther. If I put a peep or scope on it, maybe 100. Hawken, maybe 100, preferably a lot less. But I’ve basically quit hunting with a muzzleloader because I have seen and/or caused too many ugly, slow kills with one. Centerfire hunting rounds work better for me.

All that said, I know guys who don’t get excited about a shot unless it’s over 500 yards, and they have specialized equipment that they practice with to 1000. Time of flight doesn’t seem to enter into calculations for them, nor mangling an animal. It does for me, so I don’t do that.

If you want to talk ethics in hunting, I think that as long as you are following the local game laws and can live with the consequences of your decisions, they’re personal. There are things I’ll do that other people won’t, and things other people will do that I won’t. Personal decisions.

troy fairweather said:

I try to cap out at about 500 yards on deer, I've hunt with some cartridges that have to energy to reach out more and have plenty of energy and speed. But I've always felt after 500 there to many thing to happen and chances to miss a animal or worse injure the animal.

Even if you know the drop and wind which can be hard some places I just think the small amount of time from when you pull the trigger to when the animal is hit is a bit to much after 500 yards. The animal could move quite a bit in the time the bullet needs to travel.

The longest shot I've made in a deer is about 540 from the gps, I was on a big hill on the farm I used to hunt, are shooting range was there. A week before I was shooting my 270 at the time there and hitting a large rock next to the cow pond and had the drop figured out. The wind is pretty light there because it was like a small valley. That day out hunting I'm walking up the hill from a spot I sat in the morning and see the bucks and does by the pond.

I sat there for 20minutes watching them and the weren't moving much so so I decided to shoot the bigger buck. It was grasp enough I could see the vaper trail, the buck dropped dead.

So whats the farthest you feel comfortable nshooting.

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Depends on the conditions, the specific animal, the day, and how badly I need to put stuff in the coolers.
Much past 400yds and Im very unlikely to take a shot.