What Is The Maximum Distance That You Would Attempt A Shot

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For instance, 50 feet up a tree, with a 30-40mph crosswind, tree moving 2-3 feet each way, and a doe at 100 yards; I'd pass, climb down the tree and clean my shorts out.
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50 FEET up a tree?!?! That's five stories!!! I'd be cleaning out my drawers too!
 
I'm not in the business of "attempting". I'm either going to make the shot count or not take it. To that end, 800+.
 
My limit is 200 yards, but I would MUCH prefer them to be within 100 yards. My BAR 7mm will reach out and get them a LONG ways, but I just simply don't feel confident in trying. I hunt in east Texas and coastal SC so I don't really have a need to shoot that far.

Todd
 
i hunt my brother in law's farm & we have taken deer cleanly from 50 to 400 yards. we both shoot scoped 270 win bolts and use nice elevated box blinds.(heated chalets really.) we shoot our hunting rifles year round and know where the bullet is going to go. i'm blessed to have this set up and i know it but time spent with the rifle will build the confidence to take shots that are really out there. we have the room, the deer, & i believe the tools to do this on a regular basis. i use Hornady 130 gr sst & he prefers remmy 150 gr. we have never needed more than one shot per deer & they drop while watching them in the scope. there is no substitute for practice & familiarity with the rifle & loads you hunt with. and i'm getting geeked up for this year. those corn fed deer are delicious.
 
If all conditions and equipment are best case, a good hit at 500+ should not be a problem. However, conditions rarely are best case and you'd have to go out of your way to get a shot like that in this area. I prefer short guns, fat bullets and highly contoured land.

Unless you're a trophy hunter or starving, there is no great pressure to take a long shot. And the pressure is entirely in your mind in the first instance.
 
Depends on conditions, the old adage "if you don't use it , you lose it" applies.

I don't shoot long range anymore, the longest distance I do practice at is 200 yds. I might send one out to 400 yds, and feel confident in the energy left in the round. If it's a 308 or larger. 308 or smaller I would limit to 200 yds.

Most of the deer I take are no more than 100 yds. And, most times they are right below me, or within 40 yds. :D
 
Oh knock it off. I'm not showboating. I'm just saying I'm not going to take a shot that unless I know that I can make it count. That's all.
 
and you know you can make a first round, cold-bore hit in the vital zone of a deer at 800+ yards....

basically, you're saying you're good enough to shoot, dope the wind, and range the target to hit within an MOA on the first round, with the understanding that the target might start moving in the second it takes between when you pull the trigger and the bullet arrives.

edit: and just so we're clear on the ranging, as an example, for my gun, the dope for 800 yrds is 20.9 MOA and 825 is 22.1 MOA. So if your range estimate is off 25 yrds, your POI is 10" from where you hoped
 
Deer sized animal, probably no longer than 250yards with a known and tested load. Small pest animal like a 'yote or other varmint, as far as I can safely shoot. Primarily because most varmint bullets of any power whatsoever kill them instantly with a body shot. I've never heard of a gutshot prairie dog that walked off and died three days later.
 
taliv,

Good point. I've shot deer that took a step just as the trigger broke. Turned a lung shot into a diaphram shot, saving grace was the heavy magnum I was shooting.
 
Now?
300 yards. I'm not a long-range dude.
If I ever take the Appleseed course?
500 yards. Maybe.
I honestly am not a long-range guy. I'm more of a shotgun person. reflexive shots are more my style.
 
fwiw, i shoot 1000 yrd and 600 yrd competition at least a couple of weekends/month and can usually get in the 9 or 10 ring first round (of course, that's iron sights and slung in), but i wouldn't take a shot at a deer over 400 yrds even if i were on a bench with no wind.
 
This is great. Love the direct answers to the question guys. Especially Cueball`s answer. Perfect
 
I always get in trouble on these threads because I have, IRL, met a lot of people who claim to be long range experts, but turn out to be FOS. In fact, that defines pretty much all of long range experts I have met. So while I have no doubt, at least intellectually, that the person capable of 500+ yard first shot hits exists, I have never met him, and my personal experience indicates that odds are anyone who claims to be that guy is a first class liar.

Essentially, the folks I have met who claim to be capable of long range hunting are, in actuality, capable of sometimes being able to hit long range targets from a bench rest, at known distances, after a few ranging shots. When we add a touch of reality to the exercise -- unknown range, a bit of wind, a hastily assumed field position, first shot from a cold clean barrel, poorly defined aiming point, and a bit of buck fever -- something like a 50% first shot hit percentage beyond 300 yards is being generous. And few things in this world make me as angry as three-legged deer.

So forgive me or not, but I have a serious bone to pick with people who casually talk about 500, 600, 800+ yard shots.

In the real world, 200 yards is a pretty fair chop and 300 is a reasonable limit for almost everyone. Unless you are a very special rifleman with a very special rifle, these 500+ yard shots are not something to be attempted, let alone bragged about.

<edit> Ranting aside, I am a hunter, not a sniper. My game is to see how close I can get, not how far away. I would be embarrassed to admit that I could not get within reasonable range of my animal, and frankly, if I cannot do it, I do not feel I deserve him. Three hundred yards is my absolute limit with a scoped rifle, under ideal circumstances, because I need to be 99% positive of a first round killing hit. Anything less than ideal and my distance shrinks. I am not comfortable, generally speaking, until I am within 200 yards, and would prefer 100 or less.
 
Rc and post #5

Hey there ;
I am a complete accuracy nut. Post number 5 said 600 m. RC has a very good point too.

The .308 will run out of real energy at about 600 yards. (Legal energy) in some states. Anyway.... If The shooter can do the shot at 600. More powder to him.
Many can not. What ever the name of the famous school in TX is . they report that many (60 %) of the so called semi pro hunters could not make 300 yard shots 60 % of the time from a prone position. Average JOE did not fair that well.
I have taken P-dogs at over 700 yards w/ .223.... I would pay to get 100 yard shots at deer. Most are way too close... I took a doe in the head at 112 yards last year. just because. But Average joe that only hunts. And does not shoot on a regular basis would have a hard time with that.
Some shooters can do much much more then average joe . So there would be no way of comparing this type of thing in the real world.

I do custom reloading . The last guy went out west deer hunting shot a buck at 380 and a doe at 400. They both fell down. 165 grain Horn A-MAX , .300 win mags. BUT !!!!! They just this year found out that the rounds were loaded at .308 velocities.... they were shocked. And Very happy...

I do not think there is any thing wrong with long shots. IF the shooter can do it.. If he just thinks he can , then I have a problem with that. The gun , does not make the shot. The shooter does...
Most Guides will "NOT" let a hunter take unreasonable shots. They know how often those shots really work.
 
I have no doubt that I could hit a deer at 400-500 yards. It is the clean kill factor. A deer is a pretty big target, the kill zone isn't.
 
Ya.

Hey again;
Just read 38s post. You have something there too.
The rilfe is not going to be plain jane hunting gun.
My .308 PSS with a real range finding scope on it , Bi-pod and all. under perfect conditions with lots of time. Ya, I could do it first shot. BUT. I have many other good shooting rifles very accurate one that I would not even think about trying a shot like that with. Not that the rifle could not do it. But, at that range the drop gets very critical and even the best range finders can and will lie about it. As little as 30 or 40 yards off on the range and you would be lucky to end up with a clean miss. But worse is a BAD hit.
Thats when things get ugly.

I agree 100 % ... Most (LONG Range shooters) are NOT>>>>>>>.............
They beleive that some fancy drop compensating scope will make the some sort of expert... NOT gonna happen.... that comes from many hours of trigger time. Same bullets , same every thing, same gun, same oh same oh.
Sooner or later the shooter should get better. But there is a bigger challenge by spotting and stalking and getting into postion and tripping the trigger at just the right every thing then at the range....
 
"I have no doubt that I could hit a deer at 400-500 yards. It is the clean kill factor. A deer is a pretty big target, the kill zone isn't."

Yes! Exactly. The vital zone of the typical deer is perhaps eight inches by twelve inches. You cannot hit them just anywhere, regardless of how latest-greatest the cartridge may be.

As always, the test is this: staple some paper plates to sticks. Have a friend set these up over broken ground at approximately the ranges at which you think you can hit -- 300, 400, 80000, whatever. Now, take up your hunting rifle, assume a hasty field position, and have at it. If you can make the hit, every time, with the first shot, then you are good to go. If not -- and "most of the time" IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH when a life is at stake -- then you have no right to shoot at that distance.

If we could get the typical long range "expert" to substitute this exercise for his "What I did one time from a benchrest" deal, the game animals would be much better off.
 
Well, I expected this post to be full of guys saying they take shots @500 yds., etc. I damned proud of the guys who are humble enough to say "200 yds. is it for me".

As for the video of the gentleman shooting the steel target at 860 yds., it proved one thing to me: if he cannot, under near ideal conditions, put his first shot into a larg-ish, static target at a known range, I do not honestly think that your average hunter can hit a living, breathing, moving animal at half that range from a field position with his first shot?

Also, I'm curious...we always hear Joe Blow telling us about hitting prairie dogs in the head at 700 yds., but how many attempts does it take? We also read of incredibly long shots on game, but much more interesting and real to me are stories such as related by Art Eatman. Everybody misses, but no one likes to talk about it. Maybe I'll start a thread about misses. Lord knows I could tell a few stories!!
35W
 
"Maybe I'll start a thread about misses."

I think that would be just about the best thread we've ever seen around here, and I think you should start it.
 
I'm sticking with what I was taught in hunter education years ago. If you can't hit an 8" paper plate at the distance you are shooting, you are too far. I feel comfortable out to 250. Shooting 2 MOA means a roughly 5 inch group. Offhand I probably wouldn't risk past 150. I have no problem banging away at a 600 yard target, because I'm not going to feel bad if I nick it in the white. An animal deserves better respect than that.
 
I'll Lie.

Hey there:
Don't make me lie now...

I agree very much so with you guys. 900 - 1000 yards ??????? Come on . What rifle would have the whomp to KILL deer at that range ???

I hate these deer hunting videos. they Make it all look so easy... They always have some monster buck walk in 10 min. after they get in their stand. They never miss. AND if we don't do what they do we are just stupid.
Anyone that claims 1000 yard shots on any animal is not a hunter. They may be a very good shooter, But clearly not a hunter. Anyone that has put in their time in the woods. Knows that even 200 yard shots can go very wrong very fast. I know I could hit the damm thing. But , I'm just not into tracking any more. Short of something like a WAR BIRD, I am not sure what could be used at 1000 yards that could drop a deer. NOTICE ! I did not say HIT. I said drop. I have been in this game way too long to buy that kind of gun shop talk.
We may not always agree on every thing but here we do.....
Good shootin and happy Huntin.
 
I moved and the old Gun's Illistrated or Gun Digest all marked up with the cartridge ballistic chart, what single shot kills at what range, had to go, due to lack of space.
I do have others, should I be in seriouse dream mode again.

Energy at 200-300-400 yards for one shot kills, is your max distance.
Deer need 1,200. Elk-1,600.

Then you look at how much drop you are willing to take for how much kick. A .308 is a 300 yard rifle, a .30-06 is a 350 yard rifle from my memory.

I do not have any modern books with the modern "squat" cartridges.
But it will be the same. Deer-1.200 Elk-1,600.
 
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