Why the yardage exaggeration

[Varminterror]

#sourgrapes

The fact you can’t, don’t, or won’t do something doesn’t mean everyone else in the world has to be so closed minded.

I own 5 laser rangefinders currently. Haven’t hunted without one for over 20years. Pretty easy to know exactly how far I’m shooting, and pretty indefensible if I’d try to lie about it.

 

[Texas10mm]

I have shot and hunted all over my home state of Arizona. Hunted UT, WY and KS. Either my 06 or 243 are the rifle I use. I've bagged most varmint critters that are able to be hunted. I've taken Whitetail, Mule deer. Pronghorn, Elk and Black bear. In my 40 years of hunting, my longest shot at game has been 360 yards. I'd say over 70% of all game I have taken is between 130 to 210 yards.
But I hear a vast majority of shooters and hunters declare they take this animal or that animal at 500 + yards all the time. Or they are bagging game while shooting off hand at running game 400 yards away and bowl em over with one shot. I find these stories quite unbelievable. Seems no one gets the deer at 100 yards, or shoots ole Wile unless there half mile away.
Am I wrong?

Most hunters can't estimate distance any more than they can sprout wings and fly.

 

[Hookeye]

Ya know.........people wound and lose deer at close range all the dang time.
And most of them think long range shooters are worse than what they are.

From doing gunshows, working gun retail and hanging around various clubs, ranges......the average deer hunter doesn't post on a forum, is pretty clueless as to equipment, and isn't a very good shot.

But as long as they stay within the limits of the gear and themselves, they fill their freezers.

 

[Hookeye]

I've had a couple farmers shake their heads in disbelief, shooting chucks off bipods, called headshots at 250.
They evidently thought groundhogs w .22rf at 50 yards is what everybody did.

 

[Varminterror]

Echoing @Hookeye’s sentiment, I would be willing to wager more deer are wounded at short range, especially by guys drive hunting with rifles or buckshot than by guys trying to shoot 600+ yards. Within 600yrds, short range across the board, guys still commonly make bad shots, also, across the board.

Most hunters and shooters I have met in my life recognize the hard limit of 500-600yrds in hand. They might fling one at 300-400 with a ton of undeserved confidence, but those deer get mighty small in a 3-9x40mm optic at 600+, and most guys won’t get stable enough in the field to keep crosshairs even on the deer, so they’ll work to get closer. It’s the 100-400, maybe 500yrd shots where guys with average equipment will carry confidence and won’t realize how limited they really are.

Everyone I have met who hunts past 600 has been well equipped and equally well experienced to deliver on target. It’s not difficult, really, it just takes money and time.

 

[Garandimal]

How many people actually take 1 yard steps? If you combine this with pacing to the downed game instead of where it was shot....

I've had people exaggerate shots that I have made. Sometimes it's just for the need to have a "good" story.

Remember takin' quite a few 30" steps, startin' with my left foot, back some time ago.
(and, if memory serves, ...a lot of yellin' as well)






GR

 

[Garandimal]

#sourgrapes

The fact you can’t, don’t, or won’t do something doesn’t mean everyone else in the world has to be so closed minded.

I own 5 laser rangefinders currently. Haven’t hunted without one for over 20years. Pretty easy to know exactly how far I’m shooting, and pretty indefensible if I’d try to lie about it.

To me, laser-rangefinders/bipods in the hunting fields is like a fish-finder in the bayou.

If I thought I needed one?... I'd go to the market instead.




GR

 

[Hookeye]

The heart and lungs is a big target on a broadside deer.
And I still hear from coworkers about how they hit the liver.
Often.
These the close shot guys.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Remember takin' quite a few 30" steps, startin' with my left foot, back some time ago.
(and, if memory serves, ...a lot of yellin' as well)






GR

Yes sir. I've just heard the one step is one yard from a lot of people who estimate range that way.
I was bad at judging distance until I sat in a tree stand for hours guessing distance then lasering it.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Echoing @Hookeye’s sentiment, I would be willing to wager more deer are wounded at short range, especially by guys drive hunting with rifles or buckshot than by guys trying to shoot 600+ yards. Within 600yrds, short range across the board, guys still commonly make bad shots, also, across the board.

Most hunters and shooters I have met in my life recognize the hard limit of 500-600yrds in hand. They might fling one at 300-400 with a ton of undeserved confidence, but those deer get mighty small in a 3-9x40mm optic at 600+, and most guys won’t get stable enough in the field to keep crosshairs even on the deer, so they’ll work to get closer. It’s the 100-400, maybe 500yrd shots where guys with average equipment will carry confidence and won’t realize how limited they really are.

Everyone I have met who hunts past 600 has been well equipped and equally well experienced to deliver on target. It’s not difficult, really, it just takes money and time.

This about sums it up. Don't practice because it's easy to hit a football size target at 100yds.
It's more about your ethics than the distance. I've passed shots at less than 30 yds.

 

[Hookeye]

If not comfy, let em go. Try again tomorrow.

 

[cdb1]

My longest shot ever for any animal was around 300 yards. All the others have been well under 200 yards. I’m horrible at judging distance, but the land I hunt on is either my own, my BIL’s, my Mother’s or a very close friend’s. By using familiar landmarks I know within 50 yards how long a shot will be.

My depth perception isn’t sub-par, it’s pretty much non existent due to really bad astigmatism.

 

[Kano383]

If one is hunting, getting up close is part of the challenge. This is what takes hunting skills. When I can get within thirty yards of a cape buffalo, I feel I've got something to talk about around the campfire...

Or was it really 40?

 

[LoonWulf]

I'm no athority on this, but no, you can't make the 1k claim.

The ft = yds or 3X rules apply.

Generally, at least my understanding is, the ft = yds rules applies mostly to pistols.

Since your shooting rifles, you apply the 3X rule.

Realistically, you're a 660ish yrd, "but could at 800-850 yds" shooter on the Internet.


Good job, bro

Sweet that's at least twice as far as I tell people I can hit stuff! I mean...uh....yeah do it all the time

 

[Hookeye]

Try ground hunting pressured whitetails w a stickbow. Public land, spot n stalk......saw one past 400 in picked corn. Got to around 75 and bleated. Shot him at 15. Pretty cool. And man they look big when youre on your knees!

I'll shoot em close, and I'll shoot em out a ways w rifle.
Don't see how yardage makes it better one way or the other.
Just do what ya gotta do IMHO.

 

[Hookeye]

Fwiw when i hunted all summer for chucks i got pretty darn good at yardage to 350. Then i got into 3d archery and my long range estimation wasnt as good. But by golly my short range was dynamite....i always shot for center of kill too.....didnt play the zone if unsure of yardage. Pick a number and shoot to hit center. That forces more exact yardage estimation. Now that i pretty much do neither......I simply walk stuff off. Have paced corner to back of field and across to old fence line.....and from stand to creek. Even if not shooting those areas i want to have a sense of scale.

My buddy's dad has a big cornfield, shots could go to 800.
There is some roll to it.Be a tough one to judge. Def need laser for that place.
Often windy, that proly make shots way shorter. He did get a .300 winmag.

 

[JohnKSa]

I'm sure that some folks lie outright.

But my guess is that there's not much outright lying--that most of it is people who are bad at estimating distances (which is most of us, truth be told) quoting distances that were never actually measured and/or forgetting the details or getting them mixed up. Same deal with group sizes.

Hanlon's Razor, and all that...

 

[ATCDoktor]

I have a good friend the guides for a sizable outfit here in the Southwest (Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah).

During the seasons he will post videos on social media of animals being taken at very long ranges by some of the clients he guides (500 to beyond 800 yards in some cases).

Some of these videos (to the uninitiated) appear quite spectacular reference the distances involved.

But what most people watching my friends videos don’t know is that I get to see the unedited videos of these long range shots.

Some of these guys fire up to a full box of 20 rounds (of their $80.00 a box factory loads) through their $2000.00 wonder rifle (with equally expensive scope) at one animal from the same location (essentially walking the bullets onto the target using the guide as a spotter).

 

[LoonWulf]

Friend of mine just bought a sig BDX set because he thinks it will allow him to shoot as well as another friend of ours who quite comfortable shooting out to 400ish.
Buddy 1 is a 3-4moa shooter with a decent rest, and dosent practice a lot. He's pretty new.

Buddy 2 is a 1 moa shooter from a decent rest, who also doesn't practice a lot, but has been shooting game since we were in elementary (nearly every weekend during school).

I'm trying to get buddy 1 to come do some mid range practice with me, just so he can see that equipment ,and knowing where to aim, isn't really the issue.

Try ground hunting pressured whitetails w a stickbow. Public land, spot n stalk......saw one past 400 in picked corn. Got to around 75 and bleated. Shot him at 15. Pretty cool. And man they look big when youre on your knees!

I've only poked a few critters with my bows. Shortest shot was about 10yds on a doe that ran up to me in the open.
Most of my shots have been at 30-40yds, took a couple with my modern recurve and a couple with my compound. I have to use a laser with the compound, but with the recurve I compensate automatically.
Technology vs hours of practice every day there. Using the compound tho I can make consistent hits at almost double the distance of the recurve.

 

[Hookeye]

Top end rifles and scopes interest me.
H&R handirifles and Mossberg 500's don't.
Don't care what a person uses.
The only shame to be had is when one can't run it well.

Big private areas, limited pressure, QDM..........
why I can't stand the informercials on the Outdoor Channel.

I'll watch Leatherwood or The Hunting Public on Youtube.
Or Whitetail Adrenaline DVDs.

 

[Hookeye]

Again, a lot of people that can afford top end gear and guided hunts...........aint really hunters.
Bud told me of when he went pronghorn, two dudes showed up looking like legit cowboys.......until they saw the shine of earing.
Yup.............they already had their tags punched too.
Guide got CO in town to issue new tags for em next day.....lucked out.

Pops went on a hunt way back, guy shows up, his kid misses critter.
There was an inspection sticker on the kids scope...............that a hint.
Yup, kids dad had no clue that the thing once assembled, would need zeroed in.

Wealth in knowledge is not the same as wealth in wallet.
But the more the latter gets damaged, the more the carrier should in theory learn.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

The biggest part of it is measuring distance IMO. Across open ground, 200 yards can start looking like 300 yards very easily. And 200 vs 250, 250 vs 300, etc, is basically guesswork without a rangefinder.

With no hard info either way, people tend to take the more optimistic estimates.

 

[Hookeye]

Some people.
Not all.
IMHO if there's doubt, go with the shorter number (yardage, deer weight/score).

Even stay on the shy side...........when fishing.

 

[Slamfire]

Those who advocate long range shooting, because of all the range finders they own, are very lucky to live and shoot in areas that don't have crosswinds. And if you believe that you can fling shots at 600 plus yards, because of all your range finders, how about going down to CMP talladega and hit the X ring first shot, at 600 yards. With someone to witness. The NRA X ring is six inches in diameter, the F Class three inches. I think the range finder types need to use the F class target to prove just how they hit the X ring first time, every time.

 

[Llama Bob]

Wind is certainly the limiting factor to what can ethically be done. With a big rifle with sleek bullets wind error per MPH of wind call error is about 0.8" at 400y, 1.3" at 500y, and 1.8" at 600y. 2MPH of call error is pretty good for a first shot over flat ground, 3-4MPH is decent for canyon shots where the bullet passes very high above ground.

This all works out that 4-500y is about the limit for ethical shots in most western hunting with a powerful and well configured rifle, less of course for lesser arms.