What's the farthest/shortest shot you've made.

[NFA-ADK]

Shortest about 3 ft longest about 90 yards.  Gun.  

[airedale]

When it comes to shooting at any range there is no substitute for practice and plenty of it. For long range shooting at game in the in the field there is no better teacher than varmint hunting namely Crows and Woodchucks. Practice making clean killing shots on small targets shooting off make shift rests, off hand or typical competitive target shooting methods like laying on your stomach or resting off your knees in a good sitting position.

I have read many times in Jack O Connor's writings that his hunting guides-outfitters said the best shots on game  were clients from back east that were chuck hunters.

Al

Edited June 5, 2019 by airedale

[Jeremy K]

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer . At least for whitetail, I'm sure other species are too hard to close the gap.

[moog5050]

11 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer . At least for whitetail, I'm sure other species are too hard to close the gap.

Both require a different skill set.  Personally, I just like dumb and cooperative deer.

[Marion]

Definitely prefer shorter range shots mostly due to the ease and more margin for error. That said I love a longer range shot because I know my limits as well as those of my rifle and handloads. I would feel very confident taking a shot out to 700 yards if I had to. Will I ever need to? Probably not. Would I feel confident taking that shot? Absolutely! But I do feel that as a hunter one should try to get in for as close of a shot as possible just out of respect for the animal and also the greater margin of error that will afford you.

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[rob-c]

22 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer . At least for whitetail, I'm sure other species are too hard to close the gap.

I like up close, because I like watching the behavior of the animals. Plus I like to challenge my woodsman ship skills to see if I am correct on stand placement. 

But being able to consistently make  300 yards shots like it’s nothing,  is a skill to respect. 

[airedale]

1 hour ago, Jeremy K said:

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer

For me Big or Small game the principles are the same, confidence and knowing your limitations. This will come down to the weapon being used and my proficiency with it. When hunting chucks and I am sitting in the middle of a hayfield with dimensions in the hundreds of yards with a 220 Swift and have a good rest I will take shots of several hundred yards.

The next day I may hunt the same fields with a handgun or a Rimfire rifle where my weapon's  effective range is drastically limited in relation to a Swift. All about the stalk then and  I have crawled on my belly many times to get within range to a distance I am comfortable with to take the shot. My personal satisfaction is the same with both methods of hunting. This all applies to Big game as well.

Want to add that affordable and very accurate laser rangefinders are one of the most useful and helpful tools when it comes to very long range shooting. Misjudging the range is eliminated for the most part so knowing the exact distance is a major problem that is solved.

 

Al

Edited June 5, 2019 by airedale

[grampy]

Practice Practice Practice......how you will hunt. There is only one way to to that. Lots of Trigger Time on the range.

Know your firearm inside and out. If you will be hunting out to 500+ yards, you should absolutely know the way your firearm and ammo combination perform at those ranges. And in different wind and weather conditions. As well as how you perform yourself, at those ranges you will be hunting. There should be little guessing. 

Four inches either way, can be the difference of recovering, or not recovering a deer. Ask any Deer Search handler.

[Robhuntandfish]

45 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer . At least for whitetail, I'm sure other species are too hard to close the gap.

I agree , for me anyway I don't feel like I outsmarted or earned the hunt as much if I shot an animal at like 600 yards or something.  Never would take away from someone who does it. It's an amazing feet of shooting to me. And to each their own to enjoy the way they like to hunt. Prob apples and oranges.  But for me it's not an amazing feet of hunting.  I want to be close up to feel like my hunting or planning skills were the reason I got the animal as that's my favorite part.  The shot is just kinda the period on the sentence of the story  If that makes sense......prob one of the reasons why I enjoy bow hunting so much.  

[steve863]

55 minutes ago, The Jerkman said:

Definitely prefer shorter range shots mostly due to the ease and more margin for error. That said I love a longer range shot because I know my limits as well as those of my rifle and handloads. I would feel very confident taking a shot out to 700 yards if I had to. Will I ever need to? Probably not. Would I feel confident taking that shot? Absolutely! But I do feel that as a hunter one should try to get in for as close of a shot as possible just out of respect for the animal and also the greater margin of error that will afford you.

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Do you practice out to 700 yards?  That's a LONG assed shot in my opinion.  I surely wouldn't be as confident as you. 

If there is one thing I don't like about today's big game hunting with rifles is this push to long distance shooting.  30 years ago a 300-400 yard shot was considered long range and now you see guys on TV, Youtube and magazines pushing the idea that a shot at 1000 yards or more is doable with some practice.  I don't care how much someone would practice at such ranges, there are just too many variables for someone to be confident that they won't just wound or cripple an animal if they take such long shots.  As we saw on the wind drift chart that someone posted above, even a 10 mph wind (which isn't really a very strong wind) can push a bullet off course enough to make a shot you thought would be a good one, into a bad one at 300-400 yards.  Lets push this up to 700 yards or more and the wind drift table starts looking even uglier.  I often wonder how many of these extremely long shots get butchered for each one of those spectacular kills we do get to see on TV or youtube?   Of course they'll never show us that.   

 

 

 

[DanD]

I'm not the greatest shot in the world, so I don't typically take shots past ~120-150 yards. Really need to work in more range time; however, with a 2 year old and a newborn due in 5 weeks it's tough to get to the range.

 

Shortest: ~3 yards with an 870 on a doe that was more out of self defense than filling the freezer

Longest:: ~130 yards on my 10 pt from the ADKs last year with the 7mm-08

[Marion]

Do you practice out to 700 yards?  That's a LONG assed shot in my opinion.  I surely wouldn't be as confident as you. 
If there is one thing I don't like about today's big game hunting with rifles is this push to long distance shooting.  30 years ago a 300-400 yard shot was considered long range and now you see guys on TV, Youtube and magazines pushing the idea that a shot at 1000 yards or more is doable with some practice.  I don't care how much someone would practice at such ranges, there are just too many variables for someone to be confident that they won't just wound or cripple an animal if they take such long shots.  As we saw on the wind drift chart that someone posted above, even a 10 mph wind (which isn't really a very strong wind) can push a bullet off course enough to make a shot you thought would be a good one, into a bad one at 300-400 yards.  Lets push this up to 700 yards or more and the wind drift table starts looking even uglier.  I often wonder how many of these extremely long shots get butchered for each one of those spectacular kills we do get to see on TV or youtube?   Of course they'll never show us that.   
 
 
 

Oh I would never take a shot at 1k unless my life depended on it. At that distance there is a ton that can happen between the time the trigger is pulled to the time it reaches its final destination. I'm not saying everyone should be shooting those ranges but if one knows how their rifle shoots and is a capable Marksman as well as has practiced at long distances then I do not have an issue with that. That said you'd be hard pressed not to get well within that range on 99% of animals that roam the planet

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[moog5050]

2 minutes ago, DanD said:

I'm not the greatest shot in the world, so I don't typically take shots past ~120-150 yards. Really need to work in more range time; however, with a 2 year old and a newborn due in 5 weeks it's tough to get to the range.

 

Shortest: ~3 yards with an 870 on a doe that was more out of self defense than filling the freezer

Longest:: ~130 yards on my 10 pt from the ADKs last year with the 7mm-08

I was a far better shot before I started hunting.  I got into hunting because I loved target shooting.  Now I only target shoot to be good enough to hunt because I love the hunting vs. shooting.  Weird.

[steve863]

On 6/3/2019 at 6:26 PM, Dinsdale said:

Eastern hunters think anything past a 100 yds is a hail mary; and judging by what I've seen at sight in days here and there, it is.

 

 

Yeah, there are plenty of hunters who wouldn't do very well shooting beyond 100 yards.  I could also assure you that there are a good number of these type of hunters out there that have bagged MORE deer than these modern long range gunners with all their super duper high tech equipment.  I know who I'd go to if I wanted meat in the freezer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BizCT]

Is anyone else torn between which carries more merit? I feel like a far shot is respectable as far as marksmanship goes ,but I always feel very strongly about being a better hunter and getting closer . At least for whitetail, I'm sure other species are too hard to close the gap.

Yes, but sometimes you can’t close that distance. That’s why every outfitter out west will tell you to be proficient at 250yds+ with a gun and 40yds+ with a bow to increase your odds.

When the landscape looks like this, sometimes you just can’t get any closer. I’ve been fairly lucky in that 3/4 animals I killed in Wyoming were under 200yds. Many I could have shot with bow, but weren’t shooters for me.






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[ATbuckhunter]

Im with Jeremy K. I think as a hunter, its my challange to get as close as I possibly can. Now sometimes you just have to take a long shot like in the situation Biz is describing. Like everyone else said, you need to know your capabilities and the capabilities of your rifle before you take a shot. What might be a long shot to me, could be a slam dunk for a guy that can shoot much further. 

[crappyice]

I MISSED a doe at under 5 yards two seasons ago - does that count?Shot UNDER her. Put the 20 yard pin a little lower than normal not remembering the whole arrow has to rise to the target thingy and blew that shot. Crazy thing was I was in a climber stand and she climbed a ridge right next to my tree - she wasn’t supposed to do that!!!


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[Nytracker]

350 yds woodchuck  760 pump 30/06 many years ago. Only rifle I had at the time .

226  ranged yds on a deer . 308 bolt action using a tree for rest.

200 yrds  muzzloader deer

35 yds with a bow deer

32 yds crossbow deer

60 yds buck  480 ruger srh deer

 Closest  deer  10 feet with ithica deer slayer 12 brenekie slugs. 

Closest with a bow was  7or 8 feet  on the ground . First buck with bow . Many many years ago. Recurve cedar  arrows.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Nytracker

[ATbuckhunter]

2 hours ago, crappyice said:

I MISSED a doe at under 5 yards two seasons ago - does that count?Shot UNDER her. Put the 20 yard pin a little lower than normal not remembering the whole arrow has to rise to the target thingy and blew that shot. Crazy thing was I was in a climber stand and she climbed a ridge right next to my tree - she wasn’t supposed to do that!!!


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Aim using the 35 yard pin at that yardage 

[stubborn1VT]

Shortest rifle shot= 18 inches.  I set up behind a woodchuck hole with the .22 mag and waited for him to pop his head up.

Longest rifle shot: 350ish and 324.  I shot a doe with a crop damage permit at 350 with my 7 Rem Mag and a Harris bipod.  It felt like shooting, not hunting.  Shot a buck at 324 (paced downhill) on a powerline with the 7 Mag.  Flopped down on my belly and dropped him.  

[NFA-ADK]

42 minutes ago, stubborn1VT said:

Shortest rifle shot= 18 inches.  I set up behind a woodchuck hole with the .22 mag and waited for him to pop his head up.

Longest rifle shot: 350ish and 324.  I shot a doe with a crop damage permit at 350 with my 7 Rem Mag and a Harris bipod.  It felt like shooting, not hunting.  Shot a buck at 324 (paced downhill) on a powerline with the 7 Mag.  Flopped down on my belly and dropped him.  

LOL 2 thumbs up!   Poor woodchuck!  

[crappyice]

Aim using the 35 yard pin at that yardage 

Could have used that advice 2 years ago....single pin however...I have practiced that shot since-it really is bizarre holding a pin for 20 higher on a closer deer. English teacher brain trying to do what feels like math is bad!


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[BizCT]

Could have used that advice 2 years ago....single pin however...I have practiced that shot since-it really is bizarre holding a pin for 20 higher on a closer deer. English teacher brain trying to do what feels like math is bad!


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Think of it like a gun with scope. On a really close shot you wouldn’t even scope it. shooting from hip you go by barrel not scope. So with bow it’s arrow not sight


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[TreeGuy]

Closest kill.... Point blank,many, many times. While hunting anything, turkey at about 5' (reaped) and yote at 275 with the .223.

Deer with gun. Straight down and 185 with the 20ga.

Bow deer. 4yards and 47 yards.

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