How do you judge target distance

[Vtsmoker]

Being new to ml hunting i've been wondering how to tell how far away the critter your going to take a shot at is? Is it 50 or 75 yds? Is it 75 or 100 yds? An accurate shot depends on knowing this information. If your gun is sighted for say 50yds you will have to hold-over to make a shot at 75 or 100 yards knowing your PRB will drop xx inches. I've never been good at judging distace and was wondering if there is a trick to it. How do you know if thats a 50 yard shot or 75 yard shot? :idunno:

 

[rabjr]

Guess I'm lucky in two ways. One I can tell if the animal is 50 yards or less, can tell if its closer to 75...and my avg shot has been about 40 yards. I can't see well enough to shoot beyond 75 yards so this all works for me.

 

[shootemup]

I use an old parallax range finder to mark certain landmarks when I first set up.

Another way, which I read about in "Black Powder Whitetails" by Dave Ehrig, is to look at the deer's eyeballs. If the deer is within 50 yards, you should be able to make out a wet, glassy eyeball.

If the eye looks more like a black dot in a white bullseye, best guess is 50-75 yards. If you can't really see the eyeball, the deer is most likely beyond 75 yards.

Like I said, I normally use that old rangefinder. But I have found Dave's method to be fairly good for rough estimation.

:hatsoff:
Spot

 

[LRB]

In my opinion, you should never shoot beyond 75 yrds with an open sighted ML, unless you are well experienced, and a very good shot, with a good rifle of .54 cal, or better. I kill, usually 6/7 per season. Most are roughly 35/40 yrds, give or take a tad. My longest shot with a ML was about 125yrds, but I struck a tad low, requireing a second shot at point blank to finish it. The look in that deers eyes made me promise to myself to never do that again. I would of let it go, if I'd thought that it could of survived. It was not fair to the animal to have to do that. A .54, at 75 yrds, will only drop a couple of inches using 80gr of powder. Sighted in at 50yrds. At a hundred, it's twice that drop, and gets very risky. For me anyhow.

 

[oletymepreacher]

Try this: get a range finder, you don't have to get the most expensive 1000 yard gizmo for this. Then take it out to a herd of cattle, guess the range to each calf and verify with the range finder. If elk hunting, zero in on the cows.

Do this every time you get the time until you can guess the range within a few yards. Then, when deer hunting, you will know how to take the shot.

 

[Josh Smith]

You walk in the woods, and you see trees and undergrowth. Might be a bit confusing.

As you spend more days in the woods, you start to see trails you never noticed before. You wonder how you could have missed 'em in the first place.

Range finding is sort of like that.

Josh

 

[Vtsmoker]

Didn't want to go the rangefinder route as it kinda kills the traditional aspect of the sport. Never thought of using one as a teaching tool rather than an accessory to the hunt though. I'll consider it. Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[xia_emperor]

I learned how to judge distance from traditional archery. when I lived in Reno, nevada I would go to archery shoots and in time learned how to judge distance.

 

[George]

How do you know if thats a 50 yard shot or 75 yard shot?

It's a difficult thing, most people aren't very good at it, but you do get better at it over time.

It doesn't need to be a problem. There is no better reason to sight your gun in for the long distance, not the short, so that you will be in the kill zone even if you miss your range estimate by a wide margin. With my .54 sighted for 100 yards I know that it will be no more than 2" high out to that range, then only 3 1/3" low at 125 yards. All I have to do is be sure the deer isn't more than 125 yards away, point and shoot.

We don't need no stinkin' rangefinders! :grin:

Spence

 

[biliff]

If you're front sight covers up half the deer, its too far.
Seriously, play around comparing your front sight with a sheet of typing paper (roughly the kill zone on a deer) set at different ranges.

 

[saber]

out to 300yards not to hard I was a shooter U.S.Army longrange for a lone time best way that a lot of the new men are doing is to karry a 1000yard range finder and in your walks just pick out a targer range it then use your range finder you will get good after a bit

 

[tg]

Practice with life sized cutouts and make note of the size of the animal in relationship to your barrel width sight picture at known distances with practice one can judge pretty close and staying within 75 yds is not a bad idea.

 

[123.DieselBenz]

I like to play I game I call "how far is it?" (My wife does not like playing this game)

It basically is while I'm out walking around, or walking the dog, or hunting . . . I find an object that I am close to that I can see from a distance, then I find another object further away, and "guess" how far it is away . . . I then pace it off (I get 102 - 103 paces in 100 yards) when I get there I see how close I was in guessing, but also look back at the starting point now knowing how far it is . . . I can now guesstamate out to about 150 yards . . .

Just take time and practice . . .

 

[rabjr]

Yep, full size archery targets either the paper, burlap or the 3D targets work great for judging distance. Set them up, shoulder your gun and get a mental picture at varying distances.

 

[luieb45]

As a bow hunter I have to know all my ranges. What I used to do when I had to walk to school I would see maybe a mailbox, tree or something and guess how far it looks then I step off how many yards it was. Then I just learned by trial and error.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

With my eyes and open sights. 75 yds will be the longest shot i'll take offhand. So, I sight for it to shoot right on at 75 yds. Then it's just a couple of inches high at the shorter ranges. Still well within the kill zone.

I have sight in only one eye, so I don't have depth perception. To make sure I don't go over 75 yds I practice like Diesel does. I walk the woods everyday with my dog. The whole walk i'm picking trees that I think are 75 yds away and walk them off. Over time i've trained my brain to see the right distance. Even though my eyes are telling me something different. I can guess within a couple of yards now. Anything shorter doesn't matter, because all shots 75 yds and under are a dead on hold.

 

[jaw69]

I used a 75 yard parallex range finder to get distances. First I would judge then use the finder. You can get good real at judging distance of trees and rocks and then use those objects to judge the distance to the game you are after deer rabbits and squirrel anything inside of 75 yard is fair game and distances can be judged then move closer or take your shot.

 

[86marine]

Go to a football field, pace it out in 25 yd increments. Note your paces, then go out guess the range to a specific point and then pace it out. Do this until you can accurately guess it out every time within a 10 yds.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I do a lot of practicing at 50, 75 and 100 yards and get used to what that distance looks like. In odd terrain I break it down in 5 yards segments.

I sight in at 85 yards, so from muzzle close out past 100 yards I sight just low of halfway up a deer's chest and I'm good.

 

[KentuckyMan]

here is what I found on this site... http://www.fieldandstream.com/forums/hunting/make-range-finder

From the Site
Deer Hunting
make a range finder
Uploaded on July 26, 2009

Hears is my tip.
The 1800 hunters needed a range finder more then today’s hunters do.
Hear is how to build one.
Take a ¼’ Dow rod about 8-10’ long and a peace of board about 3feet long (that is about how tall an average deer stands in this area). Stand the board up ageist something. Walk away from the board 50 steps then hold the Dow rod out at arms length. Line the top of the Dow rod up with the top of the board. Then make a mark on the Dow rod at the bottom of the board. Then step of another 50 and repeat the process. Repeat the whole process until you have walked 3 or 400 yards. The when you are ort hutting the Dow rod at arms length, place the top to the deer’s back and count up from the bottom mark to the mark at the bottom of the deer’s feet multiply by 50 and that will be the yardage to the deer. I toke my muzzleloader along and marked the holdover on the other end. For that I put the top of the Dow at the point of aim and marked the bullet struck.

So this could work with practice. :thumbsup:

Also.. how to make a range finder.. http://bizarrelabs.com/rngfndr.htm

From the SiteRange finder
This simple range finder will allow you to measure distance to stationary objects with fair accuracy. You will need:

* 2 small mirrors, app. 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch (25mm x 40mm)
* Piece of stiff cardboard, at least 4" x 2" (100mm x 50mm)
* Piece of wood app. 3 in. wide, ½ in. thick and 1 foot long (80mm x 15mm x 300mm)

The glass mirrors should be as thin as you can find them in order to avoid double reflections from the glass. Ideally, you should use surface coated mirrors, but for this simple project it isn't really necessary. Place one of the mirrors flat with the silvered side up. Draw a line dividing the mirror in half horizontally. Place a metal or metal edged ruler along this line and scrape away the silver from half of the mirror with a sharp razor, being careful not to gouge the glass (or your fingers!) When you finish, you should have a piece of glass that is mirrored on the top half and clear on the bottom half. Do not scrape the other mirror.

Using a drawing compass, draw two circles the same size on a piece of stiff cardboard. Their diameter should be slightly longer than the length of the mirror. Cut them both out. On one of the disks, draw a line across the center (use the hole made by the compass point as a guide). Then draw two more lines to either side of the first one. The distance between these two lines is the same as the thickness of the mirror. Draw a circle slightly larger than the size of the thumbtack directly in the center of the same disk. Now cut out the space between the two outer lines and cut out the smaller circle. The two pieces form a split disk to accommodate the mirror and the thumbtack.

Take a piece of wood app. 3 in. wide, 1/2 in. thick and 1 foot long (80mm x 15mm x 300mm) and set it on a flat surface so that one of the 3 in. sides is pointing up. Using the thumbtack, poke a hole near one end, centered with the width of the board and approximately half of a mirror's width from the end. Remove the tack.

Glue the split disk to the other disk, making sure that the outside edges are even and that the mirror groove is even as well. While the glue is still a little soft, push the thumbtack into the center of the bottom circle (from the top). Set the unscraped mirror vertically in the slot of the disk. Use a few straight pins to keep it straight and in place. Cement the mirror in place by running a bead of appropriate glue or epoxy on each side. Allow to dry thoroughly.

Mount the disk onto the wood by pushing the thumbtack into the hole you made earlier. The mirrored surface should point down the long end of the board. Make some sort of index marker for reading distances. This needs to be adjacent to the disk and centered on the width of the board (see illustration). It can be as simple as a mark made on the board, or, preferably, a small metal pointer can be made that bends over the edge of the disk.

Near the opposite end of the board, draw a line at a 45-degree angle to the edge. Cement the half-scraped mirror upright along this line with the mirrored side on top, generally facing the other mirror.

To use, turn the rotating mirror so that it is at a roughly 45-degree angle to the board. Look through the clear part of the stationary mirror at some vertical object. Rotate the other mirror until you can line up the reflection of the object with the view of the object in the clear area.

You will need to work with known diastases for calibration. Set the range finder flat on a solid surface so that it is ten feet from some vertical object. Look through the clear glass and turn the rotating mirror until the reflection of the object aligns with the view through the clear glass. Mark the place on the disk where it contacts the pointer as 10 feet. Repeat for other distances up to 100 feet or so (of course, use meters if you are using metric). Once calibrated, you can use the range finder hand held.

Once you have learned the basics of how one of these is built, you can build a more finished and sturdy version. Here are a few hints:

* Old radio volume knobs (or new ones purchased from an electronics shop) make good mounts for the rotating mirror, provided a slot is cut to accommodate the mirror.
* Use a housing to avoid extra reflections. You will need openings on both sides of the fixed mirror and on the reflecting side of the rotating mirror.
* Although it can be made much smaller, a range finder with a very long base will provide much more accurate readings for longer distances. You will need to add some sort of belt and knob system to rotate the mirror; make sure your calibration marks are on the mirror, not on the knob that turns the belt, as slippage and stretching of the belt will effect the knob's rotation relative to the mirror's