How far can You shoot ?

[rafterob]

Off hand shot I would only be comfortable out to about 80 yards. Using some kind of rest or support 100-125 yards.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

Off hand shot I would only be comfortable out to about 80 yards. Using some kind of rest or support 100-125 yards.

I would probably stay with 75 yds or less. Small sights, old eyes and shadowy woods do not make for real clear sight pictures!

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I would probably stay with 75 yds or less. Small sights, old eyes and shadowy woods do not make for real clear sight pictures!

I regularly shoot out to 1000 yards. Can't hit the target (can't even see it) but I can shoot that far. Maybe a mite farther if there's a tail wind....

 

[appalichian hunter]

Most of my shots on deer with a muzzle loading rifle have been 60 yards. and under. the furtherest shot with a muzzle loading rifle .54 mountain rifle was about 95 steps. Smooth bore try to keep it around 50 yards or under. Sighting target 3 in. circle on a cheap paper plate 50 yards, keep a 3 shot group in the circle good to go.

 

[sheriff john]

Wanna see yardage shrink? Use a range finder this season to see just how far your hunting buddy popped a deer. Similar to a good scale to determine weight, estimates are sometimes more wishful thinking than outright falsehoods.

Playing with a rangefinder from several tree stands, it's easy to check distances to various things around you. Might make a difference when Ol' Mossy Horns is standing next to that big oak tree across the creek. Little deer appear to be further, big deer closer. Anyway ... the oak tree ain't gonna move. It'll always be the same distance. Knowing where to hold at various ranges is good.

 

[hanshi]

During my hunting years I'm pretty sure I never shot a deer from a standing, offhand position. There was one time a deer ran out in front of me on my trip back to the truck. The distance wasn't over about 25 yards. But by reflex I dropped into a kneeling position for the shot and killed the deer. I've also only taken one with an actually running shot, not walking but all out running. Distance was a little under 25 yards. I was hunting with my smoothbore and a .600" ball. Again by reflex I quickly cocked the flintlock while leading the deer. At the shot and through the smoke it "appeared" that the deer jumped straight up and fell straight down. I know that it didn't take another step when the prb hit.

I also killed one at 75 yards with a .45 prb and two others at 100, possibly a bit farther with two different .50s. But I had a nice rest for the rifles. That may sound like "nice" shooting with muzzleloaders until I mention killing a buck at 90 yards with a .44 mag revolver. Back then I knew my limitations and never tried to do an increase of that distance shooting at deer. Senior moment: I forgot a running buck I killed with a prb; but that distance was only maybe 15-16 yards. Can't see that well any longer.

One more thing I'll mention is about deer at extended ranges. Back from hunting with a friend we were unloading the vehicle ready to go inside. My friend is a military officer and had with him an EXPENSIVE military binocular with all kinds of bells and whistles. He motioned to several deer far out in a huge pasture. One was a truly magnificent buck. I looked and could see nothing. He handed me the glass and wow, they looked really close. But the verified distance was OVER 400 yards. Anyone who claims to shoot deer at 400+ yards with open iron sights needs to get a life. There were hundreds of acres of completely wide open meadow and the light was still a sunny day. But, again, they were invisible to the naked eye.

 

[tenngun]

I don’t slap anyone on how they hunt, as long as they’re legal.
And when I got in to the sport almost all the talk in books and magazines was about a hundred yards.
Kephart shot an original .53 Hawken and found it very accurate to two hundred yards and hitting ‘with great smashing power’.
I read on this forum of shots over a hundred yards with ball, and my assumption is they know their guns and their conditions.
Here in the Ozarks I ve seen deer a quarter mile away and more. Crossing under high wire lines, or moving across a field, but generally in the woods it’s hard to get a fifty yard clear view.
My view is get close. I don’t want to brag about the long shot. I’m more proud of my seven yard then I ever would have been of a hundred.
I’ve switched to smoothies for deer hunting.
I call it archery on steroids

 

[LME]

On the modern gun forums you see people bragging about 500+ yard shots at deer. My first thought is always that you must be a really lousy at hunting if you can't get closer than 500 yards.

When I was younger, way younger. I use to do trick shooting shows in my local for friends and neighbors. I mostly shot .22 rifles. I would shoot moving targets, on the ground and in the air but no long range shooting . My routine got a little boreing and in order to change it up a bit I included a M.L. rifle. Talk about a shock! I found that in order to hit a moving target, lead and follow through was most important. I loaded my muzzle loader to the speed of a .22 long rifle round which eliminated one variable but the follow through was another story. I had to hold my lead a lot longer due to the slow lock time. I feel that shooting moving game is not for everyone although there are some people that can. I have never personally shot any moving game with a M.L. rifle but I have taken many deer running with modern arms, some that I feel was over my ability due to how far they were.I was young and did a lot of stupid things back then. My father was a good shooter and he showed me things that would have taken years for me to learn otherwise.I do believe a person knows what he can and cannot do with a rifle?

 

[Snake Pleskin]

When I was younger, way younger. I use to do trick shooting shows in my local for friends and neighbors. I mostly shot .22 rifles. I would shoot moving targets, on the ground and in the air but no long range shooting . My routine got a little boreing and in order to change it up a bit I included a M.L. rifle. Talk about a shock! I found that in order to hit a moving target, lead and follow through was most important. I loaded my muzzle loader to the speed of a .22 long rifle round which eliminated one variable but the follow through was another story. I had to hold my lead a lot longer due to the slow lock time. I feel that shooting moving game is not for everyone although there are some people that can. I have never personally shot any moving game with a M.L. rifle but I have taken many deer running with modern arms, some that I feel was over my ability due to how far they were.I was young and did a lot of stupid things back then. My father was a good shooter and he showed me things that would have taken years for me to learn otherwise.I do believe a person knows what he can and cannot do with a rifle?

The old saying, "just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should", I personally choose not to shoot at running game. Sooner or later it stops, and I will be on the "hunt" again trailing them! IMHO

 

[LME]

The old saying, "just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should", I personally choose not to shoot at running game. Sooner or later it stops, and I will be on the "hunt" again trailing them! IMHO

When I got old enough to hunt a lot of hunters used dogs . If was a rare occasion to have a still shot. You learned how to shoot or you most likely would never get a deer? As I matured I didn't care to hunt deer with dogs.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

When I got old enough to hunt a lot of hunters used dogs . If was a rare occasion to have a still shot. You learned how to shoot or you most likely would never get a deer? As I matured I didn't care to hunt deer with dogs.

Never liked using dogs to hunt anything other than birds/ducks. It is a cruel way to hunt (IMHO) You run the poor critter down until it is exhausted, then kill it. My, what a big strong ethical hunter you are, when you do that!! No, you are just a sadistic killer (IMHO)

 

[Bushfire]

Never liked using dogs to hunt anything other than birds/ducks. It is a cruel way to hunt (IMHO) You run the poor critter down until it is exhausted, then kill it. My, what a big strong ethical hunter you are, when you do that!! No, you are just a sadistic killer (IMHO)

Ease up, I don't care for hunting deer with hounds myself but if others like it power to them. There's a lot more to it than easy mindless killing. Keep the thread positive I say.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

Ease up, I don't care for hunting deer with hounds myself but if others like it power to them. There's a lot more to it than easy mindless killing. Keep the thread positive I say.

I am positive, I just have a strong aversion to using dogs, baiting animals, shooting over bait, and then trying to call it hunting. When you set up a "controlled killing ground", that is not hunting. We did the same thing in Nam. It was called an ambush. IMHO

 

[LME]

Ease up, I don't care for hunting deer with hounds myself but if others like it power to them. There's a lot more to it than easy mindless killing. Keep the thread positive I say.

I too don't like to hunt deer with dogs but it is legal? I also don't bait animals as well it is the same thing? What amazes me is it is fine to hunt birds with dogs and they are animals as well? I guess birds are not as important as deer? What irony!

 

[Snake Pleskin]

I too don't like to hunt deer with dogs but it is legal? I also don't bait animals as well it is the same thing? What amazes me is it is fine to hunt birds with dogs and they are animals as well? I guess birds are not as important as deer? What irony!

No irony, totally different situations. The difference in bird hunting is the dogs 'flush" the bird which take flight in any direction and you still have to hit it! It is not some poor deer run to ground , or bear in a tree or cat that they then walk up to and kill. etc. With ducks, the dogs retrieve, that 's all.

 

[longcruise]

Well, today I set off with my 54 that will be the primary for deer and elk this year. Mostly i shoot a 45 in matches or small game during the year. So the first thing I did was shoot a 25 yard target offhand to see how the sight in was. I always do my sight ins offhand. Load accuracy testing benched but actual adjustment is from offhand. The target printed on white background is the 25 yard. Minor adjustments and the target on the yellow background is a 50 yard offhand.

So, I'm calling 50 my max this year. I might go a little further with a rest but with my method of hunting getting a rest is difficult. Even sitting I'll probably stay with 50 max. That's just the reality of 76 year old eyes.

 

[52Bore]

Always a good feeling to just put 10 on paper at 1000…
Photo of a good friend shooting at Oak Ridge..in the Creedmoor 150.

 

[Wildrangeringreen]

I don't shoot at running animals unless they're within 30 yards, there's too much risk of not getting the lead right and wounding them, in my opinion.

On standing Deer, it depends on the gun I have, but with most rifles I'd take after deer, I'm comfortable off hand to about 150, I've killed several groundhog at that distance. If I have sticks, I would say 2-250 yards, depending on the rifle. Out past that, and deer really start to look small, and often times, you can't hardly spot them without binoculars. I'm in OH, so our deer are more on the large side, for perspective.

Brother in law did get one off sticks at 350+/-, but that was with a 35" barreled fast twist .40 and a scope with 400ish grain bullets. It was kind of a long diagonal across a bean field corner. I like sights, so most of my shooting is limited by that It's not that sights aren't accurate enough out past that, I just don't feel comfortable with shooting with a front sight that covers up about 75% of the deer lol.

Moose, Elk, Pronghorn, and Bison would be a bit different, on account of their sizes.

 

[Snake Pleskin]

I don't shoot at running animals unless they're within 30 yards, there's too much risk of not getting the lead right and wounding them, in my opinion.

On standing Deer, it depends on the gun I have, but with most rifles I'd take after deer, I'm comfortable off hand to about 150, I've killed several groundhog at that distance. If I have sticks, I would say 2-250 yards, depending on the rifle. Out past that, and deer really start to look small, and often times, you can't hardly spot them without binoculars. I'm in OH, so our deer are more on the large side, for perspective.

Brother in law did get one off sticks at 350+/-, but that was with a 35" barreled fast twist .40 and a scope with 400ish grain bullets. It was kind of a long diagonal across a bean field corner. I like sights, so most of my shooting is limited by that It's not that sights aren't accurate enough out past that, I just don't feel comfortable with shooting with a front sight that covers up about 75% of the deer lol.

Moose, Elk, Pronghorn, and Bison would be a bit different, on account of their sizes.

Many forget that especially at distance a deer can raise its head, lower its head, step sideways, forward or back in a split second, which is enough to make a good shot a poor shot! Now you have a wounded deer.

 

[LME]

No irony, totally different situations. The difference in bird hunting is the dogs 'flush" the bird which take flight in any direction and you still have to hit it! It is not some poor deer run to ground , or bear in a tree or cat that they then walk up to and kill. etc. With ducks, the dogs retrieve, that 's all.

Many forget that especially at distance a deer can raise its head, lower its head, step sideways, forward or back in a split second, which is enough to make a good shot a poor shot! Now you have a wounded deer.

You are so right. I would suggest if one chooses to shoot at a deer any distance you must read the animal well. If a deer is grazing and puts his head down it is about a good of a time as any to make the shot. I don't shoot at deer at long distances simply because in my area shots are close. I also don't hunt open fields.