As a young man took a hail Mary with a cartridge gun that connected. Tracking a gut shot deer through rough brush without much of a blood trail sucks. It broke me from hail Mary shots with bow or gun of any type. I didn't mark a range because distance depends on conditions and what I'm shooting. How well I feel like I can place a shot determined if shot was or will be taken. More involved than just how well I can shoot paper at a given distance. Hail Mary shots or pushing distance on steel or paper is fun. Tracking gut shot or crippled game isnt.
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POLL on Smoothbore Deer Hunting Distances
- Thread starter Loyalist Dave
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The old red neck: Can't agree with you more. When shooting at game, I will not take the shot , regardless of range, unless the presentation angle is good, and there are no obstructions to deflect a ball. We owe it to the game we shoot to take them as cleanly and humanly as possible.
Lonegun1894
54 Cal.
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Under perfect conditions, I will take a 60yd shot. Having said that, I passed on a 10yd shot last week because the angle was wrong, and I’m not going to risk injuring an animal. I only take shots I’m 100% sure of on meat. Paper is a whole other story.
I would think that would depend on the Individuals shooting ability,more so than the gun.
I've seen and know some individuals that can out shoot most people using a rifle with a smooth bore gun...
The Gentleman that shot this target, a few years back is one of them
I've seen and know some individuals that can out shoot most people using a rifle with a smooth bore gun...
The Gentleman that shot this target, a few years back is one of them
Where I hunt in PA 50 yds. would be a looong shot. Sometimes the laurel thickets limit you to feet not yards. Shooting from a bench at 50 yds. shows me that I must practice a lot to consistently shoot a 5 inch group, most of my shots are within 50 feet.
8 BORE
50 Cal.
Looks like a grand prize winning targetI would think that would depend on the Individuals shooting ability,more so than the gun.
I've seen and know some individuals that can out shoot most people using a rifle with a smooth bore gun...
The Gentleman that shot this target, a few years back is one of them
8 BORE
50 Cal.
I have not seen a recipe for paper to make it taste better
hanshi
Cannon
A shot at a deer anywhere near 50 yards has been so rare for me I don't give anything up by using a smoothbore. I can think of maybe half a dozen 50 yd shots over the last 55 years or so and maybe a very few I forgot about. More likely are shots from 20 to 35 yards.
I'm looking at the farthest range that the shooter will take a shot at a deer with their smoothbore. It's a poll of the shooter's judgement of what distance they think they are capable of attaining a humane, lethal hit, since we don't shoot deer to wound, and it's not target shooting. So it includes all three. I'm not asking for the minutiae of those details at this point, since folks then may digress into "that's not accurate enough" or "that's not enough power", etc etc. In fact the person answering the poll might be capable of shooting a group on paper with a sufficiently powerful load at a far distance .., but prefers to get the deer a good bit closer than that. I'm not asking the preferred shot, broadside, shoulder, neck, etc..., Just, what is your farthest distance.
LD
Skychief
69 Cal.
Power is not a problem here. A .54 Rb shot at 1500 FPS will have more then enough power to kill a deer at 300 yards, a .58,.62,.69,.75 even more so. I can hit a deer sized target at 100 yards, but I wouldn’t want to chance a gut shot, or a ham wound
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I'm looking at the farthest range that the shooter will take a shot at a deer with their smoothbore. It's a poll of the shooter's judgement of what distance they think they are capable of attaining a humane, lethal hit, since we don't shoot deer to wound, and it's not target shooting. So it includes all three. I'm not asking for the minutiae of those details at this point, since folks then may digress into "that's not accurate enough" or "that's not enough power", etc etc. In fact the person answering the poll might be capable of shooting a group on paper with a sufficiently powerful load at a far distance .., but prefers to get the deer a good bit closer than that. I'm not asking the preferred shot, broadside, shoulder, neck, etc..., Just, what is your farthest distance.
LD
Thanks for the further explanation.
Then 100 yards from prone, sitting or a rest.
Gus
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I hunt in tight terrain so most have been 25 to 50 yard harvests, but my smoothbores shoot nice groups at 75, and I’ve made kills well beyond that with center fire rifles, so I’d not be uncomfortable out to 75. 75 is my patched round ball limit even out of a rifle—I’ll shoot further on paper but for game I make the switch to conical bullets.
I know of a guy near me who owns a fusil in 20 gauge. He figured he'd only ever be able to own one custom built gun, and decided on that gun, and then went about becoming very very good with it. So Scott had taken 90 yard shots at deer, and hit them in the head....I don't take those shots with my rifle...nor neck shots..., since it's too unpredictable when the deer will move than head/or neck. BUT he's quite successful at that...
LD
LD
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I wrote 100 yards from prone, sitting or from a rest; but I should have mentioned that was on deer standing still out to that range. I won't take running shots much over 40 yards or so and then not every time, depending on how the animal is running.
This from the fact that I have actually practiced at 100 yards offhand shooting and in the other positions mentioned and feel confident I can deliver the ball into the vital area of a deer. If there is any doubt in my mind on any particular shot, I won't shoot.
Gus
Exactly..., and I don't take shots if the deer are up to a run, as I don't feel I'm that good when it comes to estimating lead. I have done when they are walking briskly though. Part of the idea of this is to give other folks, probably new to smoothbore hunting, a good idea of what most of the guys hunting deer with a smoothie use as a max distance.
LD
LD
