The longest shot I have ever taken was 388 yards measured by a game warden,100 yards more and the elk would have been on private property,and I would have gotten in trouble.The game warden said it was a perfect long shot but I will be honest and say it was luck.I'm not a long distance shooter.30/06 250 Yards,243 200 -250 yards on deer or pronghorn.With a pistol 50-60 yards on deer or elk.I'm just being honest,I wish I could say 500 yards but I can't say it honestly.Drop-Shot
On game I'm pretty much in the ballpark with drop-shot, 300 yards is a "fur piece". I have shot and killed varmints further but the risk of wounding is much higher. I have up to a 650 yard "range" out the backdeck that I shoot at a couple times a week but the area is getting built up and the neighbors complain some, especially when the police use it for qualifications.
honestly im not comfortable realy taking a shot past 200 yds living in mi i never really had to take anything further than 100 so far i guess tho if i had a solid rest i would be comfortable out to 300 yds but def. not 500 Aaron
Most of my shots have been in the 100 to 200 yard range with a few in the 50 yard range. For my upcoming antelope hunt I have been practicing shots from 300 to 400 yards. I feel pretty comfortable with taking a 400 yard shot with a good rest, but it did take alot of rounds to get comfortable with it.
It all depends on the conditions... Offhand with a quickie sling, about 125 yards With a poor rest or sitting without a rest, about 200 yards With a good solid rest, in a comfortable position, little or no wind, 300 to 350 yards.
Guys bear with me cause i tell long boring stories... but here goes. I am a firm believer that the range finder has taken a lot of the "fish story" out of "long range" shooting stories. Lots of us (me included) don't judge distance nearly as well as we might like to think. I really believe that more game is shot a lot closer than the story is told, and with modern rifles, ammo and optics, the same hold will drop deer sized game from 20 yards out to somewhere in the 200's, so the stories get a bit longer. Now saying that.. I shot a measured 537 yd ibex, no i am not comfortable shooting that far "normally". I did once and i hit him and have the mount on the wall. But that was with a rifle that i have been shooting since i was 16 (birthday present), I have shot a "ton" of powder through it, have a "pet' load that I know exactly what it will do out to past 500 yds and from a solid rest or bipod I won't hesitate to shoot into the 300's with that specific rifle With anything else it better be under 300 yards or I ain't trying. mike
I'll add a note on range estimation based on many years of experience - in heavy cover, you tend to estimate the distance to the target as being much longer than it really is. In open country, the opposite is true - the target seems closer than it really is. It takes a lot of experience to be able to accurately estimate range to the target; as ibex stated, the rangefinders available now are a godsend. Take this into account when you've made your range estimation without a rangefinder - especially in open country where the longer ranges combined with faulty range estimation can raise heck with your shooting.
wwb, i should have noted that most of my shooting has been open country shooting, not heavily timbered. Mountains have a tendency to also skew what you think you know about distance also!! mike
1 have only taken a 100 yard shot to be my longest. Here in the Southeast, if you dont hunt any kind of farm land or cut overs you ususally dont have a long shot.I like to hunt thicker woods that the most I would have to shoot is 50 yards. I feel like its time for a change since I have a 300 mag bean field rifle. Its full potential needs to be reached..
At my brothers ranch, he have nailed praire dogs out to 450+. My personal best was 323yds. I can't wait til I get out there and try his new .204 . I would never shoot any larger game past 200yrds, That being said, I dont hunting anything but timber :wink:
I limit my self to about 300 yards, and rarely to get to that point in the area I hunt in Texas. Good to see most of the folks on here talking about responsible ranges for taking quarry. That said, a fella practicing enough can shoot long distances just fine.
while visiting a gun show in chahalis Wa,I talked to 2 guys that had a table set up and wanted members.I think to join was 135.00 to start and that got you a hat and a jacket with your name on it.These guys shoot all year long at 500-600 yards.You have to make at least 1 shoot per month and turn in all of your targets,If after all summer you hit 99% in kill zone,you are invited to hunt private property.A miss is looked down upon and if you have 3 misses in a season you are outuntill you get back to the range(private)and turn in 99% at 500 yards.This is an elite core of folks that pratcice and have guns that can kill at that range and all I talked to have multiple kills at 500 yards and beyond.I didn't join,not for the money,but I don't want the responsibility of wounding an animal or prolonging agony and pain.I know alot about pain ,most on this site could out shoot me,but I almost never miss cause I know my limits,I'm proud to hear from honest sportsman that extend their limits to distances beyond others by practicing all year.Good hunting guys.Drop-Shot
I'm with you on that one Drop shot. I just wouldn't want it on my concious that I crippled some poor animal just because I was trying to shoot 500 yards, I guess some folks do it but it's not for me. By the way did you come home from the gun show with anything?
The wife and I came home with a smile,There is a super walmart there and we can get crayfish tails there.we get to eat like the cajuns,we make them in gumbos.etaufeau but mt favorite is cortbullion using fish and shrimp use tomato base and onions and add roux.I did not buy a thing,I wanted 1 but the guy Iwas talking to me like I didn't know anything and explaining that all had to go.I left him and kept walking.Emty handed.Drop-Shot
Shot at praire dogs that were in my opinion around 350yrds (my buddy said they were around 500yrds away)...didn't have my range finder then. As I stated it, they were only "Shot at", didn't hit any because I was using kentucky windage, with a scope that was only boresighted to around 100yrds (or so the gunsmith said)...That and I'm very new to shooting any big caliber gun...was shooting a .30-06 that my father said I could borrow. It was a blast to shoot, so dad aint geting the gun back !!
Its been some time, but I distinctly remember knocking down 3 or 4 people size targets out of ten shots with an M-16 and open sights at the 500 yds distancece at Ft Dix. Dont know why we did that, given the M-16 has max effective range of around 460 meters. Did pretty well with the m-60 at about 800 yds. Firing bursts of 4-6 at some old armored vehicles across a valley, my shots were falling about 150 yards short. But, there was a pond right there, and my shots skipped right off the pond and on into the targets. I was told that no adjustment was necessary. Average big game shooting distance for me is about 60 yards.
What season is on,I got to enjoy luv2safari hunt,I dreamed about it last night,I dreamed about dragging an animal up hill,I woke up feeling tired but good.Keep them memories coming.gwp should be close to his prong horn hunt by now.Let ole Drop-shot know about the hits,near hits and clean misses.Drop-Shot
