Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game "Out west" fact or fiction?

OK. I was involved in a discussion recently. A bunch of us easterners were hashing out various deer hunting related nonsense. Rifles,calibers,scopes. It seems there is an underlying thread through the whole "Out west" conundrum. Seems flat shooting rifles with high magnification glass are best suited to hunting out west. Yep. That's the skinny. So,here it is. How about all of our resident western deer hunters chime in. What is the average,longest,and shortest range you take mule deer at? A bunch of folks here think all mule deer are shot at no less than 300 yards. (Most have never been west of the Mississippi) I know I can count on the "Fire" to iron this out. They won't listen to me.

You'll generally have the potential for longer shots out west, but you don't need "high magnification glass" or magnum chamberings to make them. Just an accurate rifle/ammo. and more practice, especially in the wind.

Longest 400, shortest 30, average 150-200.

Funny

I've only hunted "out west" since 2008 and haven't shot past 250 yet.

Heck! My buddy drew Colorado moose and sheep tags and killed both under 100 yards.

My rifle of choice since 2008 is a 30-06 with a 3.5-10x40 V3

That's how everyone is around here too. You have to have a magnum rifle, a 50mm scope and a minimum o5 20x magnification.

Of course most people around here hunt deer in the eastern woods that way. I actually had a guy tell me that my .260 Rem wouldn't kill his deer, it wasn't powerful enough. We hunted about 2 miles apart, lol. He used a 375 H&H he traded a 340 Wby for because the Wby "didn't have enough ass either"

I will second what Smokepole said.


Unless you want to be part of the 'sniper hunter' gang you don't 'need' anything more than a standard chambering and a 6x or 3-9x scope.

99% of the time you'll be shooting at less than 400-500 yards.

Unless of course you purposely don't want to stalk in closer. Generally speaking there is usually enough cover to get within reasonable shooting distance.

Practice in the wind(so you'll know when not to shoot...).


I bet my average shot has also been right round 150-200 yards. Can think of only 3 deer that were over 400 yards.
(1 mule deer, 2 whitetail)


A 270 Winchester with a 6x(LR dots) is my favorite setup. Point and shoot out to about 400-450 yards.

I agree with Smokepole and Sam. The potential exists here and there but most shots will come at moderate distances where standard cartridges and modest scopes do fine.

I would say "fiction".

In 40+ years of killing mule deer from Alberta to New Mexico, my longest shot was about 500 yards on a big buck wounded by a companion. I have never reached beyond 400 yards for one of my own and many have been killed under 200. I have used a lot of different calibers but mostly a 270 and a 4X scope, although I have come to like a bit more scope power as I age. A 6x Leupold works great.

These bucks were killed with the 270 and one with the 280. Mine is in the middle and was spotted at 700-800 yards and stalked and killed at about 80 yards with a 270.

The other two were killed by my companions at about 350 yards...luck of the draw that time for them.

Killed this mule deer with a 7x57 and a old Weaver 4x scope. The range was about 110 yards.

My last 3 deer killed here in New Mexico averaged 100 yards.




Can do most (if not all) deer hunting here in the west with a .270 and a 6x scope.

In 55 years of Idaho mulie and elk hunting, my longest shot ever was about 350 yds. They average under 200. I've never yet seen one at 500 that I can't get a lot closer to.

Out west is a misnomer.

The real issue that started this was plains game in the west.

If you are hunting critters that use distance for safety, and you can bet your ass that Muledeer, lopes, and others use that... Well now you are in the zone for flat shooters.

now do all Muledeer and lopes ONLY use distance for protection - NO... But there are some guys who don't hunt them in coolies and other tree lines where it's hard to find them without knowing where they'll be. So the drive buy let's find them have roots both in the fact that the critters move miles (we have 1 square mile road quads in Kansas)... So you may have to drive 5-25 miles to find the game in one area if you use this method.

So - if you.. (YOU) are a "I want to drive spot & stalk" guy... And you are hunting distance types. Yes long teachers are the way it goes.

However if you live there, and know where they tend to Hyde, and know short shots are easier than long rails, plus you don't crush cash crops by hunting coolies and tree lines... We'll you'll hunt that way. Truthfully the guys who live thier know where the hidey holes are and tend to drive from spot to spot to find the big buck, then they walk in.

I.e. - in a huge fields type plains area, things are different and a guy can gain benefit from the 300 yard shot, because most those critters feel "ok" from 300 yards out.

Hence the "mystery" of why

I agree with Smoke and Ted. I've killed a lot more critters under 200 yards than over 200. It's all about whether you want to take the time to stalk the animal or just set up and blaze away. A couple of years ago I was up in area 7 in Wyoming with my buddy Mike Wakkuri elk hunting. We found a bunch of bulls on a cold, cold day a mile or so away. We got across the draw from them at about 500 yards or so. I was shooting a Rem 700 Alaskan Ti in 300 Win mag with a 4.5-14x40 Leupy CDS so I could have made that shot I believe but we decided to try to get closer. We got to about 300 or and ranged them again but then decided there was a way to get closer. We ended up at about 100 yards and all the bulls walked right by us when they got up. It was pretty cool and a hell of a stalk. Mike was just grinning from ear to ear. I guess depends on if you want to be a hunter or a shooter.

I'm in with Smokepole and Sammo.

Longest shot-400 yards

Shortest shot-12 feet

99% of other shots-200 yards or under.

Used iron sights or 4X scope on the vast majority. Older now so the 3x9 scope comes into play. Used all kinds of cartridges but if I were picking one specifically for western deer and antelope it would be a .243 with a 3x9 scope.( thats a plain scope...duplex reticle, no dots or turrets.)

Longest shot = 306 yards +/- a few. Shortest = 20 yards. Average is probably 100-150 yards. This is for mule deer, antelope, elk, moose in Idaho, Montana and Washington State, from 1972 through today.

Have shot at a few coyotes and what not way the hell out there but never at big game.

I hunt both sides of the Mississippi simply because I live so close to it. Haven't hunted west writ large for a long time. That said...

My favorite deer stand is technically in the east, being 50-60 miles east of the river. But, it commonly offers me shots that range from 25 feet to 600 yards. I frequently get to watch deer for long periods at 400-500 yards. I have never shot one from there past 300 though. That's more a matter of there being so many deer I get to pick and choose. What I set up to shoot from there and take one way out there should I choose mirrors what the others like Sam suggested. I have a 300 WM, a 270 and 30-06 all with 1.5-6x scopes and If I ever do take it in my head to drop one at 600 any one of them will do just fine. By far, the bigger problem for me is bullets. What works good at 25 feet gets marginal past 400 yards, and vice-versa.

I very often have dead calm conditions. When I do have any wind at all, the terrain produces conditions in which gauging wind drift is about impossible. 0-5 mph in one place might be 15-20 in another and those areas can switch very quickly as that wind direction changes. Basically, for me, that means I don't even consider longer shots until the last few minutes of legal shooting time, after the sun has set and the wind drops to zero and stays there.

Unlike out west, stalking closer to close the distance is not really an option. You can't move quietly enough for a long enough time moving through the woods to fool Bambi's ears. Watching deer on fields for fifty odd years has taught me that Bambi pretty well always knows which deer are where in the woods around them. Walking up on deer in the woods is easier. I suspect that mostly they either mistake you for another deer or more likely they just choose to be still and let you walk on by.

Post Script: I have shot 5 bulls in that hell hole with Mike over the years and watched him shoot one. The farthest bull was maybe 200 yards and the closest well under 100. Most were shot with a 300 WSM but could have been killed with anything from a 270 on up with a good bullet. I do know a guy in Idaho who uses a 243 on everything, has lived in the backcountry his whole life but picks his shots with a 100 grain bullet. It's all fun and games. A bull shot in the ass or the guts with a 375 Holland and Holland is still a bull shot in the ass or the guts.

Exactly!

Although the older I get, the further I tend to shoot. Crawling through the sagebrush and stickers ain't as much fun as it used to be.

Farthest mule deer for me was just under 300 yards. Farthest Coues whitetail was less than 200--maybe 185 or so. Most have been less. I have taken two at less than 70 yards.

My younger daughter has killed a mule deer at a little over 400, but most of her others were taken at less than 150 or so. Her longest whitetail was killed at just under 300. But, both of those long shots were the exception rather than the rule.

I had one guest hunter that killed a Coues whitetail at almost 500 yards with his .257 Weatherby. However, he was mobility impaired, and he practiced long shots expecting to be offered only long shots. Another experienced hunter shot a whitetail (running!) at well over 300 yards with a .264 Win Mag. I don't remember any other guests shooting either whitetails or mule deer much beyond 200 yards, and I don't remember any shooting one of the various magnum chamberings.

Our pronghorns have been taken at longer ranges, though--most over 200 yards, with one or two out to almost 400.

I will agree with Smokepole, SamO, BobinNH, Ingwe........Whew!

I became addicted to mule deer hunting the first time my dad took me, which was back in 1971 at age 11. Haven't missed a season (sometimes 2-3 different States in the same year) since.

The vast majority of my 41 muley bucks have been with a 3-9x or 3.5-10x scope, with the longest shot being 450yds, several under 100 yds, and the vast majority 120-175 yds.

I've become enamored with Leupy's CDS system the past few years, and busting targets at distance has become easy when the wind cooperates. However, my 4 biggest bucks, all taken since 2006, have all been shot in the 120-175 yd range as well.

I switched to a 4-12 scope this winter. I don't need it for long shots but my eyes aren't in the head of a 30 year old any more. It's easier to pick your shot when you can see what you're picking.

Good thing nobody tells bowhunters shots will be 250 yards.

Hunting is what you make of it. I decide what I want to shoot a deer with and go hunting. Long shots require flat shooters, close shots, not so much...

80 yards 45-70...



800 yards 30-378...



47 yards archery...