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My thread on blood trails and how one hunts has gotten me to to ask another. I'm interested in others experiences. Of all the deer I've killed, over 100, all but two have been standing or walking slowly. Those two were wounded by others. One I hit. The other was hit by the other guy or me, both shot at the same time and the deer went down. Some of those standing were obviously aware of me and about to bound, but I shot first. As I recall other than those two only one other was shot off hand. I could be wrong, some were shot over 50yrs ago. A few were shot using elbows. But, well over 95% were shot using some form of rest. I've used sticks, unipods biods, tripods, window sills in blinds, trees different parts of a truck and sandbags on various surfaces. Probably 90% of my shots have been under 200yds or so, the vast majority between 75-125yds with only two at 300yds or so. What are your shots like? I have found others experiences fascinating. Thanks again captdavid


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If the sights are planted and steady. Hit the trigger.

Last edited by battue; 01/31/17.

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Probably most are either offhand at relatively short range (50-100 yds.) because we did/do a lot of deer drives or from the 'offhand sit' where I am sitting on a stump, log or something and raise the gun to my shoulder and shoot.

There's been some longer (200-350 yds) that were from the more classic kneeling or sitting positions. Lately, I seem to be finding a tree or something solid to lean against. Can't say that I've ever gone prone to shoot a deer.

Putting a loaded gun on a vehicle in Pa. is illegal while hunting and I don't hunt from deer shacks so no window sills.

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If the target is much past the end of the barrel I try to find a rest, mainly a tree trunk, my knee, or a hiking stick. ...but I'd guess 1/2 of my shots are offhand. Most are shorter range, 50-100 yards, often bad angles, off mt sides with elevation changes, threading needles between limbs. Usually if one is 200+ yards I have time to get a good rest, but few are over 100. Most are walking or stopped, occasionally I'll shoot a trotter but it's hard to find openings in the thick stuff on movers. Most movers are pretty obedient though, when I say "Stop!" they usually do.

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I've shot a few moving but never running flat out. I always waited for a double lung shot. On one I was aiming just above his left elbow, I felt he sensed me and just as I shot, he weirled to his left and the bullet hit in the center of his chest. Knocked his front feet from under him and he ran 40 yards on his hind legs until he ran into a tree top.

I try to find a rest. Like you, a window sill, knees, tree, something. Shoot off hand if I have to.

Was sitting on the upper edge of a ravine one morning when a saw a buck coming from my left at the bottom of the ravine. Found an open spot and waited. Shot him mid chest at about 30* down angle. Felt it was a good shot but he ran up the other side of the ravine and out of sight. Was gonna wait a few minutes but then saw him coming back down into the ravine a little to the left of where he went up. Decided to do something I'd never tried before, shoot him at the top of his shoulder. When he came into an open spot I shot and he went down immediately.

Had to walk down to my right to get to the bottom. Came to the spot of the first shot, there was lots of blood. Walked over to the deer. There was only one wound. Followed the blood trail up the hill and found I had shot two bucks less than a minute apart in almost the same spot.

Last edited by websterparish47; 01/31/17.
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for the first 20 years or so i stood on stand and a lot of my shots were leaning off a tree or offhand. now older and lazier, i usually sit on the ground with my back against something big so most of my shots are rock steady right off my knees. when i still hunt i try to stop against a tree so i can get a rest. i've shot a few on the run but have missed as many as i've gotten.


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Used to shoot a lot of the on the run. We always made drives. In the last ten years only one running and the rest moving slow or standing. I shoot 200-300 often enough and have set up to shoot 500-600 on occasion, but never pulled the trigger.

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In the hill country of Texas, most are around 100 yards. Longest I've made there was just under 600 yards from a steady bench-type stand we had built.
In the mid-west, most were inside of 100 yards, some as close as 20 feet. Longest there was around 200 yards.
In the west, depending upon what state and what part of the state I was in, my shots have ranged from as short as 42 paces out to 500 yards.


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What I do is practice different shooting positions at ranges from 50-300 yds. The idea is to use the one that allows me to get a hit in the shortest time possible.
When I'm presented with a shot, I make a judgement call as to how long I have to shoot before I loose the oportunity. Better to make one good shot, than to shoot before I'm sure I have the shot.
I've never killed a big game animal from prone. But I have used tree limbs and large rocks for rests, usually with my pack on top of them.
The bottom line is that unless I'm 90% sure I "have the shot," or I'm sure it will hit, I don't fire. I let two absolutely huge bull elk walk once because I couldn't get into a steady enough position, let alone be sure as to how much to change the zero of my scope. They were about 600 yds. off.
The above practice has taught me some things. For instance, with a shooting sling, I can make a 100 yd. hit on a 9 inch target faster if I drop into a sitting position than if I try to make it from standing. In other words the gun settles down much faster when I use the sling and a sitting position.
All of my shots at 4 yr. old bucks have been running shots. What I've found is that usually hit, even a bad one, will slow them down. That brings me to my last rule. As long as he's on his feet, I hit him. E

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98% of my shots are 50 yards or less in thick junk at standing or slowly moving deer. I'm with battue.

Last edited by JDK; 02/01/17.
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Originally Posted by Oheremicus

. . The bottom line is that unless I'm 90% sure I "have the shot," or I'm sure it will hit, I don't fire. . . .


bless you! ! it always does me good to read of another that
will pass on a low percentage shot. hearing anyone talk of
"hail mary" shots gives me an excedrine headache

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Most have been from some sort of supported position. My private lands hunts from a treestand or blind and my public land hunts most from a kneeling or sitting position, the kneeling being my favorite. I've only made two offhand shots both within 75yds one a big doe the other a wild dog running deer on our property. I practice going from standing to one knee bracing with my elbow makes for a pretty solid field position.

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I asked a similar question in different ways over the years while I was associated with D&DH. What I learned was that the average shot at a whitetail was under 80 yards.

Personally, I was well under 60 yards average until the last few years. Recently, we've been taking longer shots. My longest is 175 yards, and the longest at our camp was set this year by my son: 230 yards. It's not that we're trying one way or the other. It's just that it's darn hard to find a venue where a 200-yard shot is possible. The change to longer shots is due to a gradual shift from treestands in deep woods to ground blinds overlooking pastures.


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I've only taken one deer at close to 400 yards in my life. I was using a rest inside a shooting house at the edge of a green field and cutover.

Every other deer I've ever shot probably 60+ have been shot at very close range,from about 8 to 80 yards. The majority of them were shot off hand running flat out.

When I first started hunting I tried to wait for the perfect standing broadside shot. I didn't kill many deer until I started just shooting deer. Most every deer has been shot in the chest but it might be from an extreme side angle or from the back down. I've only lost 2 deer that I shot and both of them were standing still at first and last light. They were shot with me sitting shooting off hand but I don't know what went wrong.

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I have hunted some in open fields and some in the woods.
I always try to use some sort of rest. knee, tree limb, I have used crossed sticks in ground blinds.Most of my shots recently are around 100 yards. Very seldom do I get a shot at a buck that is not moving. Most does are standing still.
I have shot several bucks running hard after does. Bucks that stand around in the open where I live have a short life expectancy and are usually young.
When I see a deer I want to shoot. I don't wait long to shoot I learned young hunting in the woods that the older ones have a knack for getting behind a tree or just taking off if you wait. I don't expect or wait for a buck to stand still broadside.

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Most of the deer I have taken have been shot offhand at ranges 60-100yds., I have also shot a couple from a sitting position and one from the window sill of a box blind. Half have been bang-flops and the others have managed to run 30 yds. or so leaving a heavy blood trail.

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Most of my shots have been at typical woods range, about 35-50 yards I'd guess. Most of the pastures or hayfields that I've rarely killed deer in aren't huge, so I'd guess those would average 100-150 yards, although this year I did kill a big doe at 300 yards with my 22/250. My longest shot on a deer yet.

I can only think of a couple times I've shot sitting or dropped flat to shoot.


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Most have been shot off my knees, whether sitting on the ground or from a stand. A few have been taken offhand or standing, leaning against a tree. This past season, I took three from a two-man ladder stand with a padded rail, the first I've had so equipped. Very handy, not just for the shot, but because it allows me to rest the rifle beside me on the seat with the barrel laying on the rail until needed. Makes using binos and keeping my hands warm much easier.

One deer was taken some years back from a classic sitting position, properly slung up in a Whelen sling. I saw a doe cross an opening across a small ravine and below me. I dropped to the ground, put my arm through the loop and tightened the keeper and waited. In a few seconds a buck stepped into the opening. I put the reticle on his heart and pressed the trigger. Elapsed time from spotting the first deer to kaboom, maybe ten seconds or so.


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Originally Posted by captdavid
What are your shots like? I have found others experiences fascinating. Thanks again captdavid


I use a ML so no longer shoot at running deer. Ever. I have, i used to, I no longer see it as a fitting end to a hunt for me. First off, its a much lower probability shot imo (at least for me). Secondly, it means I bumped or spooked a deer, meaning I screwed up. PLus, half the time you bump a deer it'll move but you can find it again. Less so if you blast a shot at it with a smokepole.

So basically no running deer unless they're wounded.

Sometimes they'll be trotting past after getting bumped by another hunter, and thats fine. A trot or spooked run/look/run/look is fine too.


I'm 50-50 still-hunt & ambush (stand) hunt. A deer slowly poking its way around or standing would make up 90% of my shots.


Originally Posted by Archerhunter

Quit giving in inch by inch then looking back to lament the mile behind ya and wonder how to preserve those few feet left in front of ya. They'll never stop until they're stopped. That's a fact.
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As for distance, I had one walk under me at 0yds (maybe 2 yards above it) and a measured 220yds being the farthest shooting old slow conicals in the ML. Both fell instantly and died just as dead, and oddly neither were spine or CNS hits. Both were heart lung and dropped at the shot.

For a while a lot of my deer came from one particular spot in a field for which all shots were almost exactly 100yards.

I'd say 40 yards is the average and typical shot. 40-60 would probably be the vast majority.

I shot one deer with a rifle. The next few were buckshot, then the next few slugs, then most of the rest were with one form of ML or another.

Anyway, yea. Walking or standing, un spooked, 45 yards, heart lung or high shoulder. 60% open woods, 40% field. Thats pretty much it.

Last edited by Crockettnj; 02/04/17.

Originally Posted by Archerhunter

Quit giving in inch by inch then looking back to lament the mile behind ya and wonder how to preserve those few feet left in front of ya. They'll never stop until they're stopped. That's a fact.
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