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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.

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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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Was a slug gun state, went PCR a few yrs back.
Shotgun, MZ or handgun........several at or over 150 yds.
No big deal really. If stationary, have time.....sure try to take a rest.......but have nailed em offhand. Not hard really.
Blasted movers up closer too.
Like a 1X for that. Makes it no big deal. Never shot bounders, only when they were moving in a smooth line.
Kill as many from the ground as stand, prefer being in the woods compared to field edges (just feels better).
I can shoot pretty well, my gear is decent.........but if I could smoke em all at 50 yards I'd be fine with that.
Just do what I gotta do.
Had a funky thick 8 pt last yr at 250 in picked bean field, little Ruger RSI was rock solid on my elbows (HP rifle first time legal this past season). Didn't like the angle and he turned and left the way he came. He was dead if I want him. Property line deal, figured I'd rather dump him farther from the boundary to appear more polite. Prone w 4X scope.....250 yards.....no worries on puttin it where I wanted.

Know the other landowner, worked with him. But I hadn't secured permission so just let it go.

No big deal. Ended up blasting a differet buck at 50 yards in the timber a week later. Good enough.

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Originally Posted by battue
If the sights are planted and steady. Hit the trigger.


Yep...


Originally Posted by raybass
I try to stick with the basics, they do so well. Nothing fancy mind you, just plain jane will get it done with style.
Originally Posted by Pharmseller
You want to see an animal drop right now? Shoot him in the ear hole.

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i've killed game from 20ft to 450yds. i'll use a rest when ever i can. i have killed deer out to around 150yds off hand but i'd rather have a good rest to make sure.

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Originally Posted by battue
If the sights are planted and steady. Hit the trigger.


This pretty well covers it for me. If I"m 200% sure of the shot, I take it.

That said, I try to find a rest most of the time, though years of 200 yard offhand with irons in matches allows me to shoot offhand if I can't find a rest ASAP. And with all the ways to get rests, offhand is rare. Knowing how to use a sling sure helps... having a bipod does too.

I've never, that I can recall, shot at a running deer that was not wounded. And I don't intend to. Pass up a multi point muley once due to that, scored around 200 inches IIRC when the next guy shot it a few days later. No big deal. I just refuse to chance a bad hit.

Since some are mentioning distances, anything from spitting distance, well 3 steps twice, out to over 800 barely.

When we have to hunt stands down here, those stands have my feeders at 150 yards. No closer. I shoot to 350 quite often in that location becuase it covers one of the best deer trails on the place and I"m far enough away that the deer don't much care that we are there, IF they even know that.

Finally the 200% rule covers most anything that I can think of. Some days a 50 yard or less shot just isn't in the books, other days 500-600 are gravy.

Some days I"m limited to about 200 yards subsonic 300/221, or even less since I carry a 10mm pistol. Or even less than that with a bow... Other days I have what it takes and confidence way on out there.

Years ago a mentor told me if I was going to pull the trigger, deal with recoil, make the noise and expend the bullet, I may just as well make sure that trigger pull ends up with something on the table. With a rifle I"ve made that work almost 100%. With a shotgun... LOL... I'm not good at all.


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I should add, probably the most different rest I have used so far was my wife.

Shot was around 335 yards, but I could not get steady enough sitting on a slope after a fair jog to get into position, so I asked Carolyn to lay down in front of me, tossed the forearm on her hip, and told her when I was close I'd say ready, she was to stop any movement...

Bingo. First 10 point of my life, first buck with a new 7x300 wtby that Mickey built...


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Anywhere from 20 yards to 800 yards!


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A couple off hand shots in dense cover as a youngster. Doing nothing but spot and stalk out west now, and the first thought when getting into range is securing a rest. The objective is to shoot deer, not shoot at them.

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Used to sneak to the edge of big canyons in Ozona Texas. I used a wrist rocket to sling ball bearings in the bottom. Deer pigs come running out. Bang away at them!

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My typical shot is 100-200 yards. And I have no problem shooting a running deer- I shoot a lot of them that way.

Well before I ever thought of deer hunting, I was swinging on and shooting birds- mostly pheasants.

My father was a bird hunting nut, so that's what I grew up hunting. On a typical Saturday, during the off-season, we'd commonly spend all day shooting boxes of shells at clay pigeons.

I shoot deer the same way.

Some days, when they're holding tight, I'll try and flush 'em out of creek bottoms just like we did pheasants when I was a kid.

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Most of mine have been shot off hand while I'm sitting or standing and they are walking, but a few were still and with a rest.


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Only two at approx 200 yds the rest have all been 100 or closer often much closer. Biggest deer killed at maybe10 yds. I hunt from a tree stand so usually have a bar or tree For a rest.. Targets are generall still I have killed one jogging/ running deer I.e.he wasn't running full tilt. At about 75 yds.

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Originally Posted by captdavid
What are your shots like?
If I think it is a good buck, I try to shoot right away. Not like the guys on TV screwing around with a call, or chambering a round or looking for shooting sticks. If in a blind, I use the rest, if walking I will sit with my elbows on my knees, or lean against a tree, whatever is the quickest way to take a good shot.


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