Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone have a personal limit of 300 yards or less for shots?

Our hunting conditions are quite a bit different than that of many on the forum. Our back yard range is 300 yards.....and we zero our hunting rifles @ 300 yards. This puts us only about 8” low at 400 yards. Our rifles are relatively flat shooting rifles, and on deer/antelope sized game, if they appear to be out yonder a bit, simply hold a bit high on the body.....never off of hair. In much of our hunting......400 yards is pretty close. I’d much rater have all of our shots inside of 50 yards......that’s not a reasonable expectation.

With rangefinder, and ideal shooting conditions, we have self imposed limits of 500 yards for my wife and 600 for myself! I think she’s being pretty conservative with her range limitations, as I’ve seen her make 400 yard shots look easy! memtb

I can practice out to 400 on steel, so 450 is about all I’m comfortable with, provided good conditions and a good rest.

Regarding closer-range shots from field positions, I was a better shot when I was 12-15yrs old, because I spent a lot of time with rimfires and RWS airguns. I plan to get back to shooting rimfire regularly in the coming days, not from a bench.

300 is pretty well my limit on deer as I seldom carry a range finder and seldom would need to shoot that far on deer.

I’m with the majority here the closer the better 98% of all the animals I have shot have been less than 350yds (most much closer) only a few have been over that and that was because the had been shot at/hit and was trying to prevent them from getting away.

I shoot a fair amount of silhouette - high power, small bore, lever and some long range and black powder. So maximum ranges are 500, 100, 200, 1000, and 500 meters respectively. And even though I do reasonably well at these games I don’t feel comfortable taking shots at live animals - I have more respect for them than that. It amazes me that the majority of people that say they can hit long range targets “consistently” enough to shoot at live animals aren’t showing up at the long range silhouette competitions in Ridgway, PA where 30 out of 40 hits is considered pretty darn good - this is with hundreds of
shooters each month and the best score thus far is 37 (if a person could hit that many consistently then maybe he has a claim to shoot at a live animal?!).

PennDog

My shooting range only goes out to 200 yds and I practice at that distance a lot. I can get tiny groups on a good rest from that distance with standard duplex 3-9 scopes atop sporting rifles in the chambering you mention. Thus the few times I have practiced in neighbors fields resting off the hood of a truck or shooting sticks from a seated position it not hard to hit a target the size of a deers vitals at 300-350 yds. The very few times I have tried at distances beyond that I am not good enough to try a shot on a deer. I do keep a range finder with me and know my limitations and work within them.

Okie,

No.1...It depends on where you're hunting. On leases with cutoves....300---600 yds is IN your eyesight.
BE prepared AS FAR as you can shoot !
OR you are going to HAVE to pass shots on BUCKS you want.

2. Agreed. I keep one in coat pocket, easily accessible.

3. For ME. I don't hunt in rain or hi wind. Wind drift is meaningless FOR ME,

All of us don't hunt in the same TYPE of terrain or topography. One size doesn't fit all.

Jerry

I always try to get closer. The last dozen or so deer I've shot have all been 100 yards or less. My wife has shot two moose, one at 35 yards and the other at 60. I am capable of hitting game further away, but past 250 yards doesn't happen any more. Parkinson's has increased my wobble zone.

I hunt for Mule deer in agricultural land. Topography usually dictates 350+ yard shots.

Of the four bucks we killed last year, the shortest shot was 375 yards.

Practice, a good range card, and a rangefinder are essential.

Deer would have to be painted fluorescent orange and jumping up and down to be seen at 300 yards where I hunt.

Whitetail hunting on my farm usually means opportunities just before the end of legal shooting light, as deer come off the river bottom and into my hay fields. Shooting distances are usually over 300 yards, sometimes well over. All my hunting rifles used for longer range shooting wear Leupold CDS scopes, calibrated for the ammo I intend to use. With a good rest, and my Leica rangefinder binocs, it's pretty easy to make accurate shots.
At my local range club, there is a 425 yard range. I always check my scopes at that range before heading out to hunt, setting the CDS dials to 425 yards and taking two or three shots to confirm everything is good to go.

I limit my shots at deer to about 300 yards. Mostly because visibility detail gets poor especially in the evening and I have a lot of 300 yard wind experience with ground hogs.

I’m better served to practice the 75 yard shot through a privet hedge thicket on a buck stepping quick after doe than a 500 yard shot. I can shoot pretty well out to 300 because that is just put the crosshairs on brown and shoot. Much past that, you need lots of practice, range finders, and dials. I just don’t have anywhere on any of my places where that kind of shot is going to happen.

Like I told my guide in africa I'm a pretty fair shot a 10 yards better at 8

Best advice possible. I’m really thinking of pairing down to a few rifles and shooting those religiously. Intimate familiarity with your equipment, breeds confidence.
Less recoil will normally make you a better shooter.

I practice to 550 but never shot an animal that far. My biggest obstacle and limitations is not my rifle. It is the rest and calling wind.

Bench rest shooting at steel is one thing. Cleanly killing an animal is another.

i rarely shoot anything over 300 yards. deer around here are usually shot under 100yards. of course one could shoot one across a bean/rice field but i don't do that any more. i've killed a bunch of elk in the last 50 years and my farthest shot was 266 yards. i'm old school, zero my rifles 3" high at 100 so i'm good to around 300 if i want to shoot that far. otherwise, i either find a way to get closer or i go home and try another day. i admire the person who can hit a target at 600 yards and beyond, but it's not for me.

I hunt in the woods. I rarely am carrying a rifle I'd use much past 150 yards, so, yeah I'm on the list.

30-30 single shot, 44mag pistol out single shot, and a 45/70 are what I'm usually carrying lately.

I'm a "fair" hand out to around 350 w/o a RF. "however", on a clear, crisp morning, across a canyon, I missed a fine 4x4 West Tx, Desert Mulie "twice". He was in shadow, I was in bright sunlight and I shot "over him" both times...with a 300 RUM & 150gr! I "was sure" he was 400yds out....that PM I went back 'with the RF I had left in camp that AM", and it was 305yds! Yeah...my 300 RUM was "zeroed" at 300yds too! ha, so it "depends", lol.

Honesty with yourself is the key. If you don't feel comfortable or ethical shooting at (insert distance here), then thats okay, don't shoot that far. Theres nothing wrong with that, it's not a competition. Just hunt in a way that matches your comfort level.

When i zero a rifle, i learn 2 distances; hold top of the back and too far to shoot. Everything else is a center mass hold. I always shoot at 300yds, longest distance my range goes to, just to ensure that my load and my ability holds up and using my "2 distance" technique, is far enough.

I agree with you Centennial.

In 2017, I had a six point bull at 300 yards, above me and skylined on a ridge. My guide was unhappy that I didn't shoot, but if anything had gone wrong, there was little we could do about it. The bull was an honest 30 minutes away on foot, probably more. Our horses were 30 minutes away behind us. This was a bad idea in soooo many ways, and I recognized it and passed on the shot. Two hours later I shot a six point bull (he'd run off the first one) at 135. Downhill and in the open where a followup shot would have been simple if necessary. In fact when the bull tried to get up, I shot him again.

Not all 300 yards are the same, is my point.