Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Crippled big game from LR hunters

I have a habit of asking this when " long range" is brought up

At what distance is long range defined and who defines it? One man's long range is another's mid range
Long distance with my stick bow is a lot shorter than my .58 Plains rifle, and neither are anywhere near my. Scoped rifles. - with me behind them .
Time of flight is something that needs to be taken into account and many do not, not to mention shooter ability which is rarely taken into account.
Cat

Good Lord you are one of the biggest d bags on this board.

Bluefish, I think you missed that both Darryle and Swamplord's posts were both DRIPPING with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

My late Brother started as a wrangler for some bigger outfitters in Wyoming then became a guide between Idaho and Wyoming. He would not tolerate high risk shots and longer ranges. I don’t think he ever told me what he considered extreme range cause a lot depended on the hunter’s ability and his rifle’s acceptable range. One of his beefs were clients that started to feel the pressure when only a day or two are left to hunt. They wanted to stalk and hunt at reasonable ranges in the beginning then wanted to take almost any shot toward the end. He would allow some of this early in the day but couldn’t stand to see some guy shoot across a deep canyon late in the day knowing the animal would likely roll to the bottom or fall on the other side. To try and recover the game would mean going back for the horses and ride for hours in order to cross over or try to get into the bottom all in the dark. Often the animal was never found until next day sometimes never.

Clients bitching the guide couldn’t or wouldn’t retrieve their prize. After a while he got fed up with this crap and passed the client off to the outfitters kids or anybody who’d take them. He had one client who filed a formal complaint so he had to go to the Wyoming Board of Outfitters to explain his decision to drop a client who wanted to shoot at an elk in late day low light across a steep draw that was impassable with horses without riding ten or so miles around in the dark. The shot was guesstimated at around 600 yards. He felt his actions were well within the Board’s rules of ethics and they agreed. So it’s up to the guide really if you try what he thinks is a high risk long range shot that could end in crippled or wasted game. Of course the outfitter can see this as lost future income and a nick on his record so some awfully good guides have to look for outfitters who understand. Not all outfitters are guides so some see this as business only.

Rick

Reason why I made a recommendation long ago that it should be LONG RANGE SHOOTING!

To take the 'load' off of hunters for reasons of this posting!

Long range shooting (for me anyway)
Means targets .
If you are shooting at an animal, I consider it a hunting shot, regardless of distance .
Cat

The guy who just spent 10K at Gunwerks needs to shoot at Ridgway or Williamsport & get his eyes opened.

We take out 150 to 165 big game hunters every year, we learned long ago to keep a couple of good tracking dogs, 99% of wounded critters here are shot inside 250 yards and 95% of them are gut shot. and we find 99.9% of them, if a wounded critter stays out over night we are lucky to retrieve the head. it does not have to be a long range shot to be a lousy shot. Rio7

never experienced it but I've read about before and I don't know if it's still current but some countries have been known to actually give shooting tests of shooting off hand on steel animal targets somewhat similar to our silhouette targets and even moving steel targets to see if they would even issue a hunting license.

Yeah got some friends in the EU that told me about it. Honestly, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to a degree

Most of the injured big game animals that I've encountered over the years had injuries that were more consistent with being hit by a car. I've seen a few whitetails that had broadheads in them but they were doing fine when taken. Animals walking around crippled from a poor hit with a rifle seems like fairly rare occurrence to me.

During offhand matches - with .22s - AT 100 FEET people have difficulty keeping “groups” under 5-6”……after a while, if they stick with it, they can shrink those groups in half. Too many people think that if I have the equipment and put the reticle/sights on the target it’ll be an automatic hit - it’s just exaggerated as the distance increases (I see plenty of wounded animals under 300 yards - even under 100). I firmly believe that a competency shooting “test” should be implemented by every state before issuing a license - nothing that is too difficult but at least get people to use their equipment and “make” them somewhat aware of what it takes. This wouldn’t eliminate wounded animals but it would hopefully reduce the numbers?!

PennDog

I would be willing to bet the farm that a way higher % of animals have been crippled and lost by average hunters/shooters, than animals that have been crippled and lost by excellent hunters/shooters at long range.

That’s not a very good comparison - let’s looks at EXCELLENT hunters/shooters that do not take extend range shots on game.

PennDog

how many folks bitching about long range hunting have ever shot a deer beyond 600 yards? how many folks have witnessed what happens on a bad hit at long range? how do deer respond to it? If you can't answer that question, your arguement is bullshit, that is a fact!

I guess you are not factoring in the terrain or situations, sometimes you can't get closer.

For example, when bow hunting my average shot on deer, moose, and bears is <20 yards. I have killed deer at the 100-yard mark.

How about the stick and string? Talk about lost game.

Whoa buddy - nobody was bitching but you sure are riled up. Please look at my first post - these are fact observed from shooters at 850-1000 yards. Slightly over 1/2 of all shots, on average, would miss the vitals of an animal - this is from hundreds of competitive shooters. Plus don’t get me wrong I know there are people that can do it - but they aren’t many. My biggest point is I think that if it’s done to brag then that is as you say “bullshit”.

PennDog

BTW - I never intend to shoot at an animal beyond the distance that I’m comfortable with.

not singling anyone out, but if you do not know what goes on on a long range deer shot than you have no idea, I have myself taken 57 deer and a bear beyond 450 yards, a couple dozen beyond 600, more than a handful over a grand. why do I do it? because I spent over 25 years learning the how, and what, then after relentless practice I felt confidant enough to do it, have taught dozens of other shooters young and old the method that I have found that works.

I can say never have I shot one at long range that was not a perfect hit that ran out of sight unless it was a lung hit, then they just smell/taste blood panic and sprint to their death just like a bow kill, a 50 yard rifle kill or whatever. The poorly hit ones cannot relate a rifle report that far away with danger, all they know is they are hurt and lay up sometimes within feet of where they were standing when hit, they rarely go more than 40 yards before they lay down.

People love telling other people what to do.

Whether it's purchasing a set of tires or shooting an animal, everyone else has an opinion of how you should do it.