Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best zero in woods hunting 50, 100,200 yrds

I adhere to the KISS principal. I sight in my hunting rifles for 1.5" high at 100 yards. You should be good to go from 25 yards out to about 250 yards without thinking about holdover. This has worked well for me over the years. I rarely get a shot over 150 yards where I hunt (most under 100 yards). I have found the less I think the better I shoot.

Sounds good.

In original poster's situation, I'd zero 2 inches high at 100 yards for a boiler room hold. That gives a point-blank hold with nearly any caliber from muzzle to 200 plus. The rifle is going to be more accurate than field hold anyway...

Personally, I sight in all my rifles 2 to 3 inches high at 100 yards, however it works out at the time. I ain't all that picky. My hunting is mostly from 30 yard to infinity visibilities with any of them. I just don't worry about it all that much... Most everything except caribou is killed inside 150 yards anyway.

Killed everything I've squeezed the trigger on over the last 40 plus years. With one exception. Missed that one clean, dammit..

Make that two-and I'm not sure about that one, and that still bothers me...

As soon as I hit the submit button I knew I had way over generalized my statement, but since I wasn't on a benchrest forum I let it go. What I should have said was when my 250 is sighted in at one hundred yards it is a "little" high at 50, dead on at 100, and starts to drop off after that. So, I went out and dug around through all the crud on the floor of my truck and found the target I used to check zero before leaving on my pig hunt. The targets I use are one inch squares with 4 bulls in the corners and one larger bull, with ten rings, in the center. I went out to the farm and set up a fold up table and a fold up soccer mom chair. Took my surveyors tape out to 50 yds and stuck a stick in the ground, continued to 100 yds and another stick in the ground. Stapled the target to a box and put it at 50. Wadded up a jacket and put it in a walmart bag and tied the ends. Benched the rifle on the jacket and fired 2 rounds. They were both in the 10 ring, almost, but not touching the red bull. The ten ring is disected by the one inch squares. The first 2 shots were in the upper left quadrant of the 10 ring, maybe 3/4 inch above POA. Moved the target to 100 and fired 2 more shots. They were both in the lower right quadrat of the 10 ring, maybe 3/4 inch low. Over all spread including the diagonal was a little over an inch. So it was a little high at 50 a little low at 100, on a wobly table benched on a jacket. What we used to refer to as MOD for minute of dead or minute of deer, I now cal MOPG, for Minute of Pigs Ear. That's where our guide told us to aim, and it did the trick, Joe.

Too vague of a question. What caliber/bullet are you shooting? When you say most shots are under 100yds. How far are the one that aren't?

All my shots are under 100yds. I zero at 75yds.

.............I`d still sight it in at 200 yards and be done with it. Your vitals area or kill zones will still be well covered should any kill shots be at 100 yards or less.

Then if you find yourself in a clearing where a longer shot might be needed out to 200-250 yards you won`t need to worry about holdovers.

Imo, keeping a 200 yard zero would eliminate a little more guesswork.

My main big game rifle hunts everything from thickets to open country, sometimes on the same day, and it is sighted in a smidge over 2.5 inches high at 100. If I hunted thickets all the time however, I would sight it in for 50-75 yards.

As a younger man who hunted thickets almost exclusively, I sighted my rifle in for 60 yards, and did so again when I moved back to the thickets. That cost me a mule deer on a day trip back to open country when I didn't engage my brain before shooting.

My critter calling rifle is a .243 with scope mounted as low as possible, sighted a scant 3/4 inch high at 100. The intent is to keep the bullet as close to line of sight as possible to thread it through small visible holes in brush, yet still have a bit more range. Most shots have been through holes in brush inside of 15 yards, with one exception of a long shot of 129 yards.

The main thing is to KNOW where your rifle is hitting in relation to aiming point, at every range you are willing to shoot.

I don't have a ballistic chart available because I am not on my own computer so you guys that are and understand this please help me out.

Its pretty much a non issue at 20 feet or 20 yards what your sight in distance is. With a proper hold in the heart lung area a miss cannot be attributed to your sight in distance, whether it be 300 yards of 300 inches. Most big game that is missed at very close distances is caused by excitement, rather than the rifles, sight in point. On small targets (rodents, bunnies and the like) a hold over just a little will result in a hit rather than holding under. Remember your scope is approximately 1 1/2 inches higher than the bullet when it comes out of the barrel. My two primary elk rifles are sighted in for dead on at 300 yards. I have yet to miss an elk at 20, and yes I have killed a couple that close.

Thank you, and you are right may be, i cant shoot as well as i used to, age and eyes you know. I am shooting a 3006 150 gr bullets boat tails, you know i kinda miss the wide open, not to used to hunting from stands or shooting through brush. thank you for your advice.

Excellent advice. That's my system as well, though I haven't taken it past 400 yards (2-0-8-24). Works with calibers that shoot 2700-3100 fps muzzle speed and is pretty dang close with rifles a little outside of those parameters. It's pretty easy to remember 2-0-8-24. The more important task is knowing the range. One of these days I'm gonna get me a LASER rangefinder. I had an early one that supposedly worked to 400 yards but it was a waste of money.

Yep, that's how I've always set up my BG rifles. POI is .5 - .75" high at 50yds with +2100 in my rifles. Just put the cross hair on where I want to hit the animal out to 250yds and squeeze the trigger.

If it's truly a dedicated woods rifle, I'd go with a 100 yrd zero. Threading slugs through holes in twigs and such is not where I want to be wondering if the bullet is 1 or 2 inches above or below my line of sight. With the exception of some of our slowest rounds like maybe a 45-70, the bullet's path is probably still rising to mesh with ones aim point at 100 yds.

This. ^^

There's no advantage to being say 2" high at 100 in the timber. IMHO.

Not directed at you Jeff....you just happen to be there..

100 yard zeroes for brush shooting are nonsense,and can be a handicap,for lots of reasons.

Good for Cape Buffalo,brown bear,and stopping rifles....otherwise,forget it.

Multiple zeroes for open country and close cover ain't a good idea IMHO.Eventually, you'll get burned.

I likes me a 100-yd zero for my deer hunting. Yep.

Dialing up to a MPBR zero in open country is really easy. And it's not like a 100-yd zero prevents a quick 200, 250-yd shot.

But while that's true, it's irrelevant for my main blacktail rifle. It's a closer-range rig. 100-yd zero is perfect. Zeroing higher would be silly.

You need to hunt more...

Tell me the last time you hunted thick stuff all day,walked into a clear cut,and spun a turret to kill at 300 yards in under 7 seconds?

There are gaps in the trees. some of the thick stuff i hunt still has holes and gaps that exceed 100-150 yards. plus I pass a pasture or two one the way in-out.

set the zero to the MAX PBR that gets into the vitals.
I wants a 5" zone. most settle for a 6.
for me to pull a 5" with a 20" bbl'd 165 SP @ 2550 I need to be zero'd @ 200. that way I never am higher than 2" and I am -2" @ 230.
Taking into account that a full value 5MPH wind will cause a 2.5" horizontal drift at 235 thats a perfect zero for me.
if i need to take a short shot of 50 yards or so Im never going to be more than an onch high.

Lots of bad advice for woods hunting! About 90% of my shots are between 50-150 yards, and more often than not I can only see a small part of the animal I'm shooting at because of obstructions between me and the animal. Shooting bullets through softball sized openings is not a good idea when your bullets may be several inches above your line of sight.

I zero dead on at 100 yards. The bullet will never be more than 1" either above or below my line of sight between about 30 yards out to about 130 yards. Which is exactly where almost all of us shoot, even in the more open Western states. If for some reason I need to take the rare 300 yard shot all of my rifles shoot flat enough to still hold on hair and make hits. My 30-06 will be about 11" low @300 with a 100 yard zero, it will be almost 7" low with a 200 yard zero.

I don't see any point in complicating things at the ranges we do most of our shooting while offering no real advantage at the extreme ranges where we are least likely to shoot.

The idea of zeroing 2" or more high at 100 yards is only helpful if you plan on doing all your shooting beyond 300 yards, or if you have a rifle that does not shoot flat. Even if you do plan on shooting longer than 300 yards you would be better off using a scope with dots or adjustable turrets.

62 TSX at 3000 is 1/2 inch high at 50 and 2.5 inches low at 200 started at 3000.

I wish I could say I have had all these "problems" at close range cited here;I have not despite killing bucks as close as 20 feet to over 400 yards with the same 3" high zero(far more than once); but I have not...despite having to deal with both conditions on the same day and hunt I have even used such a zero to clip heads off grouse at close range...

I would rather deal with an inch of midrange at 100 yards, than with a foot of drop at 300.

I hate to sound indifferent to all these alleged difficulties brought about by doing it all "wrong",but I have found killing deer at woods ranges with a 270 or anything similar zeroed 3" high at 100 yards,pretty simple,and don't understand all the fuss...

I don't need either dots, or turrets, to kill neatly at 400 yards....but if you insist on a 100 yard zero because of all its' "advantages"...you certainly will.

I hunt in mixed woods/Ag country, so shots can range from a few yards, to well beyond 400 yards, depending on the terrain I'm in.

If I am spending most of a day in the woods, generally gonna tote one of my lever guns. The Marlin carbine in 35 Rem, is sighted for 100 yards. So is the M94 in 32 Win. Special and the M92 clone in 44 Mag. All have "iron sights".

Have killed deer with the first two rifles from well less than 50 yards, to out around 100, with little problem.