Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is Short Range More Fun?

This. That said I think a definition of "short range" needs to be fleshed out. having been so close to a bunch of Cape Buffalo that you can hear their stomachs rumble and smell them IS a trip! Then again so was whacking a kudu at 350 plus. It's all good!

Put be down for BOTH.

+1 with jorge, stick & string or slinging lead, I like em both.

Won't catch me with a bow though Oh and full disclosure, I ususally pay to hunt...

jorge, we all pay one way or the other! While I prefer rifle hunting, the bow gets me out with more opportunities, and that's a good thing.

Took me a long while to learnto walk up to elk bedded, and it still stands the hair up onmy neck when I do. Doing it to a single bull is tough, 10-15 cows is tougher yet

Texas Photog: I remember you were pretty excited about that buck! Is that stuff in the background where the big one was hiding out?


Pat: Great photos! Thanks for posting!


saddlesore: You do a lot of close range hunting IIRC....right?

For me it's all about being on the ridges tracking whities or still hunting along trying to kill one up close. November days with light rain or snow or general soggy conditions are a still hunters dream and "killing days" as I say to my friends.

Short, medium, or long.

Blonde, brunette, or redhead.

I like em all.

I like my handguns and hunt with them often.

Bob,

It was a similar lava flow but the rocks were piled higher and had cacti in them too - not easy to sneak through. I'm counting the days until the 2013 season starts!

When the sight distance is miles, one can spot unlimited game on a good day and lob rounds until one connects with the aid of a good spotter...then grin at the camera like a briar eating jackass.

Some have no other choice than to hunt close range, as in the thickets and bays one can only see a few yards, max.
Then chances are the game will scent you and be gone way before you see him.

Both short and longer ranges are good.

Perhaps my most memorable shot was a buck I jumped on the hill near the camp. At first I though I did not have a chance as he saw me first and got the jump.

Then I shouted that secret sound and he turned and ran back uphill (slower uphill) past me. I made a good shot with my old Featherweight and he dropped.

It was a long and happy drag back to the camp. Easier with some snow on the ground.

Think a lot of this has to do with the nature of cover and topography wherever one might be hunting. Stand hunting in Georgia's Piedmont region may or may not provide for long shots, mostly not from my experience. Hunting in my present AO? Long is 75 yards or so and sitting on a stand is a colossal way to pizz away a lot of boring hours.

Still hunting is both more interesting and more productive if you have the cover and terrain. Powder burns, big swamp bucks, 'yotes, foxes etc. All critters stalked by a still hunter are faced with a an apex predator rather than the passive shooter. Had a run over about 7 years where the longest shot made on anything was less than 20 yards. Chase pigs today and the shots seldom exceed 10-15 yards, but the cover is very close. Excitement, sure. Rewarding more so I think. Personal best memories include still hunting a woods 'yote in Georgia and taking him at about 12 paces. Another was to move into the middle of about a dozen turkeys feeding the oak bottoms, then leaving without disturbing them. Dunno I have the stamina to do that anymore, but that one time gave a lasting memory. Was, I like to think, my Still Hunting PHD.

We miss you over on YOUR "jam" thread...

Short range is fun, but will wait for someone to start a thread on medium range and weigh in as more fun.

True that.

There is no greater rush than hunting with my recurve (or gun) and watching an animal closing in from 100 yards out, waiting an eternity for the animal to pass within range, thru a pre trimmed out shooting lane, attempting to control your breathing, hearing your heart beating rapidly before releasing a shaving sharp broadhead thru the vitals, hearing the hit, and watching the animal pile up within sight.

Tanner, what the hell you been sniffing

Ennui is taking over man... my mind wanders to September-October already.

Hope nobody thought I was serious... grin

Ha ha...