Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting max range for game

50 yards is my limit although I do practice out to 60 yards.

When I shot every day and was practicing at 70 and 80 yards all the time my self imposed limit was still 50yards.... And it would have taken (my version of) an idealistic scenario before I let an arrow fly at that distance on game.

Now I don't shoot nearly as much... I can group well still at 50, but I put a limit on myself at 35yards... I'm just not as in-tune with my equipment as I used to be.

Either way I bow hunt for the experience, not for flinging arrows at game at distances that stretch my abilities to hit them. My goal is to set everything up correctly so that I don't even have to consider "is that too far to shoot." The goal for me is that when I raise my bow up to make a shot I don't have to even think about exactly how far away they are or which pin to use..it's top pin.

Getting close to game is bow hunting. What your partners are doing is just BS.

25 yards and under....under is better.

Shot target archery competition for years. Wasn't great, but, wasn't too far off from the top amateurs. Had a carefully tuned target bow , trained with coach and shot 300 arrows aweek minimum.At 80 yards ( maximum field and hunter range) I could hit a four inch five ring most of the time under low wind conditions with my target bow. In a ten mph crosswind it dropped to less than 50%. This is with a carbon arrow with short fletching and a heavy glue in precision target tips. The whole concept was to maintain velocity and cut the wind better. In higher winds it got worse fast. No hunting arrow, even with tiny mechanical heads, shoots as well as a target arrow period.

Your friends were totally unethical to take such shots. It would take serious consideration and change on their part before you should hunt with them.

My personnel max range at my best was 50 yards. Everything had to be in my favor to take a max range . I have only taken 2 deer and one hog at more than 40 yards. The hog was previously hit and pigs don't duck arrows any way. Perfect conditions for a long shot don't occur very often.

55 is my max but I practice out to 70 just as a confidence builder

I find it hard to believe all the posters having 50 yard max. 50 yards is a chip shot, the shooting part.

But teh animals can hear and move. I've seen it WAY to often.

My personal limit here on whitetails that I KNOW move at the release often, is 15 yards. Thats right. Take it or leave it. I've had bad things happen past 15 that are not a result of the quality of teh shot, but are a result of the speed of the animal.

We even had a guy that hit a deer on the OTHER side of where he was aiming, shooting a fast, at the time, bow, short AL overdraw arrows etc... so he wasn't shooting 200 fps... This at under 15 steps.

I have NO clue on elk, but if they would hold still and wait for the arrow, I could extend.

And even to 100 the shots are not that hard if you shoot a lot. Just like a 600 yard rifle shot is not hard at all for me, because we put 10-20K rounds a year down range at distances....

Bottom line is what is the animal going to do or be capable of doing.

I have killed from 3 steps out to something the otehr side of 40, but that shot was a muley that wasn't supposed to move.... but he damn sure did. Last "long" shot I've taken on game animal with a bow.

Its close or nothing at all. You have to accept that when you go with a bow. Well at least I do.

BTW I preached this to a young man last year, that had a 140 class buck in his area. Oh but he was capable easily to 25 ... and I preached to his father who said the same of both him and his son.

Luckily that buck is pushing upper 140s this year, after almost completely ducking the young lads arrow at 23 yards.... which he found hard to believe....

We've all seen hunters shooting bows and rifles well outside of their abilities, and this story is another sad exception.

That being said, I do personally have a limit to 50 on elk and 40+ on deer, but just like anything, it's conditional on context, environment, and circumstances. I agree that a lot can happen while that arrow is in flight and none are good.

I just shot a bull elk a couple of weeks ago at just under 50 and the arrow was a pass through and he went maybe 20 yards. But that is anecdotal because I had to pass on another bull earlier at 40 because I couldn't get him to stop.

Such is hunting

Heres the deal,even if you could hit bulls at 100 yds every time there are just way to many things that could happen while that arrows traveling through the air that far.
Heck 40 yds schit can happen let alone 100yds

Distance that a shot can be taken ethically depends on far more than a shooteres ability. As I stated 50 yards would have been my max. Shots that could be taken over forty yards only occured three times when I was at the top of my form. This was a span of 15 years and around 40 animals. One of the shots was on a hog that was hit hard previously and pigs don't duck well any way. Two were deer that never moved until the arrow hit. The list of things that have to be perfect for a 40 yard bow shot is long. Now my max is 30 and due to a elbow injury I use a crossbow to boot. My crossbow is very accurate to 75 yards and is great fun to play with to that distance, but, sure isn't for hunting at that range.