Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting max range for game

Just came back from an Elk hunt and my hunting partners took 87 and 110 yard shots on Elk, both resulted in lost animals. The 87 yard shot he found his animal 5 days later. Total loss except the antlers. The 110 yard hit just ahead of shoulder , left the hunt area after 5 hrs of searching. I passed on shots like described , my self imposed limit was 60 yards and no opportunities presented themselves within that limit. 75,80,90 and a 375 bull at 100.
Needless to say I'm just sick at the outcome . What do you think.
Today there was an advertisement for a bow sight company pushing their 100 yard sight and the new opportunities now open to those that buy their sight.

I think someone needs to take your friend's bows, and beat the owners over the head with said bows until they gain some sense.

Time to find new partners...sounds like you had a less than pleasant trip.

50 yards is my self imposed Max Limit. Personally, I think it is my responsability as a hunter & sportsman to do my best to make a killing shot or no shot at all.
The LAST thing I want to do is wound and lose such a magnificent animal as an Elk! And if I go home empty handed, we'll then that's just part of the Hunt.

Lots of guys out there today that think that the newest, fastest, latest, Bow enables them to shoot an Elk at Any Range! And with all the variables involved on taking an elk, there are only a few guys who are truly qualified to make that shot in a perfect situation.
Hell, I can hit a hay bail 5 out of 6 times with my Matthews Compound Bow, at 75 yards, but that doesn't mean I can make a killing shot on an Elk at that distance!
There are just too many variables involved with the shooter, weather, wind, animal alertness, equipment, arrow flight, ect that can turn a long range archery shot into a disaster.

I don't know your hunting buddy from Adam, but it sounds to me like he is the type of "shooter" that gives the rest of us Hunters a really bad rap. Not to mention that his hunt should have legally been over after he wounded the first Elk on his hunt. To me, it was unethical, and very disrespectful to the Elk & other Hunters.

I know that animals get wounded and get away sometimes, even when you do everything right, and that's just part of Bow Hunting.
But a real hunter has a Responsability to the animal & other hunters to make sure he is only taking a good shot within his skill set levels, and not just slinging arrows because you can!
JMO, but I think most here on the Fire would agree!

Yes! Disgusted is the definition of my hunt. Still looking for words to say to my friend.

I think you are an ethical and responsible hunter but your buddies...not so much.

I would be too! That kind of BS ruins the hunt for everyone involved!

GFY may be a good place to start. Wonder where they learn to take such unethical shots from? Could it be the TV guys? I have seen a few connect on some long shots. But it's certainly not something I'd try. 50 yds. Thats my absolute max

^^^ This!

Chit like that will end bowhunting.

Crappy bowhunters are what we call guys that shoot over about 50 yards.........I agree, break that bow over their heads.

It's ok if the elk win sometimes.

I'm always confused at when archery became long range hunting?

Archery is an amazing and enjoyable event when you can get so close you smell the animal and see it's eyes blink.

The entire satisfaction of archery is how close you get, not how far you shoot. Even if somebody connects on a 80 yard shot, it's not impressive at all. How many did he take/miss/wound before that one was successful?

The guy that tells me he was 12-25 yards and made the shot is the real hunter and the serious bowman. That's hunting!

Very hard to put a number on it.

You not taking a shot at the 375 bull at 100 yards might be the way to start the conversation.

Also - show them the "A perfect morning" thread, where scenarshooter relates, how he got a hippo of an elk with a longbow at 8 yards just know. Show them the thread, where the same guy cleanly takes a grizzly at longrange with "just" a .260 Rem (IIRC).

Tell them that its not bragging, if one can do it and only then.

Tell them, that an animal lost, even if found later, entitles partner to go and have words.

Give them the benefit of the doubt and show them the right way - practice, patience, self restraint (remember the 375 bull at 100).

Tell them to confince you, that they will take that way from now on.

A step astray, tell them to GFT.

Save the breath, I'd just start with GFY personally.

Funny thing or not so funny only 4 of 16 question the shot on MM. The rest praise the rack. More to a trophy than horns.

I practice out to 60 but only feel comfortable taking a max 40 yard shot. Really want to get within 30 yards with the help of Nose Jammer :-)

My self-imposed limit on elk is about 25 yards with my recurve. Back when I shot compounds it was about 40.

Flinging arrows at 100 yards is ridiculous and just plain reckless. Too much can happen at that range, almost all of it bad.

Went on a Gila elk hunt with my BIL many years ago. Was watching as he heart shot this bull at 75 yards. It laid down and died right there. I wasn't too sure what to think of that since it was my first archery hunt.
A couple weeks later, on an archery antelope hunt he shoots a buck running flat out at 45 yards. The buck piled up right there. Needless to say we all had to give praise to "the master". Was the most amazing shooting I had ever seen.
Fast forward a couple years. We are at a party having too much to drink. My BIL commented, "You remember that running antelope I shot? Well, I was aiming at the one in front of it."
Point is, long shots or moving shots are a stunt. You are very lucky if things go well.
John

Thanks guys . Can not depend on luck and shouldn't. And it almost always ends up bad.

25/50 MAX rule for us
25 yds traditional
50 yds compound

20/40 is actually better. I personally prefer slam dunks (under 20 yds) to half court shots.

Truth be known, anything past that distance the missed/wounding rate soars.

Archer accuracy is not the entire issue.
The arrow is just in the air too long no matter how accurate the shooter. Anything over 0.4-0.5 seconds of arrow flight from release to impact has a much greater chance for a problem. Half second is an eternity when it comes to arrow flight and animal movement.

(example: 300fps compound bow+50yd shot=0.5 seconds of arrow flight)

A foam target has never taken a step at the release.

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.