Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Have any experienced deer hunters here never really taken a long shot?

Keep doing what you're doing, you have it figured out!

Longest ever was 200+ in a Pennsylvania field. Others have averaged, I'm sure, under 50. When I started hunting in Southern Maryland, it was slugs only, almost no one used real sights, and no one felt they were under-equipped, especially the A5 shooters.

If I had know how things would turn out, I could have saved myself a fortune spent on scoped rifles!

I've never even shot at paper over 150 yards. I've killed deer out to 125, but that's pushing it. You have to be close enough to a field in order to see that far. Most are less than 50 with some even standing directly below me.

I have killed 2 whitetails that were 300 yards or over, the longest being right at 450. Both were with my 270, and I had been practicing long shots, so I felt good about what I was doing. But, most of the deer I've killed have been 100 yards or less.

deer yardage ? depends on each persons ability and what equipment that person has and his ability to use that equipment. what cartridge,scope size or iron sights,bi-pod ,off hand ability. here`s what I use,practice with,handload for deer,i either shoot off a window edge on stand or bi-pod laying down,my gun is a custom Ruger S.S. number 1 ,single shot,custom bonx barrel 27 inch, 257weatherby mag , I shoot a 100 grain swift a-frame bullet,out of this gun my bullet shoots 3800 fps shoots 1/2-3/4 inch groups at 100 yards. gun has a custom picantinny base and rings with a 5 1/2- 22 x56 niteforce scope . you could build a gun like this and do the same thing as I have done its not rocket science . I have killed deer at 50 feet out 750 yards on nice bucks. I carry a range finder with me that tells me the distance out to 1400 yards. you see people or so-called pro`s shooting animals at very long distances,don`t fool yourself you can do it too maybe even better with the right equipment ? the reason I like the 257 weatherby mag. it shoots a long ways accurately ,the recoil is not that bad and it hits deer dang hard too. good luck,Pete53

I have shot 2 deer at what I call long range, both in S Dakota. One at about 325 and the other just under 300. Both seemed like a LONG way for a Michigan boy. Everything else has been under 125 and most under 100

The only, what I would call a long range kill I have made is 72 yards on a Mule deer with a 62# bow.
I took a pronghorn at 225 but all the deer have been under 150 and most of them were in bow range.

I shot a couple at extreme range when I was a kid hunting on family ranches in south Texas. That was 40 years ago and I still get my ass chewed for it. Since then the ranges have gotten shorter and shorter. I think my average right now is well under 100 yards, and may be under 50. On the other hand, 90% of my hunting in the last 30 years has been in western Washington or Hawaii, where longer shots are pretty uncommon.


Okie John

I used to hunt a pasture with a 257 Weatherby and shoot them out to 350+. Furthest was 440 .
It was ok to pop doe for meat but no real enjoyment. Heck, half the time one would hit the dirt and the rest would just stand there.

Ohio has been a shotgun state a long time. I HAD no deer rifle, and shots were 20-100yards 150yds at the long end. I'm used to up close and personal, I took a small buck at 7 yd with a bent sapling and a bootlace. It is only recently, I now have s deer rifle.

I have shot quite a few "waaaay" out there, but I guess I have grown up. I no longer shoot past 500 meters ever on game. In fact shooting over 350 is quite rare for me now. It's a very poor hunter who can't get closer to most of his game than 350 yards.

I do shoot to 1000 for fun, on paper and steel targets, but deer, elk and antelope are not my enemies, and I respect them enough now to say shooting super long ranges is not wise or in my opinion, even ethical.

My farthest shot was 346 yards. I have shot groundhogs at greater distances. I would say most of the deer I have shot have been over 100 yards, but most are under 200 yards. I primarliy hunt fields which border woods and small patches of trees. I always set-up with the visibility to shoot a 1/4 of a mile or more and more often than not a deer walks out at 100 yards and I leaves me thinking, ""Where the hell did it come from?"

Due to our season limits, I have not shot as many deer as some people with a rifle, but in the over 2 dozen I have, only one was anywhere near 100 yards.

Hunting in the big woods isn't like hunting over a beanfield or out west.

Like most, IMO, the majority of my deer have been less than 150 yds BUT....

I have killed deer from 12' - straight down from a stand and others out to 399 yds. lasered.

I posted a pic in 2011 of a buck I shot in the neck at 194 yds - lasered FROM the deer back to my stand. Photo puke it holds it hostage here in Deer Hunting Forum. You can see from that pic, the buck dropped right there and bled out the nose/mouth.

Today I killed a Doe at 60 yds, she didn't know I was in the State.

Jerry

I live in MS and I don't think I've shot a deer inside 100yds in at least 5yrs. In my life I've shot more past past 300 than inside 100. I hunt mainly bean fields. I've got a new place this year that is planted pines, so that may change.

I have been hunting deer since 1972 and have never shot over 200 yards at a deer. Only one was even close to 200 yards most have been 100 yards or less.

I'm sure the guys who routinely poke'em far off (whether or not that's the goal) get a charge out of that, but I enjoy getting close, or having them come close to me probably just as much. It's all good, like the meat.

I killed my first buck deer in 1967 in a bean field 315 long steps away. The next week I killed a wounded doe in the same field 300 long steps away. Killed one on a pipeline right of way in 1976 at about 200 yards. In 2000, I killed a doe at 125 lasered yards in a clear cut. All the rest have been 80 yards or less.

For decades where I hunted was shotgun only. I loved to hunt a local corn field and year after year I'd watch deer that were just too far. That's what turned me on to single shot pistols. With the right setup and fun practice, I was able to easily take deer at the farthest 300+ yard shot in that field. But it never happened. I think 75 yards was the farthest I ever shot one at.

About ten plus years or so they changed it to a rifle zone! I could finally use my collection of rifles! Since that happened, I haven't shot one farther away than 45 yards.

Mule Deer and I had a discussion over the phone some time ago about distances game is taken. We both agreed that much of the long range shooting done by some is by preference not necessity. I've been at this since 1955 and have taken my share of critters; average shooting distance 122 yards.