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

I've been listening to some Hal Blood (Maine tracker) podcasts and he said he has never taken a deer that was more than 125 paces or so. Which I'm guessing is max 100 yards. He said the average was about 30-60 yards, This is for all of his hunting years and from Maine to Ontario.
You read a lot about guys taking 300+ yard shots, but just wondering if there are guys out there that usually get their deer and never really shoot over 100 yards.

Vast majority of deer I've killed have been 100 yards and under. The deer I killed today was 20 yards, tops.

I’ve killed two deer over 100 yards. One at 110 and one at 160 or so, but the killing shot at the last deer was 5 yards. The other 40 or so were killed from 3-90 yards away. Of course , I hunt woods where 75 is longish, a deer rarely hunt where a 200 yard shot is even possible.

Old70

Never have shot a deer at long range. I've shot 3 buck in 225 -250 yards range. All the other deer have been 5-75 yards.

Guess it depends on where you hunt. In my home state (MI), all my whitetail kills have been under 100 yds. The two trips I took to Colorado, I shot mule deer at 150 and 300-ish yds.

In 56 yrs. of deer hunting most deer I have taken have been between 60-120 yds., seldom have hunted areas where longer shots were a possibility.

Of the dozens of WT's I have killed, only 1 has been over 200 yds. When I first started hunting, all timber company land around home was open to everyone, and most of the land around was timber company land. Competition was tough, but I loved it because I could take my old Amacker stand on 1 shoulder and my rifle over the other and get as far away as possible from everyone. I probably killed the 20-25 deer I killed at less than 35 yds. with several shooting almost straight down from my climbing stand. Only when they leased the land and were given a spot to put a stand to hunt did I have to put a stand where I could see up to 300 yds. or so. I hate it. Wish it was the old way again.

I've hunted whitetails for 52yrs and killed quite a few over the years.My longest shot on a deer I killed was 300yds.Killed a couple at 250yds and a few around 200yds,but most have been around a 100yds.

While I certainly have taken deer at over 100 yards, the vast majority (even here in the open west) have been substantially less than 100 yards...that goes for both whitetails and mule deer.

I killed one at 201yds with my muzzle loader and maybe 3-4 more around 100yds. Most of my deer are killed between 20-50yds, I killed a doe yesterday at 9yds. One year I killed 3 and if you added the distance to all 3 together it was under 50yds.

Would not experienced mean they have tried taking a long shot in the first place?

That way they know if it’s worth it or not, and what thier skill / limitations are.

Shooting skills are part of deer hunting, so you can do the long shot thing at the range vs on the deer itself.

9 times out of 10 I can't see 75 yards..

Same here.

My longest shot at a deer was at 167 metres on a chital (axis). My longest fallow was at 90 metres and all the rest have been well under that, from 11m to about 50m. I see no point in taking a long shot when I can stalk closer. The stalking is the funnest bit.

Elk 440 yds
Pronghorn 420 yds
The pile of deer I've killed with a rifle have ranged from 17yds to 243yds. Most have been in the 75 to 125 yd range.

I hunt NY and the longest shot in 41 years was with a model 760 pump in 270 at 150 yards. Most of the shots I have are around. 30 - 60

All depends where one hunts. At home (WI), or, say northern MN - rarely over 150 - more like 75 to spitting distance.
In other states/provinces, those ranges can (and have) easily triple or quadruple for me.

I've killed dozens of whitetails in 3 different states and have never killed a deer beyond 50 or 60 yards. In the last 15 years they have all been between 20 and 40 yards.

Hunting in MI I sit on a field 75 to 175 is the majority

Hank

As a kid I was always looking for areas where I could see the farthest figuring that it would up my chances of seeing more deer. Our gun season is post rut for the most part and it occurred to me later on that security was job one for the kind of bucks that I was looking for. If I was going to shoot a big buck, I should be hunting where they are. My trophy antler collection increased nicely when I hunted thicker cover. Sure I couldn't see as far, but what I was seeing more than made up for quantity. One fluke 225 yard shot when I caught a buck out in the open on a hillside, but most everything else was close in. I've never had to hold high on any deer that I've ever shot.