Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Personal limit on game

Bull Elk in Colorado at 410 yards with 300 mag weatherby.

Totally depends on conditions. Longest deer, 465, elk,420. If i`m not comfortable with conditions and can`t get closer, I don`t shoot. Please respect the game.

My longest was a 443-yard shot on a cow elk in Wyoming rim rocks. There was no chance to get closer. I have killed three, or four elk, three deer and one antelope at 400 or more. I have killed a lot of deer and quite a few elk and antelope and I have very rarely seen the need to shoot over 300 yards, let alone over 400. I shoot here at the house, out to 530, so I can do it, but I do not like to. It comes down to hunting, not shooting.

I feel pretty confident out to 500, though I passed on a 560 yard shot on an elk past season. Perfect shooting conditions, but late evening, in “serious” grizzly country. Didn’t want to risk, wounding an elks near dark! it had been morning.....would not have hesitated! Longest kill to date, 430 yards on an antelope.....seemed easy enough! memtb

LMAO

I don't currently have a max range. Actually I guess I do because at the moment I don't have a confident gun that I have HARD zero's on past 725. But it all depends. If the gun is capable and what the conditions are and what the animal is doing.

I've managed a 3 shot group before the wind twitched, IE I knew I had same conditions so dumped 3 off as fast as I could, at 1800 some yards, into roughly 8 inches or so. Nice triangle too. LOL.

Its so much more than a number, it has so many variables. For folks like blackwidow and their preconceived notions, I've passed bow shots at well under 10 steps because it was not right and with a bow, due to noise issues and speed of my recurve, its going to never be past 15 steps... OTOH I have rifle kills beyond 800. Still say the 800 plus yard shots took WAY more work to be good enough, right place at right time, etc.. than getting within 10-15 steps of a deer or pig with a recurve....

Now I would go with 400.. Years ago when wild meat was important to our budget I shot quite abit of game past 500 and some over 600... I enjoy hunting and now it is fun.. Beef is my favorite, and if I get wild game in goes to friends and family!!! Coyotes are fair game as far as I think I can hit them..

For fun I shoot out past 1000 yards and I do fairly well. But on any game animal, I have a self imposed "limit" of 500 meters. (about 547 yards, so I call that 550 yards) It is a limit I keep in mind, but since I made the promise to myself to place that limit on my range I have NEVER had to worry about it. In fact I have not had the slightest need to worry, because every game animal I have shot in the last 25 years has been under 500 yards. Most WAY under 500.

In the last 20 years or so I have fired 3 shots I can remember over 400 yards, and so far there has not been one single animal I have seen that I wanted to shoot that I could not easily get closer then 550 yards from.

I just can't see ANY reason to shoot at ANY game over 500 meters away, and I cringe when I hear folks tell me 'they had to". I have hunted for over 1/2 a century, in many states and several countries. I have never had any "need" to shoot farther then about 450 yards EVER.

I have done it several times so I can't condemn those that do, but I guess I grew up, and started to see what I was doing, the fact that there was no reason to risk those shots at those ranges, and realized it was only a matter of time before I wounded and lost something I kept pushing my luck.

Shooting long range ( and every range) is a real skill that I firmly advocate, but for the purpose of training for war. And war in this nation is getting to be a more and more probable fate every day. I shoot at 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 myself. But never for killing game. I see game as a blessing that God gives us to be good stewards over. Killing game is something sacred to me.

They are not my enemies.

Are you bragging or complaining? Maybe you need to get out more?

In comparing the posts of the last several months, those by szihn appear to have far more “credibility” than do your posts! memtb

In my experience.... people who put “range limits” on themselves and others... don’t have a lot of field shooting experience/practice.

The more experience you have, the more you realize there’s a lot more factors to shot assessment than “range”.

I’ve missed a lot of shots practicing out in the field.... a lot. I’ve shot thousands and thousands of rounds from 50 yards to 1/2 mile over the past 10 years. It’s pretty easy for me to take one look at a potential shot, and know if it’s green light.

It’s like Porn.... I don’t know the exact definition.... but I know what it is when I see it. Shots that shouldn’t take are kinda the same... I don’t base them on any one factor... I just know them when I see them.

OK, so pick a post of mine and show that it's not "credible."

My post had nothing to do with szihn's "credibility" or lack thereof. It had to do with someone coming on the long range hunting forum and saying he can't see ANY reason to shoot at ANY game over 500 meters away.

It has nothing to do with credibility and everything to do with projecting one's own personal values onto other hunters. The way I look at it, if a hunter is capable and can make the shot and recover the animal, I can't see ANY reason other than personal preference not to take the shot that presents itself. Can you? For some hunters getting close is important, for others it's not. Do you see anything wrong with that?

That may have been one of your “more” credible posts! Congrats! As for some of your other posts, which I (my opinion) deem not credible, I am not motivated enough to research! memtb

You can't back up what you say, understood.

Yet you want to talk about "credibility."

Antelope 650 yards, Deer 800 yards. The only 2 real long shots I have made. The mule deer with the 1886 was 75 yards......

While trying to impose one’s personal “range limitations” on another, is not wise, and my be insulting to some......there are things to be considered when shooting game at extreme ranges. Bullet time of flight, should be considered. From the moment, the brain tells the finger to engage, added to projectile flight time, for long range shots.....can easily exceed 1 second. With a stationary, inanimate target....no harm, no foul. However, with an animal.... a sudden noise, or just a decision to move, just at the wrong moment.....can change a perfect shot to a crippled animal As mentioned by szihn, our big game animals deserve more respect! memtb

This probably best illustrates what not to do for the reasons mentioned by memtb. They want to brag up their gun and a kid making a long shot, but I still think this is really not acceptable...

As it appears that I am limited to 250 previous posts......I cannot support my claims. And, for that, I’m truly disappointed! In the previous 250 posts, you appear to be free of infractions! I can only say, that some of your previous posts were very questionable. Perhaps they were intended as humor......which I apparently missed! As I cannot support my allegations.....I wish to offer an apology, for the unfounded claim! I do apologize! memtb

You can say that but not back it up in any way or point to any particular post, yet you want to lecture me on credibility, do you see the irony there?

And you can search more than 250 posts if you want to.

OK....please inform me! Thanks! memtb