Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Long range kill photos show dramatic results!!!

You aren’t wrong at all. Some folks do better with holdover points and some do better holding center mass on the reticle. Just different ways of doing business. Either one out to a decent distance are pretty danged deadly with a little practice.

It's just my preference. The reticle on my 4.5-27x FFP looks like this:



It makes things pretty easy, where the reticles are one MOA at all magnifications. At 600 yds, I would just put the ninth reticle below center on the animal, not counting wind considerations. As discussed, I haven't shot past 380 yds recently, but it works at that distance, and I will check out the two ranges you mentioned when I get the time. Also, when I go out to my Colo. property, I can practice out to 800 yds or so. Last time I was there, however, they had a fire ban which means no shooting, unless at game.

Long range hunting isn't anymore risky than archery.... funny part is archery hunters are revered in some circles as "real" hunters.

How far they pokin them arras?

If you ain't confident, don't do it.

I'd trust X percent of 700+ yard shooters to make a responsible shot that they're comfortable with, way more than X+ percent of regular Joes to make a responsible 200 yard shot. This includes a damn lot of folks on this site.

Call it shooting if you'd like, vs hunting. I don't have an issue with that but it isn't 100% irresponsible to take those longer shots.

Wow you’re ignorant

It is laughable that Dogcatcher compares Archery hunting to long range shooting. Tell me how be able to get inside 50 yds of an animal is the same as watching game from 1000yds with a spotting scope. At 1000yds don't need to worry about the wind , noise, or movement. Actual hunting vs shooting. Not even close.

Same with close range hunting!




I agree. What is it if it's not hunting?

Not all guides see it your way. I hunted with one who accommodated long range hunters intentionally .

Like already mentioned I am sure that we only see the "perfect" shots, not the ones that took a step at the shot and wandered over the hill to die, miles later, or where a unseen twig, deflected the bullet. Way back when, there were minimum energy standards recommended for both deer and elk. If my addled old brain recalls them it was 2,000 lbs for elk with a minimum of 1500. Looking at energy charts for some high. BC, 100 gr bullets, I find that the energy listed at 600 yards is less than 2/3 the minimum recommended for elk. This is with a starting velocity of 3600 fps. As you go out farther this declines even greater. Once again, big game are not always static, nor standing in the perfect shooting position while waiting to be shot. There are limbs, wind, and other variables, that are not always seen or considered. Just my .02 after eating an awful lot of elk. My longest measured shot 540, would I take it again, with that particular 300 WM, yes. With my 280 AI, I probably would not.

Make sure you correct for elevation, given that many people hunt elk at higher places.

For example, my 6.5-300 Wby launches a factory-loaded 130gr SS at 3,416 fps. At 700 yards: (1) at sea level, it's producing 1,488 ft-lbs, but (2) at 10,000 feet (which is the lowest elevation where I hunt elk and mule deer), it's producing 1,906 ft-lbs.

As a side note, the bullet also drops 8.5" fewer inches at 10,000 feet in the sky versus at sea level at 700 yds. That's a significant factor to keep in mind IMO.

I don't really have a problem with bowhunting, as I was once an avid bowhunter, and have taken a number of deer with a bow. But, there is a part of bowhunting that I do have a problem with, and that is what we often see on the hunting shows..................

Guy hunting shoots a nice buck and buck runs off.
Hunter and cameraman "review" the film, declare that the buck was "hit a little too far back", which in redneck terms mean the deer was gut shot, and then decide to "back out of here" and come back in the morning.
Deer is found the next morning, and unfortunately the coyotes found it before the hunter did.
But, hunter still does high fives, thank's the Lord, and cries for the camera, declaring this is his best buck ever.
Meanwhile, all that's salvaged of the deer is the antlers.

Personally, I would never broadcast such an event for public viewing, as stuff like that only serves to give ammo for the anti-hunters. But, for some reason, there is an element in the archery hunting community that has no problem with it. Now, to be fair, as gut shot deer is a gut shot deer, regardless of what it's shot with. However, it is something we should all as hunters try to avoid doing, and if we do, not put it out there for the world to see.

Hunting shows are the main reason everyone and their grandma is a bowhunter now, and elk stopped bugling. Now they're turning everyone into a long range sniper. I know a guy that buys and grandstands every gizmo used by those douchebags on TV.

I find it entertaining that long range hunting always gets a bad rap. WhenI take into account the guys I personally know, the guys that shoot long, tend to practice way more than the average hunter, be it archery, muzzy or just rifle.

Good info MH. How about shooting angles? Far less trajectory when shooting steep uphill or downhill. Something to keep in mind if you hunt steep terrain, seen alot of hunters shoot too high on steep downhill shots.

Something to keep in mind there are some real long range Pros on here like Huntsman 22, ScenarShooter, John Burns etc that kill big game at really long distances but they practice shooting mostly year around near the areas they hunt and invest in good equipment. How many out there devote that kind of dedication and have a similar backyard to practice in? Familiarity with your equipment under variable conditions is everything in LR hunting. And in some regions one better learn to shoot at LR, it's wide open country.

I have a friend who’s building a 300 PRC so he can shoot elk 1000 yards.
He is an archery guy but wants a Long range gun. I tried to tell him to start off small like 6.5CM to hone his shooting skills for fraction of the price. It fell on deaf ears.

start out with a .223

The reason that energy minimums aren’t all that common anymore, is because impact energy isn’t all that relevant as a metric for killing effectiveness.

What caliber and 100 gr bullet are you looking at?

Too bad. You gave good advice.