Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Average Range Of Shots On Deer

I was just piddling around thru my hunting notes and tallied up the average distances of the shots dad and I have take on deer over the last three years or so.

The 13 deer were taken at an average distance of 100.23 yards with a long of 286 yards and a short of 45 yards. Oddly enough ( least I thought so) the long and short were both taken on the same morning within an hour of one another both with the .280AI.


Anyone else keep nerdish hunting stats like this or am I just strange?

not all that nerdy, it is data that might be important to you.

I archery hunt and muzzleloader hunt in addition to rifle. so an overall average would be pointless IMO, unless one were just curious. I shoot several with a muzzleloader every year and all but one of those shots was under 130 yards. the farthest was 240.
rifle varies from 100-315, archery is usually 25-35. this is just over the last 3 years and 20+ deer in that time.

240 yards with a muzzle loader is a fair poke.

I should also add that we don't hunt from tree stands or over feeders like many in the South and East do.

All our hunting is in the mountains along the NC/VA border. We normally either still hunt, spot and stalk or watch likely deer trails

30+ years deer hunting, over 100 whitetails killed. Only six were more than 100 yards.

dunno, my long with an MZ is 218, wasn't a big deal really.

It all depends on where you hunt.

I like to be able to see. I routinely take at least 1 to probably 3 a year, at over 300 yards. Mostly because I"m about 330 yards from a really good trail intersection that carries deer morning and evening at a minimum. Regardless of weather, moon, temps, rut or not etc...

My closest shot was 3 steps on a pig and a deer both, and both with bows.

My long shot was 802 on a caribou.

Generally speaking each year, with a firearm, I never have a shot at under 150 yards.

It all has to do with how I set up though. I have the ability to set up much closer for shots but I prefer to be further out for visibilty and to help issues of movement, wind changes and the like.

I also suspect that for a lot of folks 200 would be a long shot and that most deer are probably shot between 75-100 steps.

I'd say my average is probably 150-175 yards and I generally shoot 4-6 a year. Rarely are they inside 75 yards or past 300. My hunting style probably has a lot to do with that, as I'm generally hunting on shooting lanes or pipeline ROW's with visibility of 200-500 yards in several directions. I likely average 1.5 bucks a year and a lot of does. I could plink my does at the longer ranges but as a meat hunter, I prefer the easy lung-pokes at 100-200yds.

Rost I'm sure lots of what you hunt is as open as the dakota prairies. as others have stated their shot distances have a lot to do with the areas they are in. in many places people would have to try to get a 300 yard shot, and many likely frown on that. to each their own. out here you have to be able to take the shots that present themselves. if it's 100 yards or 400 yards it is what it is. I'm confident to take the shots as they come depending on the factors at the time. stay within the limits even if my limits exceed others.

I can find thick woods and open woods, and hunt those as well. but the majority of areas here are rolling plains, draws and coulees. throw in a river bottom and a canyon every so often.
makes it fun!

Out here you're lucky to get under 100 yds. Last fall's was 430 yards, most are between 150 and 300. My hunting buddy's deer the year prior was 465. We don't like going over 400 unless the wind, etc. are in our favor. Beyond about 350 yards all the subtle variables in a shot start to magnify quickly and we don't want to take the chance.

Very similar experience here, as we hunt similar terrain.

I hunt two properties in Central Louisiana, both on the Red River. They are 30 miles apart and have two different WT populations and 45-60 days between the ruts. So, I hunt with my bud who has the earlier rut and have a lease with my other bud at the other place (later rut). The first place is 2,000 acres, 1,000 high fenced. I help cull does in the enclosure, bucks on the outside, so I get to shoot a good number of deer. The other place is 6,000 acres, 2,000 in crops, the remaining in woods and CRP. That set up has a lodge and 15 members. The first place is just me and my bud plus some family and an occasional guest. That guy is often my guest at the other place for the later rut. So, he gets to hunt both properties, both ruts, as well.

We have some 500+ yd. opportunities but mostly shots under 200 yds. at both places The owner of the 6K acre place is a .50 Cal shooter and has a 1,000 yd. range on site. He's killed a WT at a mile with his big .50. I can test my LR guns there.

Two different WT popuulations, two different worlds, both on the same river, just a few miles apart.

DF

I hunt the coal regions of PA and WV. I seem to average about 70-150 yards. It can get dicey shooting almost straight up hill or down.

I hunt bean fields so my shots are longer than most. I don't remember taking a shot under 100yds in the last 5 yrs. Only 3 under 200. The rest were 250+ out to a long of 633.

Over the last 30 years (with firearms), I've shot deer in 6-7 states, from 6 feet to nearly 600 yards. Surprisingly, my longest shots have been in the woods/mountains, shooting from one ridge to another, through hardwoods. When I hunt even huge open areas, I usually end up with shots between 75-200 yards, just for management concerns on those places. In the timber, they run from 25-125 yards or so. I take guns based on terrain, a lot of times. Sometimes I end up taking/not taking a shot, based on that gun/caliber, and NOT the terrain, as deer seem to do what you don't plan for. My 600+, was YEARS ago, and bad judgement. I practically limit myself to around 300, for eastern whitetail scenarios, unless I had a bench or prone platform over a bean field or such. Quick happens much more often than far. JME

While our average shot isn't too great in length we do get a lot of variability over short distances.

For example, the longest shot of the 13, 286 yards, was taken about 1/8th of a mile from the 45 yard shot.

You can walk about a 1/4 of a mile NW of where the 45 yard shot was taken and you could have shots out to 685 yards.

188 deer in TN from zero to 330 yds avg 58.96 yds

I think I averaged around 150 yards last time I did the math. All of them pretty much in Chariton County MO, which has all kinds of land, from large pastures to riverbottom beanfields, to brushy ditches and timbered hillsides. I like to watch the big fields, so that's why my average distance is so long. I've shot deer with a revolver in a wide-open creek bottom at 25 yards, and in the same bottom killed them at 450.

It just depends on what the deer wants to do. I try to accomodate their wishes.............d:^)

Some of the guys who tell me they'd never take a longish shot at a deer may not have hunted country that demands it:

Yes I know this is a coyote... 420 yds, .25-06, on a mule deer hunt. There's just not much cover in that country:


260 yard mule deer, dropped at the shot from the .25-06, again, almost no cover. Tough to make a short range shot happen. Scattered sagebrush and using the terrain allowed the approach to 260 yards:


It's a half mile from my spot to about midway up that ridge, mule deer hunting. My personal limit, with a standard type hunting rifle such as that .30-06, is about 400 yards, or down in the bottom of the draw:


I've taken deer from 20 yds - 400 yds in recent years. I do like the short-range stuff. It's exciting! It's also satisfying when the first shot at 300 or 400 yards results in an instant drop. My average is likely around 200 yards, without doing the math.

Relax and enjoy. Hunting is supposed to be pleasurable.

Regards, Guy

I suppose I average just over 100 yards. My favorite stand I have shot a few at 25 feet or so and the longest was amost 300. I see quite a few out to 600 or so, but really have no need to shoot one that far, and it is pretty hard to judge table quality when they're that far out. I need to shoot one past 1/4 mile just to do it someday though.

I'd say my average is about 30 yards. Longest being 110, shortest being about 6 feet. It's a little thick where I hint.

My longest archery kill was 35yds. My longest rifle kill was 125yds.