How close do you hunt?

[PrairieShadow]

Well there is nothing east about SD but i to have taken deer well inside of 100yds. the buck i took last year was about 60yds. The opportunity presents itself quite often with the open flat terrain here for 300+ yds shots. I have taken deer well beyond that as a matter of fact and see nothing wrong with it as long as you are capable of the shot. I practice year around out to 500yds and would shoot a deer at this range if the conditions were right(no wind, calm air for a clear view in the scope/no heat rays)and feel very capable/comfortable doing so.
 
There are a lot of people who think just because they shoot a 30-378wtby that they can shoot 500yds and they are the ones who shoot a box of shells at a deer and it never even runs away and are also the ones who give people a bad name for taking long shots. I have numerous calibers and create handloads that i know well for each cal. The rifle that i am most comfortable of taking long shots isnt some super mag but happens to be a 25.06 pushing a 100grn barnes X bullet. I have taken deer out to roughly 440yds with this weapon.
 
Would i call shooting 400yds hunting? Probably not, but i do get to finally use the skills that i have honed/perfected all year and that sense of satisfaction from it. Is it the same feeling as shooting a deer at 8yds from the ground with my bow? No not even close but i do get to spend some good quality time in the field with my dad each year during rifle season. 

[Eight_Oak_Acres]

My farthest shot ever (I bowhunt only) was 35 yards. That was the first deer I ever harvested, and he turned at the shot and I hit him by the back leg, and fortunately hit an artery. I wasn't very happy with the hit obviously, and since then I have limited my shots to 30yds.

[Squirrelhawker]

 
Western and Northern NY
 
Slug gun-120yrds
 
Muzzleloader - 50 yards IF the #$%@!@& thing had gone off! [:D]
 
Bow- 19 yards
 
Rifle- 65 yards
 
East of the Mississippi is a legitimate parameter due to overal similiarity of habitat in that region

[schlupis]

I own a .300 win mag great gun and yes I can shoot well past 300 yards but never have and the only time I think I will need to is when I go out west for Elk. That being said my Longest Shot in WI
 
gun 150+
bow 48
both animals were killed
average shot though is 50-80 yards with gun
12-18 yards bow.

[JOEL]

thick woods is where i dwell most of the time nothing over a 100yrds with my 30-30,12 or muzzle loader ,most shots are 50yrds or less and i like to shoot the bow at 20-30 yrds.

[passin through]

Good Topic Shaman! 
My Furthest shots to date:

Rifle: 250 (Black BucK Antelope in TX)
Bow: 25 (8 point)
Shotgun 120 (doe)
Muzzleloader 95 (9point)

These have been the way out exceptions rather than the rule.

My Grandmother taught us boys how to still hunt (hunt from a stand) and all she ever used was a 12ga.  I did not have a stand that had a shot over 50 yds until I was 23.  Then I fell for a Arkansas Razorback and wanted her to hunt with me so I built my first box stand with 100 yd shooting lanes...long shots but was not seeing the deer I saw when I hunted close so I picked up a bow and tried again.  I still have some stands with longer shots into the 120's but I can honestly say I have never killed a buck in excess of 100 yds.  I have practiced in our big hayfield on shots out to 450 (thats for Andy Jackson not deer) Honestly the thrill of the hunt to me is how close you can get...after that just shoot straight.  The 450 practice is for those guys that live on concrete and hit the camp wanting to brag....Better than 50% of the time I'll take thier money....308 vs 300mag.  One of these days they'll figure out its my hayfield where we shoot and My Grandfather was a Army Ranger who taught marksmanship for Uncle Sam for more years than those cats would believe...and it used to be his hayfield.  As he proved to me and my brother many times...old goat never did have to cut his own firewood or mow the yard[:D]

[msbadger]

all gun 100-150yrds = farthest
 
bow 30yrds = farthest
 
 all gun 50 to 100yrds = average
 
bow 17yrds = average
 
 

[deerhunter713]

A

[shaman]

Thank you MSBadger.



I posted this on my weblog a while back:


Headshots-- A shaman's statement of Self-Definition

I had an opportunity this weekend to seriously consider the issue of head shots: bagged two deer in two days. Both presented broadside shots at 100 yards or under. Both got it in the chest. Both got the top of their hearts shot out, and at least one lung. Both died within 5 seconds.

Did I have a choice? Yes.
Did I stop to consider shooting anywhere else? No.
Why? Why would I have taken any other shot?

I took my buck into the processor Saturday and saw a little buck in a guy's truck that had been shot with a .243-- In one ear and out the other at 250 yds. His was as dead as mine. The hunter was as proud of his as I was of mine.

I'm still trying to figure out what my motivations would have been in taking a similar shot. I listened to this guy talk about himself as a head shooter. It seemed important to him. He obviously defined himself, at least in part, by where he chooses to shoot his deer. To him, shooting at heads at 200 yards or more makes it worthwhile for him. I also sensed he felt it gave him greater esteem in the eyes of peers.

Okay here goes:

The shaman's Statement of Self-Definition:

I am a deer hunter, a cervid serial killer. I find self-definition in the fact that I like shooting deer in the chest and blowing out their hearts. I relish shooting my deer at a range of under 100 yards, but the closer the better. I plot and plan all year round and fore go the comforts of the fire so I can find places where deer come close-- real close without knowing I am close by. I like to arm myself with rifles that can kill at 500 yards and shoot them at targets 50 yards or under, just because I am a lazy serial killer and don't want to chase my victims very far. When I shoot them at 100 yards I have fun. When I shoot them at 10 yards and they collapse at the base of my stand I have even more fun. I openly tolerate all hunters who lob whatever at deer at whatever range they choose. Secretly, I think lobbing .30 caliber bullets from high-powered rifles into the chests of deer at 10 yards is the ultimate gas. Some might think that's lazy, or rather imprecise for a cervid serial killer, but it makes me happy. When I find a heart with the top half missing, nestled amongst a pair of shredded lungs, I am filled with an indescribable feeling that I just don't get any other way. Afterwords, I like walking into the feed store, knowing I am the sneakiest, laziest, over-gunned, near-sighted, cervid serial killer to prop his feet up by the stove, and all the other neck shooters, ear shooters, and tail shooters can just move over and let me in.

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: Squirrelhawker

East of the Mississippi is a legitimate parameter due to overal similiarity of habitat in that region

 
I dunno. I've sat atop an old growth, hardwood bowl in the Adarondacks. Had anything moved below me, I would have had the oppertunity to shoot as far as any situation I've seen in No. Missouri.