What is your longest shot/kill on big game?

Ernie Bishop

What is the longest kill you have made on big game?

What is the average distance you take big game at?

JerryBobCo

Ernie,

you go first.  I'm sure I'll be embarrassed to admit my longest after you do.

All kidding aside, 275-300 yards.  Not very far by some standards.

JerryBobCo

Oops.  You asked for average distance, too.

If I had to guess, I'd say 150 yards.  I could be off by as much as 50 yards either way, though.

Linefinder

Longest: Antelope at 444 yards.
Average: In Louisiana and Texas 125 yards.
                In Colorado: 250ish.

Mike

earlyagain

Believe it ir not, 50 yards.
My average distance is 30 to 50 feet. That's Colorado elk BTW.

One of my prefered spots was an old favorite of my Dad's prior to his retirement/relocation. One memorable season we reflect on, is the big cow he got by threading the bush with the barrel of his scoped rifle to nearly touch her neck during discharge.

Jayhawker

Longest was a Kansas Whitetail in a winter wheatfield at a lased 397 yards with my .300 WM.

Average .based on the places I hunt...is 100 yards...

snake284

My longest was just shy of 400 yards when I shot 2 doe white tail in a corn field here. I shot em with my 6mm Remington with a 100 grain SGK. Other than that, a hog just over 300 yards with my .270. These are exceptions to the rule. Most deer I've shot you could damn near hit em all with a rock. So I'd say my average is about 50 yards with a couple going 100-150.

Early is my hero. Anybody get that close to game on a regular basis is a REAL hunter.

Billy_Budd

Around 300 yds for an early rifle antelope hunt.  

earlyagain

snake284 said:

Early is my hero. Anybody get that close to game on a regular basis is a REAL hunter.

Well, believe it or not, its actually my lack of ability that makes for the close shots. I generally get busted if I move around too much and don't get a shot. So I sit tight as much as possible and its the animals that get so close to me. Not to mention my lack of motivation for negotiating steep terrain.

bullsi1911

Longest was 210 yards on an axis doe from a rested kneeling position.  Closest, 40 yards on a whitetail buck, and the average one is probably 60-70 yards.

knitepoet

Longest, 180yds on a whitetail this season
average,

Lifetime: probably <50 yards (used to do a LOT of bowhunting, which drags the average down)

this season: 110yds, per average of estimates of the other 3 + the 180

Great Outdoors

Longest ever for me is just over 200 yards- average is probably 70- most of my deer hunting is done in thick woods

Zee

I really don’t know what my longest has been. 

Majority are probably 200 and in as most of my hunting is at night. 

In the past several years, I have killed considerably more game in the dark. 

Six-Gun

Right at 400 yards: gemsbok in South Africa.

Ernie Bishop

Zee said:

I really don’t know what my longest has been. 

Majority are probably 200 and in as most of my hunting is at night. 

In the past several years, I have killed considerably more game in the dark. 

Longest over 500 yards?

Beyond 750 yards?

snake284

Ernie Bishop said:

Zee said:

I really don’t know what my longest has been. 

Majority are probably 200 and in as most of my hunting is at night. 

In the past several years, I have killed considerably more game in the dark. 

Longest over 500 yards?

Beyond 750 yards?

Never 500 yards or surely not 750.

only a little less than 400 yards.

snake284

earlyagain said:

snake284 said:

Early is my hero. Anybody get that close to game on a regular basis is a REAL hunter.

Well, believe it or not, its actually my lack of ability that makes for the close shots. I generally get busted if I move around too much and don't get a shot. So I sit tight as much as possible and its the animals that get so closea to me. Not to mention my lack of motivation for negotiating steep terrain.

You're just modest early, you're smart enough to realise your limitations and hunt within them successfully, which is beautiful.

But at the same time I believe you to have the ability to hunt any way you choose.

Ernie Bishop

With a rifle, my longest big game kill is under 550 yards-Buck antelope with a Holland 280 Remington rifle.

Jeff in TX

I took a 200 lb wild hog at 557 yards, my WY Antelope at 303 yards, WY Buffalo 195 yards, WY Mule deer at 260 yards, Whitetail 220 yards.

Ernie Bishop

Jeff in TX said:

I took a 200 lb wild hog at 557 yards, my WY Antelope at 303 yards, WY Buffalo 195 yards, WY Mule deer at 260 yards, Whitetail 220 yards.

Nice Jeff!

Jeff in TX

Ernie Bishop said:

Jeff in TX said:

I took a 200 lb wild hog at 557 yards, my WY Antelope at 303 yards, WY Buffalo 195 yards, WY Mule deer at 260 yards, Whitetail 220 yards.

Nice Jeff!

Thanks Ernie, now if we start talking prairie dogs and ground hogs the distances expand.  My farthest kill is a ground hog at 1350ish yards with my .308.  Lets say it took a few 175 grain mortar rounds and walking them in.  Good winds so he never could vector in on the report of the shot going off.  My second to final shot hit just behind a few inches high.  He stun around to see what it was but the next shot hit home.  All told I think I took five or six shots at him.

Linefinder

And Jeff brings up a great point.

I've killed a lot of pdogs at 600+ yards, many at a bit beyond 700, and one at a lasered distance of 800. I killed one at what I think was over 900, but I don't claim that one because although I could clearly see it through the scope from my bench, I couldn't find it after traversing a few gates and washouts.

But, in a pdog environment. you shoot the 300 yarders, then,go out to the 300-400 yarders, then 450, then 500, and the next thing you know.........you're zapping coke can sized targets at distances that boggle the mind.

So.....you've eventually hit a Coke can sized target almost a half mile away. Great.

Now do that with one shot at half the distance at a deer- sized target under normal field conditions with game that's already wary of public lands.

Good Luck! Shoot straight.

Mike

snake284

I've already told my farthest big game story, where I shot two whitetail does atjust under 400 yards. That was easy. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me. He shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy to where my two deer lie. They were both dead but I was surprised how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches I think would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 bullet at four hundred yards is dropping out of the sky.

snake284

snake284 said:

I've already told my farthest shot at big game story, where I shot two whitetail does out of a group of five or six at just under 400 yards. That was easy but I almost screwed it up. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me so I was happy.  My farmer buddy shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy (we were shooting down this levy and the deer were moving across the field toward it) to where my two deer lie, they were both dead but I was surprised at how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches lower and I think the second shot at the second deer would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 diameter  bullet at a MV of approximately 3050 FPS at four hundred yards out is starting to drop like a turd in a well. It's not yet plunging fire but it's starting to lose a bunch of steam. I was lucky that day but if you're going to shoot at at anything much over 200 yards you need to know the distance and you need to know how much to hold over for that yardage. I was lucky that day, the wind was calm and I didn't have to adjust for windage. But you also better know how to judge wind and know how far to hold left or right to adjust for the wind you have at that distance.

Ernie Bishop

Snake,

This is why you actually confirm your drops at multiple distances, so you know exactly what the drop is at a specific distance.  Glad they were dead.

snake284

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

I've already told my farthest big game story, where I shot two whitetail does atjust under 400 yards. That was easy. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me.  my farmer buddy shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy( we were shooting down this levy and the deer were moving across the field toward it) to where my two deer lie, they were both dead but I was surprised how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches I think the second shotat the second deer would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 bullet at a MV of approx. 3050 FPS at four hundred yards is starting to drop like a turd in a well. It's not yet plunging fire but it's starting to lose a bunch of steam, so have a good range finder and and know your load and your drop.

 

Ernie Bishop

Holdovers with a plex reticle become more and more iffy, the further you shoot.  With this 15.5" 6mm Creed with 105 grain A-Max at 400 yards, my drop with a 100 yard zero is 6.5 MOA or 27.2 inches of drop.  The correction for a 10 mph full value (crosswind) wind is 2.4 MOA if dialing 2.5 MOA), or 10 inches at 400 yards.  These atmospheric conditions were for my October antelope hunt - 4000 feet elevation, 50 degrees, and 50% humidity.

snake284

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

I've already told my farthest shot at big game story, where I shot two whitetail does out of a group of five or six at just under 400 yards. That was easy but I almost screwed it up. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me so I was happy.  My farmer buddy shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy (we were shooting down this levy and the deer were moving across the field toward it) to where my two deer lie, they were both dead but I was surprised at how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches lower and I think the second shot at the second deer would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 diameter  bullet at a MV of approximately 3050 FPS at four hundred yards out is starting to drop like a turd in a well. It's not yet plunging fire but it's starting to lose a bunch of steam. I was lucky that day but if you're going to shoot at at anything much over 200 yards you need to know the distance and you need to know how much to hold over for that yardage. I was lucky that day, the wind was calm and I didn't have to adjust for windage. But you also better know how to judge wind and know how far to hold left or right to adjust for the wind you have at that distance.

Ernie Bishop said:

Holdovers with a plex reticle become more and more iffy, the further you shoot.  With this 15.5" 6mm Creed with 105 grain A-Max at 400 yards, my drop with a 100 yard zero is 6.5 MOA or 27.2 inches of drop.  The correction for a 10 mph full value (crosswind) wind is 2.4 MOA if dialing 2.5 MOA), or 10 inches at 400 yards.  These atmospheric conditions were for my October antelope hunt - 4000 feet elevation, 50 degrees, and 50% humidity.

Ernie Bishop said:

Snake,

This is why you actually confirm your drops at multiple distances, so you know exactly what the drop is at a specific distance.  Glad they were dead.

I agree. This longest shot story happened around 1981 in the infancy of my education right before I became a Hunter Ed instructor for the State of Texas. I've learned a lot since and killed a few more deer too. Also, my ethics has improved a bit since then. I wouldn't even attempt such a shot now without confirming range and drops. About 3 months after this I was given a course in Hunter Education for Instructors which was the turning point in expanding my horizons about hunter safety and ethics and the mechanics of shooting in general.

Linefinder

Ernie Bishop said:

Snake,

This is why you actually confirm your drops at multiple distances, so you know exactly what the drop is at a specific distance.  Glad they were dead.

Exactly....if all you have is a 100 yard range, you can't really predict with any degree of certainty what your rifle/load combo will do beyond 300.  And that's a cast in stone fact.

Mike

Ernie Bishop

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

I've already told my farthest shot at big game story, where I shot two whitetail does out of a group of five or six at just under 400 yards. That was easy but I almost screwed it up. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me so I was happy.  My farmer buddy shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy (we were shooting down this levy and the deer were moving across the field toward it) to where my two deer lie, they were both dead but I was surprised at how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches lower and I think the second shot at the second deer would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 diameter  bullet at a MV of approximately 3050 FPS at four hundred yards out is starting to drop like a turd in a well. It's not yet plunging fire but it's starting to lose a bunch of steam. I was lucky that day but if you're going to shoot at at anything much over 200 yards you need to know the distance and you need to know how much to hold over for that yardage. I was lucky that day, the wind was calm and I didn't have to adjust for windage. But you also better know how to judge wind and know how far to hold left or right to adjust for the wind you have at that distance.

Ernie Bishop said:

Holdovers with a plex reticle become more and more iffy, the further you shoot.  With this 15.5" 6mm Creed with 105 grain A-Max at 400 yards, my drop with a 100 yard zero is 6.5 MOA or 27.2 inches of drop.  The correction for a 10 mph full value (crosswind) wind is 2.4 MOA if dialing 2.5 MOA), or 10 inches at 400 yards.  These atmospheric conditions were for my October antelope hunt - 4000 feet elevation, 50 degrees, and 50% humidity.

Ernie Bishop said:

Snake,

This is why you actually confirm your drops at multiple distances, so you know exactly what the drop is at a specific distance.  Glad they were dead.

I agree. This longest shot story happened around 1981 in the infancy of my education right before I became a Hunter Ed instructor for the State of Texas. I've learned a lot since and killed a few more deer too. Also, my ethics has improved a bit since then. I wouldn't even attempt such a shot now without confirming range and drops. About 3 months after this I was given a course in Hunter Education for Instructors which was the turning point in expanding my horizons about hunter safety and ethics and the mechanics of shooting in general.

Understood.  Thank you for the context.

snake284

Ernie Bishop said:

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

snake284 said:

I've already told my farthest shot at big game story, where I shot two whitetail does out of a group of five or six at just under 400 yards. That was easy but I almost screwed it up. The farmer I was with knew the distance because it was land he farms every year. I ask him how far he thought they were and he said he knew how far almost exactly, right at 400 yards. So I held about 10 inches over his back right behind the front shoulder. I figured that might hit a bit high. Anyway, I shot the first one and it's legs went out from underneath it. They didn't run but got real weary and started moving slowly out of the field toward a canal. I moved over to another one and held a little lower, maybe 5 inches and let another one fly and another deer fell. I'm still thinking it hit him higher up, but two deer appeared to be dead to me so I was happy.  My farmer buddy shot one and it ran a short ways and died. When we drove around to the road that runs along the levy (we were shooting down this levy and the deer were moving across the field toward it) to where my two deer lie, they were both dead but I was surprised at how low the rounds hit. A couple of more inches lower and I think the second shot at the second deer would have missed the vitals. I misjudged the bullet drop by 7 to 9 inches. A one hundred grain .244 diameter  bullet at a MV of approximately 3050 FPS at four hundred yards out is starting to drop like a turd in a well. It's not yet plunging fire but it's starting to lose a bunch of steam. I was lucky that day but if you're going to shoot at at anything much over 200 yards you need to know the distance and you need to know how much to hold over for that yardage. I was lucky that day, the wind was calm and I didn't have to adjust for windage. But you also better know how to judge wind and know how far to hold left or right to adjust for the wind you have at that distance.

Ernie Bishop said:

Holdovers with a plex reticle become more and more iffy, the further you shoot.  With this 15.5" 6mm Creed with 105 grain A-Max at 400 yards, my drop with a 100 yard zero is 6.5 MOA or 27.2 inches of drop.  The correction for a 10 mph full value (crosswind) wind is 2.4 MOA if dialing 2.5 MOA), or 10 inches at 400 yards.  These atmospheric conditions were for my October antelope hunt - 4000 feet elevation, 50 degrees, and 50% humidity.

Ernie Bishop said:

Snake,

This is why you actually confirm your drops at multiple distances, so you know exactly what the drop is at a specific distance.  Glad they were dead.

I agree. This longest shot story happened around 1981 in the infancy of my education right before I became a Hunter Ed instructor for the State of Texas. I've learned a lot since and killed a few more deer too. Also, my ethics has improved a bit since then. I wouldn't even attempt such a shot now without confirming range and drops. About 3 months after this I was given a course in Hunter Education for Instructors which was the turning point in expanding my horizons about hunter safety and ethics and the mechanics of shooting in general.

Understood.  Thank you for the context.

Thank you, your input was great too.