Max hunting distance

[ron w]

Out to 25 yards if everything was perfect, I like 10-12 better. I will admit I have had deer at 4 yards with no shot........just all part of the fun!!

For developing long shots, it helps to have an aiming system of sorts.   Another thing that helps is a February thaw and a couple of large farm groves to concentrate the area rabbits.   It is easier to take long shots at a bunny, than a deer.   The penalty for being a foot off at a careful 50 yards is not as much to worry about and sometimes a missed long shot quickly becomes a passing short shot, but you gotta be quick.

[last arrow]

The two farthest deer I have killed were about 22 yards. I don't remember shooting at anything farther. Most were in the 12 - 15 yard range, as that is what I try to set up for.  I rarely consider yardage in deciding to shoot. The second the feeling is right I shoot.  There are a lot of other factors that I feel are more important, such as the alertness and position of the animal, amount of brush/size of opening to shoot through, how fast the animal is moving (most of my deer were shot as they casually walked by), etc.  That being  said, I once missed a calm elk at 8 yards because I was thinking to much about the aiming rather than following my normal shot process.

It should be noted that I practice to feel comfortable to take shots out to about 30 yards, though I have never done it.  Also I have been hunting with a recurve since 1972 and have killed animals from about 5 yards to 22 yards

[Ryan Rothhaar]

My average shot distance on big game over 33 years of serious hunting is 12 yards, closest were several at around 6ft, longest was a whitetail at 37 yards.  Back in the day I hunted woodchucks a lot, killed 50 one year with my bow.  When I ran out of cover on 'chucks I'd line up and shoot.  I didn't shoot at many 50 yards and over, but I can truly say I hit more than I missed at those yardages... I've always been surprised how good one can shoot on game vs a target.  That said, 30 yards is a looonnggg way in the deer woods...

I shoot all the time out to 50 yds and beyond in the yard, I've always believed that you should practice MUCH farther than you'll shoot game...10 careful arrows at 40 yards on a target are worth much more than 40 arrows at 10 yards.  You don't have to be much of an archer to shoot well on targets close up... but you won't get away with any foolishness at 40.

I like to set up for 15ish yard hunting shots.... but when the green light goes off, I shoot.

R

[Michael Arnette]

I think it depends a lot on the equipment that you shoot. Shooting my 50 pound Selfbow i'd say I wouldn't use anything over 20 yards, but with my 53-62lb recurves I can be just as deadly out to about 28-30 yards on deer sized game.
That's with carbon arrows, put wooden arrows into the equation and I lose another 5 yards for each weapon, mostly because I don't know how to make wood arrows properly

If one has really heavy arrows and is gambling a long shot, should one hit higher up on a deer because of the steepness of the arrow as it comes down like when shooting down from a high tree stand?    This past year I watched a manly man (who brags to guys his own age how tough he is, but then went and got the doctors pass so he can hunt with a cross bow,) lobbing arrows from the woods to about 150 out in a field.   I was surprised how parabolic his arrow flight was, as in his arrows were coming down pretty steep.  He took three shots at various positions.  The closest came in about 20 yards short.  Maybe he saw that pheasant, a week or so earlier,  commit suicide on my arrow.   I completely missed, probably by two feet to the right, but pheasant made a mistake.   It is one thing to take a shot over point on at a pheasant or a rabbit, it is a completely different thing with deer.