The Shot, how far is to far?

[Producer]

To me one of the best ways to find out your effective range is to shoot in unknown distance 3-D tournaments. You are under some pressure so you give it your best effort. From what I experienced and witnessed,there are not too many people who can shoot in the kill zone consistantly over twenty yards give or take a yard or two. For one thing in the woods or desert you can judge it to be twenty yards and in fact the shot was 24 and that could be the difference of a humain kill or a wounded animal. On one course I shoot at in the desert with very uneven terrain as well as shooting over washes and boulders, very few can judge the distance within a yard and most are off as much as 5 yards or more. Even the wheel people with their binoculars and range finders have a time deciding on the distance because one range finder says 28 and the other said 29 and they are aiming for the 12 ring and even a yard difference in distance counts. What I say is the closer the better and when in doubt don't shoot.

[Jakeemt]

I think you may have opened up a can of worms brother. My personal test is can I put six arrows sonsitently in a 9 inch circle. 40 yards is my max range but, there are limits. For example at 20 yards I can do that kneeling, sitting, or crouching with the bow canted or vertical. At 40 it has to be standing or kneeling with a perfectly vertical now and plenty of time. Also the colder it gets the more my range shortens. And on and on. Lol but, you get the jist I bet. Hell to anyone else's ethics I do what I feel is right.

[RIng]

To me it doesn't matter if it is 150 -250 -or 300+ ft. per second .Game is not a stationary target . Past 20-25 yd there is time for movement . It is the movement of the game that turnes good shot into a bad one .

[Bowwild]

I use the same system I taught myself when I was around 14 years old, back in the 60's. I start at 5 yard increments and move further away as I become at least 90% on a "horizontal magazine". I'd have 5-6 arrows. I'd shoot at 5 yards. If I hit the magazine I moved back 5 yards. Then another shot.

In those days my concentration was much better than today. My max in those days was 33 yards ... the length of my backyard.

One of my favorite hunting targets was a simple bale of hay. I'd pretend it was the torso of a deer and imagined which way it was facing (always facing left it seemed). Then I'd aim for lower and front 3rd of the bale.

These days I'm usually that confident at only 20 and under. If my shoulder gets better I'd like to extend to 30 yards by October 17th. I have an appointment with a KY cow elk.

I don't believe in "luck". I won't try a shot outside my proven effective range unless the animal is wounded. If I can't do it in the yard I don't expect to magically improve in the field. Even the yard shot is fraught with bad possibilities as conditions in the field and with myself can change when the moment  arrives.

[Jakeemt]

Well ring I used to agree with you but I have actually found that with RELAXED deer they actually move more the closer you get. That has only been my experience however. You (and everyone else) has to hunt A) within the law B) the way they feel is right.

[buckeye_hunter]

If I think I can make the shot, I take it. That hasn't always worked well, even at 10 yards things can happen.

I do know that there is absolutley no way I am shooting past 30 yards at a deer. I'm WAY more comfortable below 20 yards. Honestly, my favorite distance is about 10-12 yards. That range just "feels" good to me for whatever reason.

To extend ones range past 20 yards takes lots of practice shooting at longer shots.  I like to develop a mid range shot standard of 30 yards in practice.  We take our deer targets out and practice out to point on ranges in hunting set up situations.  My wife is quite good out to 40 yards out shooting at a foam deer, but 25 yards in the backyard seems long to her prior to that.  I do not like to shoot at deer more than 30 yards out, not because I cannot hit them, because they can move. I find that a walking deer is a more predictable target than a tense ready to spring deer.  I had one jump the string last year at about 17 yards, I did not think he saw me at all, but he must have caught something that made him whirl around.  The arrow went just past him.  His undoing was when he trotted around the cover to check out what he thought he had seen.

[Sixby]

Peer pressure has more to do with what we say about this subject that what actually happens in the field. I suspect that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas because of political correctness. Each one of us has his own standards and ethic set. I will not put on you what mine is and do not accept what anyone wants to put on me. I take the shot I believe I can make and I accept the consequences of that shot even if I do not like the result. From what I read I suspect many others feel the same way.

God bless, Steve

[Msbow]

i want my shots as close as I can get them!!

[mwosborn]

Originally posted by RIng:
To me it doesn't matter if it is 150 -250 -or 300+ ft. per second .Game is not a stationary target . Past 20-25 yd there is time for movement . It is the movement of the game that turnes good shot into a bad one .

yep, best response I have read.

[monk]

I only take the shot I "know" I can make. Confidence in your 'true' shooting ability is the biggest part I think in making an 'accurate'(on the spot I am concentrating) shot.'

[Whitetail Addict]

I've gotten to the point that I won't take any shot that doesn't look like a done deal. If I don't get the shot I want, I pass. Tomorrow's another day.

I like to wait for a broadside, or maybe a slightly quartering away shot at a relaxed deer, and I don't generally shoot more than 20 yards. 10-15 is better.

I practice shooting farther, but  to me, there's just too much that can happen on a live target, between the time I relax my fingers and the arrow getting there.

I like my turkeys close, 10-15 yards.

The biggest thrill for me is in getting an animal close. Having to make the movements that it takes to make the shot, at a distance where the slightest move at the wrong time would more than likely put the animal into instant flight.

Bob

[Sixby]

I don't really buy into the time to jump theory. I had a bull elk jump the string when he was completely relaxed at 15 yards. He actually reared up like a horse and I thought I had killed him.
On another instance I had a cow jump at 7 ft. and I hit her through the back of the lungs instead of top of heart.
I would say that I have had less movement from animals that were past 15 yards than under 15 yards. That's out of well over 100 animals. But still that is just my experience and I am sure others differ.

God bless, Steve

[Whitetail Addict]

I'm sorry steve. I was talking more about an animal having a chance to take a step, or turn. Any movement it might make between the time my brain tells my fingers to relax, and when the arrow gets there. I just meant that an animal has more time to make a move at longer ranges, before the arrow gets there. I've made a couple poor hits over the years because of it. JMO.

Bob

[pdk25]

Most of this is very arbitrary, but I guess the answer to your question, for me, would be that if you aren't confident in making the shot(and that the animal will likely still be in the same spot), then it is too far.  

That is going to vary with every situation, depending from how I feel that day, the disposition of the animal, and which animal I am trying to kill.  Some animals very rarely will move when the arrow is in the air.  I water buffalo is a good example of this.  I have heard that elk are much less likely to, as well, although I am not sure if that is assuming a further average shot distance.

I would say that 80% of the arrows that I shoot in practice are from 30 yards away, with maybe 5-10% from 40-50 yards away, and 10-15% closer than 30 yards.  As elk season is getting closer, the percentage from 40-50 yards is going up.  I plan on being very comfortable shooting from that distance before my trip, and  I really don't care what anyone thinks about it, if I have a calm animal between 35-40 yds away, I will most likely be taking the shot if I don't think that I can get a closer one.

[Archie]

I thought I read somewhere that one of the old greats (Jack Howard?) wouldn't shoot between 20-40 yards because that was the distance where an animal could both hear the shot and have time to jump the string.  At longer distances they don't hear it, at shorter distances they have a hard time reacting fast enough.

I also think this conversation has a lot to do with what's going on in the hunter's head.

How bad does he want the animal?  Is he willing to take the riskier shot?

How much time does he have to track it, if his shot is off??  How good of a tracker is he?

How much did the hunt cost?  Too much to not take the shot?

Does the hunter value more the getting in close, the accuracy he can implement in the field at longer distances, the successful taking of an animal, etc.?

Is the hunter more concerned with the avoiding of leaving a wounded animal in the field?

Is the hunter on someone's property where he feels more compelled not to take riskier shots?

As another of the old trad greats once said, "If the arrows aren't flyin', nothing' is dyin'."

I'm no expert at this, as I've only taken small game with my trad bows.  But I think a lot about these points, since I go season after season without many shot opportunities, though I usually pass several up each year.  But I practice at longer distances at home so that if I get a perfect longer-shot opportunity, I don't have to automatically turn it down.

[pdk25]

I will add, that I have turned down tons of shots at deer that were 25 yards and further away, as well as other animals, and have been busted trying to get closer on deer, hogs, and raccoons more times than I can count.  For me, the cost of a hunt, or need to bring home meat doesn't enter into the discussion at all.  One thing is for sure, there are no guaranteed shots in this game, no matter the distance.  All you can do is put yourself in a postition where you are comfortable with the percentages.