Instinctive hunting distance you’ll shoot?

[dbd870]

15-20. I've had several deer in the 22-25 yard range that I have let walk in the 4 hunting seasons that I have been using traditional gear. Good on you yard dog - you are a credit to the clan!

[Red Beastmaster]

I remember the old t-shirt saying from the early 70's, "If it feels good, do it!".

[ChuckC]

Although I practice in my yard, and I know, in general, how far I am to the target, I don't judge distance for a shot.   I judge the sight picture, silly as that sounds.  I like em close, maybe 20 yards max, but I prefer 15 and will take 5.  I hunt from the ground, generally in my ghillie suit and a minimal ground blind.  i mean minimal.. and there is no excitement like having a deer 5 yards away about to get shot.    I can hit five yards.

[RedShaft]

My effect range is under 20 yards. I

[toddster]

When I practice, like most I shoot at 20 yards some 30.  But what I found is that shooting instinctively allows me to take shots, without range estimation.  I have taken 4-5 animals, when I just looked and shot.  Afterward, would of sworn they was 25-30 yards.  Few when stepped off was 35-38 and one Doe (bigger than thought) was 42 yards away, which I could not believe made it.  It just goes to show what good form, confidence does, over range estimation.  I know for me, that when I let all else go and just "focus" on the spot, the shot happens, like it was meant to be.

I ha e shot a few critters over 20yds, but I’d say 95% were 15yds or less!

Bisch

[Pat B]

20 yards has been my usual limit with most shots at 12 to 15. I have taken 2 shots over the years that I later paced off at 30 yards, in both cases the arrow went right under the chest, clean misses.

Hitting a deer target out to 45 yards is not that difficult, but it does take lots of practice at that range.   I find it amazing how seldom any deer gives a shooting opportunity that one can take a shot over 30 yards. It happens, but not very often.  One step and it is a bad shot.  In over 40 years of deer hunting, I have and just four opportunities on deer that I was pretty sure they were unaware of me and would hold still.  I got three, but the one that was feeding on a round bale of oats, took two steps while the arrow was in the air and I took hair off of the deer's tail.   I had shot at that bale a bunch of times, I knew I could make an accurate shot, but who knew the oats on the other end of bale were better?  Stuff can go wrong on long shots, but then stuff can go wrong on close shots as well.

[YosemiteSam]

Still working on finding something legal to shoot at.  But my limit is still 20 yards.  I'm mostly a gap shooter but it's harder for me to screw up from 0-20 and too easy to do so past there under field conditions.

[David McLendon]

I like being close and having to wait for something to move far away enough to draw. I ground hunt, and a  lot of that time is in a ghillie. But my longest shot was on the last day of a 10 day DIY elk bowhunt and it was double lung @ 37 or so yards. Followed by the bull turning 180 degrees and running downhill into the steepest, nastiest, tightest place full of deadfalls that he could find to  die in. I'm comfortable accuracy-wise around 35 yards but over-story and time of flight can become a factor.

[kevsuperg]

Im in the "if it feels right" camp. When I stump shoot usually as soon as I see a target I try a shot at it and I'm usually pretty close if not spot on.
 When I analyze the shot first, how far is it, etc etc I'm usually way more off.
 With all that said, 25-30 yds at most is my limit, closer the better.
 Just curious why on Small game you'd stretch your comfort zone.
 They're animals too and deserve our respect as much as big game.

This afternoon, a 100 yard wide picked corn field with switch grass on the east side and west side, a cock pheasant flew from the east switch grass to the west switch grass. I had just previously took three 40 to 45 yard warm up shots with a judo in the picked corn,I was on today.   I took out my token pheasant arrow, a cedar with a sharp 145 ribtec that had been shot once as  flight check.  At about 18 yards forward and left the pheasant took off.  I was shooting left handed, I stepped into the shot and had a minor tangle with some taller switch grass.  I pushed the bow free and was still seeing the right eyeball of the pheasant.  I released. As the arrow left the bow, I noticed that i was looking at the back of the pheasants head, it veered a little.  The arrow passed the right feathers hit the arrow as it passed by the pheasant that was 35 to 40 yards out at the time.   A miss, but such fun.   Later a doe came out, I was using a strap on tree seat, in a position that I could see the corn field, instead further back about 45 yards, she would have passed with in 15 yards of my normal spot,  A buck, good body with the smallest goof ball eight point rack that I have ever seen was hot her trail, he went down the same trail, I would have taken a shot at him.  A bit after that yearling does, a couple of spike  bucks, button bucks and two fawns came filing out from every where at one time.  I had 11 of them within 20 yards of me, the bigger mama of the two small fawns stayed out about 45 to 50 yards, while the others crowded around me.  I think they must have been mesmerized by my white glassed Sunset Hill bow.  Later another four came up and joined them further out in the field.  Then one yearling or smallish doe came up from behind me on the same trail that walked on, until she was a few feet from me.  I turned to say hello, she snorted and the whole gang ran off and I was all alone..   Point is, if a hard flying pheasant can have such close miss, why are deer that are standing still that same distance suppose to be so hard to hit?   I took no shots at deer, but it is funny how the mind jumps to completely different program when contemplating a shot at a deer.

[Doug Treat]

For me, it's the distance that I can put 90% of my shots, or better, in a 9" circle consistently.  I write down misses and keep track, looking back after hundreds of shots. I used to shoot about 95% out to 30 yds but right now, it's under 20 for me.
  I think a lot of bowhunters (trad and modern) have selective memories, meaning, they forget their bad shots or blame it on the sun in their eyes or something (like that wouldn't happen when shooting at game) but they remember the day last month when they nailed every dandelion they shot at out to 40 yards.
  Another good test is to shoot a 3D shoot and step off the distances after you shoot. If you can't keep every shot in the 8 ring for all of your 25 yard shots, it's too far to shoot at game.
  I've shot with guys who think they are good enough to shoot out to 30 yards but miss half of their 30 yard shots on a 3D
course.

[Doug Treat]

Kevsuperg, for me I'm ok with longer shots at small game, say a rabbit, because if I hit it, I can usually run it down and catch it, the arrow will slow it down enough.  Even on a 5 yard shot, I rarely hit the minuscule lungs of a rabbit anyway so a 40 yd hit is as good as a 7 yard hit. It's either a clean miss or a dead bunny. Hope that makes sense.

[kevsuperg]

I'm cool with that Doug.  Didn't want to put you on the spot.
 Shoot straight my friend

[BWallace10327]

Originally posted by Doug Treat:

  I think a lot of bowhunters (trad and modern) have selective memories, meaning, they forget their bad shots or blame it on the sun in their eyes or something (like that wouldn't happen when shooting at game) but they remember the day last month when they nailed every dandelion they shot at out to 40 yards.
 

Excellent point.  Memories aren't stored like home movies in your head, but rather a collection of pictures that are assembled into a flip book when called upon.  This manor of reccolection is a hindsight bias, the good old days phenomenon. For instance, I have taken plenty of 80 yard shots at a 3d deer target, but I don't recall most of them.  Although the singular instance which my arrow arced into the upper 10 ring from that range is very memorable, I cannot stess enough that I'm not good to 80 yards shooting instictively just because all of the shots I remember at that range were great.    

[Nomadstalker]

10 yards is my max distance at deer.

[joe ashton]

My thought process when a shot presents itself is not how far is that but rather 'can I make this shot.'  Some times 'can I make this shot' is only 15 yards some times it's 25 yards... go figure.
But I set my tree stands up for 18yards and under.
   

[wingnut]

Depends on the situation.  I've passed on under 15 yds shots on elk and made 35 yds shots.  It's how it "feels" at the time compared to your experiences.

Mike

[smokin joe]

15 yards and less feels best, so that’s my yardage.