curiosity about everyones shooting limits

[Maddog20/20]

If I’m being honest, if I can’t get closer than 25yds, I failed at the “hunting” part.


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[Sam McMichael]

I am still working on 25 yards, but hunting shots need to be 20 yards or in, preferably 15 or so.

[Slickhead]

Practice Im pretty good at longer distances.
But in hunting situations I miss at 8 yds
 

[BWallace10327]

I have missed deer at <15 yards and have cleanly killed a deer at 41 yards.  I don't know the exact range until after the shot.  Freeing myself from a laser rangefinder is one of the best parts of hunting with a recurve and shooting an "instinctive" style.  The best shots I've made on game were a turkey at the base of the neck and a doe deer, both 31 yards, but I didn't know any of these distances until after I shot. I don't think I could shoot 6" groups at that range all day, but I guess that doesn't matter.   There is no thought of "that shot is X yards" going through my head.  Maybe I'm doing this wrong? 

[Hoosierarcher88]

I generally do most of my practice at either 22 yards or 34 yards (even with my shed for 22 yards, standing on my porch for 34 yards) but hunting i want as absolute close as possible. I think i would have a hard time bringing myself to shoot at a deer beyond 20 yards. Flight time of that arrow just leaves a lot to go wrong.

[pavan]

No matter how on or off I am for the season, it can change from day to day.  Some nights I cannot get to sleep, sometimes i forget to drink enough water, sometimes I have no appetite in the morning, and sometimes the morning arthritis is almost more than can deal with and still trust myself.  i don't know about anyone else, but the first thing that happens to me when I smell morning woods, I can tell that i got a poop coming on.  i can't shoot worth a s### when I got a poop coming on, so I don't.

[Hoosierarcher88]

No matter how on or off I am for the season, it can change from day to day.  Some nights I cannot get to sleep, sometimes i forget to drink enough water, sometimes I have no appetite in the morning, and sometimes the morning arthritis is almost more than can deal with and still trust myself.  i don't know about anyone else, but the first thing that happens to me when I smell morning woods, I can tell that i got a poop coming on.  i can't shoot worth a s### when I got a poop coming on, so I don't.

Im tellin ya they need to rename Imodium as the hunters friend

[toddster]

I practice at 10 yards each day, form.  Once a week, I shoot at home out to 25 yards, at club out to 50 (form).  I am a hunter so the closer the animal the better, on average shoot them at 18 yards.  Closes animal was a doe at 10 yards, came in browsing on other side of shrub I was behind.  Furthest was 42 yards after stepped it off, didn't think that far.  Close is best.

[Maddog20/20]

I practice at 10 yards each day, form.  Once a week, I shoot at home out to 25 yards, at club out to 50 (form).  I am a hunter so the closer the animal the better, on average shoot them at 18 yards.  Closes animal was a doe at 10 yards, came in browsing on other side of shrub I was behind.  Furthest was 42 yards after stepped it off, didn't think that far.  Close is best.

I always suggest “practice far, hunt close.”  You be surprised at how close 15 yds really is when you practice at 30.  It’s almost TOO close.

What I do is shoot 30yds as practice and then I’ll jump up to 15yd and paper cup tune.  It really helps my accuracy and precision at those hunting distances.


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[Ark.Buck]

Well I'm a 20 yard or less kinda guy, but things have to be pretty well perfect for me to shoot at 20 yards, I prefer they be at 10-12, to me the game is to get them as close as possible, if I want to kill them at long range, I'd just hunt with a rifle

[jonsimoneau]

I agree with Dan in KS. 100% if we are mostly talking about whitetails. I hear guys say all the time they are good to 30 yards on whitetails. I’m not saying it’s not true for some guys but I don’t think it’s realistic for the vast majority of us. It’s not necessarily an issue of shooting ability as much as an issue of the reaction time of a whitetail. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of 20 yard shots on whitetails. I’ll take them sometimes but seems like I pass on them more often than not. I’m a really big fan of over 15 yards but under 16. Lol.

[Alexander Traditional]

I've been hitting tennis balls,and a little stuffed toy about the size of a piglet at 27 yards. I hit a jack rabbit at 36 yards once. I get nervous on pigs and deer,and 20 yards looks like it's 40. If the shot looks good at 20 I'll take if not I'll pass.

[Aaron Proffitt 2]

Well I'm a 20 yard or less kinda guy, but things have to be pretty well perfect for me to shoot at 20 yards, I prefer they be at 10-12, to me the game is to get them as close as possible, if I want to kill them at long range, I'd just hunt with a rifle

Not disagreeing with the premise , just what's considered " long range".

[pavan]

It seems that acceptable distances may have something to do with where and how people do most of their hunting in combination with most of their practice.  I sometimes put up a ladder stand in my backyard for folks to use.  It never fails, they have their 15 yard shot on the flat down, then go up the ladder stand and can hardly keep their arrows in my back yard.  Perhaps those that only shoot at deer out of tree stands should do a lot more of their practice from tree stands.   I like still hunting out away from the woods, I like small game hunting.  There is no limit to how far I will shoot at a grounded pheasant or sitting rabbit, this is open country.  Many people shoot under the arrow and gun barrel the arrow to get their point on to around  20 yards.  Out in an open field that shot is 52 to 58 yards for me, shooting blunts and judo points in the fields is more fun than back yard target pounding.  After a while 20 yards feels like spitting distance.  Shooting short range one does not get penalized much for short draws and weak releases.  Go out and shoot some 40 yard plus shots, those weak shots will show up big time. 

[Gdpolk]

I'll shoot at a target as far out as I think I can hit it.  Some days that may be 20 yards if the shot is a hard one, sometimes that may be 60-80 yards if its wide open with little to no wind and a large target.

In the woods, I want to be as close as I can be.  Each shot is different.  While I can't recall killing anything beyond 25 yards or so with my longbow, I'm not going to say that I would never take a shot farther out than that if everything felt right.  I can say though that I have passed on A LOT of shot opportunities between 15-25 yards because of various reasons such as: being too cold and not wanting to push the limit when I can't feel quite right or am slightly shakey, being too tired and having poor vision, poor lighting, the animal wasn't in an ideal shot angle, there were potential limbs/vines that could lead to an animal being hurt instead of harvested, the animal was moving too quickly, the animal was too alert, I didn't think I could move without being busted, wind direction/speeds were wrong and could have pushed an arrow out of the perfect window into a cripple shot, I was too high in a tree and the shot angle wasn't ideal, something just didn't seem right although I couldn't place my finger on it, etc.  While I have no problems harvesting game animals, I also have no problems respecting them enough to pass on any shot that doesn't feel like a slam dunk opportunity.  We as hunters have the choice to choose how/when something dies.  There is nothing at all wrong with taking an animal's life to provide for our own but I do feel we need to be managing God's resources appropriately which sometimes means watching them walk away because we might only be 90% confident in the shot.

[KSdan]

Following this. . .   Always varied ideas and opinions for sure. . .

One thing I noted was some guys do not advocate range finders.  But, I stumbled into a used one a few years ago and have been really surprised how it has helped me.  Once I am on stand I range everything- then put it away for good.  (Sometimes it has surprised me the actual range of some slope, or unique view/contour.)  THE BIG THING however; is it gives me a confident "go-perimeter."  When a deer crosses the "perimeter" - that mental aspect/decision of shooting is checked off.  I am good to "go" if the deer offers me the shot.

Again- Just my 2C worth
Dan in KS       

[pavan]

If I take a long stride it is close to a yard, or there about, it has become 'my' yard.  When out roving I pace off the long shots for the first part of a roving round.  My version of a range finder, just to get the sight picture for the distance in my head.

[Bisch]

Yea if everything is right sometimes I will do that longer also Bish , I’m sure you will edit that and no one will know what I’m talking about.

,,Sam,,

I did not edit anything, and still don’t have a clue what you are talking about????

Bisch

[bigbadjon]

You put a swear in your last post. It is unfortunate that "i" is so close to "o" on a keyboard.

[pavan]

For some reason I shoot better when i am sitting when shooting under 20 yards, but I shoot worse sitting when I shoot over 25 yards.  I have a stool with a boat round bottom and a tractor seat.  I think it was designed for garden work.  I shat on it this afternoon and fell flat on my back.  Chiro appointment will be at 3 tomorrow.