What range do you usually shoot deer at

Average range for deer hunting

  • Less than 100yds

    Votes: 57 67.9%

  • Between 100yds and 150yds

    Votes: 19 22.6%

  • between 150yds and 200yds

    Votes: 6 7.1%

  • between 200yds and 250yds

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • between 250yds and 300yds

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Over 300yds

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Total voters
    84
B

Buzzcook

New member
I average between 100yds and 150yds. My longest shots were about 250yds and less than 10yds as my closest.
Except for a couple occasions I've only used a .30-06.

I'm asking because it seems like people are more interested in idealizing a particular caliber round rather than considering real world application first.
 
My longest shot was at 94 yards with an opensighted 12 gauge, two days earlier I took another deer with the same shotgun at 88 yards. Both are my longest shots to date. other than that every other deer I have shot has been 42 yards or closer with various weapons from 9mm up to the shortest magnum I know of.... the 7.62x39mm
 
The woods in the deep south resemble a jungle. I've hunted areas where you could have a brass band and a dozen baton twirlers 50 yards away and you wouldn't see them.

Unless you're set up in a field I doubt you'd ever get a shot greater than 50 yards. The longest shot I ever bagged a deer was about a 100-125 yards in a green field but typically if you see deer in the woods its more like maximum of 30-40 yards. My average is about 65 yards with maximum of about 100-125 and minimum of 35+/- .

Concerning rifles, I've gotten deer with .243, 6.5 Grendel (the most elegant and efficient deer caliber I know), .270, .35 Rem, .45-70 and .50 muzzle loader, from 100 grain to 325 grain bullets, but I've given serious consideration to trying 00 buckshot due to the short ranges involved.
 
other than that every other deer I have shot has been 42 yards or closer with various weapons from 9mm up to the shortest magnum I know of.... the 7.62x39mm
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9mm for deer? Isn't that illegal in most states?
 
I didn't vote because I don't have a "usual" range. I've killed some as close 15 yards and the farthest shot that I can remember on a deer was 320 yards. I guess the most common was between 100 and 200 yards. My farthest elk was 400.

BTW, the 9mm is legal for deer here to but I don't think I'd attack a full-grown mulie with one unless I didn't have any other choice. However, I did kill my deer the last 2 years with a 10 mm.
 
I'm with meekandmild on this one. Here in NE FL., unless you sit on a road or a recently cut pine plantation field, the ranges are close. I've taken very few over 75, most at 25 or less.

In fact I've gotten to the point where I'll set up during rifle season just as I used to for bow hunting. Have found it far more interesting watching deer up close. I say "watching" becasue far more often than not it's does or not yet legal bucks that we see.

Gotten to where I'm almost as excited at seing a juvenile buck come in as a shooter becasue it gives me a opportunity to "play" with him and really be attentive to his behavior.

Last season I had a spike come feeding along one morning. He rubbed a tree out on the trail and then feed his way right up under my tree. After a couple of minutes under my tree he just FLOPPED down. Yes FLOPPED!

Somehow it was not how you expect to see a deer lay down but it was almost as it he was knocked cold. He sat down there, ruminating, with his back to the breeze and his eyes and ears facing the other way.

After a few minutes it ocured to me to see what would happen if a twig or a piece of Spanish moss fell on him. Droped a twig on him, expecting a explosion of activity. He shrugged it off, did not even look up to see why it fell?

The point being........set up so the deer come close and you can really see them..........hunting is about far more than just killing.
 
I grew up hunting across soybean fields where if you couldn't make a 300+ yard shot you weren't going to get much meat. Now most of my shots are 100 yds. or less
 
I only say less than 100 yds because I pass up anything much more than that. I hunt with iron sights usually. Sometimes for a change I hunt with a shotgun and keep it closer.

Most of the deer I see in open woods are at 150-200 yards. In treestand I've had shots less than 25 yds away. I have to get some kind of scent blocker because I think the deer are smelling me. Must be all the pork rinds and whiskey. Just kidding.
 
My longest shot a deer was this year. Killed a doe at 43 yards. Longest deer shot I've ever seen was 120 yards. My hunting partner killed a doe on a two track at that distance on the last day of the hunt.

I hunt out west and my longest shot out there was around 275 yards. That distance is a hell of a thing to get used to when your "long" shots don't usually exceed 40 yards.
 
The longest shot I had was on a coyote at 417 yds per the rangefinder last year. The next longest was at a Nilgai - (exotic antelope from India equal in size to an elk) at every bit of 300. Other than that, I've killed lots of deer w/ a bow between 5 and 50 yds. Lots of deer w/ a rifle, I'd say 90% were 100 yds & under. I've made a few WOW shots, but for the most part, I'm more impressed with the close shots than the far ones...It takes a lot more skill and stealth to shoot em up close than way out there. It takes a better marksman though to hit the AT&T shots... But for me, I like the close range stuff...
 
...for the most part, I'm more impressed with the close shots than the far ones...It takes a lot more skill and stealth to shoot em up close than way out there.
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Well said.

I have to wonder about people who shoot game animals at vast distances, as if it's something to be proud of. A glance at a ballistics chart shows how many inches a bullet in flight can deviate from the target in just 100-200 yds. Even the super-duper "magnums" aren't exempt from the laws of physics. Also, almost everything in the field detracts from accurate shooting.

It's sad that so many kids now grow up thinking "hunting" means executing animals at 2-3 times an ethical hunting distance, with of course a large percentage of animals wounded and left to die slow, painful deaths. I have a lot of respect for bowhunters, handgun hunters, and close-range rifle hunters, who have the skill, wisdom, and integrity to really hunt. It's nice to see the great majority of people who voted on this thread do just that.
 
I have to wonder about people who shoot game animals at vast distances, as if it's something to be proud of. A glance at a ballistics chart shows how many inches a bullet in flight can deviate from the target in just 100-200 yds. Even the super-duper "magnums" aren't exempt from the laws of physics. Also, almost everything in the field detracts from accurate shooting.

It's sad that so many kids now grow up thinking "hunting" means executing animals at 2-3 times an ethical hunting distance, with of course a large percentage of animals wounded and left to die slow, painful deaths. I have a lot of respect for bowhunters, handgun hunters, and close-range rifle hunters, who have the skill, wisdom, and integrity to really hunt. It's nice to see the great majority of people who voted on this thread do just that.
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"Vast" distances? What is that, exactly? What some folks from back east think is a "vast" distance", may be a common, every-day shot in places in the west. Glancing at a ballistics chart may tell you how many inches a given bullet drops but if you KNOW your distance and your gun and cartridge and are sportsman enough not to try and take a shot that you are not absolutely sure you can make, then who decided what is "ethical"? I've seen just as many or more people lose deer and other animals at "ethical" distances due to over-confidence as I have long distances due to other factors.
Where are your facts that there are a "large percentage" of animals that have been shot long range that go off and die slow, painful deaths? Do you have any clue how many deer bowhunters lose every year?
"Ethical" is in the mind, not the distance. If you can make a good clean, humane kill at 600 yards, it is just as "ethical" as someone else making the same type of kill at 40 yards.
 
I think the longest shot I ever made was about 35, maybe 40 yards. Most have been right around 20 or so.

Of course I'm using buckshot. :D

I missed one at 10 yards once. Threw the whole load into the side of a tree. :eek:
 
I made the longest shot ever on a deer this year- 207 yrds. Other than that we are talking 75yrds down to a few feet. Over 40 years of hunting, that says something. I am giving serious thought to all these 300yrd rifles that I have and start using my .44 levergun. To be honest, I think I could have killed one this year with a ballpeen hammer.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.
I was browsing through the older threads and found that my question wasn't the most original in the world.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266313
What average distance do you shoot deer?

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253789&highlight=range
Typical Range of shot (deer and other medium game)

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207934&highlight=range
Long Range Hunt....uh-oh.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128330&highlight=range
Elk Shooting Range

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110830&highlight=range
What's the max range you'll shoot at game?

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65192&highlight=range
What do you consider practical max range for 30-30 on deer?

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16569&highlight=range
What is "Long Range" to you, when hunting?

I've only scanned these threads but it looks like long range bean field hunters in South Dakota are in a minority
 
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