Thread: Are hunters taking longer shots these days?

To answer the question yes people are due to the advances in technology etc etc.

I see LR hunting as another tool in you're belt.
It's a useful skill to have along with the nuts and screws(rifle etc) to do it.

Bush stalking or hunting the bush and edges with clearings are also equally different skill sets and tools to have.


My thinking is if the technology is there why not use it ?

I must admit the biggest rush I get is seeing deer within 100y, the rush of adrenaline off seeing them at 30y or so is just something I live for.

Anyway rant over

Yep, youtube and tv shows are showing more and more long range shooting, some of them are good at it and good on them, but what they don't show is all the hours practice at the range that allows them to make those shots, i see so many videos on youtube of muppets taking 5-10 shots at a moving animal at 4-500 yards hoping for the best, or trying to shoot Tahr from the river bed with there big magnum and big scope. I will shoot to 400 (light winds) now days only after hundreds of rounds of practice at the range. Would much rather stalk as close as possible more exciting. Good on the guys who put the work in and get it done tho nothing against long range hunting at all.

Yes- everyone wants to be a Schniper. Well a lotta people do, and very few do it well.Most people who try should really practice more and manage their shots on the hill more.So many gut and hind qtr hit deer on YouTube in NZ.
Like others above- 90% of the thrill for me is being there- with mates- mostly ill shoot last, mostly cos I cbf bush bashing 500m up and down to get to the hopefully dead deer. Bush stalking still holds the biggest buzz I reckon.

People do shoot longer ranges than they used to - successfully - but those people have adopted it as a specific hobby.

(In the old days people used to shoot long range too, mostly unsuccessfully, shooting deer in the legs more often than not. )

But because it is heavily gear dependent (or people want it to be) manufacturers cater for the fashion and place advertising in youtube and tv hunting shows, which gives the impression that its more prevalent than it is. There's money in selling products to long range shooters. Like golfing.

Long range shooting has developed into a specialist hobby within the field of hunting. Like fly-fishing is to fishermen. You need specialised knowledge to do it, and you need specific equipment. But you dont need it to catch a fish.

Originally Posted by JohnDuxbury

People do shoot longer ranges than they used to - successfully - but those people have adopted it as a specific hobby.

(In the old days people used to shoot long range too, mostly unsuccessfully, shooting deer in the legs more often than not. )

But because it is heavily gear dependent (or people want it to be) manufacturers cater for the fashion and place advertising in youtube and tv hunting shows, which gives the impression that its more prevalent than it is. There's money in selling products to long range shooters. Like golfing.

Long range shooting has developed into a specialist hobby within the field of hunting. Like fly-fishing is to fishermen. You need specialised knowledge to do it, and you need specific equipment. But you dont need it to catch a fish.

more akin to those using a shooting head and weighted nymph lol both take a hell of a lot of skill to implement properly

Originally Posted by JohnDuxbury

People do shoot longer ranges than they used to - successfully - but those people have adopted it as a specific hobby.

(In the old days people used to shoot long range too, mostly unsuccessfully, shooting deer in the legs more often than not. )

But because it is heavily gear dependent (or people want it to be) manufacturers cater for the fashion and place advertising in youtube and tv hunting shows, which gives the impression that its more prevalent than it is. There's money in selling products to long range shooters. Like golfing.

Long range shooting has developed into a specialist hobby within the field of hunting. Like fly-fishing is to fishermen. You need specialised knowledge to do it, and you need specific equipment. But you dont need it to catch a fish.

Same with hunting clothing, used to be ex-army or whatever your mum allowed you to wear out of your closet. I've even seen guys out there in in old suit jackets - lots of pockets I suppose.

Long range shooting is a skill and it is 'gear dependent' there's not many out there who can accurately assess range. I was a bush shooter, it was where I was comfortable at and my scope of choice was 3X. Need good ears, eyes, nose and patience for that sort of stuff - much easier to 'farm shoot' if you can get access to such a place - and I did one of those 'hunts' a few years back and never fired a shot.
Saw more game than I ever seen, and they were all out there 400 yards away (I think) - and I doubted my ability to kill cleanly at that range.

On that trip 6 deer were shot, 3 recovered. The others ran away and the father of the shooter told me his son had taken over 350 fallow off that block - and I wondered how many had run off he hadn't bothered looking for.

I'm sticking to bush stalking. After all, that's usually where they are during the day.

It's pretty difficult to get an unbiased estimate of this isn't it ? I think your own personal experience is the best way to gauge the truth of the matter. So are you taking longer shots yourself ?



The first factor is that deer numbers (and tahr at times) increased a lot in the South Island from about year 2000 onwards. Shots can be longer there, so a simple shift from animals shot in South vs North would increase the average range. More people shooting on farmland could have a similar effect.





The second factor is equipment.

This is partly due to new rifles being better than the .303 Brit (specially synthetic and laminated stocks), Reliable, Dialable scopes, more accurate factory ammo. When I personally changed from a MkIII* target barreled 303 to a Sako 85 7mm08, even using the same 2-7x32 VX1, I straight away started making several of my "longest shot ever" and my "tally" of unrecovered animals plummeted. Getting a Leupold RX-1000 and S&B PMII 3-12 and taking part in a number of Gillie's field target shoots (couple of thousand rounds down range) resulted in another small increment and I've shot half a dozen between 300-400m now. Who has shot a "know your limits" steel stage at 500m ? Now, I'm not saying NZ is a wealthy place but there are a lot more hunters who can afford this sort of gear now (and helicopter flights which were unheard of before 2000), so money does make a difference if you've got access to it.



Another issue is marksmanship skills and, as others have hinted, my impression (from formal target competition) is that individuals usually get better with age. But we have a good new generation of hunters in their 20's and 30's who we couldn't expect to be highly skilled yet. There are even fewer prepared to put themselves to the test on paper than there used to be and community knowledge for sitting, kneeling, standing and unsupported in general is gradually fading.


Photo by @Gillie

Bigger and better rifles makes it easier for long range .

Hitting targets at 1 km with 6.5 is no trouble .
Using 300 prc takes the range out to double that range

just took my rifle out for a couple shots at range to make sure it was on. Target set at 820yards. I don’t shoot this range at animals in wind but it was a pretty calm night tonight.

Originally Posted by Scott Cowan

just took my rifle out for a couple shots at range to make sure it was on. Target set at 820yards. I don’t shoot this range at animals in wind but it was a pretty calm night tonight.

Is this the modern day version of William Tell shooting an apple off his son's head? Must be a pretty good shot to be able to miss your phone at 820 yards... now that is confidence!

Is that a 30" tablet you got there against a fridge box?

But seriously, if you do this with your rig, why not shoot a bit further out.

I live in Central Otago, we have heaps of huge open country, a lot of our DOC land is open grass and rocky mountainside, People do what they need to to get deer.

I wish i had the opportunity to lean bush hunting myself. I just haven't really the places to go.

I see lots of people stalking in to shorter ranges then taking rushed shots at alert animals, where as a shot at range at a un suspecting animal always goes better with prior practice ect
My opinion on it is that if someone doesn't have a anometer (wind guage) they shouldn't be taking long shots (past 300) in anything but perfect conditions, I have no issue taking an animal out to 600ish yards however this is after 100s of rounds down range yearly, it definitely does start to change the sport from hunting to shooting in some aspects

Once I got a friend or say a rich guy I knew in Auckland, and he have all the expensive hunting tools, all the firearms are European products. But he never got a deer as far as I knew. I like long range shooting I guess mostly it `s because those movies I enjoyed very much but I do `t think I am sniper material, rifleman maybe since mathematics is not favorite, even I am good with numbers in biz.
During C19, I did spend lots of time to learn how to verify distance by using mil dot, binoculars with compass and maps because I got save rooms for my camera and heave lens. Tried to train my brain to fast calculate those compensations for winds and elevations like building my muscle memory. But now I think the first high power rifle I will buy is the rifle with iron sight on whatever it `s sako, CZ or old k98 8mm. I enjoy the action more than a deer, explore somewhere I have never been for next time, yeah I did encountered some deer within pistol shooting range.