Is there any way of finding outt he distance of an animal without a rangefinder
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Is there any way of finding outt he distance of an animal without a rangefinder
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No
It depends how precise/accurate you want to be ;)
if it looks big, youre close, if it looks small, youre probably too far to shoot it. i used to take an educated estimate before i had a range finder, 1 rugby field, 2 rugby fields kinda thing, but that can really be decieving in big open stuff. even a cheap rangefinder is better then no range finder.
Yes - maths - trig etc
Scopes can help with mil or measurements - need to know the height of deer etc
However really for a animal for shooting - rangefinder is far far better
If you have a topo map and both you and the animal are on clearly identifiable features you can have a decent estimate. But thats a big if, and still not that precise.
What sort of cheap rangefinder would you recomendQuote:
Originally Posted by silentscope
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i started with a 200 dollar nikko stirling. ranged good to 5-600m. i now use a 800m leupold range finder which works better in the bad weather. i work on the theory if i cant range it i cant shoot it and try and get closer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Southhunter
how bout shoot it and count the steps from you to it??
I have some budget unbranded one, I've ranged trees out to 800+ with it and it has measured fairly consistently with other rangefinders. But the optics are like looking through a muddy pond, so at times you can hardly tell what you're pointing it at. At some stage I'll upgrade to something nicer but its better than nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by silentscope
As an exercise I often estimate ranges using a mil dot scope. Practice on fence posts, and the like. You have to know the height of the target to calculate the range though. Targets height in metres x 1000 divided by the height in mils is the range. With practice you can be quite accurate (5_ 10%) with game though assumptions have to be made as to size and this can blow the accuracy out a bit. Still at most practical ranges it works well. One thing it does do is improve your eyeballometer and for opportunistic shots where theres no time to fumble with a rangefinder it can make all the difference.
Ive just put a good brand new one in the Buy and Sell sectionQuote:
Originally Posted by Southhunter
Yes, shoot it, then take a waypoint of where you are standing with the gps. Walk over to the dead animal and then get the gps to tell you the distance back to the waypoint.
If you want to find out the range before shooting it then use the gps to make up a range map i.e. that hill is 600m and the tree in front is 400m. The deer standing half way between the hill and the tree is then logically 500m
Or
Get much closer.
That's the Stalking part of "Deer Stalking"
That way you don't have to worry about range ................ just point, shoot and enjoy.
Cheers
Pete
@mikeeQuote:
Originally Posted by mikee
You took the words right out of my mouth. :thumbsup:
Cheers
Pete
This can be be done without to much trouble, but you'll need the right reticle to help you out. Nothing to flash needed, mainly you brain or calculator.
I've done the math for you (assuming a deer is 40 inches wide across the body - shoulder to rump):
First you need a conversion factor to get from MOA to Meters or Yard:
MOA to yards = 0.01047
MOA to Meters = 0.01145
Decide which you what to use....
Now, if you look at an deer that is standing side on and you see in your reticle that it is 6 MOA wide we can now do the maths;
40" divided by 0.01047 divided by 6 MOA = 636.8 yards
or 40/0.01047/6 = 636.8
Of course this assumes the deer is at the same elevations as you. If not, these is a little more maths to do to get a true horizontal distance:
If the deer is below you and at an angle of 15 degrees (measured using a app on your phone or inclinometer.
You need to use the Cosine of the angle and apply this factor to the distance above. Looks like this:
COSINE of 15 degrees is 0.9659, or 95.59% of the slope distance measure above:
636.8 x 0.9659 = 615 yards.
This is the distance that the the force of Gravity will effect the path of you bullet.
your an engineer right?
Practice practice practice. Play the "how far away is that tree?" game especially when with others. It's a good thinking game and is the beginnings of at least being close. A mate n I do it whilst scoping out a face. Take a jab on identified points then we check with his rangefinder. It's really helped sharpen my estimation of distance.
MMM.. without too much trouble aye?? First, don't you need the exact size of the animal to be accurate. All animals are going to be slightly different in size, and hell the hell do you work out that deer or pig at 420 m is exactly 40 inches or 37 inches wide or whatever?? Must be all guess work. Then angles , doing calulations, sorting it all out and you think that's not too much trouble compared to a range finder that tells you exactly what you want to know with the push of a button?? Then what if the animals shootable but cant see all of it or sitting down. Range finder is the only way to go if you have the animal well being first and foremost rather than risking dodgy shots that wound or miss completely because you not using something that's accurateQuote:
Originally Posted by Uplandstalker
638 m may have been a bad choice of example. At practical hunting ranges for most cartridges 1~400 m it works well enough to get minute of deer. One thing I have noticed is rangefinders sometimes encourage the taking of shots that should have been left .
Claim down boys. The question was "is it possible", the answer is yes. Is it practical, not really.
Even with a rangefinder, there are plenty on this very forum that screw it up!
If you think that knowing the distance is that important, you might need to spend more time studying dopping the wind. More long distance shoots are f#&ked up from poor decisions on wind more than anything else.
If 400m is the practical limit for hunting, why even need a range finder when the Point Blank Range for most hunting calibers used in NZ is closer to 350 yards anyway?
Yeah just don't get lessons from @Dundee he always ranges the next row of hills behind the traget[emoji13]
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Or you could buy a range finder...Quote:
Originally Posted by Uplandstalker
How many times are you wrong over a range of ranges? More than 10 percent and I'd suggest that your wasting your time and risking wounding animals; just buy a range finder or stalk in closer.Quote:
Originally Posted by SiB
:-)
Parting comments before heading into the hills to find a chamois further than 400 yards away;
i guess an animal has never been wounded at cose range.
Why are we all obsessed with rifles that need to shoot sub MOA, scopes with 18x or more and quality glass that allows for reading braille at 2,500m. Reloading for accuracy and speed, bedding rifles, etc etc.
This is all to shoot further and more accurately, or we would all be shooting a 45-70 with open sights.
Quite true, but knowing the exact distance is very important is it not after you get past the point blank range of your rifle otherwise you pissing in the wind. Of cause theres other factors in successful shooting but knowing the distance is the crucial starting point to get the rest right is it not. Even a 308 with a 200m zero after 300 m theres quite a difference between that and 350m. Without ranging animals with a range finder its not that easy for some people to work out what range it is when you think its 290m -300m away and its actually 349m you prob going miss.Quote:
Originally Posted by Uplandstalker
To me the mil dot system seems abit like shooting with open sights v a scope. All good at a certain range, with practice you be able to hit a animal at reasonable range but the further you start to shoot the further errors start and the scope ends up all over the open sights where it now becomes impossible or just plain dumb to use the open sights.
Same with with mil dots and range finders, longer the range more chance of errors with mil dots as everything has to line up and all calculations be perfect totherwise you end up yards of and wounding or missing is the only thing that's certain to happen.