Thread: Whats the longest shot youll confidently take at an animal

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Sounds a bit like my grandfather.
He always told me to shake the barrels when shooting at a mob of ducks to spread the pattern out a bit. It must work because quite often a different duck than I thought I was aiming for falls out of the sky.

my son and i had tears rolling down our faces when we read this.

very patient man your grandfather, whanahuia. they had more time in the old days.

I’m relieved by many answers here, I don’t hunt often enough to feel confident past 300m. I hunt with a guy who’s great on the long shots and I’ve stuffed a few up and he’s been lined up and done the deed. It often seems near impossible to stalk in on open country but now I just give it a go and I've been pleasantly surprised and if they do spook, well their lucky day.

Originally Posted by Allizdog

My father (when he was young) jumped on a deer in its bed below a bench when bush stalking. Said he had to watch out for the flailing hooves as he dealt to it with his knife.

A mate of mine did the same, unless he’s your father? Your dads names not Colin is it?

Not quite jumping on his back But early one very foggy morning in the head of the Orua I slid on my arse down a steep tussock slope to get too an outcrop I wanted to observe from when the fog cleared. As I gained speed I looked to my left as I slid past a very concerned stag laying in his bed about 7 meters away. His eyes were bugging out of his head! I couldn't stop and disappeared into the fog.

Originally Posted by Lauries Hut

A mate of mine did the same, unless he’s your father? Your dads names not Colin is it?

No.

I bought my tikka 7rm 5 or 6 years ago now with the intention of being able to take those longer shots i used to pass on with my BLR 308. but i still shoot most of my deer at close range, especially during the roar . longest shot on a deer has been 450 yds but have hit gongs out to 600 yds.
What i find as i get older (66 years old now) is especially hunting locally in the Southern Ruahines is that a long shot usually involves a long recovery mission too.
For example went for a day stroll up from a local spot a week ago, mostly just to keep my fitness up and cause it was a perfect winters day. Seen two stags , one at 590 yds across a big dirty gully, and another one in a different spot at 450 yds which was tempting ,but looked at the leatherwood and other crap between me and the stag and thought "yeah nah" i don't need to shoot a deer that badly !!. but i enjoyed my day up the hill and it was good just to see a few deer .

@30late

Good call. We show two deer in one of your local spots lately at 570 yards. Took an hour and a half to get within 150 yards of them. There was a sea of tight leatherwood between us and them and that’s as far as we got. Bloody frustrating and lesson learnt.

First time I’ve had to leave a deer behind. There was plenty around so it wasn’t the end of the world.

Originally Posted by 30late

I bought my tikka 7rm 5 or 6 years ago now with the intention of being able to take those longer shots i used to pass on with my BLR 308. but i still shoot most of my deer at close range, especially during the roar . longest shot on a deer has been 450 yds but have hit gongs out to 600 yds.
What i find as i get older (66 years old now) is especially hunting locally in the Southern Ruahines is that a long shot usually involves a long recovery mission too.
For example went for a day stroll up from a local spot a week ago, mostly just to keep my fitness up and cause it was a perfect winters day. Seen two stags , one at 590 yds across a big dirty gully, and another one in a different spot at 450 yds which was tempting ,but looked at the leatherwood and other crap between me and the stag and thought "yeah nah" i don't need to shoot a deer that badly !!. but i enjoyed my day up the hill and it was good just to see a few deer .

1million % agree mate- i max myself at 450m, but thats a 1 in ten easy recovery- otherwise 9 outta 10 will be within 300m.

After my trip this weekend, I realised 100m should be my limit. I had a plan for a clearing, had the drop charts for the 170-210m potential shots calculated. When I got there I realised I'd probably be able to hit the front half of a deer if one showed up (standing, tree branch for support) but that's not good enough. I'll stick to bush stalking and 100m max until I get some serious range time at 200m.

Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

Originally Posted by Eat Meater

After my trip this weekend, I realised 100m should be my limit. I had a plan for a clearing, had the drop charts for the 170-210m potential shots calculated. When I got there I realised I'd probably be able to hit the front half of a deer if one showed up (standing, tree branch for support) but that's not good enough. I'll stick to bush stalking and 100m max until I get some serious range time at 200m.

Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

sitting with elbows on knees is much more stable

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

sitting with elbows on knees is much more stable

I could only see the clearing from standing unfortunately. Need to take some loppers and trim some trees downslope!

Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

I'm going to say 200 metres if everything is right. I don't get the opportunity to shoot much further than 50 metres most of the time and practice really does make perfect! I shot a goat when sitting with elbows on knees at 187 metres. It was a nice clean kill and I was happy with that.

820 yds longest shot on a Tahr , plenty of reds at 500yd. Modern rifles, scopes and rangefinders make it easy to get the bullet there with enough practice

Pure confidence and competence (for classic NZ hunting) for me. Bow=30m 223=150m 308 300m.