The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - At what range do you typically take deer?

oldmanFCSA · April 9, 2012, 08:58 AM

While I do not hunt anymore due to medical reasons, when I did hunt, 50 yards was a long shot with a shotgun & deer slugs. With a 243 centerfire rifle, my longest was 175 yard headshot.

As a 50BMG owner and competitor of long range, I hear all kinds of reports of shooting game animals at extended ranges out to 1400+ yards. I do NOT agree with this type of hunting! Too many misses, too many injured animals, too many assumed misses with injured animals crawling off to die miserably.

Now some will strongly disagree with me, because they use a 5 man crew and a special benchrest piece of equipment setup for long range shooting and have 3 very powerful scopes setup to find and verify shots are properly made. BUT the vast majority of shooters do not know their ballistics properly to know where the bullet will impact at that range.

With modern rifles, scopes, and cartridges, the range YOU shoot is determined by the range YOU know YOU can make a safe humane kill.

April 9, 2012, 08:58 AM	#57
oldmanFCSA Senior Member Join Date: November 8, 2010 Location: WISCONSIN Posts: 283	Long range hunting - opinions While I do not hunt anymore due to medical reasons, when I did hunt, 50 yards was a long shot with a shotgun & deer slugs. With a 243 centerfire rifle, my longest was 175 yard headshot. As a 50BMG owner and competitor of long range, I hear all kinds of reports of shooting game animals at extended ranges out to 1400+ yards. I do NOT agree with this type of hunting! Too many misses, too many injured animals, too many assumed misses with injured animals crawling off to die miserably. Now some will strongly disagree with me, because they use a 5 man crew and a special benchrest piece of equipment setup for long range shooting and have 3 very powerful scopes setup to find and verify shots are properly made. BUT the vast majority of shooters do not know their ballistics properly to know where the bullet will impact at that range. With modern rifles, scopes, and cartridges, the range YOU shoot is determined by the range YOU know YOU can make a safe humane kill. __________________ OldmanFCSA = "Oldman" at www.fcsa.org FCSA Member, SCSA Member, NRA Member, & AMA Member "Oldage & Treachery will overcome Youth & Skill"