West hunting shooting distances

[ddowning]

I can’t think of a situation where I would be tempted to shoot an elk past 40yds on the first shot. I practice a lot further, but I prefer to keep it simple in the woods

The last Friday of the season I had the bull I’ve been trying to kill the last 3 years, for 5+ minutes quartered away @ 62yds, I have 100% confidence that bull would have been dead inside 100yds, but what if?

When I was younger, I shot a bull at 54yds that was 100% calm and feeding, he took a step as I shot and I hit him probably 8” back (luckily it was in a clear cut and I still watched him die) that’s always stuck with me, even though I’m way better at reading animal behavior, I want them closer…

It really makes me cringe when someone talks about their first archery critter past 75yds, seems like early in your archery hunting career is the worst time to be shooting long bombs.

At the end of the day, it’s up to the individual, some people are excellent shots, and excellent under pressure… most people are neither, and most aren’t as good as they think they are

My best advice is never shoot out of desperation, you will almost certainly regret it. It’s fair to say, your worst arrows at any range will likely be similar to shots in the woods hunting, it’s always a place you’ve never shot before, possibly uneven terrain, and your form will not be what it is in the back yard.

Only you can know how far you are comfortable shooting, everyone is at a different skill level

I have killed dozens of animals past 50 yards, mostly whitetail. The furthest was 64 yards. I had some weird stuff happen that swung both ways past 50 yards. I shot a doe quartering away at 57.5 and the shot looked perfect. The arrow stuck in the offside scap. I'm not sure what I hit, but she was 4 feet straight in the air stone dead almost instantly. She never took a step. Another doe at 61 yards, the shot was right through the middle of the lungs. She was in a field and I watched her go down. She appeared to have expired but got back up as I approached and was alive for a couple more minutes. That one was pretty traumatic for me.

Eventually, I realized that nearly all of the odd stuff was happening past 50 yards and that became my max range for whitetail. I can shoot pretty fair groups at 90 yards and keep them in the kill zone of a deer target at 100 yards. I would never consider shooting past 50 now unless it was a follow up shot on an animal that is already hit.

 

[TheHammer]

44yds and in on the initial shot. Follow up shot out to 65-70 if need be.

 

[S.Clancy]

I've shot some animals pretty far. Several antelope and a mule deer over 70. The animals I killed this yr were 64 (antelope), 22 (mule deer) and 60 (elk, I shot it again @ 70).

I really like animals like 45-60 yards. I feel like they are less likely to react either to me or the shot. I've had some close shots end up a mess.

I will only shoot over ~50 if the animal is broadside, or really close to it. I really only spot and stalk, so I can wait out an animal to get a good broadside shot.

Also, it's not like I'm only taking bombs, I've shot elk as close as 10 yards and antelope @ 20-25, I just usually am sending an arrow before then.

 

[Tater1973]

I think for most archery hunters it boils down to what their skill level is at the time of the hunt. For me, if I'm hunting spot and stalk in more open terrain, I will really concentrate my practice on a 60-yard max shot. If I'm getting ready for an archery turkey hunt, I concentrate on 30 yards and in. Biggest take away for me is "Control the Controllables", know your gear and shoot often!

 

[elkenstein]

There's a lot of good info here, but I'll reiterate a few good points. Regardless of your kill range, practice further out. I would never want to juggle the target panic of shooting an animal at the furthest range I have shot my bow.

Conditions change everything. I regularly take my block out to 100+ yards, but in some conditions I wouldn't draw on an elk at 35 yds. Practice in all conditions and learn from what happens.

Another interesting point is animal reaction time. A 300yd shot with a .308 has about the same flight time as 40yd shot with modern compound bow, and the animal can hear the arrow. A LOT can happen in longer shots.

Keep it conservative for your skills, avoid the gut wrenching feeling of a lost animal, and have fun out there.

 

[CMF]

I will never understand why people delineate between "back east" and "out west". Distance. time, and physics are the same in both regions. The 0-40 response is the one that resonates most closely to me. Last year I killed my buck at 25 yards spot and stalk.

A lot of people in the east never need to shoot that far. When you hunt jumpy whitetails out of a tree in thick woods and you rarely have a shooting lane past 50. And you live in a subdivision without the property to stretch further than 50 to practice. There isn't much reason to consider shooting any further.
I've only shot one whitetail at 45yd and more than a dozen at less than 35yd. 4 out of my 6 elk/muley/bear shots were 45-55yds.
I never shot past 60 before hunting out west, but practice out to 80+ now. I'd shoot an animal out to 70(in perfect conditions) and follow-up shots as far as my tape will go.

How far do you think someone should be comfortable shooting prior to hunting out west? I’ve heard upwards of 70 yards would be appropriate before. Any ideas?

As far as you comfortably can!

 

[406flyfish]

Not hard to hit a stationary target in a controlled environment. I personally don’t shoot past 60 yards in the field. See way too many people taking unethical shots. Passed on this bull two years ago (84yds)

 

[Bigborealaska]

Not hard to hit a stationary target in a controlled environment. I personally don’t shoot past 60 yards in the field. See way too many people taking unethical shots. Passed on this bull two years ago (84yds)
View attachment 671942

Looks like you would have had to thread the arrow to pull that off.

 

[nphunter]

60 is a good number to be efficient at IMO. I’ve killed elk from 14-60+. Average is like 45yard. The only elk I shot out past 60 was one I thought I already hit, it ended up he was just walking through a rock slide so he was stumbling around. My long shot was the first and was further than I would typically shoot.

Deer and Antelope I’ve shot at similar ranges, it’s very difficult to get under 60 yards from and antelope without sitting water. Deer it depends on terrain, i once messed up a shot at 3 yards by bumping the trigger trying to adjust my position at full draw.

 

[Scoot]

Like was said above- forget "how far you need to shoot" and figure out "how far you can shoot" accurately. Once you know that distance, you'll know how close you need to be to an animal. Also, keep in mind the animals tend to like to move after you release an arrow, so even if you can shoot accurately out to 80 yards, most circumstances (or arguably all) do not allow for a good shot at that distance.

When I was young and learning this lesson, I made numerous "perfect shots" that went exactly where I was aiming. However, the animal wasn't there anymore.

 

[wayoh22]

Have to agree with the above - find a distance YOU are comfortable with. I shot my mule deer at 91yds this year. I would never just recommend that to anyone though; however, I'm comfortable out to that range.

 

[ddowning]

Like was said above- forget "how far you need to shoot" and figure out "how far you can shoot" accurately. Once you know that distance, you'll know how close you need to be to an animal. Also, keep in mind the animals tend to like to move after you release an arrow, so even if you can shoot accurately out to 80 yards, most circumstances (or arguably all) do not allow for a good shot at that distance.

When I was young and learning this lesson, I made numerous "perfect shots" that went exactly where I was aiming. However, the animal wasn't there anymore.

Have to agree with the above - find a distance YOU are comfortable with. I shot my mule deer at 91yds this year. I would never just recommend that to anyone though; however, I'm comfortable out to that range.

These viewpoints are in opposition. I personally agree with the top one. Just because you are able to do it once (or even multiple time) does not make it an ethical idea. I know many are shooting arrows into animals at those distances and have been for decades. I am a very approachable guy and have gotten multiple people that shoot that far to feel comfortable and tell stories.

Some guys that used to run a very popular company and sold it were talking to a friend and I in cabelas years ago. They were telling a lot of stories about shots on game in excess of even 100 yards with recurve bows and compounds. When I congratulated them on their great skill they told me it was mostly luck and lack of restraint and that they often missed or wounded at those distances.

I stopped shooting long shots at game after my longest shot on whitetails. It was only 64 yards. Upon releasing an arrow everything goes in slow motion for me and the time of flight to 64 yards is an eternity. The deer dropped so far the arrow should have went 2" over its back. However, by the time the arrow got there, the deer was in the original position and the arrow went right in the crease. I could think of it as a great shot, but what if it had spun instead.

My youngest daughter shot a buck at 17 yards this year and the deer spun into the arrow. Instead of hitting it broadside the arrow went in at a steep quartering to angle. Only one lung was hit and the deer recovered. The arrow speed is much slower than that of a full grown man, but it sure isn't so slow as to turn 17 yards into 90.

We need to stop parading around our ability to shoot arrows and stop testing it on animals. It is possible that there are a handful of guys alive that can shoot long. It takes much greater skill at shot selection and reading animal body language than it does at flinging arrows.

 

[Arithson]

I would say practice out to 80-100 and feel comfortable shooting a critter a 60 when you get here.

 

[Stickmark]

seen a 97 yard kill, and been looking for wounded animals from the same guy. Too far. Even though I am range-limited by my handmade bow, and all that, I just think archery in general on animals is a close game, not a target game on flesh, like the above comment stated.

 

[saskhunter]

I stick to 40 yards and have passed many shots on good animals I would otherwise be comfortable taking on the range.