Your longest kill?

What distance was your longest successful shot on big game?

  • Total voters
    409
White tailed Doe at 1107yds

6.5SS 140berger vld-h 3245fps
Wind 3mph from 3cl
900’ DA
Impact velocity 1725fps

Cold bore heart shot, hit rib on both sides and exited, left an 1.25” exit hole. She ran 10yds and dropped
IMG_5035.jpeg
IMG_5037.jpegIMG_5039.jpeg
 
My furthest was 730 yards on a wounded (by another hunter) doe antelope - one shot kill. That was back in the days I put 100s of shots down range every year for practice. I have a pile of animals in the 400-600 range which was honestly easy for me as much as I practiced. I still try to get close but like this years cow elk, it isn't always possible in open country.

I agree with most on here that 99% of hunters need to keep shots much closer than they are willing to.
 
I think a better poll would be your closest kill, that is the challenge as a hunter. How close u can stalk or wait for the kill vs shooting at long range.

Having done a lot of long range shooting for my job and competition I always wonder how many animals shot at very long range, say plus 500 are wounded and not recovered or killed and not found as picking the point an animal was standing in cover at say 1k after walking there depending on terrain is a feat in itself.

My closest kill was cow elk at 11 paces with a smith 41 mag mountain gun Longest was another cow at 387 yds with a 308. Both DRTs.
 
Spence1875 said:
I think a better poll would be your closest kill, that is the challenge as a hunter. How close u can stalk or wait for the kill vs shooting at long range.

Having done a lot of long range shooting for my job and competition I always wonder how many animals shot at very long range, say plus 500 are wounded and not recovered or killed and not found as picking the point an animal was standing in cover at say 1k after walking there depending on terrain is a feat in itself.

My closest kill was cow elk at 11 paces with a smith 41 mag mountain gun Longest was another cow at 387 yds with a 308. Both DRTs.
Click to expand...
Four yards (horizontal distance) on a small whitetail buck. He heard me drawing and looked around but didn't look up. I was 20' up in the tree. Killed a doe at 9 yards (also bow kill). I drew on her before she got close to me.

Shot a doe last year (October 2024) at 11 yards with a bow. That was a breezy afternoon and she didn't hear me drawing. Missed a chance at another the same year at 18 yards on a still morning because she heard me drawing my bow. Shot one some years back at 16 yards with a crossbow. Shot a doe at maybe 20 yards with a .45 Colt Ruger Bisley Blackhawk. I killed a turkey gobbler at 11 yards and another one at 17 yards. Good thing I had those $10 turkey shells. lol.

I wholeheartedly agree that closer is more enjoyable, but won't say getting that close is 'the' challenge. Hunting is a complex sport and there's challenge in multiple aspects of it and satisfaction to be found in multiple aspects of it, too. I'd be pretty content if everything I ever shot was 40 to 100 yards away - except for bow hunting. What little bow hunting I do, I far and away prefer to be inside of 30 yards. But not all hunting is the same in terms of realistic ranges and goals and there are places where seeing a deer - any deer - at 300 yards and shooting it, might be a huge accomplishment, and other places where having a bull elk inside of 100 yards, is no big deal. I see guys here talking about hunting Coues deer or wintertime cow elk at great distances and it isn't my thing, but I don't see it as 'less than' what I do. Truth is, I bumble around and would have starved in the early days of settling America, but I bumble around a whole lot, and every now and then some dumb critter dies because of it. I enjoy that process, and that's why I keep doing it. It isn't about personal biggest/best/longest/fastest/closest anymore. My biggest ever elk and deer are probably past me already, and so are my closest and longest, and that's pretty OK by me. I just like bumbling around the woods.
 
Spence1875 said:
I think a better poll would be your closest kill, that is the challenge as a hunter. How close u can stalk or wait for the kill vs shooting at long range.

Having done a lot of long range shooting for my job and competition I always wonder how many animals shot at very long range, say plus 500 are wounded and not recovered or killed and not found as picking the point an animal was standing in cover at say 1k after walking there depending on terrain is a feat in itself.

My closest kill was cow elk at 11 paces with a smith 41 mag mountain gun Longest was another cow at 387 yds with a 308. Both DRTs.
Click to expand...

You’re free to start your own poll in another thread for closest kill instead ruining this one.
The OP of this one clearly asked
“ What is your longest success on big game?”
No where did he state let’s discuss the ethics of long range shooting.

One of my good buddy’s family in south Texas has a ranch that was a commercial bow hunting operation for the first 20yrs because they were passionate bow hunters themselves. After 20 years of having trophy whitetail wounded, lost, and fighting clients who didn’t want to pay for wounded bucks, his father changed it to rifles only 10years ago and has been much happier. There are all kinds of directions this could go discussing the ethics of long range shooting and it would probably be a good discussion but please start a new thread for it.
 
Pony Soldier said:
Had a bull elk walk up a gulch and then lay down on the hillside- head to butt verticle. I figure it was worth the risk. I had a bushnell bdc on a 7RM. I shot 9 times and killed him on the last shot. I'm guessing the shot was 600-700 yds. I ended up shooting him in the head.
Click to expand...


You’re kidding, right?

Please tell me you’re kidding.
 
I had much rather talk about my closest shot than how far I was willing to risk wounding an animal. I understand there are a lot of people who don't care about that risk!
 
Not sure what your issue is. I dialed it up and had a little more hold over. The position of the bull gave me roughly 6 ft of critical zone. The bull laid there for all 9 shots. Why he didn't move while I was finding the drop - I have no idea.

If he had been broadside I likely wouldn't have taken the shot.
 
Pharmseller said:
In my opinion, and my opinion only, that’s a really bad look.

And I know, no one cares about my opinion, but damn. We look at hunting in radically different ways.

I still hope you’re kidding.
Click to expand...
Same with the guys that take a single shot at a rock a few days before the hunt and deem themselves ready to shoot an animal at the same distance.

Guys that have never shot beyond 200 yards from the bench lobbing rounds at whatever during hunting season.

Shooting a couple hundred rounds a year is nowhere near approaching competence to shoot beyond 400y.

I am not against long range shots but please be realistic with what your capabilities are.
 
Pony Soldier said:
Not sure what your issue is. I dialed it up and had a little more hold over. The position of the bull gave me roughly 6 ft of critical zone. The bull laid there for all 9 shots. Why he didn't move while I was finding the drop - I have no idea.

If he had been broadside I likely wouldn't have taken the shot.
Click to expand...
Wasn’t having to reload a clue?
 
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