Hunting at which distance?

[collani]

@all

Due to the fact that I

 

[LRB]

I would have to say it would be any range that you are confident of making a merciful kill. That will depend on the guns ability and yours, whether it be 20yrds or 400. It would have been childs play for Carlos Hathcock to take a deer at a thousand yrds., but not for the average shooter.

 

depends on how much time you have on the range and at what distances. Personally.....anything inside 50 yards is hunting.....outside that is shooting.....'course that depends on the wind and weather and whether your sitting in a stand or stalking thru the woods.....and if you're hunting rabbits or sheep. Too many variables. I killed a crow one time at a laser measured 480 yards.....but I wasn't hunting crows. He made the fatal mistake of landing on my rifle range just after I'd sighted in my sniper rifle for 500 yards. It was a slam dunk....but it wasn't hunting. All of that is to say I suppose it's a personal thing. How close do you want to be to your game?

Vic

 

[No Powder]

OK maybe I'm taking this wrong, but to me the hunting is what happens before the shot. This is especially true for me when deer or turkey hunting. The days and hours spent in the woods scouting, planning and just getting ready for the season to start, to me is the real hunting, if all that is done right the "shot" is just the finally. I know things don't always go as planned but if something goes wrong and you just start blasting your not hunting or shooting, your just reacting.

 

[Voyageur]

My longest shot was in Colorado. 135 stepped off yards and allowing for detours. It was slightly downhill on a Mule Deer and the rifle I was using would stay around 2" all day long with 95 grains of 2F and a roundball. Caliber is .54 and the sights are iron.

I feel confident out to 100 yards with a good shooting rifle and about 150 yards if the game is bigger.

Voyageur

 

[Haggis]

In my humble opinion, a true "hunting distance" is that distance at which the game animal has a sporting chance to detect the hunter and escape before the hunter can deal a killing blow.

This would change for every animal and situation.
American antalope can see great distances across the open ground where they are hunted, so 400 yards might be pretty close. Whitetailed deer use their nose and ears more than their eyes so 10 yard shots are not uncommon. With both animals these ranges could change depending on wind and terrain.

I guess it's up to the hunter to decide if the shot is sporting or not.

 

[collani]

@Haggis

I second your opinions. Doesn

 

[Stumpkiller]

So far this season I've been fortunate enough to take two deer. The first was while I was sitting on a ground-level tree seat and a 60 yard, carefully aimed shot dropped the deer. The second was while I was still-hunting, crossing a ravine, and I noticed a buck moving quickly my way. I shot as it passed me, about four FEET from my muzzle. In the first instance I had built a ground blind 15 years ago that I use every year to monitor a natual funnel that I scouted carefully. The second was dumb luck and what I call a grouse shot - no time for aligning the sights, just snap shooting.

Every case is different. Hunting stops as soon as you pull the trigger. Woodmanship is what gets you close to game. Marksmanship is what makes it less important. Last year I took a seven point from 11 yards while ground hunting with a recurve bow and cedar arrows and no intervening cover. Of the thirty deer I have taken that one stands out as the kill I am most proud of.