How Far Can You Make Successful Kill Shots ?.

[bronko220002]

Too many variables. Technicly you could kill a deer at 1000 yards if YOU and the rifle were capable.
Personally I'll limit myself to 150 yards. Farhest so far has been 157 yards from an elevated blind with a GM fast twist .45 cal and a paper patched bullet. That was close enough to my comfort range. After the smoke cleared she was lying there stone dead. My buddy took a fat doe at 110 yards from a kneeling position with his flinter and PRB.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Very few shooters, and especially non target shooting hunters, are unable to put a bullet into a paper plate ( about the vital area of a deer ) at 75 yards when shooting off hand .
To find out what I call your maximum personal point blank range . MPPR, for each position what you should do is set up a paper plate ( about 12") and shoot one shot at it from off hand , sitting and prone from 25 yards then 50 yards 75 ,100 etc .
The distance you can't hit the plate from any position is the past your MPPR for that position , so you walk back towards your target 5 yards , repeating until you hit the plate , you are not looking for a bull just a hit as the plate represents the kill zone for a deer.
You try this from each position until you are confident you have the correct position for the distance you are wanting to take a successful one kill shot .
If you hunt on foot walk 100 yards then take the shot to find how much a little exercise can affect your shooting accuracy .
If you shoot off a hard surface remember the rifle will shoot away from that surface , you need your hand between the hard surface and the rifle , same if you use a vertical tree trunk as a rest for a shot .
This is a one shot test not a grouping exercise or sighting in , multiple shots negate the information you can gather on yourself .

Well, since I never took a shot over 50 yards [maybe once and missed] I don't know. I loved to stalk and often shot under 50 feet. Last kill, when I was younger, was about 25 - 30 feet or less. Polecat

 

[smokepolehall]

Like many here i can shoot longer yardage but not off hand with open sights. I can use a peep n a rest n reach out 150 yards. Your not going to see that far in the woods i hunt in. I always let my area tell me the hunting range.

 

[bronko220002]

There are very few situations where you need to shoot offhand while hunting. You can usually use something like a tree for support, kneel or sit down. etc. But it does pay to practice as occasionally do need to shoot offhand. In my 55+ years I can only think of twice where I shot a deer offhand. And one of these times was with a CF rifle (at the time I was shooting 4 position competition and shot a lot offhand) and killed a buck at 125 yards with my .270. One other time was with a caplock on a running doe that came past me about 30 yards. Got her too.

 

[Rob M.]

I would tend to agree with your supposition and suggestions of how to find your distance by shooting at a paper plate. I know that my offhand distance is considerably shorter than when I'm using a shooting stick or rest.

Always liked the paper plate for targets to asses ones ability to shoot at different ranges . Works good and is handy . Been using it for decades.

 

[Rob M.]

Funny , about the same thing for me . If I'm given the chance of a deer at 90-100 yards with the ole trade gun I aim like Im trying to get the ball to pass just over his spine ....drops that big ole 320 gr. R.B. right in the heart or lungs every time .

I shot a russian boar at 90 yards with shooting sticks, he did the 30 yard run and went down. That was with my TC 58 Big Boar. Because of the drop from 50-100yrds I ended up putting my sight on the top of his back, It ended up being a perfect shot.