Your longest ethical shot.

[M Hicks]

I feel the person squeezing the trigger limits the ability of a good rifle or pistol. For the rifles in my safe I wouldn't hesitate to take a 500 yard shot in the right conditions. If I was going to starve, most rules would go out the window.

[dragon813gt]

While I can group fairly well at 300 yards shots that long never present themselves where I live. The longest I get is maybe a little over 100 yards. I'm confident with irons at this distance and won't hesitate at a shot. I spend more time archery hunting. And while my crossbow will easily reach out to 50 yards I limit myself to 25 max. They jump the string at this distance. Last thing I want is to have a deer suffer because my initially well placed shot ended up off target because it was trying to get away.


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[375RUGER]

Threads been around the block.
318 yds oryx with my user name cartridge. I had been shooting to 400yds with it prior to this hunt.

[Jtarm]

Depends on game, weapon, shooter. Assuming whitetail deer with a scoped bolt action around 3000 FPS, the average hunter (who only shoots off of a bench) has no business shooting over 200 yards and then only from a solid rest.
I assume there are no average hunters, here, though.
I've become a firm believer in sighting in from field positions

[Raygun]

Remington 700 fluted 26" barrel in 223. Two of us in the deer stand with walkie talkies to communicate with other hunters on the lease. An accurate rangefinder. Three way conversation to discuss how much holdover. One turkey at 479 yards. Sight placement was on the neck just where the head connects. Bird down with a perfect body shot just below the neck. This is the only deliberate shot I ever made with a spotter and advice form others.

If it had been a deer, I would have passed on the shot because of the caliber and distance combination. I killed 4 deer in 2 days with that same rifle. All were shot high on the shoulder where the spine meets the neck and all under 60 yards. All went down on the spot they were shot. I was shooting Remington 55gr PSP.

As a general rule, I never take a shot on game animals past 300 yards.

[scb]

Varies acording to personal ability. and equipment.
A shot I'd take with the .338 Edge I wouldn't even consider with a 300 Whisper.

[MBTcustom]

I guess the tricky part is that you never know what is going to happen at long ranges. Case in point, a few years ago (OK it was 10) I was hunting with a buddy. We waited all morning and got bored, so we went to walking. we came to the edge of a large field. He commenced to telling me how there are no deer here, and we aught to go on home. I told him that I clearly see three does on the hill opposite the field. He squinted and said "Well yeah, but there's no way to sneak up on them". I informed him that I thought I could make that shot from right here. What do you say, bout 300 yards? he nodded.
I cranked my Bushnell Elite up to max power (awesome scope) and shouldered my Tikka T3 (awesome rifle) in 30-06.
It was one of those moments that defies logic. I had practiced a lot shooting off hand at 100 yards, but my groups were just so-so, but on this day the added adrenaline and tunnel vision made me about as steady as if I were on sandbags. There was no "drifting" where I had to sweep the crosshairs here and there, they were just right where they needed to be and solid as a rock. I touched off the shot and saw the doe do the classic jump-kick and they started running strait towards us. When they got about 100 yards away, he opened up on them and fired 4 shots without ever connecting. When he started shooting they turned to our right and headed towards a small thicket in the field (now before you bust on me for not using that thicket as cover, it was about the same distance from the deer's original position) and I could clearly see blood running down both front legs on that doe. He high fived me for making the longest off-hand shot he had ever witnessed, and we decided to go back to the house for a sandwich so that the deer could expire in piece.
To make a long story short, we searched that fiald and the hill that they started out on for hours and never found the deer. We had a good blood trail, and we followed it for about 600 yards, but then it just stopped.
3 months later he called me up and informed me that he found my deer. He told me that the deer had run up over the hill on the other side of the field, through the woods behind that, and into the back yard of a friend who was practicing with his bow. The story is, that the deer tottered out right between him and the target he was shooting, so all he had to do was finish it off with an arrow. He said that the deer had totally bled out and probably would have died within 20 yards of where it was finished anyway.
I told my buddy that was the most amazingly disappointing story I had ever heard, but I had to know where the shot had landed because I was confident that I had put it right where it was supposed to go. He said it was perfect, right behind the front shoulder, but the entrance and exit holes were about the size of a pencil, ie the bullet didn't expand.
I could write a pretty thick book about what I learned from that one shot, but here are a few of the highlights:
1. Don't trust anybody's reloads, not even Winchester's (I was using cheap Wal-Mart ammo because I had shot up all of my reloads the day before)
2. Don't shoot up all your reloads the day of the hunt practicing
3. Practicing may make you a good shot, but that don't mean squat if the bullet doesn't perform when it gets there
4. Jacketed bullets need a lot of speed to make an effective kill, therefore use due diligence to select a bullet that will open correctly if it is shot at long distance.
5. If the dad-blamed deer has already run 200 yards, and turns broadside to you at 100, keep shootin!
6. If you can't find your deer, call all your buddies (even if they live half a mole away) and ask if they have seen your deer! LOL!!!

[MT Gianni]

One answer to why you take the shot is this. I was hunting antelope in a stubble field. I bellycrawled and shot a doe with my daypack for a rest. The cartridge was 308 in a BLR. We paced that shot @ 367 yards. The only reason that I shot then was it was a lone doe and she had just stood up. The crawl started over 800 yards from the loper.

[Ohio Rusty]

I have a really accurate Savage Anshutz .22 bolt action rifle. Many years ago me and an acquaintance were out in the woods squirrel hunting with it. I didn't see any squirrels, but saw a crow way far away on a phone line. He looked like a black dot. I dialed the scope in to 9X, held high and squeezed off the shot. That crow fell from the wire like a lead brick !! We paced it off down the road and it was approximately 250 yards.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[prs]

70 yards. 16ga with 1oz #7nickel plated shot, imp cyl bore. Ruffed grouse hen wounded by my first shot. I hate feediing coyotes.

prs

[reloader28]

We have our own 1000yd range and use it alot.

My best would be a doe running at 550yds. One shot in the pumper.
Or a running bull elk at 500yds. Two shots in the lungs 5 inches apart.
My brothers best is a doe at 955yds.
One friend this year was 1200yd and another friend was 790yds.
I did shoot a running fox at 600yd once.

But, not everyone can practice at those ranges like we can.

[rockrat]

For me, it would all depend on the caliber and gun I was hunting with, along with the ammo. If, say, using my 30-06 with a good bullet, say a Nosler Partition, probably 600yds. Our range goes to 550 on the gongs and I shoot out that far all the time. My 264wm maybe a bit farther. I never have had to shoot so far though, about 200yds so far. Did have an opportunaty to shoot an Elk @ 450 yds, but with the gun I had, I didn't feel comfortable shooting that far, so the other guys got their Elk and i got to watch.

[gtgeorge]

The longest shot I attempted was on a 211 # Buck 3 years ago at (325 yads Paced off and google earth measured) with a 7mm rem mag sighted at 175. I hit 3" lower than intended but was over within 40 yards. My ethical limit would be @ 350 since that is the farthest I have shot but if I was starving, it's an obvious choice to send it. Can't hit what you don't shoot at.

[Freischütz]

As others have said, it depends on your ability and the bullet's trajectory. My longest shot on a moose was 75 yds. The front sight bead covers too much animal at longer ranges. My motto is – if you have to think about it, it's too far.

[chief3]

I have seen some great long shots made and far more shots either missed or wounded. I am with Freischutz, If you have to think about it, it's too far.
I have never taken a shot on game at more than 200 yds. but thats just my limit.

[1Shirt]

Ability, knowledge of rifle/blt/expansion, experiance, judgement, etc.etc.etc. They all play into the equation, but don't forget the element of LUCK! My dad always said "its better to be lucky than smart!" I was lucky the day that I shot a big 4x4 muley with a 58 roundball, with a kit built CVA rifle on the run crossing at a little over 100 yds. The ball hit him almost dead center between the eye and the ear. Now realisticly with open sights, and a running deer going full tilt at over 100 yds I should never have pulled the trigger on a muzzleloader. I don't remember even seeing sights, but I do remember leading the deer. I was lucky that day, the deer was unlucky. 3" higher, or 4 so inches lower it would have been a complete miss. 2-3 inches lower I would have shot the jaw off. My only excuse for shooting, was that I had been shooting many many doves that year, and I swung thru that buck like I was shooting a shotgun, and the shot felt good!
1Shirt!

[eck0313]

I killed a groundhog at a laser rangefinder verified 332 yards; single shot from my .223 bolt action sporter. I'm probably more proud of the shot I made on a moving skunk with my .222 at approx 200 about 10 years prior. The county I was hunting in had a rabies outbreak, and since it was mid-afternoon, I was pretty sure the skunk was sick.

I do miss hunting groundhogs ...

[PULSARNC]

Longest shot at a deer has been 350 yards which I had to track for about 20 yards Learned my lesson from that so i tend to try to keep the range down to 300 or less . truth be told I kill 90% of my deer at 150 yards or less. Longest 1 shot kill on a coyote has been at 400 yards .but then again I didnt see a downside in taking a chance on a varmint.

[Doc65]

460 yards, .270 Win Blacktail forked-horn in western Oregon coastal range, in that timber about the only way you reach out that far is logging landing to landing or landing to ridge line(unless you happen to know a farmer with a bunch of acreage) I estimated the range @ 400 & took the spine out mid way down his neck. 2 Decades later while driving granddad around & checking the sights on his muzzle loader(much shorter 100 yds) On a lark I grabbed the laser rangefinder out of the truck * checked it to find 460 with a 3* down angle.

[o6Patient]

When I was a bit younger we hunted white tail on the RR in New Brunswick up to and beyond "long range".
I shot a couple at very long range, one hanging over my left shoulder. The second wasn't big enough to justify
the shot and it took a day to find him. Even A 30-06 HAS ITS LIMITATIONS (...can't believe I said it) I would not
have taken that shot now. All things being equal I wouldn't take a shot much over 400 yrds now.