Forum stats on shooting distances and positions!

[Fullquiver]

1. Whitetail doe 220 yrds kneeling with shooting sticks.
2 Whitetail doe 230 yrds sitting with shooting sticks..
3 Whitetail doe 100 yrds off bench in box blind..
4 Whitetail doe 30 yrds off hand..
5 Antelope 375yrds sitting with back against Boulder off from sticks..

 

[Guest member 25165]

Interesting, but not surprised by the stats. You'd think with the long range craze more animals would be killed at long distances.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Someone mentioned in the Howa Experiment thread that the amount of magnification in Randy's combo wasn't enough...something to that effect. This data suggests differently.

My longest supported shot on a whitetail was 243 yards on a shooting stick with a 270. My longest offhand was a hundred fifty yards with a remington 12 gauge slug gun. That deer was wounded by another hunter and was total luck. It went down right away to my surprise.

 

[Guy]

Seems I missed the original thread. Last five:

1. Antelope - about 250 yards - standing - supported
2. Mule deer - about 355 yards - prone - bipod
3. Mule deer - about 212 yards - sitting - used my sling for support
4. Grizzly - standing - several shots from 40 yards to 15 yards unsupported
5. Wolf - about 250 yards - prone - rested rifle on my pack

The grizzly was interesting. After a long stalk, suddenly the bear came into view at rather close range. I completely blew my first shot, sending it over the bear. Went into rapid-fire with the ol' bolt action 30-06 at that point and cranked out three more rounds quickly. Two good hits, one crummy hit. Then at about 15 yards with the bear apparently immobilized I was starting to reload my rifle and the guide handed me his 338 to finish off the bear, which I did promptly. Then I reloaded anyway.

For some reason I didn't want to sit down while shooting the grizzly at close range. Staying mobile seemed like the far better option! All the shooting was done very quickly. The bear wasn't charging, but we were managing to get awfully close to each other with both of us moving.

Over the years I've shot most of my big game animals from sitting, usually 150 - 300 yards or a bit farther. Prone often put me too low, with too much intervening grass and brush. Also a neck injury and surgery makes prone quite difficult for me anymore, so mostly I sit. Tall bipod or shooting sticks help, but I used to shoot NRA competition, so I often choose to just use my rifle sling for stability.

Have shot more animals from standing than I thought would ever be the case. Usually it's one of those chance encounters while moving afield, and suddenly a buck is bumped out of his bed. A quick shot at modest range, from standing is sometimes the only possibility.

As much as I enjoy shooting, I often go to the rifle range and practice from standing, sitting, kneeling, and occasionally I'll attempt prone again. That used to be my favorite position before neck injury and surgery.

Good info in this thread. Thank you for compiling it.

Regards, Guy

 

[Caseknife]

1. Bull elk, 140yds, kneeling leaning against tree, 6.5 Creedmoor(Howa Alpine won through HT), one and done
2. Whitetail buck, 200yds, windowsill, same rifle, one and done
3. Antelope buck, 280yds, sitting with bipod, 240 Wby, one and done
4. Antelope doe, 120yds, kneeling, same rifle, broke her back and required a second shot
5. Whitetail buck, 110yds, shooting bench with bipod, Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor, one and done

The whitetails are the benefit of having rutting bucks wander through your back forty.....

 

[deer_shooter]

I actually started to record my shots many years ago, just the animal, shot distance and where I hit. I wish I had recorded misses too and don't have the data for the first 5 or 6 years but I only shot a handful of deer, so no big deal. I didn't record shooting position but very few would be unsupported. I generally shoot prone or sitting with bipods.

Row Labels	Average of Range	Sum of QTY
Whitetail	121​	92​
Pronghorn	203​	16​
Mule Deer	173​	3​
Coues Deer	70​	1​
Blacktail	50​	1​
Elk	355​	1​
Grand Total	135​	114​

 

[beagle001]

I actually started to record my shots many years ago, just the animal, shot distance and where I hit. I wish I had recorded misses too and don't have the data for the first 5 or 6 years but I only shot a handful of deer, so no big deal. I didn't record shooting position but very few would be unsupported. I generally shoot prone or sitting with bipods.

Row Labels	Average of Range	Sum of QTY
Whitetail	121​	92​
Pronghorn	203​	16​
Mule Deer	173​	3​
Coues Deer	70​	1​
Blacktail	50​	1​
Elk	355​	1​
Grand Total	135​	114​

Sheesh, now I know where you got your forum handle!

 

[beagle001]

My last five- All whitetails, taken with a Tikka T3 30-06 with 165 grain Federal Trophy Bonded
Mature doe- seated, shooting stick (yes singular) @140 yards. Just a touch high, I took out the top of both shoulders, dropped instantly.
4 1/2 pointer (eastern count)- seated, shooting bipod, 105 yards, double lung. Poor guy had been wounded most likely opening day of WI rifle, he made it to Thanksgiving, and I was happy to notch my buck tag.
Big 10 point I named Flower- Seated, rested on the window of my new deer stand. 110 yards and TIGHT! Put it through both shoulders and he crumbled less than 10 yards later.
Mature Doe- Seated, rested in that new stand, 50 yards.
Mature Doe- Roughly 5 minutes after the previous doe, seated in that stand yet, 60 yards. Got them both, but I’ll never shoot two deer like that again. Could cause an issue if either or both required much of a tracking job. Luckily neither of these did.

 

[devon deer]

Standing, resting against tree, 60 yards, Red Deer Stag .243 ran about 50 yards, last night actually, 100 grain Speer soft point
Standing, shooting sticks, 120 yards, Roe Buck, 30-06 dropped on the spot, 180 grain NP, as are the other 30-06 rounds
Standing, shooting sticks, 100 yards, Red Stag 30-06 ran around 100 yards
Kneeling, resting against tree, 120 yards Red Stag 30-06 dropped on the spot
Standing, shooting sticks, 75 yards, Roe Doe 30-06 dropped on the spot

Most of my shots are taken standing, shooting off quad sticks (it's like shooting off a bipod!) it just so happens the above were my last 5 deer shot.
I think the last time I used my bipod was in Montana, so I have taken it off my 30-06, but left it on my .243 for long distance fox shooting.
In the UK I rarely shoot a deer further than 200 yards.

Some interesting data so far on this and the previous thread

Cheers

Richard