Quick Long Range Shots

[jsthntn247]

The place I hunt whitetails is a big crp field. The crp trees and grass is about 7 foot high so I hunt tripods and ground blinds set up on roads that are about 30 feet wide. The blinds are mostly set where you can shoot 500 yards in either direction down the road. By the time a buck enters the road, you only have about 2 seconds to judge him and make a shot. I have a 300 WM and am shooting the 208 Amaxes at 2900 fps. My question is what distance should I zero my rifle to be most effective since I don't have time to range the deer and make adjustments to my turrets. I missed a huge buck Sunday afternoon by shooting under him and killed a nice one the next day. The deer I killed was at 400 yards and I just spun the turrets real quick without even looking and almost missed him high because I spun it too much. My scope is a Vortex Viper 5-15x44 with a mil dot reticle and was thinking that I could use the reticle for hold over some how. What would you do in this circumstance.

[angus-5024]

i would use the reticule for hold over out to 400 yars, maybe further depending on the cartrige.
There is one thing that needs to be said about LRH: Long shots take time. 2 Seconds isnt enough to range an animal, find dope, ensure proper rest or shooting position, level rifle and make a clean shot.
for a 400 yard shot I know for me, I want at least 30 seconds. Id rather pass on the deer than send hai mary's.

[Augustus]

I would shoot a 300 ultra with 155s at 3650 zeroed at 300. You will be nine inches low at 400 and 18 inches low at 500. Pre range those distances and hold over, forget about the knobs.

[jsthntn247]

I'm going to put stakes and flags up in the road at known distance. Even considered taking a air horn with me and beeping when they were in the road to get and extra second or two. They are rutting right now and bucks are cruising non stop looking for does. Might even walk down the road with a drag rag with doe in heat. It's tough, but all I got, you can't see anything when they are not in the road, all the vegetation is 7 ft plus.

[bthomasb1]

I too would go with a 300 rum ,i would use 175 bergers zero at 270 that way your never more that 2" high for the close shots.my gun will shoot 175's at 3550 then pre range and use your milldots i have 2 300 rums a rem 700 that i use 175 bergers for shorter shots on gas lines where I like you dont have a lot of time and then a carbon barreled one that shoots 230 bergers for the long shots good luck

[edge]

I hunt mature woods and also field edges.

I zero at 300 and aim for the Heart!
My bullet is 4 3/4 high at 170 and 10 inches low at 400 yards.

I don't need a rangefinder even on open terrain out to say 250 yards so quick shots at either heart shots or a max of high shoulder with zero thinking

300 - 400 and I am high shoulder without dials

After that I can use the mil dots
-1 at 450
-1.5 at 500
-2 at 550
and my personal max of -2.5 at 600

With distance markers and a mildot or ballistic reticle the range should not be a huge problem.
Wind offsets are a big pain if you don't dial because you are holding off in space...at least with mildots.
IMO.

edge.

[Greywolf18]

Where I hunt here in NC, I was shooting under similar conditions. What I did was range different landmarks (I was using trees, bushes, something easily identifiable). I was able to use this to take a buck at 450 this year by doing this. If I hadn't pre-ranged the spots I wouldn't have been able to get a shot off. That's just my 2 cents, and it's worked for me.