Most people probably won't like what I'm about to say but I really think that most us me included have way to much , back when I only had one big game rifle a 270 win in a 760 rem pump I reloaded my own ammo most was something 130 grain with h4831 now that rifle shot great but I shot everything with it varmints, deer what ever it had a 2x7 leupold scope basic duplex and if a groundhog would give a shot most of which were 250 to 500 yards I'd bust his butt. The trigger in that old gun was terrible but I knew when it was going to fire , now I have a safe full of guns but I don't own any that considering I shoot any better than I did that old 760 it takes practice and not just practice from a bench real hunting situations, back in the day I thought I could hold my own with about anyone but in 2014 I had a stroke and I don't shoot as well as I used to but that doesn't mean that I love the sport any less just my 2cents
How well does the average big game hunter shoot?
- Thread starter Huntslow
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memtb
Well-Known Member
My philosophy for 40+ years….."one gun" for all big game hunting and some occasional varmint hunting! memtb
David Urasky
Well-Known Member
I shoot competitivly at 1000 yards. I often get asked what the longest shot I've made on a game animal. My replys are 50-70 yards on elk, maybe 100 on mule dear and maybe 200 on antelope. My thoughts are I hunt, getting close for my shots. If I want to shoot long range I'll go shoot paper. Then if I make a bad wind call and miss my shot, oh well, no big deal. I do not want to nor ever had made a bad shot on game because I hunt.
All the talk that people make about shooting game at long range needs to stop. It makes the unskilled say, "I'm going to buy a 300WM and go hunt my elk at 1000+ yards." With no understanding of ballistics all they do is wound animals if they can hit one. Hunting needs to go back to hunting skills. Learn the animal, stalk the animal and make realistic shots. I personally like to learn the terrain and animal habits, then wait for them to come to me.
All the talk that people make about shooting game at long range needs to stop. It makes the unskilled say, "I'm going to buy a 300WM and go hunt my elk at 1000+ yards." With no understanding of ballistics all they do is wound animals if they can hit one. Hunting needs to go back to hunting skills. Learn the animal, stalk the animal and make realistic shots. I personally like to learn the terrain and animal habits, then wait for them to come to me.
Talking about long range hunting is the reason and purpose of this site
Not sure why you are on this forum. This is not the long range target shooting forum.
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
I agree with most of your post but as posts 200 & 201 say this is a long range HUNTING forum. It's up to individuals to decide at what range they want to take or try to take game.
Turkeytider
Well-Known Member
Yes, there`s a world of difference between range shooting and hunting situations. With the time I have on the range to figure in ballistics and dope wind, shooting off a stable bench and bags, I MIGHT hit steel 500 or 600 yards away. Would I try to shoot an animal in the field at that distance? No....way...!!
Rich Coyle
Well-Known Member
Why are you here? And who are you to tell us what should stop?
Boatninja
Well-Known Member
A lot of that going on around other forums too. I don't really post much but I read most everything, I'm old, don't have anything else to do.........
Not so sure about that being a northern species. I do believe that Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, and especially Alabama have them.
he's not wrong. I have guns that I don't even remember if I have zeroed. But there's one that looks like hammered dog crap, and lives on this machine……
It gets shot thousands of times a year, Sometimes, a week.
What you shoot the most, you will be most proficient with.
This is a wise man. Listen up!!
It was a fun day in Vale,Oregon today at the 600 yd line we had a tail wind with fishtailing changes ,we started and the flags were pretty much down range but when you laid down with the rifle you could see trhe mirage in the scope running to the left so I put a minute and a half of right on the rifle and shot a 9 out to the left next shot was simular in the mirage so I held over in the 9 ring on the right side and that shot became a 10 still on the left side so the next 4 shots I played with the ammount of hold over relative to my guessing of the speed of the mirage and stayed in the 10 ring then we had a switch, the wind came out of the left slowly I held over to the far side of the black, approx. 18 inches, and I still had about 2 min. right on the gun and shot and did not hold over far enough and shot a 9 out the right then the wind looked like it was going to run to the left by watching the mirage so I took the 2 min. right off the gun and held a little left and managed to hit a 10 this is why shooting a match is the best way to learn the wind because you make your wind guess then shoot and someone pulls your target and puts it back up with a disc you can see in the place you hit the target so every shot you will be able to see if your correction was correct. when shooting today I don't think the wind correction needed for each shot was the same, each one needed a different hold or scope adjustment. this is why shooting at distance is way more inportant that having the coolest rifle or scope, you can't purchase marksmanship.
An interesting topic.
Personally, unless I'm hunting with them, I don't really care how accurate the average hunter is.
For me, long-range shooting for me is only a means to an end. Banging steel is fun, but what what really makes me smile is shooting at an animal with confidence and I mean CONFIDENCE. I will be the first to admit I was a horrible (perhaps worse than average) hunter in my youth. Take a hopped up kid, give him an adult-size gun with adult-size recoil, point him at a deer, scream and shout at him to SHOOOOOOOOT, and what sort of groups do you think I was getting? I probably wounded and lost as many as I brought home. Strange how so few people admit ever having done this.
After one particularly bothersome experience I decided to either learn to do it right or stop hunting. I spent my mid-twenties to mid-thirties away from hunting, slaving away at work. When I emerged from that self imposed prison, I started shooting. A lot. I eventually learned to shoot my .300 Wby well, but it took a few thousand rounds, a new barrel, and a shoulder injection to actually master it. Then I discovered that little itty-bitty guns (.308 Win or .260 Rem) killed stuff just fine when you could put the bullet in the right place.
I totally agree about muzzle blast being more bothersome than recoil to the accuracy of most shooters. That's why I absolutely can't stand muzzle breaks. I've lost almost all high-frequency hearing in my left ear from this hobby. Give me a suppressor any day of the week. I feel bad for those who can't own them.
I can almost always put a cold first shot on steel these days at 600 yards and most of the time at 700 yards. It gets more difficult beyond that. There are people here who can easily shoot small groups at 1000 yards and my hat is off to them. Without exception they've paid the price to learn the craft. My comfort level on game depends on the animal and the situation, but I'm sometimes confident out to 500 or 600 yards. I passed a monster mulie a couple of years ago that I probably could have killed...... but that's how it goes.
Real-world results say it all. Since I started figuring this stuff out, I wounded and lost a waterbuck at about 300 yards. My notes say that was 26 critters ago, not counting 'yotes and 'chucks. In that time there were 6 over 500 yards, all within the last 4 years. I've also started hunting dangerous game, and I'll just make the comment that being able to precisely place one bullet from a .416 Rigby in the exact right spot at 40 yards from high sticks in field conditions requires just as much skill and practice as plunking steel at 800 yards off the bench. It's a whole lot more important too.
Personally, unless I'm hunting with them, I don't really care how accurate the average hunter is.
For me, long-range shooting for me is only a means to an end. Banging steel is fun, but what what really makes me smile is shooting at an animal with confidence and I mean CONFIDENCE. I will be the first to admit I was a horrible (perhaps worse than average) hunter in my youth. Take a hopped up kid, give him an adult-size gun with adult-size recoil, point him at a deer, scream and shout at him to SHOOOOOOOOT, and what sort of groups do you think I was getting? I probably wounded and lost as many as I brought home. Strange how so few people admit ever having done this.
After one particularly bothersome experience I decided to either learn to do it right or stop hunting. I spent my mid-twenties to mid-thirties away from hunting, slaving away at work. When I emerged from that self imposed prison, I started shooting. A lot. I eventually learned to shoot my .300 Wby well, but it took a few thousand rounds, a new barrel, and a shoulder injection to actually master it. Then I discovered that little itty-bitty guns (.308 Win or .260 Rem) killed stuff just fine when you could put the bullet in the right place.
I totally agree about muzzle blast being more bothersome than recoil to the accuracy of most shooters. That's why I absolutely can't stand muzzle breaks. I've lost almost all high-frequency hearing in my left ear from this hobby. Give me a suppressor any day of the week. I feel bad for those who can't own them.
I can almost always put a cold first shot on steel these days at 600 yards and most of the time at 700 yards. It gets more difficult beyond that. There are people here who can easily shoot small groups at 1000 yards and my hat is off to them. Without exception they've paid the price to learn the craft. My comfort level on game depends on the animal and the situation, but I'm sometimes confident out to 500 or 600 yards. I passed a monster mulie a couple of years ago that I probably could have killed...... but that's how it goes.
Real-world results say it all. Since I started figuring this stuff out, I wounded and lost a waterbuck at about 300 yards. My notes say that was 26 critters ago, not counting 'yotes and 'chucks. In that time there were 6 over 500 yards, all within the last 4 years. I've also started hunting dangerous game, and I'll just make the comment that being able to precisely place one bullet from a .416 Rigby in the exact right spot at 40 yards from high sticks in field conditions requires just as much skill and practice as plunking steel at 800 yards off the bench. It's a whole lot more important too.
scpaul
Well-Known Member
Maybe to save energy and paper, he'd like to hold 12" steel @ 1000 yds for us to see just how accurate some of us can be and I'm not talking about myself.
