What’s the farthest you have taken a big game animal with a rifle?

carpassasin said:

How about about the ones you killed before range finders, Im guessing rite about there! ha ha got a few of those.

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I know that I missed a few before having a rangefinder. All missed shots were late evening near dark, all seemed pretty far….and I held over! Going back in good daylight, it was clear that I terribly misjudged the distance in the poor light……should've "NEVER" held over.

Since those misses and "pre rangefinder" I swore to myself to "never" hold over again in poor light!

These shots were also prior to my starting to use a 300 yard zero. While I may not win any target matches with my 300 yard zero…..I will always "hold on hair" out to 400. If the animal appears close, hold a bit low of centerline……If the animal appears far, hold a bit high of centerline. It worked quite well prior to the rangefinder and if there's not enough time for "ranging". memtb

Yep memtb when i moved to colorado and hunted in the bigger country i bought a 300 win mag and sighted it in at 3 inches high at a 100. Same thing learnd aput it on hair and ajust from there. Alot different nowadays feels almost like cheating cheers.

875 on a pronghorn, 25SST w. 135 LR Hyb @ 3199fps.
1374 on a pair of coyotes, 300RUM w. 230 Hyb @ 3113fps
1201 on a squirrel, 300RUM w. W30 Hyb @ 3113fps (actually hit just under him, but spall blew him about 15' up and he didn't move.

My daughter (both on video):
771 on a pronghorn, 6.5SLR w. 130 OTM @ 2925fps, two shots with wind (first was fatal, second was an anchor as he was still standing)
741 on a squirrel, 6.5SLR w. 130 OTM @ 2925fps

memtb said:

I know that I missed a few before having a rangefinder. All missed shots were late evening near dark, all seemed pretty far….and I held over! Going back in good daylight, it was clear that I terribly misjudged the distance in the poor light……should've "NEVER" held over.

Since those misses and "pre rangefinder" I swore to myself to "never" hold over again in poor light!

These shots were also prior to my starting to use a 300 yard zero. While I may not win any target matches with my 300 yard zero…..I will always "hold on hair" out to 400. If the animal appears close, hold a bit low of centerline……If the animal appears far, hold a bit high of centerline. It worked quite well prior to the rangefinder and if there's not enough time for "ranging". memtb

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My grandpa has a favorite story about this. Hunting in the oregon coast, where it was heavy timber and often fog. Near dusk but still barely shooting light, and somewhat hazy, he spotted a deer laying in front of a stump, across a small ravine that he hadn't hunted before. He figured it was about 300 yards, so he set his 270 just over its back and torched it off. Deer didn't move, so he shot again. No indication of a hit, but it got up and ambled away from him.

He went back the next day to that spot to try and figure out what had gone on, and realized the low light and the fog had made 125 yards look like 300! He hiked across the ravine and found the stump the buck had been laying in front of and found a pit of bullet holes about 2" apart in the stump. Learned his less on atmospherics and range estimation that day!

lancetkenyon said:

1201 on a squirrel, 300RUM w. W30 Hyb @ 3113fps (actually hit just under him, but spall blew him about 15' up and he didn't move.

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We used to call that 'barking' squirrels. Center fire cartridges (not 22LR) aimed just under their chins... Usually not a mark on them.

Farthest-
25 or so years ago-
270 Win with lots of Kentucky hold with the old 3-9 duplex reticle on a whitetail doe 655 yards measured with old handheld gps after the kill.

More Recent -
345 yards on Aoudad, 6.5-284
324 yard head shot doe. 284 Win
445 and 465 yards on hogs. 284 Win
530 yards on coyote. 280AI

and many other long, unmeasured coyote, hog and predator kills…and of course some misses.

sable tireur said:

We used to call that 'barking' squirrels. Center fire cartridges (not 22LR) aimed just under their chins... Usually not a mark on them.

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Growing up in Louisiana, I loved squirrel hunting. I started out with a 22 rifle.

I starting hand loading at 14 or 15 for my .308 Win., and at around 18 or 19 casting bullets for it. It just seemed natural to start using my cast bullets for squirrel hunting. "Barking" them was a must….but even then, that slow moving 155 grain .308 moved enough bark that the front quarters had significant blood shot from the bark. Even when headshot…..front quarter blood shot was fairly significant! memtb

memtb said:

It ain't all like in the movies! I'd like to be a good "rifleman"…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter! memtb

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Hey noth'n wrong with good sneak'n skills for get'n up in there!

Lasered, or all shots? The furthest I've done with a rangefinder is 642 yards on a mule deer doe with my 300win using rl22 and 165 Hornady Interlock fb bullets. I also pulled a 500 yard shot on a mule deer doe the next year with a 40mph full value crosswind with my 7rum using h50bmg and 175 eld-x pills.
My longest ever was before any rangefinders came into the house. I shot a mule deer doe with my old 7rum and 140 Sierra pills pushed by rl25 north of 800 yards out... looking at drop and how high above her I was it should have been 850'ish. The evening before I had popped a whitetail at a mild trot close to 700 yards out. That 7rum bdl shot so well I'm still kicking myself for burning it out. I only ended up with 4 critters on her before accuracy started falling off.

unclecroc said:

I too practice all summer on groundhogs. They're my favorite animal to hunt. My longest is 512 on a woodchuck.

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Aren't groundhogs and woodchucks the same animal?

victor3ranger said:

And they taste like a giant rabbit

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They are actually damned good eating. At least the ones in the Ozarks. Might be diet dependant but I doubt many groundhogs are eating rotting carrion ya know?

Whitetail doe at 358 yards with a .223 Remington. The bullet was either a 60 grain nosler partition in a federal premium factory load or a 55 grain Remington corelokt factory load, I can't remember.

Dave in WI said:

"What's the farthest you have taken a big game animal with a rifle?"

Once I drove all of the way back to Wisconsin from Montana with an Elk and a rifle in the car........

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Hell I drove from Arkansas to Oregon to get skunked.
I think that the distance is further and the results less.

memtb said:

I know that I missed a few before having a rangefinder. All missed shots were late evening near dark, all seemed pretty far….and I held over! Going back in good daylight, it was clear that I terribly misjudged the distance in the poor light……should've "NEVER" held over.

Since those misses and "pre rangefinder" I swore to myself to "never" hold over again in poor light!

These shots were also prior to my starting to use a 300 yard zero. While I may not win any target matches with my 300 yard zero…..I will always "hold on hair" out to 400. If the animal appears close, hold a bit low of centerline……If the animal appears far, hold a bit high of centerline. It worked quite well prior to the rangefinder and if there's not enough time for "ranging". memtb

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A variation the old standby MPBR method I presume?