Two years in - how good can one get?

Good shooting for today but as the records show...just good but not good enough for a record so I guess that answers your question O.P. As long as you are personally happy... Nothing else should matter...it's all a moot point...in 10 years the way technology is heading....you can carry a 12 oz Harry Potter wand that shoots a lazer beam un-affected by distance or wind!
 
William W. said:
Amen. It is short range hunting for me from a drag-out perspective. The last deer I shot was a heavy-bodied 6-pointer from about 60-yards in the woods. The bullet apparently hit a branch and deflected, expanded but still hit the deer which ran 50-yards (mercifully towards our car before dying). I gutted it and my hunting buddy and I about killed ourselves in our 7-th decade of life pulling it out a hundred yards with each of us holding a handy antler. I am the only guy in the world (with having been a rock-climber wanna-be) carries 250-yards of rope in my truck. The battery in the winch controller chose not to work and we communicated by phone as I pulled out the deer with the truck the last hundred+ yards. Going miles into the woods and carting out of hundreds of pounds of meat is beyond comprehension.
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When I go deep in the wood solo, my wide strap that I cinch the neck and cinch under my arms goes with me.
It is very easy to drag that way.

But now that I'm 60, been thinking (seriously) about taking a pint of vegetable oil to soak the hair. Seriously.

Last one I drug was 500yd down to and across a creek up to the field where my tractor was parked.
 
yobuck said:
Well the subject of how we get them out never comes up here does it?
Maybe because it isnt considered to be as important as the type of scope you use. lol
But those of us who shoot from ridge to ridge know differently.
First you have to go down the side of the ridge your glassing from. Then probably cross a fast moving stream in the valley.
Then up the side the deer is located, and drag it down to the bottom where the stream is.
And thats the easy part, because now you drag it uphill to where you shot, and where your vehicle might be parked, but maybe not.
There are options however, one would be a device called a chain saw winch, where a chain saw engine is coupled to a special type of winch. It requires a special type of rope, not just any rope.
And they are a bit pricey.
But they work, even for large animals like Elk.
And there is another option, the one we use, as do others we know.
Its a product called Mule Tape, designed for pulling things thru underground conduit, or overhead electric cable from pole to pole.
It comes in different sizes as for breaking strength.
The smallest size being 1800 pound, and the next being 2800 pounds.
We have pulled three bucks at the same time up a very steep hillside at a power line location with the tape wrapped around the bumper of my Jeep with the 1800 pound tape.
They need to be tied in a single file order, not in one bunch.
And it needs to be a direct pull, not around a tree.
For going around trees you need a strap with a pulley for the tape to run thru. Otherwise it will stretch like a rubber band and break.
I keep it on a garden hose reel, just grab the end and take it with you as you go.
Then wind it back on.
Keep your eyes open for linemen, both electric company and phone company.
They will often give you what you need if you ask.
And you can tie several pieces together, or back together should it get damaged.
And i should add, that its best to drag them backwards, with the tape thru the hocks on the back legs.
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I try my best to kill them where I can drive the Kubota to!
In the middle of my 8th decade on the planet, dragging is what I call the younger guys I let hunt around my house to do! They are very happy to comply.
 
jseandsje said:
When I go deep in the wood solo, my wide strap that I cinch the neck and cinch under my arms goes with me.
It is very easy to drag that way.

But now that I'm 60, been thinking (seriously) about taking a pint of vegetable oil to soak the hair. Seriously.

Last one I drug was 500yd down to and across a creek up to the field where my tractor was parked.
Click to expand...
When I bowhunted I always wore a harness. I would keep my old ones too. I would use the harness and a length of strap or rope as a dragging harness. Just lean forward and walk. It was a lot easier than dragging by the horns. If it had horns.
They used to make a polymer skid that wrapped around the animal was tied into and dragged. I never used one but if it worked as well as it does on the polymer skids on a combine header it would be worth a try.
Rosebud said:
I try my best to kill them where I can drive the Kubota to!
In the middle of my 8th decade on the planet, dragging is what I call the younger guys I let hunt around my house to do! They are very happy to comply.
Click to expand...
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner right here!
 
Rosebud said:
I only have one rifle that is capable of that accuracy at 100 yards, a 6 GT, on a (Realy) good day I can do better. But if the OP can shoot like that with his large caliber rifles as well as the small that is quite the feat. Congratulations!
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My 6GT I'd ridiculous as well. Not trying to hijack the post, it's a trend with this cartridge. I was thinking of having a carbon barrel made for deer hunting because of how accurate my other e barrels have been.
 
Greatgrandad said:
I second the above in shooting/practicing from various field positions, wind and reading it, various light conditions, etc, etc. Today, a lot of modern equipment and bullets shoot extremely well in calm, good conditions from a bench, but when real hunting conditions become less than perfect and you get only one cold-bore shot, wind and other factors can humble many of us at LR/ELR.
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What's next? I would say practice in the wind. You can shoot from your back door. Every day try to put a cold bore shot into a 10" target no matter what the wind is doing - no follow up shots allowed. After doing this for the last six years, 600 yards is easy. Past this it gets exponentially harder but you will identify the conditions that result in a likely miss. And don't put a wind flag at your 600 yard target - learn to read mirage - way better than your Kestrel.

I think having the ability to shoot every day is a bigger advantage than having a super accurate rifle. But it can also result in over familiarity with the conditions around your house. It is always good to mix it up go shoot some long range rocks at locations you don't shoot too often.
 
LRNut said:
What's next? I would say practice in the wind. You can shoot from your back door. Every day try to put a cold bore shot into a 10" target no matter what the wind is doing - no follow up shots allowed. After doing this for the last six years, 600 yards is easy. Past this it gets exponentially harder but you will identify the conditions that result in a likely miss. And don't put a wind flag at your 600 yard target - learn to read mirage - way better than your Kestrel.

I think having the ability to shoot every day is a bigger advantage than having a super accurate rifle. But it can also result in over familiarity with the conditions around your house. It is always good to mix it up go shoot some long range rocks at locations you don't shoot too often.
Click to expand...
Rules for thee, but not for me. lol
 
Kimber7man said:
I'd be very pleased with 1.5" groups at 600 yards. I'm good with a hunting load that will do 1.5" groups at 300 yards.

After last year's hunt I decided to load a bunch of hunting ammo and practice deploying and shooting off my tripod (seated, kneeling, standing) more and more.
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Works for me. Walking stick under the buttstock adds tremendous stability

View attachment 756147View attachment 756148
nksmfamjp said:
I guess I'm confused what this post is about. Is it to tell everybody that you have it all figured out….or something else?

It really isn't clear to me what you have accomplished or are trying to accomplish.

Are you shooting 1.5" 20 shot groups at 600 yards or 2-3 shots? That is a starting point. Are these off some concrete bench and $4000 100lb rest or shot on a bipod and rear bag? How is your hunting weight tripod accuracy?

How does this look in 4-17 mph winds that vary in force and direction?

What do you want to do next? What are you struggling with?
Click to expand...

He is not struggling.... he is bragging. For a moment I thought he might be a Texan...lol

1.5 inch at 600 is in benchrest territory

Cheers
 
William W. said:
Amen. It is short range hunting for me from a drag-out perspective. The last deer I shot was a heavy-bodied 6-pointer from about 60-yards in the woods. The bullet apparently hit a branch and deflected, expanded but still hit the deer which ran 50-yards (mercifully towards our car before dying). I gutted it and my hunting buddy and I about killed ourselves in our 7-th decade of life pulling it out a hundred yards with each of us holding a handy antler. I am the only guy in the world (with having been a rock-climber wanna-be) carries 250-yards of rope in my truck. The battery in the winch controller chose not to work and we communicated by phone as I pulled out the deer with the truck the last hundred+ yards. Going miles into the woods and carting out of hundreds of pounds of meat is beyond comprehension.
Click to expand...
This is off topic but I feel your pain. I suggest field dress the deer and then bone it out. I have an ancient kelty frame pack and get the venison out in 2 trips all by myself.
 
bamban said:
Works for me. Walking stick under the buttstock adds tremendous stability

View attachment 756147View attachment 756148


He is not struggling.... he is bragging. For a moment I thought he might be a Texan...lol

1.5 inch at 600 is in benchrest territory

Cheers
Click to expand...

WTNUT said:
I do not intend for this to start a big swinging D contest. I have reloaded since I was 15 (43 years ago), and shot rifles before that. However, I never took shooting beyond 300 yards. A couple years ago, I jumped back in with two feet. I bought 4 custom rifles from RBros (Travis) and have not looked back. I also upped by reloading game and am VERY happy with where I am. To put it in perspective, I am a bit of a perfectionist when I jump into something so these results came after hours of work and lots of advise from Travis.

Where are we today, well with a custom hunting rifle (carbon proof barrel, manners stock, RBros action, trigger teck trigger etc etc) I can consistently shoot 3 or 5 shot groups within 1.5 inches at 600 yards with my guns (7 Saum, 7 Rem mag, 338 Rum and 6.5 PRC). On occasion I can get right at or just under 1 inch, but that is not what I would call a consistent group for me or the guns more of a once in a while.

I am over the moon happy with that and only use 600 yards as a reference because that is what I shoot most often. It is just most convenient for me to use the 600 yard range in front of my house than go for longer distances.

I am far from an expert, but it seems to be it really isn't realistic to think one can do better with an 8-10 pound rifle. I am sure some can, but I just don't think for most of us that is realistic. Am I right?
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I don't feel you're bragging at all.

You don't have to be a benchrest shooter to shoot .25 moa at 600. A man invests in a quality rifle, develops quality loads, and spends the time learning to shoot that rifle, when to shoot, when not to shoot, mixed in with quiet determination is certainly capable.

But I think you looking for another challenge.

My boys and I practice Standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone, with no rest aid, to 400 yards. Also shoot at fast rolling targets with a 22lr. My middle son can hit small thrown in the air consistently with our Remington Model 24 22short.

Practice in windy conditions without a wind meter. Don't even look up wind speed. Relax your mind and just observe the wind move things for minutes, then fire.

A miss is not a mistake. It's a piece of data you needed. Keep observing, shooting. Learning.

The feel/intuition you gain from these kind of exercises may shave a little off that rested 1.5.
 
Here is another thing to think about:

I seriously doubt your rifles can hit within .75 inches of your point of aim at 600 yards reliably. I shoot all the time with custom rifles and work my loads up at 500 yards. Once I get a few groups to measure 3" or less, I call it good. Point is, I don't shoot three shot groups at 500 a lot, but over the years, I have shot quite a few in working up loads. I can recall two groups off the top of my head that plunked into 1" at 500; the other day my factory Lapua plunked my standard load into a 1" group at 500 (I was checking my zero, not working up a load). But let's assume you can shoot .25 MOA. That means at 800 yards your theoretical group is 2." If you are trying to hit a 10" wide target, your bullets will all hit within 1" of dead center (assuming your zero is perfect). That leaves 4" of allowable wind drift error. Let's assume your Lapua is shooting 300 Bergers at 2800. That bullet is going to drift 2.9" for every mile of wind. That means you have to estimate the wind within 1.4 mph or you risk missing (4/2.9). If your rifle is only capable of 1/2 MOA at 800, your bullets are going to be within 2" of dead center, leaving 3" of allowable wind error. That means you must estimate the wind within 1 mph or you risk missing. Improving your accuracy by 100% (1/2 MOA vs 1/4 MOA) only improves your allowable wind error by 28%. I feel my time (and barrel life) is better spent improving my wind reading skills than trying to find 1/4 MOA loads.
 
jseandsje said:
I don't feel you're bragging at all.

You don't have to be a benchrest shooter to shoot .25 moa at 600. A man invests in a quality rifle, develops quality loads, and spends the time learning to shoot that rifle, when to shoot, when not to shoot, mixed in with quiet determination is certainly capable.

But I think you looking for another challenge.

My boys and I practice Standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone, with no rest aid, to 400 yards. Also shoot at fast rolling targets with a 22lr. My middle son can hit small thrown in the air consistently with our Remington Model 24 22short.

Practice in windy conditions without a wind meter. Don't even look up wind speed. Relax your mind and just observe the wind move things for minutes, then fire.

A miss is not a mistake. It's a piece of data you needed. Keep observing, shooting. Learning.

The feel/intuition you gain from these kind of exercises may shave a little off that rested 1.5.
Click to expand...
Well the difference is that when hunting, you wont have much of a choice as for when and when not to shoot.
You shoot when the animal gives you a shot opportunity, because within seconds the opportunity might be gone.
As for a serious wind condition, if that exists you wont be there anyway, because you would have chosen a different location to glass/hunt. And if it gets bad while your there, you leave for a spot with hopefully better conditions.
And if a buck happens to come walking around a point and into your view, you wont be shooting while he is walking.
And after he stops either, if there isnt a clear shot without trees in the way.
So the fact is that most of these posts are by those interested only in shooting, not hunting, at least not hunting at long range.
 
yobuck said:
So the fact is that most of these posts are by those interested only in shooting, not hunting, at least not hunting at long range.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
Just thought you had to be interested in shooting (how well you shoot) in order to hunt (where you use your shooting skills) long range.

That's why my boys and I practice all types of shooting,
 

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