First ELR miss....and kill with 338 edge.

[canderson]

I had an eventful hunt a couple of days ago. I was hunting a field where a friend of mine farms. I had previously put a feeder 1060 yards away from my shooting position. While waiting and watching the feeder, three deer came out along the river bank. I watch the group and was positive the biggest one was a doe. After ranging the tree line right behind the deer at 1175. I dialed in the firing solution for 1170. I looked at the mirage and thought there wasn't any wind. I broke the shot, recovered the sight picture and watched the deer fold. Needless to say, I was extremely excited. After driving to the deer I notice there was not an entrance or exit in the chest. Upon further examination the deer was very slightly quartering toward me. I missed e chest and hit her neck about six inches forward the chest. The bullet exit at the neck shoulder area. It wasn't quite the precision shot I wanted but, it got the job done. Also, I didn't waste any meat. Shooting a BAT machine 338 edge 300 bergers 2820 fps.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Wow, impressive shot! I get deer fever when I see them so I need to work up to shots like those. The furthest I have shot a deer is 150! lol...its due to not having the opportunity since its mostly thick woods in GA when I go home to hunt. It also doesnt hurt that you have great equipment which I am sure gives you that little extra boost of confidence (excluding your practice).

 

[No Fear in Accuracy]

I would feel excited as you when I shot an animal over a thousand yards.

What did you figure out how the bullet end up 6" to 12" to the left from the chest where you plan to aim if there is no wind?

Possible slightly wind between you and the deer?

 

[canderson]

My elevation may have been one click high 1/4moa in a perfect world. I guess the wind was blowing a little more 30 feet off the ground, I guess that is what caused the error. I was probably 1/2-3/4 MOA off on the wind. By working backward with my ballistic program I figure I missed the wind by 1 mph. It is amazing how precise a person needs to be past 1000 yds.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

Believe it or not but anything past 400 yards is when the physics truly take effect! It's amazing the difference of hold over when you get into the 400 realm. So lets triple it with your shot and that's understanding true science and your equipment capabilities.

 

[bigngreen]

Spin drift and Coriolis employed in ballistic solution ?

 

[canderson]

Yes, I had both accounted for in the solution. I might have been off 5 degrees on the azimuth. The deer where I was hunting would hurry up and walk fast or run across the open part of the field. I did not take the time to check the azimuth before firing.

 

[4xforfun]

Yes, I had both accounted for in the solution. I might have been off 5 degrees on the azimuth. The deer where I was hunting would hurry up and walk fast or run across the open part of the field. I did not take the time to check the azimuth before firing.

5 degrees of azmuth would do very, very little in your firing solution. it was the wind...or maybe a little scope cant

 

[canderson]

I am almost positive that it was a misread of the wind on my part. There may have been a little can't it happened so fast I am not for sure. Another lessened learned check and recheck everything twice. I think I am going to have to make a checklist of items to check before each shot.

 

[varmintH8R]

My first non-archery deer was the same as yours - accidental neck shot. Took me a minute to figure out why it dropped right there!

Two minor differences hardly worth noting:

Mine was with a 12 ga shotgun slug, open sights...

Mine was at about 45 yards [:embarrassment:]

Based on the pics, that does not seem to be a huge animal. I would say that is a hell of a shot at 1170 yds, and you should be proud. It will also give you something to investigate/try and replicate in the offseason, which is fun in and of itself.

Congrats on a great shot - hell of a lot farther than I have ever put one down

Thanks for posting it

 

[Rifleguy]

What this post really demonstrates, in my humble opinion, is that deer sized game are too small for 1000 yard shots. Not necessarily from the point of killing a deer, but from the point of killing a deer humanely. I've read several posts on here of guys killing deer at 1000 yards and most of them are following up with a close-range "coup de gras" shot to actually kill the deer once they finally make it too the animal. That's really not particularly humane hunting in my opinion.
I love long-range shooting and love hunting but not everyone is a world record capable shooter. We've all had those world record days with no one looking but on average most avid long-range shooters can't consistently shoot under 5" to 10" at 1000 on any given day, especially cold bore.
The world record is just under 3 inches. A three inch variable on a deer sized kill zone is really the limit of humane shooting and that's the world record from a bench in a controlled environment and a long time to shoot. If we were talking about bigger game with larger kill zones then I wouldn't be bitching so much.
I own a private gun range with targets out to 1000 yards and I have some very gifted members who compete in long range events and do very well. I see guys shoot at long distances all the time and I know what the average shooter can do and not do.
If you don't agree (this is a long-range hunting site) that's ok, but at least please be more thoughtful about what you post considering that our second amendment rights are being threatened all the time and people could use some of our more inhumane examples of long-range hunting mishaps against us (gun-owners/hunters) to say that hunters are only about the sport and not sustainability or worse that hunters aren't interested in clean and humane killing, only killing for the sake of killing.
I am not saying that this hunter falls into any of those categories as I don't know him, I am only saying that shooting at 1000 yards takes discipline and practice and even with the best equipment, loads, experience, etc., some small thing like a switch wind that you cannot read without range flags could cause anyone to make a crippling but not lethal shot on deer sized and smaller game. If you do that, please don't post it where others can read about it.