YOUR LONGEST SHOT EVER?

[Grizzly Adam]

'Tis the season for such questions, it seems, so here's another:

What's the LONGEST RANGE at which you've shot a deer or other big-game animal?

Please give distance, season, animal, weapon, set-up, whether you recovered the animal, and a short story, if you like. Should be interesting!

450+ yards (measured by field cuts)
NC rifle season, Tyrrell County
Whitetail buck
.30-'06, Ruger 77
Ground, scouting
Recovered

I shot and killed one young four-point on our farm, before we lived here. My brother and I were driving the farm roads looking for deer (legal here), had stopped for a while to investigate a trespasser's tripod stand, and one walked out south of us, down the field. I took a rest over the truck hood (again, legal here) and touched off. Dumped him like a bad habit. My brother caught the kill on film.

[mikej]

wow that is an amazing story grizz. my longest would be about 100 yards with a 30-06. it is impossible to shoot any farther here due to our thick bush and heavy under brush

[lscha]

450!! Yikes.

I hunt alone alot and use handgun during rifle. I always hunt the woods rather than the fields so really long shots are not available to me. Everyone had gotten their deer and went home. When I am hunting alone I always aim for the high neck area so I don't have to track it. My gun is sighted in for 97 yards. I had a buck/doe permit and on the last day it was windy, rainy and I didn't see anything until 3PM when a big doe came out at 100 yards. Made the shot and it fell right there. Of course the deer was recovered but feild dressing, hauling, hanging, washing and loading in my trailblazer was something that would have made comedic viewing on YouTube. Remember, I'm old.

[Woody Williams]

I once shot a dee that was in the next county over...
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I was hunting on the county line though..

[awshucks]

90 yards, cottontail rabbit, 25# lemonwood stick bow. Yeah, but it was big game when I was 9 yrs old.

We had a 100 yd pasture in front of farm house that ended w/ old wire fence, high grass ditch and small gravel road. I used to put a Tide soap box about 10 yds short of the fence and lob arrows at it from the other end of pasture.

One, of thousands, of misses was sticking through the fence and when I went to retrieve it, found it in the head of the rabbit.

Remember, truth can be stranger than fiction, lol.

[sumner4991]

I shot a crow at 300 yards. Fortunately my cousin was with me or I wouldn't be able to tell the story without being called a liar. We were ground hog hunting. When I shot the crow exploded. Black feathers went in the air like a set off a small bomb. I was using the .270, 100 grain Remington shells, and rested on the ground.

Crow is big game right? I've shot several deer from 300+ yards. That seems easy after hitting the crow.

[rt2bowhunter]

White tail Buck
6.5x284
325yds range finder.
he sure did taste good.
Went with my brother in law he keep after me to get in his stand. long story short i wasnt in the stand 10mins. And took a 125" 8 point And yes i had a real good time with that lol

[Grizzly Adam]

450!! Yikes.

I know it sounds like a long shot to many hunters.

I should note that making long shots isn't all that unusual down south here (as any of my fellow southern hunters will attest, I'm sure) ... "beanfield" hunting is such a long-range sport that there is even a category of rifles bearing the name!

300+ yard shots aren't at all uncommon here. Our brush is so thick that fields are the best place to hunt deer.

On the day I took that shot I was dead rested, there was little wind, and I was shooting at a known distance with a familiar rifle, well sighted in for long ranges (300 point blank), with a point-of-reference for hold. I'd never do that unless I was sure.

I also wouldn't recommend it, without practice!

[MNDeerHunter]

My longest shot was last year during gun season in November here in Minnesota. Was the second to last day and I still had an open tag since I always seem to wait till about the last day for a decent deer. I use a 30/30 lever action with a low power scope as most of the places I hunt you don't get hardly any shots over 75 yards. I had moved to a new area over looking a deep ravine with thick brush and small timber. I had caught some movement in the timber and waited to where I could tell it was a buck but when I ranged him it was at already 155 yards and he was angling away going up the slope of the ravine. I found a good rest against a tree branch up in the tree I was sitting in and picked out some small openings where he might walk through and just waited. He passed through just about every opening I had hoped to get a clean shot at him without stopping. Finally at the last small opening I had he finally came to a stop. I ranged him at 172 yards now and thought for a second, man I have not shot at this distance even in practice for a while. Aimed high up over his back where I thought it should be and slowly squeezed off the shot. The buck fell in his tracks and I just sat there for a second. Then I gave out a load - well maybe not load but excited "Yes I got him"
For me that was a very long shot as I am use to bowhunting where you hardly ever shot over 35 yards. It was only a average 6 pointer but I was all smiles when I walked up to him.

[one shot scott]

My buddy(seriously it WAS NOT me) shot a doe out of my stand with the excalibur vortex. He shot her thinking it was 40 yard (which is way too far) but really it was 50. He spined her. She dropped like a sack o potatoes and he had to finish her off. He felt terrible. In his defense he had not taken a deer in a few years so he likely had deer fever. But I gave him sh*& none the less.

[Michihunter]

I was 17 at the time which means it was 40 years ago... Three of us were sitting on my dads truck tailgate eating lunch during the Michigan deer season. Across a big marsh a doe ran out of a swamp with a big buck behind her. I was on a rifle team at the time and was shooting almost everyday. Dad said can you hit him? I think he was joking but I already had my rifle (Remington 30-06) in my hand by that time. There was nothing to rest the rifle on so I pulled my sling tight around my arm and readied for an off hand. The buck was looking straight at us and I remember settling the crosshair on the white throat patch and squeezing the trigger. At the shot the buck dropped like a rock. The bullet took his heart out. I have no problem telling anyone that it was the luckiest shot I have ever made and probably a bit unethical looking back at it. Anyway dad, myself and my brother in law all paced it off at between 320 and 323 yds. Glad some others were able to witness it or I know I would never have told anyone.

[Big58cal]

The longest shot that I've made on a deer was about 110 yds with a Savage rifle in .270 Win. We had some does coming out in one of our food plots late in the evening during gun season. We needed to thin out some does, so I put a stand up a lone poplar tree that was out in the plot. Three started filing out into the field a little before dusk. The closest one was facing me, with her head down eating. I aimed right where the base of her neck met her shoulders (with her head down) and squeezed the trigger. She dropped so I jacked another round in and drew a bead on the white throat patch with her looking at me. Before I could squeeze the trigger, she took off.

The sad thing is I've shot squirrels farther than I have deer. I use a Marlin 17VS .17 HMR squirrel hunting. That little 17 grain V-Max bullet will dang near decapitate a squirrel when you hit them in the head. I was walking out one morning after squirrel hunting and noticed a big old fox squirrel in a tree at the edge of the woods. I cranked the scope up to 12x, got a good rest and squeezed the shot off. The squirrel hit the ground with a rather commanding 'THUD' that I could hear from where I was. I stepped it off at 142 yds going to pick him up. When I got up to him, he was missing the far side of his head.

[Mike P]

Somewhere between 480 and 500 yds.

The gun was a hand worked Remington 788 in 243 cal, 100 grain Sierra bullet, 2.5 x 10 Leica Scope.

The animal was a Pronghorn.

Lost Springs, Wyoming in 1996.

[mikej]

well i guess i could shoot over 100 yards , but i don't think the high school would approve of hunting on their football field

[crazyfarmer]

farthest deer was maybe 75yards with a ML'er.. im not much on shooting distance when deer hunting. I want mine up close and personal. It all depends on where you hunt and 90% of mine is bottoms and ridges.

Farthest shot would probably be this year with my .223 at a groundhog. The best I could get from the range finder was 268yards.