Shot distance for deer hunting

[DuckHunt]

It wouldn't come closer than 50 yards but stood broadside, head up, scanning for the source of the "hunter's" grunts. The guy took the shot, the deer swapped ends to run back to where it came from and true arrow cut the femoral artery. The animal fortunately died quickly.

I had a similar situation on an alert doe at 37 yards (ranged it first) and had an identical result. It was just lucky to clip that artery and she went about 20 yards. That doe turned wrong side out before the arrow covered the distance. I was shooting my ExoMax which was clocking right at 350fps at the time. For this reason, I severely limit my shot distance when shooting at an alert deer. I prefer my shots to be right at 30 yards and no closer than 20. Too close and other issues get magnified like body movement, scent and shot angle.

DuckHunt

[DES]

I practice regularly at 50 yds but limit shots at deer to 30 yds with my Matrix 330. Like already mentioned, they can easily move enough at 50 yds to make a good shot into a poor one.

[yooper_man]

I have a personal maximum shot limit of 30 yards. The true love of the hunt for me is being able to get close. I will and have passed at big game farther that 30 yards while hunting. My 470 grain arrows out of my Matrix 355 carries enough momentum to kill quickly and humanely, but I owe it to the animals I hunt to do it right.

Now I practice out to 40 yards, but that's a non-living target.

Andrew

[Sandman]

I also practice constantly at 50 but no matter how much noise I make the bag never moves~! My limit in the stand is 35 with everything in my favour.

Best of luck.

[vixenmaster]

Why i have gotten so good that i can hit my bag target at 20 yds using one arm n hand. Of course thats all i have to use at this time, so i must do as i can. Next week wid luck n more mendin i am hopin 2 arms n hands & 30 yds!

[Jray]

[quote="nchunterkw"]The biggest thing is that crossbows are noisy and a deer will react to that. If the time lag between the shot and the arrow arriving at the deer is long enough, the deer can move causing a poor hit, or a miss.

Just to relate something that happened when my son,who was about 12 at the time and barely pulling 35# with his compound took a shot at a doe at no more than 12 or 13 yards. We were in a ground blind under a white oak that had acorns on it that looked like clusters of grapes-I liked stacking the odds when I took him. I noticed a big ole doe coming in from the right side that my son couldn't see yet so when she was about to step into his sight I whispered "draw your bow" so he wouldn't make any movement when she was in his line of sight. He drew his bow, which admittedly was only shooting about 190fps. The doe stepped around the side of the blind doing what they always do- looking straight in the blind and he released the arrow. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed that a deer could react that quick. ONE second is an eternity when survival instincts kick in. That doe easily ducked below the line of flight of that arrow as it passed cleanly over her back. You math wizards can figure out how long it took the sound to reach her ears in relation to how long it took the arrow to clear her back and you can tell me what a deer's reaction time is. That little bow was very quiet and I don't think the level of sound made much difference-they can hear way better than most (any) of us can anyway.
That being said, I have to limit my shots to about 30 yds shooting arrows in excess of 300 fps-less if they are on high alert. Anything longer and you are flirting with condemning an animal to a slow death. JMO

[Pintail]

I'm new to this site, but have been hunting with stick and string for 42 seasons. I have taken deer with Longbow, Recurve and Compound. Hopefully, my crossbow will get some blood on it this year as well. I keep all my shots within the 30 yard mark regardless of my equipment choice. My biggest reason for that is through practice you become proficient and gain much needed confidence. Most archers that have become good long range shots have learned very good control, breathing, grip, release control and so on. At long range how do you control the animal? At 30 yards when a animal enters your shot area you can read their body English to a point to figure if you will pull a shot off or not. Most deer have that 6th sense of being able to detect danger and as a result walk stiff legged and look like a bomb ready to explode at the slightest off sound. Take that same animal and put him out at 40-50 or even 60 yards and you are bound to miss a few clues if you will pull your ambush off or not. When you airmail a arrow into the next zip code your target can swap ends during the flight time involved. In most cases a gut shot deer will bed down pretty quickly if left alone, but what if you gained access to a not so big piece of real estate? Bump him off the property and it's game over. Or in a growing number of states you find yourself in a foot race with the local coyote pack vying for who gets the steaks first? Experience is always the best teacher. We owe it to the game we pursue to make the cleanest most ethical shot possible.

Good Luck to everyone this season

[wabi]

I think one factor that often gets overlooked is the deer's sight! I've had a buck drop under an arrow at around 30 yards. To top it off I was using the wrong sight pin and the arrow was actually LOWER than I intended! It barely passed over his back, but if I had used the correct sight pin it would have been even 3-4" higher than that!
In hindsight I think it was the movement of the Vixen limbs rather than the sound that made him react that quickly. I was in a stand, but only about 12' up, and he was probably aware something was wrong and happened to be slightly quartering towards me. I think he caught the rapid movement of the limbs in his peripheral vision and reacted.
I learned from that shot to pass those "iffy" shot angles and the closer the better.
All the deer I've killed since have been well under 25 yards (I think my "long shot" in the past 5 years has been 21 yards), and many of them have been under 10 yards.
I can shoot accurately with my setup (Phoenix with a Leupold VXII 1-4X duplex crosshair) out to 35+ yards, but I keep shots under 30 yards where a "center of the kill zone" hold with the crosshair means a dead deer at the end of a short blood trail.

[Shotnbeer]

I can shoot 20,30,40 and 50 yards at targets. I have probably saved myself a lot of trouble by keeping my shots at 30 yards. I know I'm 100 % there.

[jd4223]

Last season I ranged a big doe and her 3 yearlings at 53 yards while sitting in a 16' ladder stand.The 3 yearlings walked directly on an angle all the way to my ladder stand never once looking at me.However the big doe who was walking behind the 3 yearlings eventually made eye contact with me at approx.30yards.However,she continued to follow the 3 yearlings straight to my ladder stand all the while looking at me. I was hoping for her to turn broadside while she was at approx. 20 yards but she didn't.When she was at about 8 yards away she stopped and started snorting and stamping her left front leg.At this point she started to turn away from me and I pulled the trigger on the bow.I misjudged how close she was and ended up shooting her through the spine.She dropped right on the spot with the arrow sticking up in the ground right next to her. When taking a shot with the bow,the closer the better if possible.

[76chevy]

Shot the Matrix last night. I can hit 2 inch spots at 30 yds withe ease off hand. From my climber with supported shooting rest, I am comfortable to 40yds shooting an an un-alerted deer

[SEW]

This isn’t a suggestion on what range to shoot . However, it is a suggestion on what you have done.

IF YOU’RE CONSISTENTLY NOT LOOSING DEER AT WHATEVER RANGES YOU’RE SHOOTING, IT’D BE HARD TO ARGUE THAT YOU’RE SHOOTING AT AN UNETHICAL RANGE. But some would still argue.

[Boo]

I think one factor that often gets overlooked is the deer's sight!

I think you've got a bingo there. Never shoot at a deer that is looking at you. It will see the limbs flex, possibly the blur of an arrow coming at them.
When you shoot at a deer from a good distance and miss, sometimes the deer stops and looks to where the shot came from. Someone once said they need 2 senses activated to react. So maybe the deer hears the shot and is looking at where it came from, looking for movement to confirm that there is danger.
I really think that movement, especially towards a deer, will be the priority input of a deer's senses (second to smell). I think movement alone will spook a deer and they will often not wait for a secondary warning. Think about it, while a deer has poor eyesight, they, like turkeys, detect movement better than humans. I believe that their keen ability to detect movement is what a deer depends on and either movement alone and smell alone will trigger evasive action.

[SEW]

Deer tend to have a knee jerk reaction to close noises. Deer tend to freeze and look for the source of the noise at farther ranges. I’ve never had a deer move when shot at beyond 40 yards, and I’ve given them plenty of chances.

[Boo]

Deer tend to have a knee jerk reaction to close noises. Deer tend to freeze and look for the source of the noise at farther ranges. I’ve never had a deer move when shot at beyond 40 yards, and I’ve given them plenty of chances.

Were any of them looking right at you when you shot?