shooting distances in Ireland?

lordarpad

What kind of distances do people shoot? or maybe I should ask, what kind of distances do you spot deer at and when do you shoot?

endasmail

got a rabbit today at 250 yards ,best shot to date

Jonty

Well I spot deer at extended ranges in excess of 600yds and attempt to get within 100yds before taking the shot.

cavan shooter

It really depends on your rifle doesnt it. I have always had 22 rimfires and of late the Hornet but I try to get as close to or get them as close as possible.
I dont shoot deer but foxes 100-150 yrds. Rabbits I'll again try to get in very close say 75-100 yrds.(22 lr)

I'll stick to hitting targets at long ranges less chance of a wounded animal (rabbit or fox). I love shooting beer mats or clays (approx 4" at long distances)

Trojan911

I will use max limit to shoot deer at 200yds, but will always attempt to shoot within 100yds either by stalking or waiting (100% so far within the 100yds).

pm.

ive shot mr fox at over 200 yards and rabbits at 250 but i was using my .243

Traumadoc

Shot a deer at 258mtrs - with perfect shot placement instant result- but after the adrenaline wore off I was a bit concerned that the distance was too much, and I could have only wounded the deer if my aim was only off by a few inches. I will probably limit myself to 100-150 mtr in future.

jwshooter

i spent today culling longest shot was a 155 yards, it was a calm day so wind was not a factor .
to take long shots on deer it would have to be hit or injured ,then range does not come into it just put it down .
long shots as in over 200 yards on un injured deer should be not taken as the norm .there is too many factors come into play once you pass 200 .

paddy2008

love taking long shots...short shots are for old men.:D

jwshooter

paddy2008 wrote: »

love taking long shots...short shots are for old men.:D

i think its best to use the ( KISS principle )when stalking /shooting deer

ejg

The 200yd shot is often easier than a 80yd shot. Mostly the animal is less aware of the danger and one can prepare better for the shot. Past 200yds one mostly needs to dial scope or hold over which means one should start using a range finder. Head & neck shots get risky. One also needs to practice much more and invest in good equipment when going past 200yds.
With invest I don't mean a snazzy engraved European rifle but rather have the rifle profesionally free floated and maybe even glass bedded.Also test many brands of ammo out to longer ranges.

edi

Trojan911

ejg wrote: »

Head & neck shots get risky.

Our syndicate frowns on head shots for deer. I personally don't use them either for deer, but that's my choice.

dwighet

150-200 works for me as my rifle is zeroed fo 200...I prefer a longer shot around the 150-200 as most of the time deer arent aware of your presence at that distance and I can relax and take a steady shot of the bipod or sticks..I would hate to rush a shot and wound an animal..So far this year using the distace 150-200 I have a 100% kill rate...No runners.

deerhunter1

dwighet wrote: »

150-200 works for me as my rifle is zeroed fo 200...I prefer a longer shot around the 150-200 as most of the time deer arent aware of your presence at that distance and I can relax and take a steady shot of the bipod or sticks..I would hate to rush a shot and wound an animal..So far this year using the distace 150-200 I have a 100% kill rate...No runners.

well it is called stalking the idea that you should get as reasonably close for a clean kill, pit your wits against a wild animal. I have shot them at long ranges, but 100-200 is the norm

macnas

460 yards

deerhunter1

macnas wrote: »

460 yards

????????????????????????????????????????????????

lordarpad

deerhunter1 wrote: »

????????????????????????????????????????????????

about .5 s bullet flight time. on a calm day I hope ....

deerhunter1

macnas wrote: »

460 yards

460 Yards give or take (more give) wind 10mph from right to left, Target head on, spotter calls co-ordinates adjust accordingly, 165gr Rem Boat Tail, one shot target engaged, (head ) did not know what hit her. Practice and confidence plus a good reliable spotter equalls success

It wasn't me!

deerhunter1 wrote: »

460 Yards give or take (more give) wind 10mph from right to left, Target head on, spotter calls co-ordinates adjust accordingly, 165gr Rem Boat Tail, one shot target engaged, (head ) did not know what hit her. Practice and confidence plus a good reliable spotter equalls success

Head shot at 460 yards is irresponsible regardless. Plenty of rifles could have the accuracy to make a heart/lung shot, but there aren't many pieces of kit that can guarantee that accuracy, and that's without taking shooter error into account. You might want to reevaluate your respect for your quarry. There's no call to go risking mutilation of the animal.

jwshooter

i always give the deer the benefit of the douth if my rest is not good ,shot is wrong or too far ,i know i can not kill it cleanly and quickly.
give them the benefit as there to beautiful a animal to just take a pot shot at

macnas

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Head shot at 460 yards is irresponsible regardless. Plenty of rifles could have the accuracy to make a heart/lung shot, but there aren't many pieces of kit that can guarantee that accuracy, and that's without taking shooter error into account. You might want to reevaluate your respect for your quarry. There's no call to go risking mutilation of the animal.

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal. Culling 20 or 30 deer a day and then lamenting about the beautiful animals, that's respect alright.

Next season I'll be showing them some Short Magnum respect.:D

jwshooter

macnas wrote: »

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal. Culling 20 or 30 deer a day and then lamenting about the beautiful animals, that's respect alright.

Next season I'll be showing them some Short Magnum respect.:D

culling is one thing it has to be done, but in doing it respect of the animal is all important i love my deer .
,460 m on deer is asking for trouble to many variables .
but good luck to you .
i much prefer a well placed neck shot at close range after all some one has to eat it ,or whats left of it .

i guess any one can buy equipment

It wasn't me!

macnas wrote: »

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal. Culling 20 or 30 deer a day and then lamenting about the beautiful animals, that's respect alright.

Next season I'll be showing them some Short Magnum respect.:D

See, that's not outside the bounds of reasonable possibility, so I don't have much problem with that. It's taking head and neck shots at that range that sickens me. I think it's the territory of cowboys, because it takes serious shooting and kit for that sort of job, and it should be kept to the range anyway.

Short mag for deer in Ireland? Seems a bit overkill, no?

deerhunter1

macnas wrote: »

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal. Culling 20 or 30 deer a day and then lamenting about the beautiful animals, that's respect alright.

Next season I'll be showing them some Short Magnum respect.:D

If I was to carry a rifle like that up a mountain I would shoot at nothing less then 600yards. Too me that shows lack of confidence and training if you have too use weight to control your shot.

bunny shooter

deerhunter1 wrote: »

If I was to carry a rifle like that up a mountain I would shoot at nothing less then 600yards. Too me that shows lack of confidence and training if you have too use weight to control your shot.

That is "deer shooting" not "deer stalking" :eek:

Not a lot of skill in fieldcraft/stalking required to shoot at deer at 600 yards

Or as jwshooter stated above "i guess any one can buy equipment"

NoNameRanger

macnas wrote: »

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal. Culling 20 or 30 deer a day and then lamenting about the beautiful animals, that's respect alright.

Next season I'll be showing them some Short Magnum respect.:D

You know very little about culling or deer management judging by the above statement. You do not respect the animals you are shooting. Stick to shooting targets, at least you can't maim paper and it doesn't suffer a long agonising death when you clip it. You are doing no favors to genuine deer stalkers or the sport of hunting.

Mellor

deerhunter1 wrote: »

If I was to carry a rifle like that up a mountain I would shoot at nothing less then 600yards. Too me that shows lack of confidence and training if you have too use weight to control your shot.

You should really consider asking the admin to change you screen name,
"hunter" is a bit of a joke to be honest

macnas

NoNameRanger wrote: »

You know very little about culling or deer management judging by the above statement. You do not respect the animals you are shooting. Stick to shooting targets, at least you can't maim paper and it doesn't suffer a long agonising death when you clip it. You are doing no favors to genuine deer stalkers or the sport of hunting.

Maybe you should change your name to the LoneRanger, considering your high horse and all.
Your probably right though, I don't know very much about culling or deer managemnent but I do know what it says on my licence about what, where and when I can shoot deer. I shoot about 20 to 30 deer a season, fairly average I'd imagine.
I love it when the Robert DeNiro types or the Deer Hunting legends as I like to call them, come on here talking about respect. Such angst ridden lives these fellas must lead, having to kill 20 or 30(per day), of the things they love so much.
As for NPW's deer management, if they're not obliterating deer at one end the country, they're tendering to buy a rifle while deer are eating your lawn grass at the other.
Your probably right about the respect aswell, personally I think deer are cowards, all that running away:D

Rovi

MOD NOTICE:
Let's not get personal folks.
This 'long range deer shooting' thing comes up now and again, and it almost never ends well.
The mouse pointer is hovering over the 'Close Thread' button, and any further personal remarks will see it getting clicked; depending on the severity of the remarks, infractions and/or bans are a possibility too.

Thanks,
Rovi.

Vegeta

Can people not respect each others approach?

You don't have to agree with it or like,

Personally I see no problem taking a heart lung shot at 460 yards with a 0.5 moa rifle (probably better) with no wind. If it (user and rifle both) has the accuracy and foot lbs.

I also see no problem in culling large numbers. Maybe there are 20-30 times the amount of deer in that persons area.

Trojan911

jwshooter wrote: »

i much prefer a well placed neck shot at close range after all some one has to eat it ,or whats left of it.

What part of the neck would you aim at for max effect? I am looking at this to limit meat damage. Again, it would be preferably within 100yds.

Cheers.

lordarpad

I can see the excitement and sport in deer stalking. But for at the end of the day the wanted result is venison in the freezer. If a long shot offers itself that I can safely take, why not?

jwshooter

macnas wrote: »

Maybe you should change your name to the LoneRanger, considering your high horse and all.
Your probably right though, I don't know very much about culling or deer managemnent but I do know what it says on my licence about what, where and when I can shoot deer. I shoot about 20 to 30 deer a season, fairly average I'd imagine.
I love it when the Robert DeNiro types or the Deer Hunting legends as I like to call them, come on here talking about respect. Such angst ridden lives these fellas must lead, having to kill 20 or 30(per day), of the things they love so much.
As for NPW's deer management, if they're not obliterating deer at one end the country, they're tendering to buy a rifle while deer are eating your lawn grass at the other.
Your probably right about the respect aswell, personally I think deer are cowards, all that running away:D

i have a question for you macnas.

how long would it take you to run or walk 460 m on rough ground up hill carrying a 14 pound rifle . ?

Vegeta

jwshooter wrote: »

i have a question for you macnas.

how long would it take you to run or walk 460 m on rough ground up hill carrying a 14 pound rifle . ?

There's 2 sides to that question though jwshooter

How long does it take you to trail a wounded deer in cover or track a runner?

jwshooter

Trojan911 wrote: »

What part of the neck would you aim at for max effect? I am looking at this to limit meat damage. Again, it would be preferably within 100yds.

Cheers.

there is no hard and fast rules is neck shooting deer .
your ability to place every bullet into a inch in field conditions at a 100 yrds is paramount.
reading whats going on ,ie is the animal calm ,revved up,lying down eating .

if say your animal is grazing side on head down ,this in my mind is a bad shot it takes a half second and its head if up right .
if the shot was taken head down its easy to put your bullet into its wind pipe and a certain lost animal .

as a rule the low neck where the neck meets the chest --a nest shot .
is best as there is less movement there .
spent time to get to know where the bone runs for best placement of your shot

one over looked factor is cal and bullet construction for necking ,the faster and quicker it expands the better
i use a .270 with 110 gr norma v max .on the box there quoted velocity is 3400 fps .im getting about 3200 + in my 22" sako.
also i use a 243 also using tipped bullets of 70-95 grs .using 80 gr federals at min .
the most common cals among the lads are 25-06 ,270, 243.

be prepared not to take a shot if your not 100 percent happy .

never shoot a deer looking straight at you regardless of the cal i have seen 270 s deflect of the nose bone , you just dont want that on your hands .

for the last 8 years i have a trained dog at heal and have a grand daughter of hers in training now she is two.they have saved mine and others bacon more than once over the years .

Trojan911

Thanks for that. I was going on where the neck meets the shoulder area. I use a Remington 165gr accuTip Boat Tail in .308 cal.

Jonty

Trojan911 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I was going on where the neck meets the shoulder area. I use a Remington 165gr accuTip Boat Tail in .308 cal.

How do you find them Trojan

lordarpad

jwshooter wrote: »

never shoot a deer looking straight at you regardless of the cal i have seen 270 s deflect of the nose bone , you just dont want that on your hands .

Why not shoot the neck from the front? the neck movement becomes much less of an issue then. I have seen rather strong advocates of that.

It wasn't me!

lordarpad wrote: »

Why not shoot the neck from the front? the neck movement becomes much less of an issue then. I have seen rather strong advocates of that.

What happens if you're not absolutely square onto the deer? It may look perfect, but if the deer drops its head you may not hit the spinal column and graze the shoulder, or put it straight through the body cavity, depending where you intended to take the shot. Or if it raises its head you might clip the throat and then bury it in a shoulder or any number of possibilities. The classic shots have developed as they have because they offer so little possibility of something going wrong and the far greater likelihood of a clean, one shot kill. The most important thing is respect for the quarry, which means huge amounts of practice, well chosen ammunition and the choice of the shot that allows you the best and most ethical margin for error. selection of range is important as well. I personally wouldn't be happy to bet a deer's life on whether I could make comfortable ethical kill shots beyond a given amount. I might hit it all day on the range, but those aren't the conditions that matter, and it's far better to be conservative than to have the animal bolt with 100+ grains of lead in a very uncomfortable place to die later. A good benchmark is the range into which you can put everything inside an inch, as jwshooter says, and he's killed more deer than I probably ever will.

Trojan911

Jonty wrote: »

How do you find them Trojan

Very good, very accurate & very expensive at €43.50 a box of twenty

They pack a hefty punch at 165gr but that's what I want, but I also want to limit meat damage, thus the neck option.

Jonty

Trojan911 wrote: »

very expensive at €43.50 a box of twenty

Strange enough I found them that way too

jwshooter

lordarpad wrote: »

Why not shoot the neck from the front? the neck movement becomes much less of an issue then. I have seen rather strong advocates of that.

i would take this shot myself at close range .
but would not let a client take it
a high glancing shot can hit skin and not bone, you will have little chance of finding the animal.
the bullet is only meeting a inch or two of resistance and will not open quick enough .
a low shot can deflect of the breast bone and skid out between the shoulder and the ribs ,leaving s badly hit animal that is not mortally wounded.
this happened to me in scotland a few years ago on a red calf using a 25-06 the calf had gone a long way on the hill before i could get another shot at it ..
to follow up a animal hit in this manner is a nightmare as they can cover miles .if you have a dog send it straight away or leave it for 4-5 hours to stiffen up.
every one can make a mistake it happens ,but i dont go looking for them

Mellor

macnas wrote: »

Although I shoot most of my deer within 150 yards, this was heart/lung shot at a little over 460(Leica 1200), bright sunny day, zero wind. Suppressed TRG-22 with a Nightforce NXS on top of it, no doubt!

I carried a 14lb rifle up a mountain to take that shot, I think that's showing more than enough respect for the animal.

Just a quick question Macnas, deer hunting aside.
How did you manage to get licensed on that rifle, I imagine most supers would have a problem with it. (based on its design purpose, semi-auto centre fire aswel)

And what was the 14lb gun? (I'm reading the above that it wasn't the TRG)

It wasn't me!

Mellor wrote: »

Just a quick question Macnas, deer hunting aside.
How did you manage to get licensed on that rifle, I imagine most supers would have a problem with it. (based on its design purpose, semi-auto centre fire aswel)

And what was the 14lb gun? (I'm reading the above that it wasn't the TRG)

The TRG is a bolt-action, so, once it gets past the silly aesthetic stuff, it's jsut a bolt-action .308 like countless others. Shot one myself a while back and it's very nice and extremely accurate. I'd say it would hit 14lb no bother with a solid piece of glass and a bipod and moderator on it, so that's probably what he was talking about.

jwshooter

Vegeta wrote: »

There's 2 sides to that question though jwshooter

How long does it take you to trail a wounded deer in cover or track a runner?

AS LONG AS IT TAKES

Mellor

It wasn't me! wrote: »

The TRG is a bolt-action, so, once it gets past the silly aesthetic stuff, it's jsut a bolt-action .308 like countless others. Shot one myself a while back and it's very nice and extremely accurate. I'd say it would hit 14lb no bother with a solid piece of glass and a bipod and moderator on it, so that's probably what he was talking about.

Thanks.
I'm not sure how supers research firearms, but i've often heard the reason for a refusal being "thats a military fweapon/caliber"
On paper the TRG sounds a little scary for some of our conservative supers, developed for finnish snipers etc.

Reading the post again, I see I misread it, he prob was refering to the one gun. The TRG alone is 11, so it would reach 14 easy.

lordarpad

Mellor wrote: »

Thanks.
I'm not sure how supers research firearms, but i've often heard the reason for a refusal being "thats a military fweapon/caliber"
On paper the TRG sounds a little scary for some of our conservative supers, developed for finnish snipers etc.

Reading the post again, I see I misread it, he prob was refering to the one gun. The TRG alone is 11, so it would reach 14 easy.

what do they call a military calibre? .223? .308? sure. would they recognise 30-06 or 8x57 IS as military? Or 6.5 Grendel?

macnas

Interesting link

It wasn't me!

lordarpad wrote: »

what do they call a military calibre? .223? .308? sure. would they recognise 30-06 or 8x57 IS as military? Or 6.5 Grendel?

Well, look at various European countries such as France, where military calibres are not allowed, to the detriment of rounds such as the .30-06 and .308.

Jonty

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Well, look at various European countries such as France, where military calibres are not allowed, to the detriment of rounds such as the .30-06 and .308.

Yeah but they could always have gone .300 win mag

It wasn't me!

Jonty wrote: »

Yeah but they could always have gone .300 win mag

Unless they talked to the Germans.