Question for you long range hunters out there (500+ yards). This past season I had a very hard time ranging a couple of deer over the 500 yard mark. I resorted ranging the trees behind them and "guesstimating" how far out from the trees they were. Needless to say I missed...twice. My gun and scope are MORE than capable of making double that shot, so that's not the issue. My problem seems to be getting a reliable range. I found it impossible to actually range the body of the deer at that distance. What techniques/equipment do you guys use to get a range on deer at extreme distance? I can range with my scope, is that how you guys get a good range? Seems pretty unreliable. I have a vortex rangefinder if anyone was wondering.

I'm not sure how the terrain is in LA, but most shots here are going to be under 150 yards. 90% of those are going to be under 100 yards. This isn't Wyoming. There are going to be some target shooters on here that may give you some helpful hints but I no zero "long range hunters" that consistently attempt a shot at that range.

Good luck in your quest for information on trying to make a kill shot at a half mile in distance. It would be pretty cool to see that. There may be some good info on here for you.

Dr. B

You may want to go down to Core Shooting Solutions in Baker Florida. They have an unknown distance range and they do competitions on it. These cats down there are hard core shooters so go humble and they will work with you.

http://www.coreshooting.com/

Beam Deviance is your MAIN problem. Vortex, Bushnell, Leupold, and other have a VERY WIDE Beam Deviance. You MUST be able to hit the deer with the laser! Lecia is what you need. OR you can get a Vector 4 Vectronix and have the BEST rangfinger/binocular unit you can get~!! Binoculars are a MUST HAVE for accurate shooting. You MUST get steady enough to hits the deers body. Read that again and let it sink in. You MUST have a good dial turret MOA scope. YOU MUST no the BC of your bullet AND you MUST know the FPS the bullet is when it leaves the barrel. You MUST have some sort of Ballistics Cart OR Ballistics Computer, OR you are wasting time and bullets

The land I hunt in North Al has spots where you can shoot a LOT farther than 500 yards, I just don't do it. shooters (comment above)
is going to be your guy to listen to.

Yea, i really don't see many people on here being capable of making that shot on a regular basis. Better to add some more stands, so your not shooting that far.

With a known distance and the right gun/scope combo I would be willing to bet a majority of the people on here can make a 400-500 yard shot.

The issue is most people don't have the right setup nor the patience to set a scope up with the proper turret configuration for these distances. I have a 6.5/284 with target turrets that makes shooting 500 yard targets a breeze. I cannot however tell you how many rounds were shot in order to get the turret data RIGHT.

Back to the OP......either invest in a high dollar laser range finder or set out yardage marks every 50-100 yards. With that being said I don't pull the trigger on a deer at more than 350-400 yards as there is just to much that can go wrong.

Yardage marks of a foot or so of surveyors tape allow you to get a range and dope the wind.

I was called out to track a deer last year that was shot from 1100 yards away with a 300 mag. It appeared that he just grazed the deer really low. We didn�t recover it but a few inches higher and he would have nailed it. He came damn close for a shot from that distance.

Save your $$$ and buy the best equipment you can and practice, practice, practice. When I have a known yardage I have no problem shooting a deer at 700 right now. I'll be pushing the 900 mark next year I hope. Doping the wind on the fly is the hardest part.

If you know the land your hunting well,you can go before season and measure different objects in the area were you are trying the long shot,s. Start from your normal stand area,judge 250 yards then move up 250 yards at a time,again find a object you can take some survey ribbon and at every 250 yards.Do this until you reach the main distance your trying to shoot that way come season you can count ribbons and know a little better the distance.plus the ribbons will let you know the wind direction.Then after that it,s pure luck if you or anyone except a trained sniper make,s the shot on a deer.

WRONG!! I have killed deer out to 704 yards and hogs out to 902 yards = and it is NOT LUCK! IF you take the time to learn to shoot ELR you will be good at it. Dont let some dumb azz tell you other wise. Theirs just as much pressure in winning an F-class match as their is killing a deer at 600 yards plus. I know because I have done both !!

What are you shooting.

Its not what he shooting. Its the super accurate handloads someone loaded for him!

al, once you pass 400 weather ,temp , air & your load, you can go from 3000 v to 2900 v . near you is the CMP program . they have a long range .

Used to have a lease near Shorterville, Al with a powerline and a couple of long straight woods roads that deer would cross. Longest shot I made was 365 yds. Ranged the deer with a Leica Rangefinder and made the shot. I ranged another deer on the powerline with the Leica at 690 yds, but decided that shot wasn't in my bag of tricks. If you can get steady enough the Leica will range a deer a long way out there.
TomJ

Thats an EXTREME change. What your saying is barely possible. Example = most loads loose 1 to 2 fps per degree of temp lose. SO IF you have 3000 fps in 80 degree weather AND IF it drops to minus -20 degrees THEN AND ONLY THEN will you be at 2900 fps. REMENBER, the actual shell has to be - 20 . I know about this because I have frozen shell over nite and THEN fired them. IF you sight in at 45 degrees then you will NEVER have problems past 600 yards, because a 30 fps drop. <<< This is extreme. you will still be only 1 or 2 inchs low at 600 yards. SO what have we learned?? Dont make to much of temp . changes at UNDER 600 yards.

Why do you use caps on everything? Your points are pretty clear. I like reading your posts but dang.

shooters : I put that out in a gen way . when he does his home work, he will see there s a lot going into a long shot. thanks

Could be the alcohol.