2014 Coues Deer Kill Distances Poll

[Becker]

This topic always make me scratch my head. I am set up to shoot out to 1000 maybe even 1200 yards. I killed a COUES in Mexico this year at 876 yards!!! While all the bucks we killed in AZ were pretty close other deer I have taken have been at some pretty long distances. 630 or 680 I can't remember in 2013 was close as I got.

 

What I take from B and C and mulepacker is that the group of hunters I whitnessed in 36b a couple years ago that lined up, jumped a buck that I watched bed down at about 80 yards and proceeded to unload their guns at it, blowing off a front leg and never recovering the deer are more Ethical than me shooting a deer at 800 yards that I know I am going to hit because of the time spent behind my gun. That I am not the same class of hunter? That I don't hunt just as hard if not harder? That the deer has better odds that it won't get away from me as the previously mentioned hunters?

 

The main argument always seems to be not about distance as much as the deer's/animals ability do detect and avoid said hunter! My argument against that is that the vast majority of deer are killed not knowing the hunter is there, are they not? Really how is 200 yards any different than 800? Having the wind in your face sneaking around at 200 yards is pretty easy to stay undetected by an animal??? Or say 20 yards vs 50 If your posted up 40 feet high in a tree stand. The goal is always the same. Being at your effectiive range without the animal knowing you are there. Is it not?

 

Technology is always getting better. The long distance topic is no different than if I came on here and said anyone using a compound with a sight is not ethically the same as using a trad bow. You can't tell me that shooting my deer at 876 yards with my 338 edge topped with a 32 power scope doping atmospheric conditions after months of practice is less ethical than the guy using an open sighted 30-30 jumping deer and shooting at them from 100 yards as they run over the ridge!

 

The main issue is the guy trying to shoot that far without the proper practice and knowledge. The long range guys I know usually aren't taking those shots, they are good hunters, BUT when they do I bet you money it's more "ETHICAL" than those hunters I mentioned before!

 

Anyway, I'll probly get bashed left and right but that's my view. If I can get closer I will, but when that once in a lifetime buck steps out at 800 to 1000 yards and I have no way of getting closer you can bet I am going to shoot it!!!

[couesmagnet]

Well said becker. People should know their own limits with their own gear. I feel that range is all in the eye of the beholder. The problem most have with distance is they watched someone else pull off a long range shot somewhere and assume cause one guy pulled off the long shot that they should be able to also. This debate will go on and on every year and boils down to an honest self assessment of one's skills and not comparing yourself to others and doing it just cause someone else did it (ie, 900 shots). Every year i'm humbled by my own mistakes which are many. I thought i was a competent bow shot until this year, when not once but twice i grazed my 120 inch plus dream buck with a bow at less than 25 yards, less than 6 days apart. Even with a ton of practice with any form of weapon, the one thing that's always up in the air is one's ability to control his nerves with a giant standing there. Very few have a lot of practice with this, and you can never get enough in my opinion. A 30 yard shot was to long for me last year cause of my nerves, and i practiced shooting way longer than that all year!! On the last day i shot a consolation prize 108 buck at 40 yards, and the shot was perfect, go figure. Even our own skills with a weapon will vary from day to day, and situation to situation. Staying calm in the situation is more critical than ones skills overall, at least that's my opinion from watching guys while guiding for years, including myself melt away their own skills with a couple short breaths before the shot.

[8OWHUNT247]

332 yards with a cold steel spear!!

 

Naked, bare back on a horse, uphill, with the wind blowing 40 mph west AND 25 mph south!!

[rossislider]

I take all my game with my trusty boy scout issued folding pocket knife and or snare traps. Anyone who can't do this is not a real hunter. Additionally, I start all my fire by rubbing sticks together and only drink water I have purified myself using ancient methods passed down though the whispers of the winds through the trees, an wipe my backside with prickly pear cactus. If you don't do these things you aren't real outdoorsmen and should be at home crocheting or baking muffins for us real hunters when we get home.

 

I eagerly await your replies.

 

[doogan]

505- 1 shot

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

We are just casting opinions here. In the end to each their own. Think about this though that deer at 900 yards chose to be there and you chose to find him from 900 and couldn't get closer for whatever reason so I say the deer used it placement to avoid you. If you couldn't get closer how do you go get the downed animal or even find it for that matter? I was on a hunt where the animal was killed at 150 and it took an hour to find it. Hey if you nailed on at 900 i would help ya find it clean it and haul it out I just wouldn't do it that way myself. Don't mean I'm going to keep my mouth shut if the discussion comes up. Few more weeks till credit card hits!!!

[Becker]

I agree guys!!! In the end to each his own. I respect the guys who have their limits and stick to them. My crew of hunters has had the discussion many times. Where do we draw our limits? I dang sure have my limits set and those depend a ton on the conditions at the time. I just don't like it when others try and determine what my skill sets are and how close or far I should be doing my shooting. I will continue to try and get close as possible but please don't tell me that my next 500 to 1000 yard shot that I decide to take is "unethical".

 

And so far thanks to everyone here involved for being able to have a discussion!!!!

[John O]

26 for me

[mattys281]

I've always felt like the ethical/unethical argument is pretty stupid. There's no fixed limit, it all depends on a persons skill level and their assessment of the current situation & conditions.

 

I've never killed anything with a rifle, but my last couple bow kills were 30-35 yards and the deer had no idea I was there. Surprise! WHACK!

 

If you can shoot accurately at 1000, then blaze away. I'd like to develop that skill myself, maybe during retirement....

[Alpinebullwinkle]

947 yards..........and it only took me 16 shots!!

 

More seriously though.....great comments on both sides of the debate. My only personal vent is that now that 50% of unit #27 has been nuked from the Wallow Fire, the sight clearance has worked more in favor of the hunter and less in favor of the animals, particularly the bull elk in the late hunt. Since the fire, we are finding a greater % of unclaimed dead bulls in the unit after the late hunt, which has not helped the steep decline in herd numbers that has been occurring for about the last 15 years.

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

I agree, unit 27 late rifle of choice is 338 lapua with 32 power scope.

[lancetkenyon]

As with archery, the key to LR shooting, whether it be at game or steel, is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

 

Also, as with archery, is performance of your projectile on game at distance is very important.

 

I routinely practice my LR shooting out past 1400 yards with a rifle. But my own limits vary with conditions. High winds? Maybe 500 yards. Calm, high altitude, cold weather shots? Out to 1000 depending on rifle being used. I would also have no problem letting my 12 year old daughter shoot a deer or elk at 800+ with a rifle if conditions were good and we had time to prepare for the shot. I have shot coyotes out to 1326 yards, and passed on deer at only 350 yards due to my own hesitation of taking the shot at a bad angle. I have also passed shots on deer at less than 200 due to poor shooting conditions. I would think 80% of hunters would have taken the shot, but I did not feel comfortable with it.

 

Archery? I used to be very proficient at 100+ yards. Now, not so much. Why? I used to shoot 200-400+ arrows a week, and a lot at long range of 100+ yards. I took a deer at 96 yards with my bow back when I was shooting competitively. Now, 60 yards would be my max range.

 

I do not hunt Coues very often, but for my muley hunt in 2014, we practiced a LOT prior to opening day, for months, in anticipation of a long shot presenting itself. I almost took a shot at 688 yards with a mild crosswind, but the deer was not what I was looking for on day 3. On day 4, I wound up taking my buck at approximately 150-160 yards, off hand. I think that shot was just as difficult as an 800 prone shot in my opinion. Was it ethical? The buck jumped a bed and stopped on the opposite canyon slope. I felt comfortable I could make the shot, with no time to sit down to get a better rest. The deer went all of 10'. I feel pretty proud of that shot. Just as much as if it had been a bedded buck at 800 after taking 5 minutes to settle in and work up my ballistics.

 

So LR is all in the eye of the beholder. 100 for some is the same as 1000 for others. Just as 10 for some with a bow is as easy (or hard) as 1000 for others with a rifle.

 

It is the people who do not practice nearly year round and take a medium distance poor shot on game that gives LR hunters a bad name. Same with archery and guys that pick up a bow 2 weeks before season opener. I would think that 90% or lost game is from poor shot placement due to poor marksmanship and practice in the off season. But for someone to say it is unethical or unsporting to take a deer at 1000 yards after years of practice is just poor sportsmanship on their part. It is not for everyone, I get it. But respect the guys that CAN do it ethically.

[CWpredator]

From September of 2014-January of 2015 I took a 350" bull elk at 35 yards and 7 deer. 5 of the deer were in Illinois and the people back there though i was crazy considering I killed all the deer between 30-70 yards with my bow. Most of them have never shot a deer over 20 yards. It's just how they hunt. I am a western hunter and have learned to extend my ranges to be more successful. I killed my 107" December Coues at only 346 yards. Would I have liked to be closer yes. Would have I taken the shot at that buck at 900 or a 1000 yards pending conditions were okay... Yes. I killed a 176" mule deer in January with my bow at 37 yards. I turned the same deer down a week before at 18 yards because the shot wasn't right. I kill more animals at close range than far but that doesn't mean I am not adequate at extended range. I practice for that and feel I'm ready to make what ever shot is presented. If I don't feel comfortable in the shot I won't take it. The ethics police are always going to have their opinion on long range hunting gun or bow but I say more power to you if you are proficient at the weapon, distances, and methods practiced. Only the trigger man can make the call weather to shoot or not and only they can judge their own decision to pull the trigger right, wrong, or indeferent.

[AZ_SAWBUCK]

The reason in starting this poll was not to start an argument between bow hunters and rifle hunters. It was not to see who made the longest or most ethical kill. The reason I did this poll and just for one year is I wanted to see what the most effective range for shooting coues deer was for 2014. As I thought might be the case the numbers show 200 to 500 yards to be that vulnerable range for coues deer. I tried to hunt for closer shots like mule deer for a few years but found myself not skilled enough and going unsuccessful. The past few years I have tried for the 200 to 500 yard range and have been able to kill 3 years in a row. I wanted to see if it was just me or if others hunting numbers supported my thoughts on yardage. Sure there might be a few that are better stalkers and hunters and get closer and there will be a few who have invested the money into equipment that can constantly kill deer at 600 + yards and those who get lucky with the occasional long shot. Archery hunters have different seasons that make closer shots more possible and also make it harder to compare to rifle seasons. Thanks to everyone for participating and commenting. It gives me a better idea on how to practice for my next hunt and how far I can close the distance to before my chances for success will start declining.

Good theory. I think I'll but down the .300 win mag with turrets and bust out the .22-250 this year ( that is if I get drawn).

 

Besides I could use a season off from carrying that .300 custom build.

 

Good topic......... Way to start a fight too. Lol

[WhtMtnHunter]

I prefer to get in as close as possible. At 300 yards or less I can clearly tell if the animal was hit and how well.

 

I am curious what percentage of long range (1000 yards or more) hunters actually take the time to walk(1/2 mile or more) to where the animal was to look for blood? Unfortunately I think that would be a rather low percentage. Otherwise why not get closer for the initial shot?

 

To each their own. Maybe it would be a good idea to have different seasons for different hunting methods. Rifle with scope, rifle with open sights, muzzy with scope, muzzy with open sights, compound bows, recurve/longbow seasons. More opportunity for all different styles. The more primitive the weapon the closer to the prime rut.