When I first started bowhunting taking a shot at a deer wasn't limited to 20 yards and under. There were a lot of deer killed past 30 yards plus. Most bow hunters today seem to have a 20 yard and under mentality.

Since I dropped bow weight my accuracy has really improved and a 20 yard shot seems close. I'm hitting out to thirty yards and am pretty comfy out to that distance. If I saw a relaxed deer at thirty yards I'd probally take the shot if it felt good. I've always seemed to know if a shot was doable no matter what distance.

So what say ye, is twenty yards a real logical number or is it a distance for the average bow hunter.

When I first started shooting a recurve, my grandfather would tease me about how close I was shooting. He killed a lot of deer with his recurve and I don’t think one of them was under 20 yards. I still hunt the same areas and recently paced off where he sat to the nearby crossings. Shots were 30-40 yards. There are a LOT of factors to take into account when deciding on shot distance in my opinion. Hunter accuracy is a big one. If you can’t do it on practice, you won’t get better in the woods. Hunter experience- Is this your first or even 10th animal or have you done this a hundred times? Confidence and experience matters. Conditions- Are you next to a babbling brook in early season or a frozen field on a dead calm late season day. The deer will react to the shot differently in those situations. Animal behavior- is the deer relaxed or keyed up? Walking quickly? Starting and stopping abruptly or just taking a slow step every little while to browse? This plays into the experience part- an experienced hunter can see all of that in an instant and recognize the body language. Your current ability- have you been practicing, are your fingers frozen, shoulders stiff from sitting for hours? Are you so full of adrenaline that you are shaking? You need to be honest with yourself in the moment if you can shoot your best shot.

With all of that, if conditions are perfect. Calm deer and I’m feeling good, I am 100% confident at 30 yards. I’ve killed a few over that and made follow up shots on a few WELL over that. Most of my deer however are between 16 and 25 yards. That’s my sweet spot. Not too close, not too far. I know shooters far better than myself that can and do stretch farther than that if conditions are right. They are very successful and not unethical in the least.

If you are dead sure you can hit it, it isn't too far.

'Average' is just that - a number derived from analysing a bunch of other numbers. Like 'mean' and 'median' etc. etc.

Someone once said, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." Basically, unless you understand the limits of 'statistics', you'll be bamboozled by numbers.

Pay more attention to your own shooting and the situation facing you and forget the rest.

I'm with you I'm good at 30-35 but 20 is ideal

I only have two considerations when it comes to the distance I shoot for hunting shots:

(1) How accurate am I at that distance.

(2) How much time does the animal have to move before the arrow gets there.

Use your best judgement, and shoot from whatever distance you want to.

Rick

I highly doubt twenty yards is the distance the "average bowhunter" holds himself to nowadays. Consider that the vast majority now use compounds and crossbows, and with them there are MANY folks shooting 40, 50 yards and often more, even here in the northeast. I wouldn't be surprised if the honest average shot distance is nearing thirty yards now.

20 logical? No. No single number is as a general rule. Logical to me is not deciding beforehand on such a number as a limit, but rather evaluating each shot opportunity as it presents itself. There are times I've passed at deer so close I could spit on them for reasons that had nothing to do with distance, and I've taken shots with selfbows and wooden arrows because everything felt perfect, with perfect results, with NO idea how far it was, only to step it off afterwards to find out it was probably farther than I would have shot... had I set an arbitrary distance limit.

I don't take conscious note of distance while practicing either, so doing so while hunting wouldn't do me much good. I just don't need it, and couldn't care less what the number of yards is. Just another freedom enjoyed with instinctive aiming. I let the sub take care of it.

Weather it's 5 or 30 yards it still can turn into a bad shot. Only you know how well you shoot and can make the shot.

As far as your skill and equipment will take you.

Some years back, I was on a preserve hunt for feral hogs. It cost me roughly $500 to play. Blood drawn, no recovery, you are done. Now I had two mind you, huge big toothed boars broadside, calmly eating the bait. I watched them for 20 minutes. I was sitting down, which is not comfortable for me. They were 5 yards outside my comfort zone. I just sat and watched them. For me I couldn’t take the chance on losing that $500 on an iffy shot. Some would have called me a fool which is OK. If I’m not 100% unvarnished sure, I don’t take the shot even on a small doe. And my comfort zone is 20 yards and in.

3D targets are static, live animals are dynamic. The reason I limit my shots to around 20 yrds has very little to do with accuracy.

Realistic hunting shot distance is going to vary from individual to individual depending upon their ability and level of confidence in the given shot. 20 yards is a nice round number but as Dana suggested, don't get too wrapped up in averages and statistics. Focus on your abilities and how they apply to the shot at hand.

Mr. Barbee has a very good couple of points. Being deadly accurate at a spot at any distance, doesn't mean that on an animal that spot is going to be in the same place after you released.

The last two bucks I missed were called in off of a field (from the same tree) to a very sparce woods. One was at 12 yards and the other just under 20. They were on high alert and looking for a fight. I didn't miss the spot, it had just moved to another place.

On the other hand my longest shot is 45 yards on an elk. If it was a whitetail I know I wouldn't have shot. Plus if I set my gap with a numerical value I wouldn't have shot. When he turned broadside, I can still remember thinking, "I know I can make that shot".

Bowmania

I've been known to hit a log at 100 yards, but my hunting distance takes into consideration the deers temperament and how I feel at the time. Seldom ever over 30 yards.

Todd. I used to shoot long hunting shots all the time.

I've taken lots of animals with 50+ yard shots.

Never had any problems with it, UNTIL I did.

Had a muledeer at almost 60 yards decide to lick his flank just as I released. He was clueless, just standing there, and my shot was spot on, but instead of getting double lungs I got neck & one lung. Unfortunately it didn't hit any vital areas in the neck.

I still recovered him, but only after roughly a 5 mile tracking job in some very rugged desert mountains, and even then he was still alive when I got on him again. Had to shoot him again.

That one incident made me rethink my long shots.

Oh, I'll still take long shots (sometimes), but it depends on the animal, and I'll put a lot of thought into the conditions before making my decision.

Rick

tracking poorly hit animals sucks....& I'm fairly good at it but it still sucks.. I prefer inside 20 with trad bows & inside 40 with my compound & iv got a benchrest rifle that iv shot quarter size groups @ 600 yards with but I limit myself to 500 yds on deer for the exact reason Rick & bowmania said ya can't predict animal movement

I am not good at long distance, with my long bow, on real animals,,,,,, I shot 2 deer this year, with this bow, one was at 7 yards, and the other was about 15 yards,,,, both shot from the ground

I know my limitations,,,, however I am sure others can, so there is real no answer to the question asked

This is another one of those threads that comes up quarterly, and there really is never an answer to the question.

Personally, I dont care how far anyone shoots, and I really don't care what anybody else thinks of the distance I shoot.

I'm with you Frank.

It's none of my business what/how someone else does it, but discussions of it are an OK thing in my book.

Folks often learn something just from others sharing their experiences.

Rick

The point Rick made about the animal not being there when the arrow arrived in more valid today than ever before. Remember when the arrow leaves the bow its going as fast as it ever will and begins to slow down at that instant. With guys shooting lighter and lighter bows today, that speed reduction is more pronounced than ever before.

Bob

What a close shot is and what a long shot is or isn't often times depends on what part of the world the archers hunting in for instance?...what's as long shot in the black-belt area of the south east may be a chip shot distance in the Midwest.

I know that when I hunted GA & AL?...if I could "SEE" more than 30yds or so?...I was hunting in the wrong spot.

Bout as far as your comfortable for killing anything from squirrels to hogs.

Bout as far as you can go back to have fun watching that arrow arc down into the target for killing paper plates.

I think you kinda answered your own question. When that shot just feels right is usually the best. I'm not a great shot by any stretch. I don't feel comfortable over about fifteen with my selfbows. Not because of the bows. Because of me and a thousand other things that happen. My selfbows are the only bows I've ever hunted with. I'm I'm usually able to get close to deer. The hard part seems to be that feeling right. Knowing you can get a shot of without them detecting it. That gets expotentenally more difficult the closer you get. It's all still hunting though anything can happen.

Bjrogg

I have had a number of deer bust or spin out of the way of an arrow 15 yards and under. Whether it was the sound or the motion of the bow limbs, don't know, but that does not happen so much at over 20 yards. Being a ground only hunter, being too close is not always my friend. I am pretty careful about taking shot when the deer that is standing still is likely to move. I had one move on me, that was feeding on a large oats round bale. Everyday, I rounded a corner and shot that round bale with a cedar blunt from my 89 pound bow. I knew that shot. One day a deer was feeding, I took the shot, it moved and the Hill broad head cut hairs off of its tail. The one time I was sure the deer would not move and it did. Close or far, there are no guarantees. The PETA woman that lived down the street and made up stories to try to get me in trouble, has killed more deer in the last two years than I have. Three to my one. The reason she killed the deer with her former PETA tagged VW was "It's not my fault, they were on the road and they didn't get out of the way". When someone noted that my pheasant hunting yearling 6 pointer was kind of smaller than what I normally shoot, I used PETA logic. "It's not my fault, he wouldn't get out of the way of my arrow."

Shooter skill has bearing on "how far", but even skilled shooters need to know target animal behavior before launching a long shot, or even "medium" distance shot. There's a HUGE difference in a longer shot at a nervous animal, maybe one that's suddenly caught a minute whiff of your scent versus a deer that's feeding along unalerted and calm. That's where the hunter-skills come into play, not just shooting skills.

I prefer 25 yards and closer for deer sized animals, out to 30 if conditions feel favorable.

Shot selection is personal. Many animals have been killed by skilled archers at greater distances. Some even shoot at running deer. Each hunter should do what they feel is right for them.

I am with Mr. Rick. I an’it no Howard Hill who said if your form is good you shouldn’t be to far off the mark at 50 yards. For some reason I like 25-30 yards but I also love 20 and under.

For me its not the accuracy but the time the arrow has to hit the target and the target move or adjust. I practice 30ish yards to make sure I have good form I set up hunting for <20 yards.

I've been hunting a lot of years and the furthest shot I took at a deer has been about 35 yards and that was a doe I killed in 1967. I wasn't that good in 1967 so it was opportunity versus luck. I did have decent form, but not 35 yard form.

I once (one time) hit a ground hog at near 80 yards down hill. I had good form then, but still more luck than good management. My thought process has always been to know I can hit where I'm looking and that the deer will not be in a fight or flight attitued. So now, that keeps me in pretty close. My last half dozen deer has been taken within that mystical 20 yard measure, one at about 7 yards. I don't need deer meat that bad to chance a shot that I can likely make if all goes well, and I damn sure hate tracking for hours. Each of us have to make our own decisions on that.

What ever you feel confident at should be your limit. It’s a personal thing.

I’m just not that comfortable shooting at an animal over 20-22 yards. That’s where my confidence is greatest.

There's the shot take it if your good enough!!!!!!!!

I found it depends on how well I see. If you can't get close then use your gun your probably going to anyways. LOL

2 types of guys Killer / Takers or talkers / hopers for one reason or another don't fill tags. The archer is the only one that can answer for his shot because your only as good as your last shot.

Every animal and every situation has a variable. Practicing on targets is a lot different than the arrowing of game.

So lets say you Can hit a softball or paper plate at 30-35yds consistently. When you are in the "woods" can you see all the little twigs that might be there between you and the deer on the arrows flight path out to that 30-35yds that might deflect you arrow into a miss or worst yet a gut shot? Are you are hunting a cut corn, bean, or any other agricultural field the deer might be feeding in that is a wide open shot with nothing between you and the deer? Now the question becomes out of those two scenarios where are you going to take that 30-35yd shot with confidence? What type of property are you deer hunting on normally? DANNY

I shoot to kill, I don t shoot to see how close I can get the arrow. Ive hunted with folks that just shoot to see how close they can get. Wrong guys to hunt with. It goes for Xbows, compound or trad bow hunting.

For me that is about 25 yds or less.

DAVE B

It all depends on if you can find the deer. You may need a dog. Several things can happen. You shoot and miss. you shoot and kill the deer and find it. (maybe with the help of dogs) or you shoot and wound it and it lives another day. I have trouble with the wounding so I won't shoot farther than I know I can kill a deer. I am real good at 12 yards. As good as anyone on planet earth shooting any equipment.

15yds for me.

In the world that I live in, I do what I want.

30 yard pine tree. Double lung, went 70 yards anyway.

Spine shot 2 by hitting high, no tracking. Oops...

Usually you shoot close. They move when they here the bow. 12 to 50 feet at 100 yards, or so... Lol

Been thinking on this. I get this question at the shop alot. Like I said in my last post, 30 yards is my longest.

1 to 10 yards is how I set up.

Don't be afraid to shoot! Fred, Ben, Bob, among others, did shoot at stuff!

shoot as far as you can kill.

Your ability will determine your distance.

Ability + confidence - field conditions - deer's ability to move while arrow is being shot - perceived shot angle (you may THINK you're at a 90 degree angle, but when you factor in field conditions that most often is very hard to determine with increased range) = "TOO FAR".

For me, hunting in typical mid-western farm woodlots, that means that if I'm confident out to 35 yards or so, then my personal limit at deer is about a third to half of that.

With a firearm the shot angle factor isn't near as crucial, as a shotgun sabot or bullet has no problem whatsoever going through a front shoulder that happened to get in the way at the last second.

Over the decades I've become a fairly decent hand at tracking wounded deer, and the above is the "school" I attended to acquire a lot of those skills. The irony is that now that I have that knowledge, I DON'T want to have to use it!

Depends.....my longest was just a touch over 40....my last what I consider long was a lasered 31 yds on a doe the first day a few years ago.

But normally if they are over 20-25 yds they end up walking on by.

Out west it could be different, but in the type of mts I hunt, its kinda hard to get a good shot much over 20-25 yds.

Personally I think its a big mistake for stickbow hunters to judge if and when to shoot based on yardage.

It will ruffle some feathers here, but truth is very VERY! few stickbow hunters can shoot with pinpoint accuracy like a good (notice I said "good") compound bowhunter.

Many made the switch from compounds to stickbows and brought some of the mentality with them.

Usually there is what I consider to be a "killing circle" around my stand location and it really doesn't have anything to do with yardage. Ironically it always seems to be less than 25 yds and around 13 to 20 yds seems most common.

For most of us, myself included your kill percentage will go way up if you get backyard yardage mentality out of your head and start thinking kill zone high percentage shots instead.

better to let them walk, and kill them another day than to take a low percentage shot, wound them, spend half the night tracking and lose them anyway.

In the wide open field range the trajectory of your arrow is not an issue. But the woods are filled with branches and linbs and brush on that same 30 yard trajectory. I shoot a very fast recurve, but even at 200 fps I easily detect the arc of the arrow. That is what makes me wonder about the current state of 3D shoots. Shots are long, but the guys are demanding that they be open along the path of the arrow. Judging distance is tough enough without having to calculate the arrow path at the intersection points of brush along the way.

" What type of property are you deer hunting on normally? DANNY " Good question! Here is a picture I took yesterday that shows mine. Kill bear here now. Have killed a lot of elk and deer over the years in this sagebrush country, mostly at close or average distances, but I know exactly what my point on distance is so I am comfortable with further if I have to. Not like you back east folks. No trees, no stands, not much cover, 1 of a species per year, with antler restrictions on elk and mule deer. Have never had one walk out of a shot, but, haven't taken those shots much. About 1 deer per 4 sections here, and 1 bear per 5 right now. Gathered and moved cattle where I hunt the past two days.Saw 1 deer and 1 bear in 15 miles of riding, and didn't cut much sign of either. I'm with aaa lot of guys that really do not think much about yardage. Best deal here is to find them bedded.

Let er eat

Amen Shade

I shot a bull elk once at 37 yards. My best shot ever. I couldn't believe that it was that far. My friend, who witnessed the shot, and I stepped it off twice. We both thought it was closer at the time. We guessed it to be 25yds. But the shot felt right and i knew i could kill it. 2 months later i passed an 18 yard wide open shot at a nice 10pt. I dont know why i didn't shoot. I guess it didn't feel right.

Most are commenting about their ability to accurately shoot an arrow a maximum distance but I think Jinkster has a good point about the type of terrain and foliage density being a factor that limits a shot. Today I was sneaking through my woodlot and thinking I'd have to be pretty close in a lot of areas to have a arrow even reach a deer undeflected.

along with that thought is the fact that I've had deer 10 yds away and never loosed an arrow.

And I once crouched for 2 hrs waiting for a bedded doe to stand up, legs and bow arm fell asleep. When she stood I shot right over her at about 12 yds.

so I suppose the buck I shot a smidge over 40 was close enough....but the doe at 12 wasn't !

circumstance, terrain and a whole lot of other factors.

27 ish yards so for me so far. Like pornography...know it when I see it. :)

Regardless of the distance or type of weapon used, in my experience there are two types of shots. The "hope I hit it shot" and the "I know I'm going to pocket shoot it" shot. I gave up on the first type quite a while back.

No one is saying that there is a 20 yard limit to taking shots at game. That's probably a realistic limit for the average traditional bowhunter. In the old days, the attitude seemed to be that you could not kill anything unless you had an arrow in the air. Shots of 100 yards and even longer were often mentioned in old magazine articles. I'm glad such long distance shooting is frowned upon today.

at speeds our bows shoot....common practices of past do not translate today. Also, just because you can drill a bullseye at 30-40yds does nto mean that equates to a good shot on a wild animal. In the time your arrow flies 35 yds...a deer could take two steps if feeding and turn a kill into a gut shot. If the deer is nervous...and it drops and turns to run at sound of your release...a bad hit is highly likely...a miss would be the best option. Close shots reduce the flight time of your arrow and limits the error induced to your hits from casual or defensive deer movements or other factors like wind or nerves. Just because you can doesnt mean you should. Hell I know lots of compound guys that drill to 75yds and then dont understand why they are wounding deer and not recovering from bad hits or poor penetration.

I am far more impressed by someone getting inside 20 or even 10 yds to take their shot....than someone doing it at greater distances.

Plus I have let deer walk at 3 yds because bad shot angle or staring right at me. To me it is more about what FEELS RIGHT given terrain, my shooting that day, and the animals relaxation (being unaware of me or other threats). A shot at a bull moose at 35-40 is a lot different than same shot on a southern whitetail....vitals alone are hugely different but you should still aim for that smallest of spots and smallest of error.

keep em sharp,

ron herman

The "old guys", and I'm one of them at 84, routinely shot field rounds once or twice a week and York or American rounds on weekends. For those that don't know, a field round is 28 targets at distances from 20 feet to 80 yards, 4 arrows per target, for a total of 112 arrows shot. A York round is 72 arrows at 100 yards, 48 at 80 yards, and 24 at 40 yards, for 144 arrows shot 6 arrows per end. Compare that to a 3-d where the targets are around 20-25 yards, 1 arrow per target. Point is, the "old guys" were familiar with their equipment at all ranges, had a great sense of distance from practice, and were very successful at killing things. Those weren't Hail Mary's for most. And, they had the same compulsion for getting close as hunters today, so the long shots were sometimes, not all the time. For lot's of reasons, the archer of today in America seldom has the opportunity or desire to shoot much over 20 yards. That's not a knock, just the way it is. Different times!

It is a sport, there are Tiger Wood's and the rest of us. I don't doubt there are people with immense capabilities out there.

I subscribe to the European private land standard, where you basically loose your right to hunt if you wound game. Or the African standard where it costs you thousands of dollars to wound game. The public land standard can be a little slack at times. There is a huge difference between knowing you can make the shot and thinking you can.

Things do turn around. Not that long ago this place was all about compounds being bad, because they shot arrows that were too light. Now we are shooting the light arrows at about 1/4 the energy a compound guy does, and we are saying we need to be lengthening our shots when they come up because with a fingers release and an arrow point sight we are so accurate.

I saw this video of a national level IBO where there was a 4 inch target at 20 yards you had to pay some money to shoot, and virtually nobody was hitting it.

There was that lancaster spots shoot where the guys were missing large, shooting boutique bows, known distance, national level shoot. There were some ends where they drilled Xs. So when shooting live animals where you don't need the meat to live, do you go by the top shooter shooting Xs, or routinely also going for runs when they dropped shots badly? To me the worst shots are pretty bad.

I think the starting point is to log all, and own all, your shots. I constantly run across people who think they are as good as their best shot.

I used to shoot a lot, and I mean a lot, over 100 arrows a day, every day. We'd shoot a 3D twice a week and I competed on weekends. That being said, in 2007, I shot a mule deer at 47 yards, checked with a range finder after the shot. Phantom tipped shaft went through both shoulders and we found it laying in the snow. Buck went 50 yards. Bow was a 57 pound Bob Lee.

Now days, I don't shoot near as much, don't compete near as much, and I won't shoot past 30 yards. I have let some big mulies walk away because they were just too far for me. And because of that, I've hunted the same bucks for two weeks straight without blowing them out or making a bad shot on one. Elk and bear are the same way. I limit shot distance and know sooner or later I'll get the shot I want. It's just a matter of time and not being stupid. And for elk, if you can't suck a bull in under 20 yards, you need to learn how to call. Cous deer, learn to stalk or ambush. My 2017 buck was shot at 25 yards.

Frustration is what usually ends up guys taking long shots, that and the need to kill something to post of Facebook. Seems anymore guys are more concerned about joining the ranks of Facebook posts and are willing to try a very long shot in hopes of posting pictures on social media.

i like to shoot less than 20 for game,,,, if Im stump shooting 150 is about max,,

20 yds. avg. shot distance on hard to hunt desert mule deer. I just hunt my own methods I have developed plus the you know what shooting method. Accuracy is extremely important. Desert mule deer are rarely common...you want to make the most of the opportunity when it comes...

https://youtu.be/ugkEhSr-b_0

More specifically, I'd be reluctant to shoot past 30 yds. Rather my interest is in getting the deer closer, it's pretty exciting when the distance is less than 15 yds...wild wild deer but the name of the game is control...

I have made some amazing shots (and groups) at 40,50, 75, even 100 yards....on targets.

I hunt at 20 yards and closer. The 2 whitetails I killed last year were less than 10 yards.

To each his own, but target shots are completely different than hunting shots.

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