Too long of a shot???

[RUNNING BEAR]

Yesterday I shot a spike at about 35 yards. I practice all the way from 10 to 60 yards and feel confident in my ability up to a little over 40 yards. With all this practice; I have never shot at an animal over 25 yards. When I took aim the thought never crossed my mind that he was "too far", which begs the question. Does anyone have a "limit" that they will not shoot over. And I mean LIMIT. If your limit is 30 and a deer comes out at 32, you are going to pass. Not saying that its right or wrong, just curious. My limit is that if I have never practiced at a certain yardage then i'm not going to shoot that far. I have a 60 yard pin that I am confident is sighted in and if all is perfect, might let an arrow fly. But if an animal was 61 I can say in good conscious say that I would not shoot. You???

[Closetohome]

Too many variables to say one yardage is the limit all the time. In ideal conditions I would say 35-40 on deer sized game and 50-60 on elk and larger. It all comes down to assessing the shot when it presents itself...if under the circumstances I feel I can make an ethical shot and cleanly kill the animal I will take the shot. If it is questionable or if I have my doubts I wont shoot no matter the yardage. I do practice out to 70yds as I think it helps tremendously at the shorter yardages and slight errors in form are magnified over distance.

[AggieBall]

When it comes to whitetail I practice 2x my comfort level. I practice at 60 ys as much as I can. Ask RDWHunter how I can outshoot him at 60. LOL.
Anyway even though I know I can make a 60 yd shot, I will only take a 30. So much can happen with whitetail past that. IMHO. If my dream buck come out at 32. Ya would probably take it if conditions were right.

Hogs let it fly.

[Hokie]

35 yards is my max for whitetails.
I set up a target at my hunting lease and did some test shooting from the blind.
35 is OK
40 is not so OK.

I might only shoot out to 30 depending on the circumstance as well.
cold, stiff...etc...

[Vegas77]

I practice to 60 yards also, but am new to bowhunting and decided that no matter what a deer over 35 yards would walk. Also where I hunt the shooting lanes max at 35. That's the max distance that I can practice at home. Gonna be hard to pass a 40 yard shot, but that's why I started to bow hunt, to get closer. Pig will let one fly to 60.

[johnsonzl]

I've bow hunted for years now and this was the first year I let an arrow loose on a deer. I don't really have a max yardage, I consider the variables in the situation before deciding whether or not to shoot. I also practice all the time and even so I find some reason most of the time not to pull the trigger. I would rather let it walk then let it limp.

[Breezy]

i have not nor will not take a shot past 25 on a deer.....period. My distance is less than 20 and like em 15 or less.

[RUNNING BEAR]

i have not nor will not take a shot past 25 on a deer.....period.

I can't help but respect that.

[Cotton]

Practice out to 100 yards and will keep my shots on WTs 25 and under.

[codpopper]

well i have been shooting bows long befor i was actually hunting so im pretty confident in most shots but you gotta take in concideration like where are YOU confident and the wind and many other variables. but like johnsonzl said, its better to let it walk then to let it limp......dont take a shot your not comfortable with

[RUNNING BEAR]

I wonder how many rifle guys think about this....?????

[DFWPI]

Perfect world, perfect conditions, if I was confident at 60 yards and a deer was 61, I would shoot.

But that would be a perfect world/conditions. Real life, to many variables.

[Bobcat]

i have not nor will not take a shot past 25 on a deer.....period. My distance is less than 20 and like em 15 or less.

x2

[tinman]

I keep my shots under 20-yards nowadays...it had worked it's way down to 25-yards when I shot a compound.

Early on, I shot 2 animals at 40+ yards...both were recovered but both were liver hits on game that was reacting to the shot noise. I decided to reel it in to 30-yards at that time...then later to 25.

I think everyone has to find their own comfort zone...if I remember right, IBEP recommends limitations around 30-yards in heavy cover and 40-yards in the open. Some people on here have taken 80-90 yard shots on game...I'm not that good.

....not trying to pick a fight but I've never understood why it's OK to stretch one's limits and let an arrow fly from longer distances because it's "just a hog/coyote/skunk/etc..."? I don't like wounding anything...no matter what class of critter it is.

[canny]

I practice quite often at longer ranges, 50 - 60, but I would never take a shot on a whitetail that far. However I have taken 2 deer at 40+ yards one was at 46 and the other was at 42. Both instances the conditions were perfect and neither deer ducked my string nor ran over 50 yards.