BrentM
Well-Known Member
First long range experience was in the army, counter sniper course, then it was heavily renewed with predator hunting, specifically long range wolf.
What got you interested in long range hunting?
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I grew up on a tobacco farm in southern Virginia. Although we had BB guns at 5, 22's at 6, and 22 pistol at 13; shot mice and crows out of our bedroom windows, and as soon as we got off of the school bus we grabbed the rifle and dogs and headed into the woods looking for squirrels and rabbits; there was not enough safe clear space to even sight in at 100 yards. I used to listen raptly to my cousin speaking of shooting ground hogs in the mountains at 200-300 yards with his 22-250. Eventually I ended up in Texas with up to 730 yards that I could safely shoot on. Coyotes and pigs were almost in the yard and continued to move farther away as I shot them. Eventually I bought a Remington 700 AAC in .308 and took a long range precision class. That hooked me.
Jeffrey Van Zandt
Well-Known Member
I have been shooting from age 6 22 for rats at the dump then a 35 Remington cork screw or with a 25 Rem auto for white tails but I always loved shooting wood chucks with a old 6.5x55 sweded and after taking a chuck at 450 yards in 68 I was hooked. moved to alaska 32 years a go and had a Co do me up a 300 win heavy barrel custom for rock chucks up here, I think the rifle Co was called Dog town out of Calf but anyway it worked on chucks which was my fun hunts taken many from 400-800 and it worked good on Moose bears and everything I hunted but I only hunt for food (subsistence) but steel is the most fun
Good thread! Funny thing i grew up duck and goose hunting ever before shooting a rifle. First ever doe was at 200yds as a young teenager, i was pretty proud of that. Growing up hunting led to more hunting/ shooting and reloading then to shooting competitions and PRS which intermingled with long range hunting. Even if i don't draw a tag for an animal out west i can still shoot whitetails out to 1300yd at our place in Texas. I think also the adventure of going to Colorado, NM, Arizona, Wyoming and those places is what keeps me going even if all i could take was a camera.
340Wby-4-everything
Well-Known Member
If talking beyond 600yds, I have no interest in long range hunting. While I am sure there are many on here that can shoot sub MOA groups well past 1000, to me, somewhere around 700-800yds and beyond, too many other factors come in to play that we have zero control over. Wind and animal moving being the biggest. I personally choose to not shoot beyond 600 and haven't shot an animal beyond 505 (elk) and usually half that or less as I don't want to wound and/or lose an animal. I have too much respect for them to do that. Even most antelope shots have been well under 300 and I have killed dozens of them. Now, bad humans, shoot em where you see em and I don't care if it is a click or more away. Even wounded takes em outta the game and that is key.
stljc2
Well-Known Member
It all started with my grandfathers 8 pt. buck and elk skinned chaps. He had various trophies of duck, pheasant, deer and such in his basement. Along with a gun case and bar they made for a kids wild imagination. I loved the out doors...and that was all it took. Dreaming of harvesting a "Good" buck at long range became a dream I've had ever since. Well at 65 year old and many woods deer under my belt...I'm still looking...
James Pearson
Well-Known Member
I grew up in west Texas prairie lands, plinking prairie dogs with .22 rifles as a teenager.
I found myself 30+ years later hunting mulies back home on the expansive prairie ranches. Long Range is what it is! After a successful first hunt I realized what a stretch 400 yards was for me in a real hunting situation, so I found a place I can shoot 1000 plus yards and started working on it.
This has developed into better equipment, reloading and load development, and lots of practice at all kinds of distances and in all sorts of conditions. I now shoot almost every day, and when the winds are blowing or the weather is nasty I find myself excited to see what I can accomplish in those conditions.
This has been an outstanding cycle of learning, not only all of the tips and tricks to wring out better accuracy but also in what my limitations are when pursuing live game. I encourage anyone interested in true and honest development of personal skills to get out in all kinds of weather conditions and learn about your equipment and yourself. It is very rewarding! Good luck and always have fun with it.
I found myself 30+ years later hunting mulies back home on the expansive prairie ranches. Long Range is what it is! After a successful first hunt I realized what a stretch 400 yards was for me in a real hunting situation, so I found a place I can shoot 1000 plus yards and started working on it.
This has developed into better equipment, reloading and load development, and lots of practice at all kinds of distances and in all sorts of conditions. I now shoot almost every day, and when the winds are blowing or the weather is nasty I find myself excited to see what I can accomplish in those conditions.
This has been an outstanding cycle of learning, not only all of the tips and tricks to wring out better accuracy but also in what my limitations are when pursuing live game. I encourage anyone interested in true and honest development of personal skills to get out in all kinds of weather conditions and learn about your equipment and yourself. It is very rewarding! Good luck and always have fun with it.
MNbogboy
Well-Known Member
As a boy in the 50s I watched my uncle's & cousins breaking beer bottles kiddy corner across a fourty (550-560 yds?) with a rem 721 in 270win with a weaver K4! Got the bug right then & there for long shooting.
Without laser range finders, long shooting was still was limited to knowledge of your hunting area or how flat your rifle could shoot. We all know that a misguess of 25 yards at distances of 500 yards or more can make the difference of a hit or miss or worse yet a wounded animal.
My longest shot to date is 440 yards (measured on aerial photo) on a whitetail buck in WI and 430 yards (lasered) on a buck lope in WY. Well over 100 deer & lope in the 200-350 yard category.
Our club has 600 yards max and with my modest equipment most is capable of moa or less at 600.
Because of TOF and muzzle energy I limit my hunting to the 500 yd category. But in perfect conditions I probably would stretch it out should the opportunity arise. Also have shot many in the 20 yard bracket, does that disqualify me as an lrh?
Without laser range finders, long shooting was still was limited to knowledge of your hunting area or how flat your rifle could shoot. We all know that a misguess of 25 yards at distances of 500 yards or more can make the difference of a hit or miss or worse yet a wounded animal.
My longest shot to date is 440 yards (measured on aerial photo) on a whitetail buck in WI and 430 yards (lasered) on a buck lope in WY. Well over 100 deer & lope in the 200-350 yard category.
Our club has 600 yards max and with my modest equipment most is capable of moa or less at 600.
Because of TOF and muzzle energy I limit my hunting to the 500 yd category. But in perfect conditions I probably would stretch it out should the opportunity arise. Also have shot many in the 20 yard bracket, does that disqualify me as an lrh?
nathank
Well-Known Member
For me it was just a progression in shooting in general, been shooting for over 20 years and shooting at 300 yards just wasn't exciting anymore and I got the itch to start reaching out farther. Then i stumbled on this site and it really took off from there.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I have been fascinated with all things gun related since I was a little kid, just inherently interesting to me. Started with nerf guns no joke. Didn't care that much about having dart gun fights with other kids but spent much time trying to hit pop cans from across the house, a real challenge with the lazy arch trajectory and inconsistent muzzle velocity.
Same with BB guns when I got older. I was always trying to see from how far away I could hit birds and pop cans.
Then with a .22. An old, and stupidly accurate, Cooey single shot with good iron sights. Nothing made me feel more pleased than those times I'd be able to drill cans from over 100 yards and I'd shoot thousands of rounds over the years at the hillside 400 yards south of my dads house, seeing the dust puff and walking shots into mole hills and such. The delay time of flight was fun for me. Learned a lot from that.
First big guns were dads 336 30-30 and an uncles enfield 303 British, both open sights. This particular enfield was probably the most innacurate rifle I've ever worked with, but dads 30-30 isn't half bad. Practised with it and put the techniques I'd perfected with that 22 to use until I could hit a 6 inch target at 300 yards pretty consistently. To this day that feels like more of an achievement than hitting the same thing from 600 with a scoped rifle of any kind.
Got the bug real bad when I was 13 or 14. A friend let me borrow his scoped 30-06. It was all over after that
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Same with BB guns when I got older. I was always trying to see from how far away I could hit birds and pop cans.
Then with a .22. An old, and stupidly accurate, Cooey single shot with good iron sights. Nothing made me feel more pleased than those times I'd be able to drill cans from over 100 yards and I'd shoot thousands of rounds over the years at the hillside 400 yards south of my dads house, seeing the dust puff and walking shots into mole hills and such. The delay time of flight was fun for me. Learned a lot from that.
First big guns were dads 336 30-30 and an uncles enfield 303 British, both open sights. This particular enfield was probably the most innacurate rifle I've ever worked with, but dads 30-30 isn't half bad. Practised with it and put the techniques I'd perfected with that 22 to use until I could hit a 6 inch target at 300 yards pretty consistently. To this day that feels like more of an achievement than hitting the same thing from 600 with a scoped rifle of any kind.
Got the bug real bad when I was 13 or 14. A friend let me borrow his scoped 30-06. It was all over after that
.Glad to hear someone acknowledge his blessings. Never does a person any good to count up all of their setbacks or things that happened they had no control over. To many people focus on everything that's not perfect in their lives. If a person can get up, walk around, hear,see, smell, talk, and able to use their hands & brain with out impairment, they are truly blessed and should realize that. Routine trips to see the sick & disabled would cure an unappreciative mind set. Every one doesn't get dealt the same set of cards from birth or there on out. But there's plenty blessings to be thankful for it you set down, think about it and start counting them.
Necessity for the most part, back in 2015 I fell off the second story of my house. I shattered my leg and now have a fused right ankle. This has limited my mobility for western hunts. If I still want to get out and hunt the mountains, I need to be prepared to make longer shots. I still try to get closer when I can, but I can't move quickly if needed.
