Quick Long Range Shots

[sendero72]

You are on the right track with the flags. I use orange surveyors tape on tree limbs around bean and corn fields and laser the distances and draw a chart. As for the roads, just get some old plastic 35mm film canisters and put some kind of scent on some cotton balls. Even if it's not the rut, a buck will stop just the figure out the scent which will give you the time it take to make a precision shot. Works for me!

 

[WildRose]

Been doing some thinking and playing around with jbm ballistic calculator. If I zero at 300, and keep my scope on 12 power, how will this effect holdover since my sub tensions are set at15x? Will 1 mil dot (mil) really be 1.25? If so, I can put one flag at 360, which still puts me in vitals, and anything over that use the first dot out to 450.

If you know the distance just work with known measurements.

From the whithers to the bottom of the chest the deer is about 18-20 inches. Half of that is 10 inches, twice that is 38" (again going with close approximations).

If you are zeroed for 350 and it is a 450yds shot, look at your drop chart and see how many inches it is from 350-450.

Say it's 9". Well look in your scope put the cross hairs dead center between the top of the whithers and bottom of chest. Raise then your crosshairs to the top of the whithers and pull the trigger and the bullet should strike at that same midpoint. A little high and you have lungs and spine to slice through. A little low and you punch a golfball sized hole right through his heart.

The results are the same either way DRT.

 

[sscoyote]

Been doing some thinking and playing around with jbm ballistic calculator. If I zero at 300, and keep my scope on 12 power, how will this effect holdover since my sub tensions are set at15x? Will 1 mil dot (mil) really be 1.25? If so, I can put one flag at 360, which still puts me in vitals, and anything over that use the first dot out to 450.

No, the 1.25 in JBM is the factor that is used to calculate the subtension at a lower power. Subtension is ~inversely proportional to magnification, so as magnification decreases reticle subtension increases, so the following holds true--

15/12=1.25
1.25 x 3.6=4.5 inch per hundred yds.

This means that the subtension between dot centers at 12x will be 4.5 IPHY.

 

[edge]

IMO, high magnification is for distance only!

If a deer comes out at 100 yards you will never find it at 15x
If there is a chance for a deer at under 200 yards keep the mag at a low range.

I use two magnifications on my rifle, MIN and MAX.
Learn what they mean at distance so if you have no time to turn to max you can still shoot to a reasonable distance. Then, if a bunch of deer start filtering out at 300+ move to max and get ready.

Magnification is similar to bullets, close range and long range may require different impact points to ensure a clean kill, you need to adjust on the fly...IMO.

edge.

 

[Wheatgerm]

I'm going to put stakes and flags up in the road at known distances.

This is your best bet. Then download a ballistics app and punch your scope and your load data into it. Then it will print you out a reticle reference that tells you what each mil is for hold over. Remember with MOST reticle scopes the dots will change on different scope power so if your scopes mil is set up to be used on 10x then stay on 10x or you will miss

 

[albertakid]

If your working with known distances why not take a day at the range and by adjusting your reticle up or down try to find a setting that closely matches those distances.

I have done this with ballistic reticles in order to fine tune them to a handload just remember the substensions between th lines get smaller as the power is decreased.

I would think you could pick up a 3-9 nikon with theyre balistic reticle and be pretty close with a little range work .

I messed with mildots for a few years ended up going with an moa substension scope instead and have never looked back alot easier to find hold points in a quick fasion and with a little time it is pretty easy to memorize your hold ups out to 500 or as someone said put a small chart in your rear butler creek cap for reference

 

[Greyfox]

Being primarily a whitetail hunter, over half my hunting involves set-ups similiar to what you describe. If there are a few major trails along the cut, I'll make a mental note of features that will indicate the range. If there are numerous trials, and this is not feasible, I use a calibrated reticule against the chest to determine the range. For several years I used a standard Mil-Dot to do this. I also used the Mildot to establish hold. With a flat shooting rifle and practice, out to 400-500 yards this csn be very fast and effective. In recent years I have used the same approach with the more precise Reticle systems like the Boone and Crockett Leupold, and currently a Nightforce G7. Using these reticles, it's pretty easy to use the same ranging scale for yardage to determine the range to the deer. It just takes some calculations, and practice committing the scale to memory. I can range accurately enough out to 500 yards to be within a 6-8" kill zone. The whole process takes a few seconds if the deer cooperates. An example of how I range with the G7 set at 10x, the following is the range bar distance using the chest of the deer. I find this faster than using a standard Mildot.

350 yard hashmark-500 yards
375 ". ". -425 yards
400. ". ". -350 yards
450. ". ". -300 yards
500. ". ". -250 yards

 

[Tnwhip]

I missed one the other day because I did a SWAG "Scientific Wild *** Guess" And I was wrong, They had run down further than I had thought and I screwed up. Some time there is just not enought time.

I was hunting over a bean field in my ambush spot down on the farm. The field is L shaped. My hidie hole is in the outside of the elbow over looking the whole field. It is about 900 yards long on the left and 500 yards on the right. I do have yardage markers every 100 yards on the right field and I have lazered the left field and thought I had it undercontrol, but in the heat of the moment things did not go as planed. At 07:00 6 does came running from the far left corner going across toward the middle of the the field. There is a downed tree that I know is 475 yards. They run past it, stop and look back. Then I see what is chaseing them, a nice buck. They trot into the treeline. The buck keep coming and stops at the edge I am laying down and have a steady shot. I don't have time to lazer him, I have a 250 zero I crank for 400 yards and put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and sent the 162 Amax down range from my 280 Ackley Ruger tang safety that I built last year. He looked around and walked into the treeline. I took a deep breath and got my rangefinder out and it was 355 yards. I had shot over him by just a little. I waited 30 minutes and went over and didn't see any sigh of a hit. I went back that evening and nothing came out.
The next morning at 6:30 3 does walked around the back of the right field at 500 yards. There is a dozer pile and weeds that sticks out infront of me that is 275 yards and at 7:00 a doe is standing beside it. I am sitting in a chair and have cross sticks and I crank the scope up to 14X and look her over then turn it back down to 6x. She turns around and feeds out of sight the way she came. In a few minutes I see another deer in the same place feeding. I still have my rifle to my shoulder resting on the cross sticks. I look it over and I see big antlers. It is the same deer I missed the morning before. I said to myself I got you now. He takes a few more steps then he turns and jumps up on the dozer pile. I line the cross hairs behind his shoulder and before he drops out of sight I squeeze the trigger and he collapses. I was lucky to get another chance at him. He was only in my sight for not more than 30 seconds. If I had not looked at the doe with my rifle and was still in the ready mode I might not have got a shot. he is the best buck I have got in several years. He had been fighting and had broke a brow tine off. What was a nice 8 Was now a nice 7 point. You can see in the picture how his hide is gouged where he had been fighting. I have been going back everyday looking for the one he had been fighting with but have not seen anymore big deer.

 

[jsthntn247]

This is what I'm thinking. Sight in dead on at 300. Put a flag at 360. Anything further than that hold high shoulder. That will get me to 460 and basically to the end of the lane. Don't have to worry about the wind, the weeds and trees block it out, and 10 mph is a bad wind day down here in the south. . If my scent trail works and they stop, I'll still range and dial. Ive got 10" circular ar500 plates that I practiced with all summer out to 900. I picked these because its the same size as a deers kill zone. If one gives me time to range its definitely game over.

 

[edge]

SNIP. set up on roads that are about 30 feet wide.
SNIP. By the time a buck enters the road, you only have about 2 seconds to judge him and make a shot.
SNIP.

OK, I re-read the initial post and need to modify my answer!

Two seconds and the deer covers 30 feet = 15 feet per second

Dials are the least of your concern!
At 500 yards the bullet will take better than 1/2 second to get there and you need to lead the deer by 7 feet!
IMO, if you can't stop him you can't shoot unless where you hit him doesn't matter, OR you need to set a reasonable distance where if he does not stop you let him walk...IMO!

edge.

 

[liltank]

Here's an idea. Its obvious you have good judgement on range estimation. The flags will help considerably. So my thoughts are to drop to a lower weight bullet with your 300 Win. Mag that you are very comfortable with and let her go. I would suggest the Berger 168 Hybrids. They worked like a charm yesterday killing a doe on the run at 150yds. With a better BC than any of the 155's and 165/168's and 175's, you will be able to run them flat and fast in the 300 Win. Mag. The only thing you might want to add is a custom turret to your scope for quick spinning.

Tank

 

[sscoyote]

You need a ballistic reticle that matches your load well to 500 for the fastest system possible. That will put you way ahead of the 8-ball. Got a coyote hunting buddy who's killed a number of 1st-shot coyotes to 650 yds. in low percentage fast shot opportunities using a Leupold/Varmint Hunter's reticle on an AR-10 243. But another part of the equation is a spotter. Since we hunt as a team in these situations i can quickly establish range with my Leica Geovids while he sets up for the shot, and it works GREAT. A second focal plane reticle [like Leupolds VH or B&C reticles) are a good bet, maybe Zeiss's ballistic reticles as well. Vortex makes one too--like the Burris Ballistic Plex. A custom dot reticle matched to your load would work about as good. This is gonna be the fastest intermediate range system you'll ever use. Watching this partner of mine in action to the ranges he is successful at is truly amazing but he's put the time into his system to maximize his efficiency with it, which means not just calculating but also practicing. Just last month he nailed a coyote facing us [3" target maybe] at 440 just a second or 2 after i called range to him--440. I swear this guy just never misses.

Another idea is to try and get the deer to stop with some sort of call. I've used this system frequently on many game animals for many years.