What got you interested in long range hunting?

[Twoevilfouryou]

Hunting in Arizona we have lots of open spaces and it can some times be very difficult to find cover to blend into and have found myself taking longer shots, so I have absolutely love the challenge of finding out how far can I go, spent a lot of time on the 1000 yard range just watching and asking lots of questions and learning from the experts

 

[floyd kittrell]

Hunting the black belt of central Alabama , hunting over never ending sage field , bean fields or large power lines where you could see 2 miles in either direction

 

[LexRick]

Went to Montana with my brother 2 years ago shot my 1st mule deer at 140yds first day of hunting. All 6 of us had are deer at the end of 2nd day. Went pheasant hunting 3rd day. 4th day went goose hunting in the morning afternoon me and one of the guides went out after a doe which I bought an otc tag for. He set me up at 680yds. I used more of his 7mm saum rounds then I did of my own. We then moved to 500yds and got her with 2nd shot. Since my brother are going back November 2020 I got a 7mm stw so I can try again with my own rifle. First time ever shooting that far really gets in your head about just how far that is. I live and hunt in Kentucky and am lucky to take a 100yd shot.

 

[Doodle]

For me it's really just another skill/tool in the hunting tool belt. Harvesting meat is the name of the game for me, so anything that increases my odds (within reason) is a skill I'm interested in.

 

[foul bore]

The challenge, just to see if I could. It sure helps your confidence on short shots too.

 

[zb338]

I never shot long range. We don't have any ranges here in Pennsylvania
that are really long. But I always hunted in several States and this site
is a learning site to me. It is really interesting to know what the rest of
the gun world is doing.
Zeke

 

[Don A Parsons]

I popped a few Elk and Moose at distance,,, then decided to improve on those results...

So far so good with Zero miss'es and all harvests to fill the freezer...

My first EXLR took place in the mountains at 1700 metres on iron gongs...

Practicing LR keeps me on target these days

I was hooked from that point on.

Cheers from the North

 

[308win]

I just wanted one of those cool looking scopes on top of my rifle!

 

[bigngreen]

I grew up with a gun around and you just pushed the range with everything starting with gophers with 22's, had a precision target 22 and I could sit down and make all my bullet money back with tails.
Growing up in the mountains of Mt you just have a lot of opportunities to shoot and shoot far, I was raised watching my dad reload and shoot far so it just was the norm.
What really pushed me to precision hunting was just watching to many wrecks, having to dispatch stuff, shoot things twice, came to the point that either I found a better way OR quite hunting.
Retooled from the ground up, new everything, found Berger bullets then found this forum and Broz, got heavy into ballistics and it took hold from there. The most satisfying hunting I do is either at spitting distance with a bow OR one precision placed round taking that one perfect shot and cleanly killing the one animal I want, range don't matter just that when the killing time comes it's done precisely and done well!!

 

[tony d willIiams]

As a young pup I would chase, track, head off, try to position myself where the game would cross fo water, food, or bedding down. As an older man with shot lungs I am not able anymore to run around for days or just all day. So I learned to shoot long distance.
Interesting though is I now know where the game is and I find I am usually less than a hundred yards from large herds of deer.
When I finish my scouting I am usually blessed with being able to set myself in a short range shooting position.

 

[Aoudad shooter1975]

When the equipment got better and you could accurately produce hits at greater than 500 yards...more successful hunts....

 

[SavageHunter11]

For me: I grew up on a farm and no one in my family hunted or done much shooting. I hunted with a Winchester 1300 & slugs from age 13 to 18 by myself and didn't know anything. Never hardly saw deer and never killed anything. @ 18 years old I bought myself a 35 rem marlin 336 that I saw no reason why I couldn't hit the moon with it, seriously, lol. Had a lot older fellow help me sight it @ 100yds. Finally got a shot at a deer about 300 yards away with the old 35 propped up on a hay bail. Made three shots and the deer still just standing there. I didn' even know to try & hold over, I thought the old 35 rem was a Lazer I guess. Lol, funny I was that green. I was so disgusted. If I would have killed that deer I would have never had the determination that I needed to learn what I should know about shooting at longer distances. It took my failure to motivate me to learn more. Now I'm glad that deer was 300yds away and I missed it. Wouldn't have learned much if it would have been 50yds away and I would have hit it.

I got interested in long range shooting after a few of my uncles decided to see who could hit a 12"x12" piece of farm scrap metal the furthest at the yearly family get-together when I was 17. I had never shot anything except a shotgun before that but it was awesome (at the time) to see two guys hitting a target at 300 yards (340 yards won it that year).

The next summer I was 18 and I bought a rifle of my own (Rossi Wizard in 308) to compete and to try deer hunting. I didn't win that year and my competitive side didn't like that so I got an extra job and started donating plasma for money and bought a Remington 700 VTR in 308, Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50, and bedded it in a Choate stock. Then the yearly get together came along...and I still didn't win (500 yards was the distance to beat that year).

I sold the VTR shortly after hunting season that fall and for the next year I decided to build a rifle off a Savage action in a caliber that was new to the scene, the 6.5 Creedmoor, after my local gun store owner and his son showed off their freshly built Creedmoor at their private 1000 yard range during a store promotion. I built the gun that winter and all spring and summer I practiced with the shop owner and his son. When the family get together happened at the end of the summer I finally won with 970 yards and set a family record that stood for two more years.

Nine years later and we still have the yearly family distance competition. It's a lot more competitive now and there are a lot (Dad has 12 brother's and sister's and I have just over 40 cousins) more of us in the family that compete. I shoot a .338 Lapua but we had 300WM, 7mmRM, and even another 338 Lapua and a 416 Barrett out there this year. It's a lot of fun and everyone walks back to the house happy. The current family record is 1370 yards by the 416 Barrett (Noreen ULR) wielding cousin of mine this year and I am already planning a practice regimen for next spring to not lose like I did this year. As much as I want to build a CheyTac for next year, I know the Lapua is capable of more and my money is better spend on ammo and range time (especially since I was invited to join a semi-private 1 mile range that's an hour from my house).

Sorry for the long post but I thought this group especially could appreciate the journey that I (and my family) took to get into long range shooting. What started as two uncles "schooling" their nephew has turned into a whole family tradition that now involves three generations of family.

 

[DJ Fergus]

I got interested in long range shooting after a few of my uncles decided to see who could hit a 12"x12" piece of farm scrap metal the furthest at the yearly family get-together when I was 17. I had never shot anything except a shotgun before that but it was awesome (at the time) to see two guys hitting a target at 300 yards (340 yards won it that year).

The next summer I was 18 and I bought a rifle of my own (Rossi Wizard in 308) to compete and to try deer hunting. I didn't win that year and my competitive side didn't like that so I got an extra job and started donating plasma for money and bought a Remington 700 VTR in 308, Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50, and bedded it in a Choate stock. Then the yearly get together came along...and I still didn't win (500 yards was the distance to beat that year).

I sold the VTR shortly after hunting season that fall and for the next year I decided to build a rifle off a Savage action in a caliber that was new to the scene, the 6.5 Creedmoor, after my local gun store owner and his son showed off their freshly built Creedmoor at their private 1000 yard range during a store promotion. I built the gun that winter and all spring and summer I practiced with the shop owner and his son. When the family get together happened at the end of the summer I finally won with 970 yards and set a family record that stood for two more years.

Nine years later and we still have the yearly family distance competition. It's a lot more competitive now and there are a lot (Dad has 12 brother's and sister's and I have just over 40 cousins) more of us in the family that compete. I shoot a .338 Lapua but we had 300WM, 7mmRM, and even another 338 Lapua and a 416 Barrett out there this year. It's a lot of fun and everyone walks back to the house happy. The current family record is 1370 yards by the 416 Barrett wielding cousin of mine this year and I am already planning a practice regimen for next spring to not lose like I did this year. As much as I want to build a CheyTac for next year, I know the Lapua is capable of more and my money is better spend on ammo and range time (especially since I was invited to join a semi-private 1 mile range that's an hour from my house).

Sorry for the long post but I thought this group especially could appreciate the journey that I (and my family) took to get into long range shooting. What started as two uncles "schooling" their nephew has turned into a whole family tradition that now involves three generations of family.

This is a great story, glad you posted it.

 

[lyotehunter]

Did you hit it on the first shot? Even if you didn't hit it until the 3 or 4 shot, that's still pretty amazing for your first deer kill at that distance.

no when I hit it I was using a tree behind the buck to sight on and the deer was out of the scope.the deer had no idea where the shots were coming from. I was young so I kept shooting we were a week into our hunt by then. the final shot broke the deer's back and I all but ran up the hill to put it down for good. I was hooked from then on. just one of the things you do when you don't know better or think you know everything.