What got you interested in long range hunting?

[SavageHunter11]

This is a great story, glad you posted it.

Bored at work and decided to write a book of a post. Glad someone enjoyed it.

 

[skipglo]

For me....I shot everything I wanted to shoot in Canada for 40 years wherever the shot presented itself. The longest shot has only been 489 yards...so now I need the new challenge as the game is no longer what the trip is about...it's being out with friends and family. When I see Deer now...Muley or Whitetail..... I back up...we have a new rule in camp for us older guy's.....nothing under 500...unless of course the Deer is Pushing 195....lol

 

[Ndfarmer]

The love of shooting and wide open spaces got me interested. When you lived in the country you learned to entertain yourself as a kid or you got put to work. Road hunters made me get serious. We have roads every mile for the most part in my area and open country with small prices of cover. when I started deer hunting everyone did drives but it didn't take me long to change tactics when road hunters we're getting more deer the we were. Now I can sit in cover away from deer and wait for them to give me a perfect standing shot.

 

[26Reload]

Long distance target shooting.....with a bow.....
While practicing within old standards of good shot distances(out to 50 yards)....we started backing up and aiming high(bets).....what got most it started....
Of course there was the BB gun..pumpup pellet gun..then the 22....then came that bow.......i guess it was nust fun to see that arrow(not error like you easterners call it....)...in flight and hitting the target on those haybales.....the rifle hunting came about....already knew how to shoot..just didn't dawn on me to extend the range of that old 30-30........eventually long balling caught me.....and now I have a bunch of fun with my knight mzldr and adjustable peep site.....banged a 6" rock at 250 yards...first shot......on a cold day.........
The ol'timers mzldr takes time to shoot....kind of like the ol' .22 caliber pellet gun.......figure out the gun....have more fun...

 

[one crazy kid]

Probably the most embarrassing one posted so far. I got interested in long range shooting because I wanted to impress the father of a girl that I wanted to date in high school. Never did convince her to go out with me but I never lost interest in long range shooting. Built my first semi custom rifle this last spring and realized that I might enjoy building rifles as much as I enjoy shooting them. The Army has certainly helped, consistently hitting a silhouette at 300m with an M4 and peep sights really showed me how far I could go. Being a subsistence hunter I have not yet had a long range shot on game though the farther I can consistently ring steel the more confident I am shooting game out to 500yds.

 

[chuckhunter3]

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.

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.

 

[chuckhunter3]

I grew up in Williamsport PA. Two friends used to hunt long range with their father. They always came in school stating that they shot a buck at extreme range. Their father did his own gunsmithing and was one of the first to use the 6.5 x 300 wby. (Wbys latest) This was late 1950's. I believe this man eventually became one of the founders of the 1000 yd. club. I also knew several other founders. My sister had a farm and three brothers lived down the road that shot groundhogs with a 25-06 at extreme range. Knowing these people made me interested in long range shooting. I had my own range on my sisters farm. My longest shot on deer was 753 yds. confirmed by the brothers with their range finder. Although hit well the buck required a follow up shot at short range. This has been a life long addiction. My wife and I used to be avid groundhog hunters and often shot them at 400+ yds. with the Swift. Now, at 75 I have slowed down a bit but still shoot several times a week.

 

[Turtle566]

My parents were professional kangaroo shooters, as was my first job, so growing up in outback Australia l just wanted to keep pushing the limits of my capability, still learning heaps at 54 and still pushing my limits to find out what my limit is(l compete with my self most of the time), since joining this group, I have learned heaps by reading what the rest of you are doing in the States (& elsewhere), looking forward to getting over there and doing some shooting in the near future,
Turtle.

 

[coop2564]

Being able to shoot longer increases your odds of success.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I drew a premium AZ deer tag a "few" years ago. 6 hour one-way trip to get there, but during a couple scouting trips, I realized that shots would more than likely be across at least one canyon. From 300-600+. My longest rifle shot before that was about 150 with a .270WIN. Well, those scouting trips got me going down the LR path. Bought a .300RUM the minute they hit the market. Started handloading for it right away. I ended up shooting my buck that year at 70 yards....of course. But the hook was set. After 34 years of rifle hunting, I only have 3 shots over 200 yards personally at big game. Pronghorn at 445, mule deer at 488, and elk at 662. 80% have been under 100, with probably 2/3 of those under 50 yards. But, I am ready for the long shot if needed. I have numerous shots well over 1000 on varmints.

If I could draw some tags, the numbers might go up for big game....

 

[Bull_Mtn]

In 1953, 16 years old, I shot my first elk with a custom FN Mauser .270, equipped with a Weaver K2.5 Scope. My buddy and I were hunting in NW Wyoming at the time, when a small bunch of elk came out of a quaking aspen grove and milled around on a far hillside. The range was probably 400 yds and I set down and started shooting at a spike bull. I emptied the magazine, trying to get the elevation I needed, by watching the bullets hitting the dirt. Seven shots later the spike dropped, I had finally hit it between the eyes! Over the years I have killed several elk at 400+ yards, but scope and bullet limitations kept me from shooting game any farther. I became interested in Long Range hunting when it became apparent that I couldn't hunt the way I had been for over 60 years.
In the area we hunt, we found a spot we could intercept elk coming from a neighboring rancher's alfalfa field into public land. The shooting opportunities are usually in the 500 to 700 yard range, when and if the elk came our way. I have shot a Model 70, .300 WSM for over 20 years, so I had a good candidate for long range shooting. To get more accuracy from it, I had a gunsmith work on it, added a muzzle brake, and replaced the 2-7 scope with a 4.5X14 Burris MTAC. I worked up loads with the 190 gr. Nosler LRAB and now, the Federal LRT Edge 200 gr. I have spent many hours on the range, shooting both loads out to 500 meters. In 2017 at 80 years young, I shot the bull in my avatar at 670 yds, 2018, a cow at 570 yds, and this year a bull at 500 yds. The last two with the Federal load.
I shoot from a Caldwell tripod rest, that isn't quite as good as shooting from a bench, but close.

 

[WildRose]

Growing up on the Texas/NM line in the panhandle shots under 400yds were rare even at coyotes. When Antelope hunting in NM finally opened back up in the early 70's we were fortunate enough draw two tags a year, tough for out of state applicants.

For most of the next decade we hunted west of Roswell which is very big country.

I guess you could say it was simply a matter of circumstances.

 

[TangoOscarMike]

My parents were professional kangaroo shooters, as was my first job, so growing up in outback Australia l just wanted to keep pushing the limits of my capability, still learning heaps at 54 and still pushing my limits to find out what my limit is(l compete with my self most of the time), since joining this group, I have learned heaps by reading what the rest of you are doing in the States (& elsewhere), looking forward to getting over there and doing some shooting in the near future,
Turtle.

As the story goes, my stepfather's uncle shot a kangaroo at 800 yards with an M1 Garand when he was in the merchant marines LOL. Stories like that, and I won't lie...seeing the movie "Sniper" with Tom Beringer when I was a kid, made me want to shoot stuff way over yonder. I'm at a point in my life now where I have more free time to take up hobbies.

 

[Bravo 4]

Not having any hunters or military in my immediate family I don't know why but I was drawn to guns at a very young age. Had an aunt that basically raised me get me a Red Rider BB gun when I was 4, couldn't even cock it on my own till I was 5. I would set the little plastic army men all around the yard and "Snipe" them from the back porch. Then moved up to an AIR-17 BB/pellet gun (kinda neat my wife's dad gave me one he acquired for Christmas last year). Then got a .22, then to centerfire when I was 9 (killed my first deer then). I remember getting a Shooters Bible at a yard sale for like $2 around that age and obsessing over the ballistic tables in the back. I spent almost every single day out in the outdoors around the house, grew up poor but was blessed in that sense. In highschool I had already ventured out and after had no desire to go to college. Having such a love for guns and the outdoors I joined the military and it stuck. Went to Sniper School and it stuck, now I run one. Pushing the limits with the equipment I have available has been in my blood as long as I can remember. Not having a mentor my whole life and with little supervision led me to be self taught (and with a little help from the Army and many guys on this very forum), I thank y'all for that. I think God has had a plan for me all along, still don't know what tomorrow brings, but think I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Even if I absolutely hate the fact that I miss out on hunting for sometimes years at a time. So far this season is proving to be an example of that. Less than 3 to go! This I say as I swap the barrel on one of my "just a hunting rifle" from .300 RUM to .338.