What range are most deer shot at?

I have a secret to let you in on…perhaps the secret that will unlock everything you’ve ever dreamed of in deer hunting. On-screen hunting is mostly fake.

And still, we seem to have adopted an awful lot of “this is true” statements by absorbing what we see on a screen. Such as, “Most successful bowhunters are killing big game at extreme distances, like 60, 70, and 80 yards.” I can remember one particular instance a few years back where a big-name host launched an arrow at a critter that was about the size of a small dog in the camera’s viewfinder. That critter was an elk, and it looked so small because the damned thing was about a football field away.

The arrow, which seemed to stay in the air for about four minutes, looked pretty cool as it arced its way across the sky, its illuminated nock glowing like a beacon. Just before impact, the animal took a step. The arrow hit about the fourth rib back from the shoulder crease. The host immediately spun to the camera, grinned a bleached-white smile, and exclaimed “Smoked ‘em!” before touting how the shot simply couldn’t have been made without the use of a sponsor’s product.

I’ve shot a few deer in the liver. Never were they smoked. Long-range shots, and the acceptance of taking them on game animals, seem to be a “new normal.” But are they really? When it comes to whitetail deer the answer is decidedly, “no.”

Most of Us Are Killing Deer in the 30-Yard Range

As much hype as there seems to be around long-range bow shots, I’d wager that most whitetail deer (and to a lesser degree elk and mule deer) are killed at a range of 30 yards or less. Personally, the last half-dozen bucks I killed were standing fewer than 20 paces when I released my arrow. I don’t consider myself to be anything other than an average hunter (with significantly above-average levels of stubborn), so I would say those experiences likely mimic your own.

Now, do I think there have been many, many bow shots taken at deer further than 30 yards? Oh, hell yes. After all, there’s no sense prattling on in social media circles about your new 18-inch stabilizer and your 70-yard groups if you aren’t going to put that bravado to work in the field. So, yep, I’d say there have been plenty of shots well beyond 30 yards. But what about clean, killing hits on whitetails at that distance? Not many.

Expert Bowhunters Are Keeping It Close on Whitetails

Because of all the social media hype, there’s a misconception out there that the best, most experienced bowhunters are all taking longer shots at game. So, I reached out to the bowhunters I know who consistently kill big deer every season. I asked about the distance at which they’re killing their bucks, the average of which was about 23 yards. Yes, there were a couple bucks killed at 40 yards. But no one had taken a shot farther than that. I’m not going to name the hunters because it doesn’t really matter, and you wouldn’t recognize their names anyway. These guys are just stone-cold killers of big whitetail deer. Interestingly, I couldn’t find a single bowhunter consistently killing mature bucks with long-range shots.

The best bowhunters I know aren’t messing around with long-range wishes. They aren’t trying to show out on the Gram. They’re just doing their thing, getting big bucks in close and killing them dead.

You Have More Control at Shorter Distances

Why are the best hunters only taking those shorter shots, even if they’re capable of tight groups at 70 yards on a target? The answer is simple: Control. At 30 yards or less, I’m in control of where the shot impacts the deer. Beyond that, the animal has more control. The wind has more control, too.

Deer can, and do, react to the sound of an arrow being released. I don’t care how quiet your bow is. I don’t care how fast it is. Sure, a fast and quiet bow helps. But when a deer instinctively ducks at the sound of the shot, your point of impact will change. Period.

At less than 30 yards, I can compensate for that by aiming at the lower third of the deer. Even if I’m off on my yardage estimate by 10 percent (which at 30 yards is either 27 yards if I estimate too far, or 33 yards if I estimate too close), I’m still going to make a lethal hit. Do that at 60 yards or more, and the result will likely be a miss or worse.

To me, however, the biggest concern isn’t arrow drop. The real problem is the very likely possibility of an animal moving while the arrow is in flight.

An arrow traveling 350 fps takes roughly one second to travel 116 yards. Of course, that would mean the arrow must maintain that 350 fps speed throughout the course of its flight. It doesn’t. Depending on your broadhead and fletching setup, the arrow is going to lose varying amounts of speed. Also, most hunting rigs aren’t slinging arrows at 350 fps. So, let’s be generous and say it’ll take 1.5 seconds for the arrow to reach its target at 80 yards. Now do a little test. Grab your phone and hit the timer on it. See how far you can move in 1.5 seconds.

Long-range shooting looks great on social media or when it’s done on the range. There’s real value in practicing at long ranges, plus it’s just fun to drop arrows into a foam target from 70 yards.

But in the whitetail woods? Shooting at long range is a great opportunity to wound an animal. In real life, these mistakes shouldn’t be made, and the best bowhunters simply aren’t willing to make them.

Mostly, whitetails are killed at 100 yards or less and mule deer at 200 and under, but every once in a while, you will want to take a shot at truly long range–300 and 400 yards. Any competent rifleman should be able to hit just about every shot at 200 yards or under, but at 300 it really gets tough, and at 400 yards the odds are pretty grim. We all knew that going in to this event, and it was confirmed–in spades.

We each fired three bullets at paper deer targets at 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards, scoring first shots as well as follow-ups, because if you don’t hit at the first chance, you’re unlikely to get a second. We could shoot from any position we would use in hunting but were not allowed to use Kenny Jarrett’s benchrests because there are very few of the things in the fields and forests.

Simpson fired prone, using a Harris bipod, and supported the butt of his rifle with a rubber-armored binocular. Petzal used a sling from prone at 100 and 200, then rested his rifle over a pack, prone, from 300 and 400. Boddington shot from sitting and prone with a hasty sling, then prone with a pack. I shot prone with a sling at all distances. The wind that day swung from four to eight o’clock, at 5 to 10 mph.

The rifles and scopes we used were typical of what you might find in deer camps: Simpson shot a Weatherby Vanguard in .257 Weatherby Magnum with 100-grain factory-loaded softpoints and a 2.5X-10X Bushnell Elite 4200 scope. Boddington used a custom-barreled Remington M700 in .300 H&H, 150-grain bullets loaded by Superior Ammunition, and a Leupold Vari-X III 4.5X-14X scope. Petzal chose a Lazzeroni L2000SA Lightweight Mountain Rifle in 7.21 Tomahawk, handloaded 160-grain Nosler Partition bullets, and a Leupold VXIII 2.5X-10X scope with Leupold’s new Boone and Crockett range-compensating reticle. And I had a 1940s Winchester M70 in .270, Jarrett ammo with 140-grain Nosler AccuBond bullets, and an old 2.5X Lyman scope.

At 100, 200, and 300 yards, all shooters hit the vital zone with their first shots. Of the remaining rounds (two per person at each distance), one bullet missed at 200 yards, two at 300. Aggregate score: 33 of 36. The 400-yard target was a lot different–just five hits out of 12 attempts. To me, the wind appeared to have little effect.

WHAT WE LEARNED Up to 300 yards, we were a real threat to deer. But our best at 400 yards was more misses than hits. Any mistake you make at this distance will be hugely magnified–the slightest tremor in your rifle, a misjudgment of the distance, the inability to spot a puff of wind. Your bullet is plummeting, and not only is it losing speed rapidly, but the lower velocity makes it more and more susceptible to drift.

Two hundred yards is the limit for an average shot and 300 for a very good shot. Four hundred is a chancy proposition even for the best riflemen, and we would all do a lot better if we got a lot closer.

RECOMMENDED GUNS Rifles for long shooting don’t need to be ponderous. With practice, you can hit well at a distance with a gun that’s nimble enough for short shots and light enough for all-day carrying. My picks of the current crop are Winchester’s M70 Classic Featherweight, the Remington M700 Titanium, and Weatherby’s Ultra Lightweight in .270 Winchester. The .270’s 130- and 140-grain spitzers at around 3000 fps are all you need for deer. They fly as flat as 7mm and .30 magnum bullets and beat you up a lot less, so you shoot better. Also good are the .280 and .25/06. For short actions, the .308, 7mm/08, and .260 excel.

The 2.5X Lyman on my old M70 is hardly ideal for long shooting, but it scored the only first-round hit on the 400-yard target, and all its shots at that range were in or very near the marked vitals. More magnification would have helped, but a fixed-power Leupold 4X or a 6X is all I want on a deer rifle. Pressed to use a variable, I’d pick Leupold’s VX-III 2.5X-8X or Swarovski’s AV 3X-9X.

A FIELD MARKSMAN’S MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY

BODDINGTON “Familiarity with your rifle, and with yourself. Know what you can do and what you can’t do.”

PETZAL “Cold blood. If you can’t control your nerves when the time comes to shoot, you haven’t got a prayer.”

SIMPSON “Confidence. I miss a deer once in a while, but I’m absolutely certain I’ll kill every one I shoot at.”

VAN ZWOLL “Knowing your effective range and staying within it.”