ORIGINAL: htoler
my thoughts on it is anything past 30 yards is too far ,
say the Deer is at say 35 to 40 yards and just at the point you pull the trigger the deer takes a step, you just went from what was a good doubble lung shot to a gut shot ot possibly just a wounded deer..
I saw ashow where a very expierenced shooter shoot and hit his target at 100 yards with an Excalibur Exomax he had a pole beside the target and was aiming 20 feet above it . even that guy said the farthest shot he would ever take on a deer is 40 yards and even he reccomended keeping within 30 for the average hunter..
I guess I am not your average hunter Henry! LOL! My last two deer were past 35 yards and short of 40 yards. They were the only two deer I felt absolutely safe in taking a shot that far. Both feeding. Both motionless. Both facing slightly away. Both had tails almost motionless. Not a care in the world. I'm not saying for a moment that you should take the shot that I did but I couldn't imagine a better situation to take that shot, so I did. Lets put it another way. My personal limit for shooting with my fav 300 is 300 yards. Don't care what it is I know I can put the bullet into 5" or less every single time no matter what the situation is (assuming I have a rest of some kind). Now I can keep bullets in a 8" circle or less at 500 yards. I've never shot an animal past 300 yards. If I ever see a world class deer or elk past 300 and under 500 yards I'm taking it. I know the gun can do it and I can do it if EVERY thing is right. Take one thing away and I will not take the shot. If there is any real wind, if it is moving, if it not broadside etc I'm not taking the shot. Now the arrow. Are you going to take the shot at 30 if it is walking at a very slow pace? If its tail is twitching? If it is looking around? If it just stopped running? If the wind is blowing? If 30 is your limit then what is that limit for? Is it for a calm deer? Like Clint said, a man's gotta know his limitations! I have no problem with you or your self imposed limit whatsoever although some do. What do you think of someone thinking 30 is too far?
Henry, I hope you know this is all jibberish (and I'm not giving your a chewing here). It all changes in the field but hopefully stays the same all the time in your mind and your conscience because thats what this is all about. Your conscience. My conscience says 40. What does your's say when the World Class deer comes spanking by you?