RE: How do you define "effective range?"
Effective range changes for me according to conditions of the hunt as well. I *might* take a shot out to 40 yards - or even 42 or 43 yards - if the conditions are close to perfect. There have been times I have been in a tree and knew there was no way I would take a shot over 25 yards because it was so windy and my tree was swaying so much.
I think my definition of effective range would be the distance I can confidently make the type of lethal shot I want, taking into account hunting conditions, about 98% of the time. Why not 100%? I think there are just too many variable to say "I can get the same results from this situation 100 times out of 100 times."