how far can you see?..vs how far can you see GAME?
07-20-2019, 01:41 PM
#21
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,585
You got me back....I fondly remember getting set for an early morning departure from Colorado headed east back to Vermont. All packed and decided, with some helpful scouting by a friend, to take one last loop around the ranch. Just 2 clicks away from legal hunting you put the hammer on a legal bull elk. You decided we needed some help getting that big boy out so we started to quarter and you left me dressed in street clothes with nothing more than a dull knife and a dim flashlight in lion country as the sun was setting. I could hear all sorts of snaps and odd sounding animal calls. It got pitch dark and I was prepared to fight off any lion that approached looking to steal your bull. It all ended OK and I can remember doing a lot of emergency butchering instead of a 5 am departure headed home. We did it though and it all ended OK. Standing over your sitting position glassing and watching that bull hit the dirt was really memorable. I think that one was something along the lines of 176 yards and it was DOA before it hit the ground..
08-05-2019, 09:52 AM
#23
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: texas
Posts: 1,201
personally I have a great deal of respect for the few guys I know that can consistently place shots on targets at rather longer ranges,
where you hunt,has a huge effect on the potential ranges youll be confronted with, the terrain can vary a great deal.
but I have a great deal of experience teaching people to use a firearm, and watching a good selection of people shoot.
One guy I hunted with for decades was a SWAT sniper, for 15 years before he retired,
he could shoot amazing groups with a bull barrel 308 bolt action, using a bi-pod, at typical 100-400 yard distances
but thats a different skill set from hitting a running deer or elk that jumps up at 40-120 yards un-expectantly in thicker cover.
and you have 3-4 seconds before hes well into cover.
years ago I saw a game department survey made where they asked hundreds of hunters at a western BLM check point,
to look out at 5 different colored flags placed at random but carefully measured distances,
and write down what each person estimated the distance too be from the check point,
they were handed a pen and a survey card, they were told NONE of the colored flags,
were at an even 100 yard multiple but that was the only info ,
each flag was a different, color, placed in a
different direction and at a different distance.
the survey taker pointed out each colored flag and asked them to write down their estimated range!
they tabulated the actual hunters field estimates being made on the spot, vs the carefully measure actual distances.
.the results were about what Id have expected..after decades of listening to guys claim they killed deer & elk at 400 and 500 and 600 yards.......
the vast majority were very VERY bad at estimating distances correctly past about 150 yards, some estimates that were over 70% wrong were not uncommon
where you hunt,has a huge effect on the potential ranges youll be confronted with, the terrain can vary a great deal.
but I have a great deal of experience teaching people to use a firearm, and watching a good selection of people shoot.
One guy I hunted with for decades was a SWAT sniper, for 15 years before he retired,
he could shoot amazing groups with a bull barrel 308 bolt action, using a bi-pod, at typical 100-400 yard distances
but thats a different skill set from hitting a running deer or elk that jumps up at 40-120 yards un-expectantly in thicker cover.
and you have 3-4 seconds before hes well into cover.
years ago I saw a game department survey made where they asked hundreds of hunters at a western BLM check point,
to look out at 5 different colored flags placed at random but carefully measured distances,
and write down what each person estimated the distance too be from the check point,
they were handed a pen and a survey card, they were told NONE of the colored flags,
were at an even 100 yard multiple but that was the only info ,
each flag was a different, color, placed in a
different direction and at a different distance.
the survey taker pointed out each colored flag and asked them to write down their estimated range!
they tabulated the actual hunters field estimates being made on the spot, vs the carefully measure actual distances.
.the results were about what Id have expected..after decades of listening to guys claim they killed deer & elk at 400 and 500 and 600 yards.......
the vast majority were very VERY bad at estimating distances correctly past about 150 yards, some estimates that were over 70% wrong were not uncommon
