The question is about hunter capability and ethics. The question comes up usually on a western hunt where distances can be really far. A good hunting guide will help!
Lets talk about the good hunter. 1. The hunter should be practicing for the distances he or she expects to shoot game e.g. 250 yards or 500 yards and know the in’s and outs of bullet drop, as well as range and wind deflection as ranges get longer. Lets talk about a super nice 10 point buck at 482 yards feeding broadside. Your rifle is a .308 Winchester with a150 grain spitzer bullet exiting the barrel at 2700 fps. You set up the rifle expecting longer than normal shots so you zero at Max Point Blank Range (MPBR).
How do you set it up, assuming you are skilled enough to hold your buck fever in check?
A check for ballistic data on your bullet shows MPBR is 225 yards and the following data;
| Range | Drop | Drop | Windage | Windage | Velocity | Mach | Energy | Time | Lead | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (yd) | (in) | (MOA) | (in) | (MOA) | (ft/s) | (none) | (ft•lbs) | (s) | (in) | (MOA) |
| 0 | -1.5 | *** | 0.0 | *** | 2702.9 | 2.442 | 2432.9 | 0.000 | 0.0 | *** |
| 25 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2648.4 | 2.393 | 2335.8 | 0.028 | 4.9 | 18.8 |
| 50 | 1.3 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2594.6 | 2.344 | 2241.9 | 0.057 | 10.0 | 19.0 |
| 75 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2541.5 | 2.296 | 2151.0 | 0.086 | 15.1 | 19.2 |
| 100 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2489.0 | 2.249 | 2063.0 | 0.116 | 20.4 | 19.4 |
| 125 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 2437.1 | 2.202 | 1977.9 | 0.146 | 25.7 | 19.6 |
| 150 | 2.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 2385.8 | 2.156 | 1895.5 | 0.177 | 31.2 | 19.9 |
| 175 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 2335.1 | 2.110 | 1815.9 | 0.209 | 36.8 | 20.1 |
| 200 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 2285.1 | 2.065 | 1738.8 | 0.241 | 42.5 | 20.3 |
| 225 | -0.0 | -0.0 | 4.4 | 1.9 | 2235.6 | 2.020 | 1664.3 | 0.275 | 48.3 | 20.5 |
| 250 | -1.8 | -0.7 | 5.5 | 2.1 | 2186.7 | 1.976 | 1592.3 | 0.309 | 54.3 | 20.7 |
| 275 | -4.0 | -1.4 | 6.7 | 2.3 | 2138.4 | 1.932 | 1522.7 | 0.343 | 60.4 | 21.0 |
| 300 | -6.7 | -2.1 | 8.1 | 2.6 | 2090.7 | 1.889 | 1455.6 | 0.379 | 66.7 | 21.2 |
| 325 | -9.9 | -2.9 | 9.6 | 2.8 | 2043.6 | 1.847 | 1390.7 | 0.415 | 73.0 | 21.5 |
| 350 | -13.7 | -3.7 | 11.2 | 3.1 | 1997.1 | 1.805 | 1328.2 | 0.452 | 79.6 | 21.7 |
| 375 | -17.9 | -4.6 | 13.0 | 3.3 | 1951.3 | 1.763 | 1268.0 | 0.490 | 86.3 | 22.0 |
| 400 | -22.8 | -5.4 | 15.0 | 3.6 | 1906.1 | 1.722 | 1209.9 | 0.529 | 93.1 | 22.2 |
| 425 | -28.2 | -6.3 | 17.1 | 3.8 | 1861.6 | 1.682 | 1154.1 | 0.569 | 100.1 | 22.5 |
| 450 | -34.3 | -7.3 | 19.4 | 4.1 | 1817.8 | 1.643 | 1100.4 | 0.610 | 107.3 | 22.8 |
| 475 | -41.0 | -8.2 | 21.9 | 4.4 | 1774.7 | 1.604 | 1048.8 | 0.651 | 114.6 | 23.0 |
| 500 | -48.4 | -9.2 | 24.5 | 4.7 | 1732.3 | 1.565 | 999.3 | 0.694 | 122.2 | 23.3 |
- Is there enough bullet energy to take this 482 yard shot ethically? 1000 ft-lbs is Marginal but ok according to many sources.
- Is the bullet traveling fast enough to mushroom correctly? Not really well.
3. Where do you aim? If the wind is blowing parallel with the deer at say 10 mph across his chest toward his rear? You guestimate 22 inches of wind deflection makes you aim off the deer’s body. Can you still ethically shoot? Or should you try to close the distance?
Close the distance is the smart and correct answer? The bullet will likely not mushroom correctly at that marginal speed and you have no point of aim at 22 inches off the target, and bullet energy is marginal. You do risk wounding the deer.
Ok we are still hunting that same deer and close the distance to 275 yards (range finder) and he still does not see us. The bullet is traveling at over 2000fps, good mushrooming speed and energy, but will be off target by 6.7 inches. Can you compensate and aim 6.7 inches left or right? Yes! Bullet drop is 1.4 inches low. I would not try to compensate for 1.4 inch drop, your fine. Do you have a good rest for your rifle? Yes, my backpack, if I lay prone. If you are rock solid on the deer with crosshairs and adjusted for wind deflection, then I would take the shot. The flight time is just over a third of a second at that range.
Ok, after that exercise, is that what you do when shooting long distances? Think about speed, drop, energy? If so then you are giving the deer your best to ethically take him.
A wise hunter who shoots longer ranges, should have made these calculations for limitations before hand and practiced for such a shot. I have made a table to tape to my rifle in some cases. The JBM data indicates that at 325-350 yards this rifle/bullet combo has reached its limit on speed and energy and that wind deflection at 90 degrees is 9 to 11 inches left/ right. And bullet drop is 10 inches low. The hunter must have skill to compensate. We didn’t discuss things such as temperature and altitude and shooting angle either. Lots to think about!
I used JBM Ballistics Trajectory to get this data. Try it!
https://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmtraj-5.1.cgi
Good Hunting!
© Copyright 2020.