Night Hunting Shot Distances

I thought it would be interesting to get everyone's feedback on your closest, average, and longest night hunting shots. I have a feeling it might surprise some people. Also would be interested to hear the stories behind the longest and closest shots.

Iv shot at the same group of pigs from 7yrds until they hit the treeline at 200yrds lol few didn't make it out of the pasture many did not make it much further

My closest night hunting shot was right at 15 feet. This pig was hunkered down in some thick brush which you can see in the pic below. The plan was to walk up on him as close as possible but at 5 yards I threw in the towel and took the shot.

Sounds like that could have encompassed your shortest and longest all in one hunt!

Yup the hunt consisted of me hanging out the window of a Toyota going about 60mph to catch them in the middle of the pasture then stopped and started shooting lol

Had a huge Russian Boar over in SC (they are still pure along the coast) come charging at about 20 yards. I learned they cover that distance before you can say it. Stopped him at 3 feet. Hit him several times. Went back to the cabin and changed my drawers...

the average shot is 60-80 yards
My longest shot at night was 146 yards under a spotlight and 300 win mag.
Shortest shot on a good pig was 10-11 yards
Shortest shot on a shoat was about 4 feet.

I got my truck airborne chasing a coyote in a field one night when he went over a hill. After I caught up to him, he looked back at me when I topped the hill. I hit him square in the face from 200 yards with a spire point. I watched him flip through my scope, I'll never forget that shot and what was left of the back of his head when I got to him.

EXTREME

Most shots we take start out at 15 to 20 yards an go till hogs are out of sight. My wife has showed us all up with a shot over 300 yards in the head, which was the luckiest shot in the world in my opinion. Funny how our wives claim they meant to do that when it works out, an they wasn't trying to do that at all when it don't. Will say that she can unload a 30 round clip faster than any woman I know.

Those of you that have not tried it, need to. Its awesome.

Unless you have NV I would consider anything over 75yrds to be somewhat of a dangerous shot. I always have to know exactly whats behind my target before my brain will allow me to squeeze the trigger.

You need a better spotlight. And all the places I hunt I know whats were

And a scope with a large objective lens.

One of the longest shots I ever took and connected on was under a full moon without NV.

A big pig came onto the wheat field but wouldn't venture far from the woodline, I had a spotter who was double verifying ID of pig and distance estimates.

Had what seemed like all night to take the shot.

Let the .270 rip and THWACK!!! Watched him absorb the shot, roll over, and hobble off.

Never recovered him but a solid hit at I'd say 400 yards.

BTW - the back stop for the shot was multiple rows of bails of hay so of course safety was in practice at the time of the shot.

Longest recovered pig was around 300 on same field.

Love hunting the field from an elevated stand.

And my closest engagement would be 14 yards, with video!!!



HTXH

The Ol' 3-legged hay thief! One of those video that you just never forget.

I know two young men on my lease that hit a big pig while they were out with a spotlight. It ran off and they followed a blood trail until they saw glowing eyes about 100 yards out. Eyes were staring right at them and made a perfect headshot, right between the eyes. High fives were in order UNTIL they walked up on it.

$1500 dollars later, and they still didn't get to take the steer to the butcher for steaks!

No animals were harmed in the making of this video...

...until a few weeks later...

Better safe than sorry!

That is correct Sir -

I only buy bullets that work on Swine not Cattle

Oh that sucks, but if I shot someone's cow and had to pay for it, I'd be packing it in the cooler. Otherwise, I did you a favor and you owe me .40 cents for my bullet.

I have a feeling that the owner of the cow would want something more than market value. I'm pretty sure that it's not ok to just shoot someone's animal and the only repercussion would be pay market value and keep the cow. If that was the case I would just go out and shoot one anytime I get ready to stock my freezer.

Fair enough, but if you shot the wrong deer during a hunt and they wanted X value for that deer, I doubt you would pay it and leave the deer because you shot the wrong one on accident.....Just saying. The owner should get compensation for the cow but like hell am I leaving without the meat if I paid for it, especially if it was an accident. Otherwise he can sell the slaughtered cow for market value. I'm not saying its not a big deal to shoot an animal unintentionally, I just think that if you shot it and are having to pay for it, the rancher should pocket every dime and then be able to sell the cow.

You wrongfully shoot somebody's livestock, you make restitution, not a purchase.

As noted with the example above, night vision and thermal have allowed many users to see better at greater distances in many cases than with more conventional means. However, it is still up to the user, regardless of method use, to properly use the technology in selecting, identifying, and firing on a target. You should not be shooting at sounds, eyeshine, or unidentifiable blobs. Based on the poll above, most people are operating most of the time well within what should be safe operating distances for most typical technology and even low end NV or thermal gear...which is good as it lessens the chances for mistaken identification.

I agree I could definitely could use a better spot light, but that still wouldn't change much. There is a fair amount of brush on my land and some times the cows like to hang out in said brush. Accidentally wounding or killing one of them would be a very expensive mistake I'd rather not risk.



My thoughts/worries exactly.

i missed a pig two years ago from 40-50 yards with a normal flashlight. First time seeing a hog in my life and I just got hog fever and whiffed. This time I'll be using a much better green light and an confident out to 100 yards if need be but that's probably as far as I would shoot.

I dont think there is a correct distance really, because it all depends on your gear. Whatever it is, you need to be able to make a 100% posative ID before pulling that trigger. Couple of years ago I almost killed a calf that I thought was a skunk (had a white streak on its face) thank god I got closer before deciding what to do. And It may have been an accident, but you definately dont get to keep the meat, mainly because you most likely didnt shoot a stocker calf steer, you most likely shot a cow. So not only did the rancher loose the physical price of that animal but all future revenue (calves produced) that said cow could offer.

This was the longest Dog kill for me. Lasered 410 yds the next day. Took a few shots to get my dope right. Video has some language. Longest Hog kill was 375 yds:



Not the longest hog kills but they were out there by the time I dinged them:



Shortest Surprise kills:



This is why I like the 5.56mm. Accurate, low recoil, and a proven killer.

These 250 yd running shots were fun too:



Longest Hog Kill documented:

Lasered a night shot at 323 yards last weekend in a tournament. He was yelping at us because he was down wind and busted us. Dropped dead in his tracks with a savage model 12 22-250 and Nikon prostaff 5 3.5-14x50 illuminated reticle.

bump

Shot a coyote at about 5 yards after it came across my legs when calling and an Axis at about 150 yards when it came out of a ditch just after dark on an exotic hunt.

Getting old and don't spend as much time stalking on foot.
Do spend time checking trails, checking feeders and waterholes for sign on the Honda Rancher but that's mostly during the day but do use it as a portable blind at night.
Most of my serious hunting lately has been confined to blinds that I set up 100 yards from the feeder/water hole.
I sight my guns in at 100 yards (day and night versions) so they are "on" within the target area.

With that in mind, most of my shots this year have been between 70 and 130 yards at night.
Shot one small pound boar with Photon 5x mounted on 16" ARP barreled 6.8 at 145 yards using a Streamlight IR illuminator.
Shot one 140-150 pound sow at 45 to 50 yards when I drove up on a sounder at the creek bottom at night with 458 SoCom.

Shortest shot came when hand calling and started hearing a bump under the pickup, kind of scared me, went back to calling and bumped again, leaned over and squeaked, a grey fox stuck its head out from under the truck and eased gun over and that's all she wrote.

Just thought I would add this 409 yard hog kill shot

Reaching out and touching someone...

Great vid

Bump for more votes on the poll

bump for more data on shot distances

Not a really long shot, but a pretty small target, 150 yards and 28 lbs.



I really like this thread! Good information.

I really like those videos. Never used NV, but used to varmint hunt in the competitions out of San Angelo every year...sure wish I had NV then, and the video capabilities. Thanks for sharing and nice shooting

330 yds on a yote with the lightforce spotlight is the longest
with night vision, 200 is the longest shot

Longest 10yrds Shoortest 10yrds Average 10yrds my math might be off. pistal, flashlight off wondering about the woods . upgrated to AR scope over laser under. still waiting

barked a tree.

Uh, unless it's a specially-bred cow, can't the farmer use your money to buy a replacement, and therefore the future revenue is still intact?

I hunt with a thermal and try to get within 50 to 75 yards. Usually can unless it is a sounder.