What Is the Best Distance for Shooting an Animal with a Bow?

Best Distance for Bow Hunting

The maximum hunting range for most bow types is 30 to 60 yards for an experienced hunter and 15 to 25 yards for beginners. To ensure accuracy, most shots are taken at 15 yards.

Judging Distances and Shot Placement

Optical illusions, weather conditions can affect your ability to judge distances correctly. For whitetail deer, average shot distance is about 19 yards. Less than five percent are shot beyond 40 yards.

Different Bow Types and Effective Ranges

  • Recurve archers: 20 to 35 yards
  • Compound archers: 30 to 40 yards, some up to 60 yards

Safe and Optimal Shooting Distance for Deer

Shooters should consider the deer’s anatomy and take shots at closer ranges whenever possible to ensure a clean kill.

Will a Deer Return After Being Shot At?

A mature buck will come back to the area where he was wounded. Depending on the location, a buck might not move in during daylight hours for a while, but he’s not leaving his home range.

Maximum Shooting Distance for Deer with a .243

The farthest you should expect to reliably and ethically shoot and cleanly kill a deer with a .243 is 400 yards. Most hunters should shoot within 100 yards.

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