Trad Gang

Deer 10 to 20 yards

15 Yds average, maybe a little less. Killed a cow elk 2 years ago at 8 feet!   :scared:

I'm glad I'm not the only one that seems jinxed on the turkeys!! Misery loves company.
  :laughing:

I hunt on the ground and find that being about 20 yards off of the trail gives me a bit of tolerance for getting off a shot. If I am too close the average deer is a bit quicker to react to anything I may do that can give away my scent or position. My average is about 24 yards.

For me 12 yards is the magic number     :archer2:

I've only killed two deer with my recurve so far, but one was at 7yds and the other at 11yds.

Spitting distance most of the time.

Average on deer is around 14-longest was 22. Fox at 27 and small game at anywhere from 1 foot to 25 yards. One turkey but that one tried to roost in the tree I was in-slightly straight up about 15 feet-pure luck on my part and certainly bad luck on her part.

Over 100 deer only a few over 25 yards the rest under 15 most spitting distance!

I read somewhere that 85% of all bow kills were within 15 yrds. I would say that is my average too.

Mine is somewhere around 11 yards give or take a few feet.

Deer 12 yds  

Black Bear 10 yds (only 1 so far)

Racoons  4-8 yds

Gray Squirrels  4-8 yds

Turkey     :banghead:    :mad:    :banghead:

QuoteOriginally posted by BRONZ:
I read once...  Shooting is seeing how far you can get from something and still hit it.  Hunting is seeing how close you can get before your shoot.

This couldn't be more true!

15 yrds and closer for Whitetails.  I train to shoot twice that,  so that the 20's and maybe 25's keep me confident....but it always works out that when the shot is right and CLEAR,  Im at 15ish......

I would guess my average for all my big game animals is somewhere around 15 yards.

Years ago when I was keeping track my average for a 3 year period it was 26 yards. (36 animals) I was a hungry young fellow and was a fairly decent bowshot.
Now that I'm older, slower and can't see as well, I would say I'm in the 10 yard average range. It's like I won't shoot anymore unless it's a gimmie.

Last year was my first year hunting with a trad bow and I was fortunate enough to kill four.  My furthest was 22yds & closest was 7 yds.

Stone Sheep   8yds
Mt. Goat      6yds
Moose        16yds
Moose2       15 feet!
White-tail   2x 15yds
Mulie        17yds
Blk-tail     25yds
Hog          17yds
Hawaii Hog   30 yds
Blk Bear     15 feet!
Blk Bear2    20yd

I always seem to setup too close. The trees I pick seem farther from the trails, etc. when I pick them. About 5 steps from my tree to 15 for me.

Deer - 18 yards
Turkey - 8 yards
Coyote (1) - 28 yards
Squirrels - 12 yards

Allan, I am disqualifying you because you live in Canada and you have TOO MUCH LUCK. Anybody that can post a Stone, two moose and a goat with a trad bow is awesome dude.

75-100yards.    :rolleyes:      :D     maybe 10 to 20 yards.

Longest for me was 23 yds and closest was 8 ft. Most were under 15yds

most have been 12 to 15 yards...longest was 23 yards.....deer and hogs.

Deer around 10. Turkeys about the same and hogs closer.RC

I like Biggies answer the best!

I've only kilt bunnies thus far with traditional gear but they have ranged from 5 to 25. The 25 yarder surprised the crap out of me.

15 -20 yds

NY years back did a survey and over 90% of all deer taken with a bow for trad and or compound were on the average 20 yards or less, if you break out the trad from the compound trad was 15 yards or under, and compound had some over 1 to 5 % were in the range of 20 yards to 30 yards. but again most were under the 20 yards. If you look at the reasons given in the survey a lot of the archers used tree stand ( compound hunters ) and the trad hunters said there goal was to get as close to the deer prior to shooting, they said there number 1 way to hunt was ground blind and number two was stalking. Being the old fat bald headed hunter (71 ) I am,  it is 100% ground blinds for me. My biggest problem is how to get the bow up to get the shot when they are walking in, I wait till they have there head down and feeding in back of a tree so they will not see the movement. At 71 I still look for tips from other hunters so if you have any lets hear them...

As advanced as all types of bows seem to be these days, surveys consistently show for white-tail deer in the Eastern half of the U.S:

Recurves and Longbows -- 14 Yards

The bow that most people have shot since 1975 is only 18 yards.

In the west things stretch out a bit.

My last 5 recurve kills since I returned to curves in 2010 have averaged 9 yards: 21, 16, 8, 8, 8.  The three 8-yard shots were deer standing in a trail beside the same tree over a 2-year period.

My average will never change much because I won't shoot past 20 (I thought the 21 shot was 20).

Turkey = 18 feet
hogs = 11 yds x 2, 17 yds, 6 yds, 12 yds x @20
deer = 13 yds, 16 yds
mouse on top of target = 10 yds

Deer, less than 15

Haven't been fortunate to punch anything more than foam with my trad gear yet. However, even in my wheels days, I would say no more than 12-15 yards. Closest was a doe standing within inches of the leg of a 12 foot ladder stand I was in. Farthest was my very first, it was about 23 yards, and I got real lucky on that one   ;)  If all goes as planned (cause we all know that always happens), my first trad will be 15 yards or hopefully less. I like 'em close.