I'm horribly rotten bad at judging size & distances, so I practice very long shots, hoping they're just pygmy deer much closer.

No seriously, shooting far distances is a hoot, especially as in archery golf. It is a blast to watch the arrows sail off into the sky and not have to worry about taking out your neighbour's picture window or cat.

Have to brag on my dad.  Back in the 60's we shot tournament  archery, the target round, field round, animal round etc. Dad used to shoot the York round instictive once in awhile.  110 yards and he got more than one 6 gold.  That would be 6 arrows in the gold ring.

in the book,"the traditional way" there is a chapter covering the yearly deer hunt of fred bear and some of his friends,they hunted in groups of four,with two persons laying in ambush and the other two chasing deer toward the ambushers,most all deer killed were at an average range of 60 yards,and all running.this done with equipment made by each hunter.self bows,drawing an average of 60#s,and arrows with an average length of 25"s.ever one of us must know his limitations,and shoot accordingly.

QuotePerhaps our lack of proficiency should not be the ethical standard.  

Better than I said it.    

I concur.

I believe "Clout" shooting has been around for centuries. You shoot at around 180-200yds I think at a big circle on the ground. Nothing like watching the arc of a good flying arrow!

Hell at my age I cant see 110 yards.. LOL

I shot a 2 1/2' end at 90M the other day..... my best group ever at that mark.

Try it sometime.... you may like it.

I second "What a blast". A group of us get together every once in a while and set up and archery golf course. Flight arrows sometimes going over 300 yds!! Add to that guessing how much wind drift to get the proper angle for the next shot. Then hitting your target from 80 yds with you approach shot ... priceless.

its really fun to shoot at a target at long distances , its really disheartening to think some would cares so little for their quarry that they would launch an arrow at it at a distance from which they are no longer acurate.

I'm hard pressed to find a field with that kind of open distance to shoot through and then having the arrow land in grass that's short enough to expose the arrow. If I try it now chances are greater than not that I'd be loosing the arrow.

What you all are mentioning sounds like a blast, and if I could hit a deer at 40 yards on the run my first 2009 deer tag would have been filled last Saturday. MY BAD.

I'd better practice.

It is fun to shoot like that from time to time. When i get dialed in i can stay on an elk sized animal at 100 or so. It is fun to watch the arrows fly.

To me it's no big deal if thats what your in to who am I to tell you different.As lot as your not trying to preach your veiws to me I really don't mind.If you are and I don't like it I'll look the other way.
 In the mid eivl times the distance was 200 yards.In the york round it was 80 an 100 yards.
 But even then I'm sure when it came down to feedind the family or village they wanted to kill so they keep their shots fairly close.But I'm sure out of surivil if a 50 yard shot came about it was tryed.And they didn't care what the guy next door said because he did the same thing.
 Same way with the Indains of the AMERICAS sure they kept their shots to 10,15 yards but if a 40, 50 yarder came about well.Its not like it is now and you look over your hunting partner to see if thinks its ok.It was surivil you just tryed it.
 Did HOWARD HIIL keep his shots to 20 yard no.Would you shoot an eagle or an elk at 175 yards.Different times we've grown into a different culter now none of those things would be right.We've been taught differently.
 Again as long as no one is trying to inflick their views on you fine.You don't have to follow along.If they are just look the other way.

I once shot an arrow off a mountain in Montana.    I shot it into the air and off into a clear valley below just to watch it fly, and see if I could find it later that day when I went down there. The shot was totally safe as far as people/property, but I almost didnt do it because it seemed silly. I'm glad now. I'll never forget it. Just my two cents. And yes, I found the arrow.

Both of the outdoor ranges here go out to 100 meters.  I am yet to find anything that shows up form problems like shooting at longer ranges.  What I see is one in the dirt in front, the next over the top, and finally success.  Then one to the left, the next to the right, over the top, and then success.  I find it makes you humble and more focused.

Take care
MAP

Depends on how many arrows I shoot at a 100 yds.+ as to how many one arrow groups I have. Now in relation to a particular object of attention..........different story. It is surprising how you can develop and eye for distance shooting, just not going to shoot at game animals out there.
It is fun to shoot out yonder but that doesn't mean I plan on making hunting shots out there even though it is fun to try to hit prairie dogs way out there. If you want to perfect stalking skills on the open prairie, now there's your challenge.  One against hundreds.
In the old days though, a cloud of arrows at long distance was one heck of an artillery barrage. Hard on the enemy and I suppose would have been hard on some poor old stag or boar too. But I think a hungry army might not be too worried about philosophies.

I think it was Edmond Burke that said archery is getting as far from your target and seeing if you could hit it while hunting with the bow was seeing how close you could get to your quarry before you shot...
Lucas

FITA (Olympic Round) is 90, 70, 50 and 30 yards for men.  70, 60, 50 and 30 yards for women.

The field rounds that we shot nearly every other week during the 50's/60's and 70's, were from 20 feet to 80 yards.  This "close" thing is fine for hunting, and I couldn't agree more with that.
But archery is not just hunting...it's so much more by a wagon load.  

The old archers spent much more time on the target ranges; field, hunter, American Rounds, York Rounds, et al, than they did hunting.  After hunting season many of them shot indoor Chicago and NAA rounds as well.  We loved archery and still do.  Bowhunting is merely a byproduct of the archery game.  There is nothing any more beautiful than a well shot arrow striking the gold at 90 meters (98.6 yards).
It has nothing to do with hunting.

How many of you have ever shot a field round?

George, I used to shoot field rounds with wheels then went to a recurve. NFAA and TFAA (Texas). Tried it once with a 64# longbow. Not good results at all. But fun. A whole new world then. Like G. Fred said once, you think you're shooting good, put some target faces up and give it a go. Whole new mind game.   I was range captain for a long time and sure got sick and tired of gluing up targets. Would rather set up a whole 3-D range by myself than do that again.
Those silhouette courses were fun too (spell check saved me on that one). They didn't hang around long though.

One of the best times I ever had was taking shots at a 2-liter Mountain Dew bottle from 100 paces on a lake shore. Had some interesting misses before finally nailing it. Sure was fun watching the arrow fly...