I practice from 10 out to 25 yards. Feel comfortable shooting 20 yds and under.
Stan

i practice out to 50 yards , but dont shoot past 30 yards shoot 4 or 5 times a week in back of the house , i like to wacth the arrows fly .

This country is pretty open so if you wait for a 15-20 yard shot you may not get to shoot.  My last two deer were taken at 25 & 35 yards. One with a 53# Shrew using a 520gr arrow and the long shot was a 50# Red Wing Hunter using a 560gr arrow.
   
  I think if I got a shot at 10 yards I'd be so excited I'd surely miss.  :eek:

shawn you said it well

I try to set up under 20yds from my expected shot, but on occasion I end up slightly longer than that.

Glen StCharles once told me a story that ended in the moral that if the shot feels good take it if it doesn't don't. He said yardage didn't matter only if it looked like a clean kill shot. I've gone by that for ten years now and it has never let me down. Frank

I always find this line of questioning funny since so many trad shooters insist they shoot instinctively which by definition means you have no idea how far the animal is before you shoot.

Call it feel or not, for me it is about the animal's posture/body language, vision. Can I pick out a spot to focus on. In bright light I can see an individual hair at 15-18 yds, in low light I can't make out a hair at 10 yds.

So basically assuming the animal isn't nervous, if I can make out the tiny details of the animal's musculature or hair/skin they are close enough.

Bottom line for me, I practice at a variety of ranges, especially as hunting season approaches (white-tail deer in KY next Sat.) I want at least soft-ball-size groups or "kills" on my 3-D targets at least 9 of 10 shots at any range I'm considering shooting.

However, even though I might be able to do this on the range at long distances (recurve-25 yards -- compound--this morning at 80 yards) I won't shoot near that far at white-tails.  A 30-yard shot would be a long shot considering the flighty and unpredicatable nature of this animal. I set up my stands for 15-yard shots. I don't want the deer under me and I don't want it passing by further than 20 if I can help it.

By the way, I'm not a fan of making noise to stop a white-tail.  Often the first suspicious sound a white-tail hears puts it on alert ready to flex its legs under it, lower the body to bound away (voila ...jumped string). The next sound or movement puts this alert status into action.

QuoteOriginally posted by chopx2:
I always find this line of questioning funny since so many trad shooters insist they shoot instinctively which by definition means you have no idea how far the animal is before you shoot.

That is virtually impossible, when a grounder is caught in center field and the baseball player sees the runner heading home he probably doesn't think o that is 75 yards, he just knows it is far.  

When a animal is farther than "close" you instinctively know you need to raise your bow arm to compensate for drop.

The only difference between the way I shoot and the way the Indians shot is that simple fact that I grew up in a society where measurement systems are equally uniform.

When I draw back the bow I see a target as a whole, then the specific region on a target, then minuscule details upon that target. It doesn't matter how far the target is, the process and the method of aiming is exactly the same.

Anyway, I realize that your original post was not in anyway directed towards me, but I seem to hear that a lot . . .

as close as you can get or as close as they come is always nice. Just make sure your comfortable and confident in whatever distance it is you decide to bend the limbs.

I like them point blank. I have a practice range out to 38yds and shoot it regularly. But my self imposed range limit is 281yds give or take!

I've killed cape buff running out at 55 yrds. Moose through thick timber at around 60-70 yrds . 10+ Blacktails at 80 plus yrds. and turkeys 30-60 yrs or more.
Then I woke up and realized I was have that Howard Hill dream again. Dang it!!!
I've only killt 1 deer with trad so far. But I have kilt lots of frogs and squirrels ect from 10 to 30 yards??? So I guess I'm with the "If it feels good take the shot" Bunch..

QuoteOriginally posted by wapitimike1:
But my self imposed range limit is 281yds give or take!

281yds WOW! you must be an amazing shot!!!
HAHA!  

I've been practicing a lot & feel real comfortable with a 20 & under yard shot at a live animal.
If they are calm & totally broadside to me then up to 30 yards would be my max shot

I am comfortable around 20 yds. But feel like anything closer makes the drag less strenuous.

Out to 20yds is my effective range. I find that I can increase my odds with my limited effective range by treestand placement. Setting up in a bottleneck or squeeze play scenerio where deer are forced to travel by my stand in shooting lanes well within my effective range. Against a fenceline, a bar way in a stonewall, a crossing at a narrow section of a brook etc. Every place I hunt has a section like this. The deer like to use them, and I don't mind being there when they do.

I practice out to 40+ and am confidant that I can make a good hit at 35.  But I'll get as close as I can.

For me I will say 463yds. Wait that was with my rifle. I will shoot at 25yd for deer. My best shots in practice are around 30 yds go figure. Maybe because I actually see the arrow all the way to the target. My bow at 20 yds is quick enough I basically see impact maybe a little flight of the arrow. My first robinhood with my longbow was at 32 yds.

I prefer 15 yards and under for hunting. Jim

I usually look around from my treestand and pick out trees, sticks or whatever. If the deer is on this side of them I shoot if they are on the other side I don't shoot.  I've killed a deer at 12 yards and another at 32 yards.  Both shots felt right and both shots worked.