I went back and thought about 10 random bucks I’ve shot in recent years:
Sask. 30 yards
OK 90
IA 70
Sask. 130
WY 150
AL 80
MS 90
VA 60
WY 140
TX 120
Average kill distance: 96 yards.
I love shots inside 100 yards (and set a lot of my blinds where I think I might get an easy shot on my TV show) because you can dispatch a deer cleanly and confidently, but there is a downside. If you kill them close all of the time or most of the time, you might not have much confidence when a buck is standing out there at 200 or 250 yards one day, looking small through the scope. He looks small and far, far away, but he really isn’t. Any modern rifle topped with an excellent scope and shooting today’s great factory loads, and sighted to hit an inch or two high at 100 yards, will easily get the job done out to 250 yards if you do your part.
When a buck is standing out there at 200 to 250 yards or so, looking small, don’t think twice about it. Get a good rest, pin your scope’s crosshair on his shoulder hair and drop him.
My longest kill shot was 270 yards with a .243 Winchester model 70.It was a december doe hunt in central Pennsylvania.We had about 6 inches of snow on the farm in the ridges.I spent the morning on one ridge looking for tracks. At noon I returned to the car, retreived my lunch and crossed the road to the shed where I could watch the meadow on the opposite slope.I was sitting in my lawn chair sipping coffee and eating a sandwich when I saw 2 deer come to a low stone wall and stop.I sat down in the snow with elbows on knees and scoped them.They were does.It was an uphill shot.I held high on the shoulder of the largest one.At the shot the deer jumped over the wall and collapsed.Dressing the deer,I found the heart split. A friend later used a range finder to measure the distance to the wall at 270 yards.