Thank you all for your replies with good reliable information. That's just what I was looking forward to hearing.

Very few shots in excess of 300yds. Most less than 100. Some finish up shots included as expected. Does sound like a couple buff's got a bit close, especially if that was the first shot!

Goes to proove: you really need to know your gun and ammo, by doing a LOT of shooting prior to hunting. Not many have prairie dogs in your area. I've found a good deal of shooting them with all my big rifles sure pays off when it comes to big game shooting. I don't feel there's a better way to practice. But, an afternoon with a .375 on p'dogs would be a long day for most of us.

Thank you gentlemen,
George

Couple of things on TRs hunt. It was in Kenya, which does have a lot of open area. but I think he did't really have PHs as we know and think of them today. And he was out with him, the guide, a tracker or two, a gun bearer for him and the guide, a horse tendere, and a couple of people to bring stuff back..seems like, he had a group of 10-12 on each attempt to get something, though in some cases he was hunting from a horse, and would dismount to shoot, or chase them with the horse. He was also using IRON sights exclusively, as no real scope in 1910. He had 3 rifle, a Springfield sporter, made up for him, in 06, a Winchester 95 in 405W, and a 500/450 H&H. He had some , evidently, soft point ammo of some sort, for the 06, his "little rifle" but most often used the military ball stuff. He mentions on several occassions of using solids in the 405. The 416 was NOT in existance yet, and all the rifles he used, though modern smokeless, were only a few years out of the BP era. How he was able to determine some of the distances, I don't know, unless he had a surveyors set up, and did so after the shot. He DID in fact, have a portable scale for weighing all his game, so not guesstimate on the 2,000 Buffalo, etc. He, and his son, though they often hunted apart, did a LOT of walking, looks like in excess of 10 hours a day, most days, though some breaks for lunch in the mid-day. I think some of the ranges were inflated too, because can't see any reason to be shooting at a 125 yds, at a Rhino with a 500-450, and iron sights. TR and his group weren't hunting for themselves, they were hunting to provide museums here, with animals to mount and display, which is why they had so many. There were about 50% MORE birds and animals like mice and etc., taken, by the biologists along..

60+ plains game in 11 safaris, plus 8 dangerous game. longest plains game shot was a Lich Hartbeest at 250 yards in TZ. all other plains game under 150 yards( most under 100 yards). longest dangerous game( cape buffalo) was about 125 yards. the other 9 were 10 feet to 50 yards. bottom line is that most African animals( outside of, perhaps the East Cape area of South Africa) are shot at less than 125 yards.

All of my shooting is with a .375 H&H or larger.

The closest shot was probably the Elephant, somewhere around 15 yards. The furthest was a Kudu at 325 or so.

The furthest I have shot a dangerous game animal was about 100 yards (my first buffalo) and buff average around 50-75 for me. The rest of the DG are too small a sample size to be meaningful, but all under 50 yards.

Plains game, the shooting in the Masailand was longer than elsewhere, but still averaged under 200, and in Zim and Zambia probably averaged around 75 yards or so.

Longest - Hartmans Zebra, about 420 yards, 300 WM. About the same on a big waterbuck, 375 H&H.

Shortest - cape buffalo, about 15 feet, laying on my belly feet wet in the Chobe river, while 20-ish buff milled around. 375 H&H. That was for sure the most exciting moment! Also a problem elephant about 15 yards, 416 rigby double.

I'd echo the previous comments also about the terrain being the deciding factor. On this last trip, shots of 300 yards ( by laser binos ) were pretty frequent, on red lechwe, impala, blue wildebeast. A croc at 200, and a couple hippos at 125 and 150, needed good stable positions, and exact ranges to put the bullet right in the spot. These longer shots were mainly due to NO cover, and simply out of concealment to manuever behind. The lechwe in particular was 500+ yards out, and we used an umbrella to get as close as we did, before taking one shot from the sticks, on our knees.

On this other hand, away from the river, we stalked to within 30 yards of warthogs and made shots on them unawares of our presence, shot sitting, no sticks, with the barrel on my foot, shooting under brush.

Shoot a lot, under as many different conditions as you can, from as many crazy positions as you can bear to practice.

Take a class like the FTW Ranch SAAM class, that will help a lot with positional shooting and longer shots. I like to take a 2 day refresher class, before a big hunt, worth every penny, in saved lost trophies alone!

Longest shot; 300 on my first gemsbuck. Average was 100 or less, and I'm sure I can count those over 200 on one hand. This is in marked contrast to my local hunting were my average is close to 400 some years.

As I recall, TR is a self proclaimed bad shot and worse horseman. Give him credit for honesty.

And last I checked their period equipment wasn't exactly as good as what we world today. An iron sighted Springfield wasn't it? I also recall them not understanding the relative size of the animals. Giraffe gave them a lot of fits until they realized they were 20 feet tall and 1/4 mile off.

To the question: between 30 and 287 yards for me.

PG in Namibia...between 115 and 270m....shot a Hartmanns zebra from the sticks at 230 and an oryx at 270 (PH had a rangefinder).

All 18 animals, springbok,oryx, blue wildebeest and the zebra where taken with a brno 602 in .375H&H...I feel that my limit is about 300 with that rifle.