I�m 58 years old. This is my 44th year of hunting deer and elk. As a wild assed kid, I took long shots when they presented, but I mellowed with age. I started to stalk closer as a challenge. Succeeded some, failed some and saw a lot of white tails waving at me. I decided a long time ago to keep my shots under 300 yards. Over the years I developed my range estimation to what I thought was a fine art. So I thought. This year I purchased a Nikon 800 Rangefinder and used it on my annual hunting trip to Colorado. It was a revelation.

First revelation; estimating yardage across a canyon. I made the guess and ranged the distance. What I estimate to be 400 to 500 yards +, turned out to be 200 yards or less, consistently. Same with my hunting partners. They estimated, then confirmed with the rangefinder. They over estimated the distance across canyons as consistently as I did and by as much.

I came back to the North Dakota deer season. Spent the last week at that. I hunted several areas where I killed deer in the past, areas with definite land marks. I stood in the same spot where I fired and ranged to a tree or rock close by kill. Two kills that I estimated to be 200 yards or less, ranged out at 300 and 310 yards respectively.

The good news; I stayed within my 300 yard range limit.

The bad news; I underestimated the range, when the range was over 200 yards, one hundred percent of the time.

I learned I can estimate 150 yards or less accurately.

I also learned that 400 yards + estimated is wildly inaccurate. I estimated distance and then ranged dozens of deer over the last week to prove that point to myself.

If you hunt open country, get a rangefinder, then get ready to step on your eyeballs when they pop out. I sure as hell stumbled over mine.

The best news of all: At 58, with 44 years of experience, (Not including tagging along with my father and older brothers when I was 5 or 6) I�m not too old and set in my ways to learn and change.

Roger,

As the Aussie's would say... Spot On!!!

I also carry a rangefinder when expecting anything beyond a couple hundred yards.

If setting up on a powerline or clearcut I'll range a few known objects so I don't have to fiddle with the rangefinder when game appears.

I also try to always "hold on hair" if I don't have time for the rangefinder.

From the spine to the bottom of the heart on a deer is a pretty large area but hitting exactly where you need to is always best.

$bob$

Roger,

I learned long ago that 400 yards is a long way, 500 yards is further, and 800 well is seems close in the plains, but is still nearly half a mile!

Took a guy on his first hunting trip this fall. He shot an elk at ~ 180 yards. He thought it was a 1/4 mile or so. His rifle (actually my M70, 300 Winnie) was zeroed @ 200. He made the shot, not perfect but he connected twice.
Using my rifle's scope I estimated it at 160 yards. Later we actually lasered it and IRCC it was 177 yards from his shooting position to where we could best figure the cow was first shot.

Do you hunt with a scope? There are ways of obtaining fairly accurate range estimates using a scopes plex recticle. It was how I was taught to estimate range way out there at 300+ yards (which is were ranging starts to get important). That was before the laser range finder was available, at least I think as I knew no one that use a laser anyway.

ASS_CLOWN

Roger-Like you ,I am an oldie.I was always an over-shooter and since I got my rangefinder and take it all year long and measure distance on Deer abd Elk where I hunt in the off season...I don't take mine on the hunt.If in doubt..I don't shoot...It is sure amazing how something like a big Bull Elk looks at 300+ yards thru the scope.Right on for some calibers but then the Deer look like rabbits at that range thru a scope....

Practice-Practice and Practice........Never know what yardage angle or shot is going to be provided untill it happens.Then the cool calm and collected usually provail.

Good luck..........Jayco

I belive that a laser range finder is one of the best things out there. If you hunt any type of open country farm feilds to powerlines ect. they are a great help in making the shot. Years ago I over shot a buck crossing a river. sometime later I went back with my laser. That buck was only a 160 yards away dead on for the rifle I was using. If I would have or could have measure the distance he would have bee dead.

I take mine hunting a lot it is so very simple to take afew reading and know where you are shooting. If the game is so close that you don't have time before it runs he is close enough to shoot with out one.

Yup been using them since they came out and yes it was a great revelation seen couple eyeballs hanging out of thier sockets not a pretty sight

I was the first guy to own a Leica Geovid in the US - been using mine since July 30, 1993. Still the best one out there, BTW.

I also use a Leica. But my first one was the Bushnell ranging 400. It was the first one I ever heard of.

I also found out just how good and bad I was at judging distance. Especially bow range and LOOOOng range.

Just last month while in Wyoming I watched a mulie doe feeding on a hay bale as I was driving by. I estimated her distance to be at best, 30 yards. She was 48 yards. I hit the range button again and again. I was certain there was something wrong with it. But, I paced it out and it was dead on. I'm glad I wasn't bowhunting.

I am pretty good at judging distances between 75 to about 250 though. Beyond that, it is a crap shoot.

I was walking a property line about 10 hours ago in KY where I hunt. I had never been on this ridgetop before, I came to the top and saw the landowners barn at what seemed to be about 800-900 yards away over the typical rolling farmlands in KY. The good ol Leica laid it out at 530 yards.

And by the way, I believe it was Gordon Eastman of Eastman Outdoors that said it in one of his mulie videos... "Hunters seem to ALWAYS over estimate distance out here, especially across canyons."

At that point in the video, 2 hunters from PA kept shooting WAAAY over the backs of these bucks that were only 200 yards away. The hunters said that the bucks had to be at least 350-400 yards away.

Thank God for range finders. That little hunting tool is always at the top of my 'must have' list when I'm talking to people interested in hunting.

As others here have stated, they are great tools and especially so for "training your distance eye". But, in using them, they can also cause you to screw yourself if you aren't ever mindful of the laws of physics and gravity. Those have been discussed here several times. Sometimes things ain't what they seem to be in what is measured by the RF device.

I started using a 1/2 mil tacticle reticle around 10 years ago. Very helpful, with practice. I bought a Leica 1200 a while back and now use the reticle only to confirm an animal is under the 300 yard mark. Any further and it gets lasered. I also use the laser a lot when bowhunting. A "must have" for the serious shooter IMO.

i've been an avid shooter for 26+ years with an occasional deer hunt. 3 years ago, i started hunting more. i spotted an elk bedded down across a draw. i figured 375yds so i placed my cross hairs right on it's spine, fired and missed. later that week, i bought a leica 800, went to the same area and ranged the shot at 140 yards. after buying the leica, my brother basically said i was a nut and didn't need the range finder. the next year, my brother shot a cow elk at a ?great distance. it took him 6 shots before he hit the cow. in my discussion with him, he mentioned that he had to hold around 12" above it's back and he thought the elk was 600 years out. being a hobbyist ballistician, i told him the distance was probably not that far. later that year, his hunting partner bought a range finder and low and behold, the distance of the shot was 400 yds.

I play a lot of golf, and I've found that my range estimation is pretty close from 100-500 yds. I didn't shoot opening day as about a dozen deer crossed at a guessed 450 and 500 yds. When I ranged it later it was 465 at the one point and 495 at the other. I am terrible estimating animals under 50 yds. however when bow hunting; this is when a laser range finder is most important.

Another great use for the rangefinder.
While guiding I had a hunter shoot a bull across a bowl that was standing in some oak brush. I ranged the bull at 292 yards. The hunter shot and I could tell it was a good hit, but then the bull disappeared. I thought the bull had run a very short distance and piled up behind a tree, but could not see anything to verify that. I kept the hunter on the sticks in case the bull showed itself and went over to find his trophy. Once I got onto the hillside everything looked the same. Oak brush is oak brush and the occaisional pinion trees all looked the same. I then began to range back to the hunter and found I was only 240 yards out. I ended up getting to where I was around 295 yards from the hunter and made an arc. The bull was dead but buried in a pinion tree with oak all the way around it. I walked past it once before finding it. I would hate to have tried covering that whole mountainside to find the elk.

I keep my Leica 1200 on my daypack's hip belt for easy access and I never leave my daypack behind.