Not to take away from the post of animal size fairy tales,but I have also seen some pretty close 500 yd shots. And from my point of view as a person who lives to shoot,and hunting is secondary,those are far more irretating...Sometimes to estimate an animal size is hard. Also true for the difference between a 150 & 200 yard shot. But anybodies depth perception can pick out the diff. tween 150 and 400 yds

That last statement should be true, but I've had two weird experiences in the last 45 years, both involving depth perception in the mountains. I still don't understand how it happened.

Abouth 25 years ago I spotted elk moving up a trail at what I thought was about 600 yards. After about five minutes, enough time to get in position and get the binoculars on them, I still thought they were elk until one flew. They were turkey at maybe 300 yards across a canyon.

A friend and I were hunting the mountains of southern New Mexico on an either sex hunt. We thought we were looking at a large doe at about 250 yards right up until he pulled the trigger. It was a small doe at about 125. Something about the cross-canyon perspective confused us.

In those same mountains I've thought I was looking at a mountainside 500 yards away until a cow appeared and knowing the relative size of the object, the cow, told me I was way over-estimating the distance.

I think that is how some hunters get confused by distances. I think I became a better "distance estimator" when I became a golfer about 35 years ago.

Maybe so, but I find more often than not its a selective boo boo to the high side

I think that many people overestimate the distance because they lack the real world experience and thier distabce scale of measure is directly influenced by thier usual enviroment, which for many is a city or urban area, where thier subconscious mind has grown use to measuring distance and scale in relation to the structures in close proximity.

Now take and put them in rolling plains or mixed woods or mountainous terrain and without considering other enviromental factors (clean air, altitude, haze etc) thier scale of refernce is completely skewed.

Add to it that many only go out once or twice a year to hunt, so thier time spent eyeballing game in its natural environs is equally lacking and one has the scene set for gross overestimations of the range to target.

Then you have the Hunter factor....where for the gratification of self they fudge the distance.

Then you have optical illusions (tricks of light and terrain) that can occur in nature and many times you don't even realise that your eyes aren't seeing whats in front of you and it is something that all of us have fallen prey too and I am sure we will again at some future date.

Then you have those of us who are shooters first with hunting a close second and who will go out and range favoured hunting spots and make range charts for each one and even place unobtrusive range markes out as shooting aids.

Not to say I don't also like wandering around but sometimes time constraints, give one a choice.... some hunting, however limited or no hunting at all.

A perfect world it isn't.

I have always had the opposite problem when estimating distance. Everything looks closer to me than it actually measures, and I have used a friends Lieca rangefinder on a test to see how close my estimates were. I have shot deer at very long ranges because they just didn't look that far. When paced off they have been shot at extreme distances. While deer hunting on farm land here in Kansas I try to remember that the utility poles are 60 yards apart and that helps to keep things in proper perspective. I have never hunted in the mountains and that will be a whole different experience, especially for estimating range.

I've played golf for a lot of years, and I've been able to range fairly accurately from 100-500 yds. I have more trouble ranging 20-40 yds. which is a problem when bow hunting.

OK I'll cut to the chase. Theres been way more shit shot in the distance a shot was made than will ever be shot regarding animal size

The most difficult judging for me is over water.
My brother and I were fishing in his boat when he asked "What's that moving on the hill side?" I looked at the hill maybe 300 yards away and couldn't figure it out and he said "They're Elk" where upon I spotted the previously undiscovered California Pygmy Tule Elk. These Elk were obviously only about 24" tall at the shoulder or the distance was over 800 yards.