I know from own experience that a deer shot into the boiler room at 100 meters with a 30/06 can run more than 100 meters before dying.

I would presume that when hit at 500 yards they might run even further, leaving less sign befause of lower buller deformation. When hit a little towards the rear into the liver or worse, because of a slight breeze into the boiler room, they will run further leaving even less sign.

Now, who without a good dog is able to walk up 500 yards after the shot, to find the exact spot where the deer stood when he fired? I have sometimes trouble at a 5th part of that distance. Who can reliably track and find a gut-shot deer every time without a dog?

I would, under regular circumstances, just not risk it.

Duk, And too few would even try.

There are a lot of good points made in many of the replies. To attempt a 500 yd shot one must have the equipment, that will perform adequately at that distance and the one using the equipment has to have the skill (which comes through many hours of practice) to make such a shot. Oh, and the conditions must be right: wind, position of the deer, obstacles between you and the deer.

I practice regularly to 350 yds with my .257 Wby. Mag. and feel I could make a 350 yd shot if the conditions were right. I'd have to do a lot of practice to 500 yds before ever considering that shot. It is simply not a shot the VAST MAJORITY of hunters should be considering.

Part of the sport of deer hunting is the ability to put oneself in a decent position to kill a deer. That means lots of time in the field scouting and then picking a location to station oneself. There is more to deer hunting than taking the shot.

My nickels worth.

You get a lot of drop at 500 and the wind can cause all kinds of problems..I have seen a lot of deer wounded at those long ranges, mostly broken legs or the wind put it in the gut...

I limit myself these days to 300 yards with a good scope sighted rifle and prefer to get closer..I still like to hunt.

What I have observed over the years is the best of shots are more likely to wound a deer at long range than a bad or average shot, as the bad and average shots just miss, but the real good shots always get a piece of the deer, just not always the best piece...

It is a free society and to each his own but I feel like our wildlife deserve a lot of respect thus my range limit, but it was not always that way, I had to learn it the hard way.