Skip to main content

Know Your Bullet Drop and Range When Hunting Whitetails

Knowing your bullet drop at various ranges, having a good rangefinder and spending the time to practice with your rifle can the difference between success and eating deer-tag sandwiches. Here's why.

Know Your Bullet Drop and Range When Hunting Whitetails
Accurate range estimation is crucial to determining where your bullet will impact the target. Laser rangefinders can provide quick, easy and accurate ranges. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

When you miss, it's always good to know why. One of the most common reasons for missing a shot, particularly a longer shot, is not figuring the correct range to the target. In close, an error in range estimation may not make enough difference to matter. But farther away, that same amount of error can often mean a miss. The reason is that even though we all know that a bullet drops below the center of our crosshairs when we shoot beyond the distance for which we have zeroed, many of us don't fully understand how quickly the rate of that drop increases, the farther out we reach. Let me explain.

Let's say you're hunting with a 150-grain softnose .308 Winchester load, which is one of the most popular whitetail cartridges in America. It leaves the muzzle at about 2,820 feet per second, according to the manufacturer's ballistic chart, and you have zeroed your gun at 100 yards, which is the most commonly used sight-in distance among all deer hunters. You've studied that chart, and you know that with a 100-yard zero your bullet will hit about 1.2 inches low at 150 yards, 3.75 inches low at 200 yards, and a whopping 14.25 inches low at 300 yards - should you ever dare to shoot that far. You're prepared to deal with that, because you have a scope with a trajectory-compensating reticle, and you've checked to make sure where the bullets actually hit by firing at known-distance targets on a shooting range.

But when you get to the field and encounter an animal that's not standing at exactly 150, 200, or 300 yards, what happens if you don't correctly determine how far away he really is? Well, if you use that .308 to shoot at a deer you think is 100 yards away and he's actually at 150 yards away, it probably won't make enough difference to matter, because the bullet only drops an inch and a quarter crossing that additional 50 yards and you'll still be well within the kill radius if you've aimed for the center of his heart/lung zone.

But what if you think he's 200 yards away and he's actually 250 yards away? Different story. Your bullet is going to drop an additional 4.3 inches below the 200-yard impact point traveling across that additional 50 yards. So even if you put your reticle's 200-yard drop marker right on his heart, you're going to hit more than four inches low. You're going to miss his heart, and probably shoot under him entirely, even if you're steady as a rock when you press the trigger.

And, if you range a deer to be at 250 yards (which is a shot at a trophy buck most of us would take in a heartbeat with a .308), and he's actually at 300 yards, you won't even touch a hair, even if you've got your aim solidly placed for the 250-yard distance, because traveling that additional 50 yards from 250 to 300, the bullet is going to drop yet another six and a quarter inches.

The same applies when we are hunting with handguns, slug guns, muzzleloaders (or even bows), as well. A lot of hunters think that trajectory issues and bullet drop issues are really only important for long-range rifle hunting. Not so. In fact, the problems caused by mistaking the range to your target are often even greater with such "shorter-range" hunting tools than with a high-power centerfire gun. Handguns, slug guns, and muzzleloaders are not as "flat-shooting" as centerfire rifles; their bullets drop quicker and at a faster rate.

Consider a modern full-rifled 12-gauge slug gun firing a high-tech 260-grain sabot slug that leaves the muzzle at about 1,900 fps velocity. If zeroed at 50 yards (still a popular sight-in distance among slug hunters), that slug only drops 1.7 inches by the time it gets to 100 yards. Again, not enough to make a telling difference. But if you think your buck is 100 yards away and he's actually 150 yards away, your slug is going to hit more than five inches below your 100-yard aiming point.

My own personal favorite new-technology 12-gauge sabot "slug-rifle" will shoot 150-yard groups that are right at two inches with its favorite load, and it will hold a four-inch group at 200 yards. I have no aversion whatsoever to going for a trophy shot at either of those distances with that gun if the opportunity presents itself. But what if I guess the range at 150 and it's closer to 200? There is nearly a full foot of drop for that slug across those 50 yards. It doesn't matter how accurate the gun is, or how well I aim for the distance I think the animal is standing. If I don't have the range correct, I might as well be throwing rocks. And as it gets farther away, the drop becomes increasingly worse, at an increasing rate.

How easy is it to make incorrect range estimates in the field? Really easy, even between 100 and 150 yards, even for the most experienced hunter, depending on terrain, vegetation cover and the size of the animal as it appears through his scope. Out at 200-250 yards, or 250-300 yards, it's a rare hunter who can guess distance with enough accuracy to overcome the problem of their bullet's rapidly decaying trajectories, particularly when hunting in unfamiliar country. I can't, and I'm better at it than most. How dare I say that? Because I've practiced, practiced, practiced, everywhere I hunt anything across the country, making guesses on how far rocks and trees (and animals) are away, and then verifying with a laser rangefinder.

When hunting with others, we do it as a game, each guessing, then verifying. I win more than I lose, but not so much these days as before, now that more and more hunters are playing this game because they're becoming more aware of just how fast their bullets drop the farther out they get.

The laser rangefinder is the critical tool in all this. Get one if you don't have one, no matter what firearm or archery device you hunt with, and use it - all the time. When hunting on the move, have it attached to your body, clothing, or gear with some type of auto-returning retention device (there are many) so you can instantly throw it up to your eye and get a read, then release it to take your shot. When hunting from a stand or a blind, use the rangefinder to mentally mark known distances to landmarks (bushes, trees, fenceposts, rock outcropping, whatever) all around you, so when something steps out, you'll already have a close-enough estimate in your mind of how far away he is.

Bottom line? Know your gun's trajectory. Shoot it at known-distance targets to make sure you know how your scope indexes at different key distances. And use a laser rangefinder in the field — every single time you hunt.

Recommended





GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Team NAW Tests Taurus' Raging Hunter on Texas Axis Bucks!

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Winchester's Continued Legacy: The .400 Legend

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Savage Unveils New Line of Popular Axis Hunting Rifles

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning's Brand-New X-bolt 2 Hunting Rifle

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Ripcord Arrow Rests Rejuvenates Lineup with Three New Models

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Don't Sleep on Conventional Trail Cameras

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning Trail Cameras Announces Cellular Innovation for 2024

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

ATA 2024 Core SR First Look from Bowtech

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Browning OVIX Camo: Ultimate Concealment for Any Time, Any Place

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Air Venturi Avenge-X Classic PCP Air Rifle Reviewed

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Primos Edge Carbon Fiber Tripod Shooting Sticks

Danny Farris puts his Browning OVIX camouflage to use in the rocky terrain of Texas.
Gear

Bowhunting Aoudad in Texas with Browning OVIX Camo

North American Whitetail Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Buy Single Digital Issue on the North American Whitetail App

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top North American Whitetail stories delivered right to your inbox.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All North American Whitetail subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top North American Whitetail stories delivered right to your inbox.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use