I practice out to 60, but I am most confident between 40and 50.  I al pretty sure with the right conditions(animal is calm, and little wind), that I could make a good clean kill at 60 yards.  Past that and I would not feel comfrontable at all. 

I limit myself to 40 yards.  I took a shot at a deer one year and he was just over 60 yards away.  I watched the arrow sale under his belly.  After the shot I got to wondering what whould of happened if I would of hit him.  For one I don't believe that the arrow was traveling fast enough for a pass through shot.  So if I would of hit the front shoulder it may or may not of done enough damage to of killed him.  If I would of hit a rib it may or gone into the vitals and done enough damage or it may not of.  And if it would of how far of a tracking job would I have had ahead of myself? 

So on a long shot you need to find out just how far that arrow is penatrating and not if you can hit the target. 

I practice out to 60yrds, but dont know if i would shoot past 40 in the field.

Str8shotter, nice topic

Im not sure how your bow is set-up and tuned, but practice is key, and not with field points either. Is you bow fairly new? Whats your brace height (5"-6" not as accurate 7"+ easier to shoot) Factory string or upper end custom no-twist with D loop? Peep site hole size ( smaller= more accurate but sucks at dawn and dust) I use a 3/16" hole size. What size are your pins? (.019" is best with wrap) I have a 7 pin site set at 20- 30- 40- 50- 60- 80- 100yds. USE YOUR LEVEL!!! Are you using a good fast dropaway rest? Turn up your bow, Mine is set at 70lbs. and your better be able to hold it back for 5 minutes at full draw. Hows your breathing it the shot. I usually take a breath let half out then hold it and pull the trigger. As far as effective range  i'll for me its 80yds and i practice out to 100yds with some buddies for compitition and resting between shots. Now i've taken game at 82yds but every thing was perfect conditions, and i've missed at 80yds with the animal jumping the string, alls I know is after you let the arrow go you cant have it back, Do you know what I mean?????   

Sounds like I'm on the right track with stretching it out during my practice.  My setup is a 420 some ot grain arrow, 72 lbs mathews switchback, using the G5 metapeep setup to perfectly encompass my spott hogg hunter sight ring(think my pins are .19 and .10 for the bottom 2), also have a rip cord code red drop away.  I'm not so concerned about my equipments capability as I am about my own personal ability.  That being said I have never had a problem letting down on quality animals if I didn't feel comfortable with anything involving the shot.

Growing up and hunting in Wisconsin I never had the need to stretch my shooting beyond 30 yards.  2 years ago I went on my first elk hunt and for the first time ever stepped my practice range back to the 60-70 yard range.  I can put a broadhead into a quarter sized spot 95 out of a 100 times at 40 yards.  So in reasoning that I figured if I stepped back to nearly 100 yards I may be able to see the same improvements as earlier while extending my range further to 60 yards(hopefully).  I guess I just wanted to see what distances you western folks practice at to prepare for longer shots on game.   If nothing else watching my arrow disappear and then hearing the thunk on the target feels pretty sweet!

Sounds like your doing just fine. Just continue practicing and get a partner to help push you along. We shoot 3" bright colored party ballons pined on our target for some $$$  on the 80yd and 100yd shots. Keep it fun!!!

i practice up to 100 yards but heep it under 70 when hunting.

I can shoot a hair off a rats ass at about 75 yards while target shooting. Now I don't think it would be that ethical to try and take big game at that distance but if I'm feeling froggy I might whip and arrow at a hog at about 60 yards.

most of the shots i get while hunting have been less than 20 yards though