ORIGINAL: James B
Howler. You like to make excuses for what every hunter knows is a absolute no no. Remote areas don't excuse lousy habits. Thank God you are in the big minority on this issue. When next I hunt those remote areas, I hope you are not there. I can't say anymore. This is an understood rule of hunting. No skyline blasting.
Maybe the problem is the word "skyline"...
How about the phrase "non-visible backstop"?
Have you ever taken a shot at an animal that had a non-visible backstop?
Like a animal in the woods?
If you are shooting level or even slightly uphill, because of a sitting position, at a deer in the woods... woods behind him or not... you don't have 100% visibility of the eventual backstop.
Like when I shot that caribou, while the bank/ridge he was on wasn't very high, like 15' above me and 30' above the tundra on the other side of the river, it did conceal alot of land. Granted, that I had glassed the enitre area for miles and was 99.99999999999999999999% positive that there wasn't anouther human with 3 miles of me, even if I had missed, my bullet probably wouldn't make it 1000 yards past the caribou, you wouldn't have taken that shot?
This isn't about lousy habits... this is about dealing with reality... If people waited for a 100% solid non-ricochett backround, I don't think many would be taking shots.
Don't take offense because this comment isn't directed at you specifically... however... I think that alot of people on this site talk a good game but, in the field, it really becomes a case of... do as I say... not as I do...
Since we are playing hypotheticals here...
If you were in a bush plane crash and needed food, I doubt that you'd be starving to death due to passing on a shot because the backstop wasn't 100% solid and non-ricochetable...
SA