ORIGINAL: T-bird
To stubblejumper, one of the problems is that most folks can't hit a barn much past 300 yds and would swear it was really 500. Paces and yards are two different things, not enough people use laser rangefinders, and I wouldventure that only a relative few hunters ever actually take aimed shots at over 300 yds. Thosethat do should be responsible enough to practice frequently at "long range", whatever that may be, and to be as accurate as possible at determining thereal distance to the critter we're shooting at before pulling the trigger.
I agree fully with your post.I call my leica 1200 the lie detector since it has proven thatmany of those 600 and 700 yards shots that people have bragged about were actually less than 400 yards and sometimes less than 300 yards.My longest verified big game kill was 480 yards with a few more over 400 yards and many at over300 yards.I am fortunate to have a 550 yard range only 20 minutes from my door which is not very busy until august,so I am able to get in a great deal of practise.Unfortunately many peoplenever practise at long range but do not hesitate to take long range shots at game animals.