John B 45

Elkampmaster,

Thanks for the feedback.

The whole show is not about long range shooting. This is just a part of what we are doing.

I personally used an iron-sighted revolver to harvest 2 out of 3 of the antlered tags I filled here in Wyoming. (Antelope and whitetail)

I have given this a lot of thought and come up with some ideas. Should we try and take NASCAR racing off the TV because everyone cannot drive like Richard Petty? And I am in no way comparing my shooting ability to Petty’s driving ability, just using it to illustrate a point.

The guys who are banging away at any elk they can see in the hopes that they may luck out will always be there. Maybe they will learn when not to shoot, maybe they won’t, but pretending it is impossible to reliably kill big game at long range won’t fix that problem.

The next issue is how hard is it to hit (properly) an elk at 500yds? I have a lot of video of relatively inexperienced shooters making great hits at longish ranges with properly set up rifles and good coaching. If the conditions are good it really is no harder to hit an elk in the chest at 500 yds than to hit a 2” circle at 100 yds.

I don’t claim to be an exceptional shot; I just know exactly where to point the rifle to center the group on my intended point of aim at any range I will personally shoot at. This is knowledge, not innate ability or talent. Any one can learn this if they want to. I think too much has been made about the marksmanship part of long range shooting. We do almost all our shooting off bipods and NEVER shoot at moving game. With a little work most people can shoot off a bipod almost as well or in some cases better than they can off a bench. I can shoot sub ½ moa group off a bipod most days. I don’t consider this exceptional performance because I know a lot of inexperienced shooters who can do the same given good conditions.

The further away a hunter can reliably hit his quarry the better a hunter he is.

The closer to his quarry a hunter can get the better a hunter he is.

These two statements don’t contradict one another. We follow both. Long Range Shooting is just another skill in hunting, like stalking, tracking, blood trailing, knowing where to place a treestand, ECT. The more skills any hunter possesses the better a hunter he is.

fishon,

Thanks for the feedback

I don' t care if some one wants to shoot a bow at 120 yds if he can demonstrate on the range he can make such a shot on demand. So far that has not happened to me. I do know archers who can hit at 70 yds, on demand.

Every shot we have on video the hunter who took the shot had demonstrated his (or her) ablity on the range at greater distances, not once but again on demand.As to desperate shots I have a standing bet. I will duplicate any shot we have on video if you want to wager an appropriate amout. Hit or miss, winner takes all.

As to the antis do you really believe they care how far we are shooting? Get real. They want all hunting stopped, period, end of story.