Let me attempt to explain-at least MY views. The whole idea when hunting is to have 1 well placed shot. I taught my kids,as well as a lot of other people-not just kids,and was raised myself with a single shot rifle. If you KNOW you ONLY have 1 shot,and learn that way until it's ingrained in you,you're going to wait until you have a perfect(or close to it) shot before you ever pull the trigger. In that way,the AVERAGE hunter that was raised with only 1 shot will pass up more shots,but of the shots he/she does take,will usually enjoy a higher success ratio for the shots they DO take. See what I mean? In other words,the person hunting with a single shot will be somewhat more successful PER SHOT TAKEN vs somebody that knows they have more shots ready to "unleash". After all,the 1st shot is going to be the best by far IF you practice self control. Not saying it's more or less responsible to use repeater or single shot,just that a person hunting with single shot don't feel constrained whatsoever. I own both and while ruger #1s are great,and my encore performs good no matter what,I usually hunt with my 1 of my a-bolts now,mostly because of their incredible accuracy. Just so you know I'm not 1 of those "single shot snobs".