James, sounds like you don't "NEED" hunting at all then. Why take the risk of missing, which by the way can happen at 30 yards or 300yards? Maybe a grocery story is all you "NEED".

Unless, you are saying you have never missed or got a marginal shot.

I'm not saying 100 but if you can't consistantly get within 500 yards you suck as a hunter. What are you guys doing? Hunting with a neon sign rammed up your @$$ or using the jumping jacks stalking technique? It's called hunting folks, not shooting. Shooting is just one aspect of hunting. If you can't get closer than 1000 yards then you need to work on your stalking skills. If you are shooting from these distances on purpose then you aren't even trying to hunt. You are just using animals as targets for your long rangeshooting games.

Correct, and keep in mind that not many people can shoot that good at 1000 yards. Most people will shoot worse than that.

Maybe I'm the odd duck here, but the distance I am willing to shoot game animals at is much closer than the distance I shoot targets at. Being able to make the shot doesn't count. I want a shot I can't miss.

Correct. Better hunting skills requries less shooting skills, and vice versa.

It depends. If your scouting and stalking abilities are intact then you don't have to buy a 50 caliber BMG andcarry a benchrest, 3 sand bags, a ballistics computer, two spotters and a flag pole with a wind sock on it into the field with you every day.

Lets look at this from another angle. You plant to hunt where shot opportunities will not exceed 100 yards. That being the case you buy a 30-30 lever action and put a 4 power scope on it. At the range howeveryour new rifle will not group any ammo you try tighter than 7 inches at 100 yards. According to some here you are still good to go. After all 6 to 7 inch groups are fine at 1000 yards so why not at 100 if that's as far as you plan to shoot? But seriously how many people would be satisfied with that 30-30 and that level of accuracy. I sure as hell wouldn't be and hope that you wouldn't be either.

I agrree wth both sides on this one. There is no need to be shooting 500-1000 yds at deer, but some people like the challenge, theres no need to be shooting deer with arrows either, but some people like the challenge.
My advice is just be responsible, if you can consistently hit a pie plate at any range with gun or bow then your good to go.
I am not one to tell people how to hunt but I will tell you just be resposible, respect the animal and dont try and make luck shots, know in your mind that it is going to be good shot and make it. I have passed on shots that I just did not feel comfortable making with my gun and my bow, and this is what hunters need to learn, you have to have enough self-control and actually pass up on a shot at times.
Long range hunting and archery hunting are one in the same.

I know, I'm well versed in the terminology. And good lord do you seriously think that I don't know the difference between a 6 inch group at 100 yards and a 6 inch group at 1000? You completely missed the point I was making.

I have to somewhat disagree. Many people bowhunt because it allows them more tags to fill and/or waaay more time in the woods than their states short or limited gun season would otherwise allow. For example Illinois has a very long bow season but two very short gun seasons. Also in many places out of state hunters can usually obtain an archery permit and/or tag far easier than a firearms permit or tag.So the motivationto bowhunt isvery often of a much more practical nature than just seeking more of achallenge.

By that definition, how many snipers are there in this country?

Well then all this talk, videos, etc... about Long Range killing is actually hurting the gun community. Now that gives the Brady Bunch the ammo against "sniper rifles". They will just say, "If they can try and kill an animal at that distance they can certainly kill a human". So either way it doesn't look to good for either side of the debate.