mrbb

I am a guy that loved to shoot far, and as such, in my earlier yrs, I took what I could do on paper and started ti use it in hunting, that is shooting deer and things at a LONG ways out there
I was even part of a long range hunting video series
and it during the making of these video's that really started to dis like using LONG range SHOOTING for hunting.
I actually sen a lot of behind the scenes things to make me feel bad about what some do!
I was never a guy to shoot at anything and NOT follow up with every effort I could to confirm a hit or miss, and if a HIT I would look for days if needed before ever calling off a search!
I also would never take rushed shots or if things didn;t feel right!
But I have seen many time,s folks trying too hard to get a kill on video do IMO poor judgment things
and I then seen a lot of folks turn into JUST shooters and NOT have many hunting skills, or tracking skills, it was about just having "X" gear and being able to shoot and hit a TARGET, be it paper pr live at distance!
Since I know I am guilty of hunting and shooting things WAY way out there, its sort of hard for me to bash folks that NOW do it, just because I no longer agree its still hunting
But it is sort of how I feel, at some point when distances get way out there, its NOT really hunting at all, its shooting!
both are skills, but there NOT the same!
there are I am sure still plenty of good hunters, that like to stretch there skills and shooting distances, and to them, they I am sure feel its still hunting as they know how to hunt up close and personal too, just maybe wanted to add in some of the challenges of shooting far(just like folks that want challenge of ONLY getting super close to there targets/game!
its a skill to learn to get in close on wild animals,, that most all have better eye's ear's and noses than any human, , so beating them up close and personal is a skill!

shooting far constantly is a skill
so, there is some over lapping when one breaks it all down, its different, but the same to some degree!
just like some Bow hunters think rifle hunters are cheating, like vertical bow guys feel about X bows, ,. the list can go on and on
way I see it if, its LEGAL and folks be ethical about making sure any shot is checked to its fullest, we all just need to agree hunting is still a good thing in many ways and methods!

RaySendero

Fyrstyk54,
You sound more like one of our summertime trolls than a hunter.

Bocajnala

Slob hunters are slob hunters.

Whether they are shooting 15 yards or 1500.

A person that has ethics doesn't abandon them past 400 yards. And a person without ethics doesn't develop them inside of 100.


-Jake

MudderChuck

I save my long shots for varmints, a long shot for me is about 350 yards. The vast majority of my meat shots are under a hundred.
The truth of the matter is the majority of hunters lack the skills and haven't practiced enough to be competent shooters. Competent to me is being able to reliably (99 %) put a bullet in an eight-inch circle, good is a four-inch circle, excellent is a two-inch circle, pick your distance.
I've been shooting enough to know distance isn't the only factor. Uphill. downhill or even wind and weather. I've had bullets change point of impact shooting through layers of air, like clear air and light ground fog. The variables can cancel themselves out or compound themselves, half-inch here, an inch there can add up, plus human error. The reason a bullet might hit slightly off from one practice session to the next.
One of the larger variables can be estimating distance, I know I'm pretty good at it and have screwed it up. I shot at a Fox at what I estimated was 350 yards (likely closer to 420 afterthought), 15-20% uphill, no wind, from a cool hollow onto a hot/warm hillside. I was shooting from a prone position with a good rest. I held over 14 inches to center of mass and hit a foot short (low) from the center of mass. To this day I still don't know exactly what happened? Another time I took a downhill shot at a Fox 350 yards downhill 15% from a warm hillside into a cool hollow, right through the heart. That was right after my guide had called me off a 250 yard shot on a trophy Buck because he thought it was too far. He'd never seen me shoot.
1/2-1 minute of angle is my normal practice group at a hundred yards. All I know for sure is the variables are more profound the longer the distances, simple geometry.
Fox here are shoot on sight, per direction from the Hunting authority, as a way to limit disease. I'll take shots at Fox I wouldn't at Deer.

Fyrstyk54

Ray:

If you read the post you quoted from me you would have seen that I have been hunting for over 40 years. My statements in the above posts are my opinion only, your mileage may vary.

Champlain Islander

My longest shot at wild game was 227 yds off hand at a woodland caribou after passing up at 40 yds near a road. Got second thoughts about size and decided to shoot. Dropped it like a stone. The guys that helped haul it out are probably still crabbing about it.

Rob in VT

RaySendero

I quoted both posts because of the inconsistencies.
If you have been hunting for 40 years, you been doing it way wrong!
Everyone is entitled to their opinion on here (also entitled to the consequences)
Yet to come on here scolding others for the way they choose to hunt after just a few posts is like trolling.

Bocajnala

That's a fair poke off hand CI.

-Jake

Champlain Islander

Woodland bou are huge. No way to miss with a standing shot and nine power on my Zeiss. I swear I could hold between the hairs.....LOL