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Post by bula on Aug 21, 2018 10:48:39 GMT -5
I know my ideas on distance shooting skewed by coming of age in a shotgun only/bow hunting area. I know there are places where it is either distance shooting or nothing likely. On the tundra for 'Bou, in the mtns for goat, the plains for pronghorn, etc.. Read something recently where a gun rag author mentions he knows of shooters(I'll not call them hunter)that actually back up, away from the game animal to make the shot more difficult. This to me a disrespect of that animal, risking a wounding for bragging rights. Also see "sniping" and "snipers" type shooting and rifles are pretty much "in" and cool and see the nephews wanting and buying such. Seems the beanfield rifles may have started this, but to me if the critters keep coming out way over there, you should move the stand and admit you erred in your scouting. Skill in the woods disappearing fast. Bothers me. You ? Our Sixshot will still crawl and stalk to good shot distance, a lesson for all.
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Post by kings6 on Aug 21, 2018 11:10:22 GMT -5
I had this exact conversation with a member yesterday. He mentioned he watched an outdoor program where the "hunter" did just that, moved further away to increase the difficulty of the shot to show their prowess at long range shooting. Since I don't watch TV ( we used rabbit ears until a year ago when I put up an antenna in the attic) I found it hard to believe but he assured me it was true. Totally against the grain of all I was taught and raised with. That is why I quit hunting with a rifle decades ago and switched to traditional archery and handguns. I don't care how fast a bullet is traveling or how good a shot a guy is, at ranges approaching some of the shots these guys take a bull elk can easily move enough to turn a kill shot into a gut shot.
Steel and cardboard are one thing, live animals are another in my book but I'm old fashion enough to love the challenge of the stalk and the hunt, not the kill.
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Post by bula on Aug 21, 2018 11:13:50 GMT -5
Amen. Games should not be played with living breathing things.
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Post by magnumwheelman on Aug 21, 2018 12:36:53 GMT -5
it gets harder to draw the line... as hunters continually get in poorer & poorer condition, & equipment keeps getting better... "me" by nature am not naturally lucky, at cards, at hunting... so far, only at love I went many, many years of hunting, before a spike buck offered up a shot ( & this was rifle hunting, back then )... todate I've only gotten a couple does, & a couple spike bucks, in my deer hunting history... & I've gone hunting much more often than those numbers would indicate... you can rest assured, that I won't be that person moving back further to get a more difficult shot
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Post by onegoodshot on Aug 21, 2018 12:48:53 GMT -5
I always try to get closer if possible. I think my longest xp 100 shot was just short of 150yds. I shoot paper a lot longer, but in WV long hunting shots just aren’t that common. I want to stack the odds in my favor of making a quick humane kill on a living animal. I don’t like seeing people post about the long shots. It giIves non hunters and less experienced hunters false expectations about hunting.
With that said, this s a lot like a political topic. It never ends well. If you have the opposite opinion, It can cause hard feelings or a loss of respect for the other individual. Best to just keep quiet and not judge.
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Post by jfs on Aug 21, 2018 15:08:47 GMT -5
I remember a while ago a poster,on the handgun hunt site, told how he shot an antelope at 700yds with a single shot handgun and that for the next season he was going to make sure the distance was 900yds... Boy... he took a lot of flack over that....the distances I show may not be exactly correct but they are close enough to what was written.........I also remember seeing a guy, on TV, shoot a elk at 500 or 600yds and using all sorts of equipment to dial in his scope for a perfect hit. I figured with the distance he walked to get to his elk, any excitement there was in taking the animal was long gone and perhaps he was talking about his son`s "little league average"..... Remember when a fixed 4X scope was all that was needed on a hunting rifle???
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Post by rangersedge on Aug 21, 2018 20:44:38 GMT -5
Fascinating topic depending upon perspective.
Growing up hunting deer in Illinois, slug guns were it. From a pure efficiency aspect, it is hard to argue that a slug gun isn't an effective stopper... so why use something else?
When deer are relatively plentiful, the challenge fades. It becomes killing instead of hunting.
When handguns became an option, I switched to handguns primarily. Handguns are more convenient; but the big reason is that it upped the challenge. At one point, I was also pretty big into bowhunting.
I suspect this group isn't average and that some here can shoot a handgun more accurately than an average person can shoot a rifle. They've practiced until they can confidently make those shots others can't.
I also suspect those taking those long shots with a rifle have also practiced until they know they have the skill.
For me, the point at which long range hunting becomes tainted is the point at which variables they can't control have a significant likelihood of causing a game animal to be wounded. Bullet hang time?Animal moving? Wind shifting?
For me though, the fun is using your skills, etc to get close. Just a whole lot more fun when it is more than a shooting exercise.
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Post by bigbrowndog on Aug 21, 2018 21:46:38 GMT -5
I compete in LR competitions,......compete!!! It’s a game, hunting to me is not a game. It’s a respectful pursuit of an adversary,....the game!!!!
Knowing all the things that can happen to a bullet in flight, as well as the figuring that must be made for environmental conditions, not to mention the animal spooking or simply moving while the bullet is in flight,...is in my opinion not worth any animals long lingering death from a poorly placed shot.
I do not recall who said it but some well known and respected hunter claimed taking game at less than 200 yards is hunting, everything else is just shooting. I tend to agree with that assessment.
Trapr
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Post by Cholla on Aug 21, 2018 22:15:31 GMT -5
Agree totally. When Dad started taking me hunting in the early '70's when I was 9 0r 10 years old and he taught me how to HUNT. How to spot deer, how to still hunt (a completely lost art now), etc. I'm so grateful for those lessons. It's been a few years since I hunted with a scoped rifle as I prefer lever rifles and handguns, and they always work. Several years ago these fellows walk out on the far side of a canyon from me. They butted heads and messed around for a bit. I lasered the range at 610 yds. Shoot? Stalk? Watch? I chose the latter and got some great pictures and memories. They left after 10 minutes or so and within an hour I was rewarded with a bull at a little over half that distance. It's OK to pass up some shots. Cholla
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Post by bula on Aug 22, 2018 7:52:10 GMT -5
"It is ok to pass up some shots" Yes. Like MWM, it took some years to stand over a bow killed deer. The first one I downed was stolen ! Went thru a stretch with a M37 Deerslayer where I got a deer or two for near a decade. I won't go so far as to throw out a range, do please know when to enjoy the scenery and not shoot as mentioned above by someone. I went thru another stretch to bag 2 deer with each of the legal weapons I owned then. So did get 2 with my 44mag SBH, 2 with a .54 Lyman patched round ball and open sights, 2 with my 1917 Enfield (Winchester) 30-06, scoped. Etc.. I'll just add, make an honest decision as to how far you have any business shooting at live game. Years ago I competed at field archery and bowhunter type comps and had sight pins for 20,40,60 yds. During hunting season I took the 60yd pin off so as not to be tempted. Be gracious in your hunting, respectful to your downed animal. IMHO.
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Post by kings6 on Aug 22, 2018 9:07:38 GMT -5
Well said by all of you gentlemen.
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cmillard
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Post by cmillard on Aug 22, 2018 14:40:18 GMT -5
Just to play Devil's advocate, if your life depended on the meet for survival, would you take a really long shot?
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Post by Cholla on Aug 22, 2018 15:06:27 GMT -5
Just to play Devil's advocate, if your life depended on the meet for survival, would you take a really long shot? If my life depended on it, I'd probably want to get closer.
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Post by bigbrowndog on Aug 22, 2018 15:23:47 GMT -5
No I’d want a for sure kill and easy find even more.
Trapr
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Post by coldtriggerfinger on Aug 24, 2018 3:06:40 GMT -5
Amen. Games should not be played with living breathing things. No difference between shooting close range with a bow or handgun and long range with a precision rifle. Wether its (ones "thing") or not is all the discussion is about. Plain and simple. I don't view hunting as sport. I view it as a way to fill freezers, kill predators and for those that participate. Get some exercise. I get all the exercise I want working. I know this isn't a popular position, but, that's ok.
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