Long shot anybody?????

[Intruder]

There seems to be a sentiment here that long range shooting automatically means the person doing it is whimping out or not working for their animal or not as skilled.  While I'm sure that can happen I can tell you from personal experience that's not necessarily the case.  The handful of folks I know who are long range hunter(myself included to a degree) work ever bit as hard as folks killing game at more traditional ranges.  In the cases where I've witnessed shots out 700+ yards the circumstances dictated the shot.  Stalking/getting closer wasn't an option and the work and skill in getting the animal was just as great as if they were taken at 100 yards.      

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

please tell me when 700yrds is the closest you can get to a animal?

[JoshT]

please tell me when 700yrds is the closest you can get to a animal?

Sometimes it is... and I'd rather have a 700 yard shot at a stationary animal, than a 100 yard shot at a moving critter that is aware of me!

[rougheye]

There seems to be a sentiment here that long range shooting automatically means the person doing it is whimping out or not working for their animal or not as skilled.  While I'm sure that can happen I can tell you from personal experience that's not necessarily the case.  The handful of folks I know who are long range hunter(myself included to a degree) work ever bit as hard as folks killing game at more traditional ranges.  In the cases where I've witnessed shots out 700+ yards the circumstances dictated the shot.  Stalking/getting closer wasn't an option and the work and skill in getting the animal was just as great as if they were taken at 100 yards.      

   Not by me     Like i said before  " to each his own "  Its not my cup of tea  but who am i to say .  When someone comes on here and throws a state ment about stick throwers , he will get a response from me  

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

There seems to be a sentiment here that long range shooting automatically means the person doing it is whimping out or not working for their animal or not as skilled.  While I'm sure that can happen I can tell you from personal experience that's not necessarily the case.  The handful of folks I know who are long range hunter(myself included to a degree) work ever bit as hard as folks killing game at more traditional ranges.  In the cases where I've witnessed shots out 700+ yards the circumstances dictated the shot.  Stalking/getting closer wasn't an option and the work and skill in getting the animal was just as great as if they were taken at 100 yards.      

   

how is shooting at 700yrds the same as stalking to within 50? I dont see how you can associate the 2? and what situation would not allow anything closer then 700 yrds?

[albinodeerguy]

Leave the 1000+ yard shots for military snipers. They've accomplished their mission if they blow an arm or leg of their target. It's too far for the hunter that should be looking for the clean and humane kill.

[huntnphool]

Leave the 1000+ yard shots for military snipers. They've accomplished their mission if they blow an arm or leg of their target. It's too far for the hunter that should be looking for the clean and humane kill.

  I can only assume thats why it took him 2 shots.

[NoBark]

And before long, we'll hear about the guy who shot his deer at 1200 yards or 110 yards with his bow......

An amazing feat for sure, but I have a hard time knowing we are using living targets to try to out do each other...

[GEARHEAD]

this is not hunting, its shooting as stated earlier. what a reckless shot no matter the skill.

[oldlogger]

This is just my opinion but I say that shooting at game from that far is not hunting but sniping. I say way leave that kind of shooting for terrorist who we don't really care if they are gut shot or not are game deserve better, again just my opinion.

Oldlogger

[Moosehunt]

My father is a disabled hunter and learned how to shoot in the Army.  Sometimes, 500 yds is as close to animal he can physically get.  Due to 2 open heart surgeries, he can not pull a compound bow at all.  As a rifle hunter, something that he is accustomed to and accomplished at, a 500-700 yd shot is not out of the question.

Let's not lend judgement to anyone who chooses to take game at any distance.  With the right equipment and training, practice will make perfect.  Practice will also determine the distance you a capable of shooting.

[JoshT]

how is shooting at 700yrds the same as stalking to within 50? I dont see how you can associate the 2? and what situation would not allow anything closer then 700 yrds?

You must not hunt the same areas as me. In my canyon country you may be able to get closer, but you won't be able to see what you're looking for when you get there. Stuff is thick, and steep... you could be within 10 yards of a bear and never be able to see it. I'm looking for a good vantage point where I can see and shoot from, if that means 8 bills... so be it. You can call it "sniping", or "shooting" if you want... but I've never seen a "sniper" hauling a 100 pound pack of bear meat 5 miles off a mountain. Come to think of it... I don't think 99% of hunters out there are willing to haul their own a$$ up a mountain, hunt hard, freeze tail, sweat off 10 pounds,and risk hide/hair to actually earn a critter. Yet... somehow... they're (you're) the ones who get to decide that shooting a deer from the hood of a truck at 100 yards is Ethical... but me hammering a bear across a canyon at 600 isn't?

I think you're kind of being a ? Hoyt... this ain't a 3-D shoot here... this is hunting. This is dead critters in the freezer and bone on the wall. If you want to hunt from a tree stand over a food plot (bait), and limit yourself to whatever range is ethical... TO YOU...  then that's up to you... but quit acting like you're immune to the "questionable" shot. I hunt hard man... and I practice hard... and I'll be damned if I'll let some monkey with a sharp stick dictate what's ethical TO ME... or the guys I hunt with. Just because you'd have a better chance falling out of a tree stand and landing on a deer... than shooting one with a rifle at anything greater than sling-shot range... doesn't mean you should impose your inadequacies on others.

[JoshT]

Nope...

[EastWaViking]

I've been on both sides before, Shot a coyote at 584 yards, an antelope at 325 with my 300 Weatherby mag.  I've also killed Mule deer at 18 yards and Antelope and White Tail at 20 with my bow.... All on the ground spot and stalk.  There is no comparison, I became a hunter when I picked up a bow.

Just my   

[NoBark]

Josh, ethics is not just what you or I think but rather it also factors in what others think too.  Part of 'ethics' comes from the group as well as the individual.

Like it or not, we are all apart of a fraternity of hunters.  What other hunters think does have some Bering on what is expected of you and me.  I would dare say, that you get pissed at some things that people with hunting licences do. 

Two points...

1.  If enough of a group dissaproves of an action, it often becomes a Law. Taken from the realm of 'ethics' and put in the code.


2.  I admire a shot like that. Can't do it myself because I don't practice it. I would suggest that when one shoots an animal a extremely long range, he simply show the animal and say he shot it.  He then can tell his friends that know him well, what the yardage was. There are a lot of young hunters who read this stuff and will go out and try it themselves no matter how much we tell them they have to practice it.