Long range shooting of game animals is almost entirely about bragging rights and marketing, not about real hunting hunting skills IMHO. Nothing illegal about it, but not something I aspire to or would encourage in others. Wounding percentage goes up exponentially with each animal hit at more than about 300 yards. There is a very good reason that very, very few shots are attempted at more than 300 yards in Africa. The PH is watching, and every animal hit equals a trophy fee paid, no matter if the animal is brought to bag or not. It's no great mystery that behaviour changes when there are real consequences. Sadly, nobody watches in North America, and far too many hunters in North America are not up to the challenge of making a real effort to stalk within sure range. It is easier to rely on technology and shooting skills instead of perfecting actual hunting skills. There's also a lot of "entitlement" behaviour among those who shoot at every legal animal they see, regardless of distance. As hunters, I think we'd do better to limit long range shots at game to only those animals already wounded.
Lot's of moralizing and value judgments here.
c&b...
I make two inferences from your post: first, that you have never actually done any longrange hunting, so you are ignorant of the skills and challenges it entails; second, that any exposure you've had to longrange hunting is of the type portrayed on the "hunting shows" described in the OP.
If I have inferred wrongly, then please correct me.
But if I am in fact correct, then you might want to go hunting with some long-range hunting folks and find out what it's all about before you condemn us all. To be frank, your blanket condemnation is not much different from Jim Zumbo's "no real hunter needs an AR15".
Long-range hunting is an art of its own, but that doesn't mean it's exclusive sport for most of us who practice it.
