Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Ethical or not? 1376 yard elk by a 12 year old

I stand by my contention that stunts, like the one documented in the video, are likely to draw criticism from the non-hunting public. The majority of posters in this thread have expressed concern about shooting at game animals from a 1/3 of a mile. The posts in this speak for themselves.

I grew up on a farm in North West Pennsylvania. From age 10, I hunted day in and day out. I knew every inch of our farm. I hunted woodchucks, deer, doves, ducks, geese, pheasants, grouse, squirrels, and rabbits. Back then, and this wasn't eons ago, a kid could go out with a rifle or shotgun and hunt on their own. I loved being outside and still do. After graduate school, I met my wife in Boston and ended up settling among the conservative swamp yankees and cranberry growers of South Eastern Massachusetts. They are a small minority. During the first 10 years I lived here, there were times I literally felt like and alien or like I was in another country. Gun regulations are nonsensical, incoherent, conflicting and anything but commonsense. Hunters, even hunters who were born and bred here, are viewed with skepticism and too often disdain. What's scariest, is guys 10 years my senior, who were raised in MA, describe growing up hunting like I did. They tell of having lots of places to hunt, of duck hunting the marshes before school, and roaming the woods in search of small game after school.

Identifying Massachusetts as extreme in it's views on hunting, guns, and the management of wild lands is not novel. My fear is that what happened in Massachusetts will happen to the rest of the country. The people who want that future will appeal to the public citing videos like the one we've been discussing. My refusal to ignore them is not dramatic.