Your grasp on reading comprehension is minimal. I said I don't care if John lied. I don't even know what he supposedly lied about and I really could care less. The fact of the matter is you are a slob and a poor shot and this has been chronicled in your own words multiple times. The fact you found a few other slobs to hunt with should give you no solace.
The fact is I misjudged the wind on a 400-yard cross-valley shot and lost my first animal in 34 years of hunting. One other elk went a short ways and went down in heavy sage. As I approached it got up and jumped a nearby fence to private land, went a ways across open grassland and came back, stopping just shy of the fence and clearly on its last legs. I don't think it had the strength left to jump the fence again. In any case another hunter on the private land shot it again and claimed it. Since it was recovered and would have been anyway if the other hunter hadn't shot it, I don't count that one as lost. Since 2000 I've put 14 elk in the freezer plus I don't know how many deer and antelope and didn't keep good track before then. The last three elk I've taken home were at ranges of 400, 487 and 411 yards respectively and my last antelope was at 373 yards. While I don't claim to be the best shot around, I am far better and more practiced than most. Bring your hunting rifles and we'll put clay pigeons on the 600 yard berm and see who gets more hits using the shooting positions of your choice. My hit ratio has been as high as 40% on a total of 5 shots using two different rifles - so you might want to practice first.
As to the "other slobs" I hunt with, all of them are clearly more mature than you are. While I hunted with a couple of "slobs" back in the 1980's, they never lasted more than one hunt because they never got invited a second time.
Don't forget - Mule Deer lied.
Excuses and Azzholes ...
This thing about 14 elk in 16 years looks like a piss-poor record considering you say you are hunting multiple licenses each year, hunting ranches with 75% and 84% success rates, while hunting guided on one of the ranches, then claiming 33 years experience and still crippling elk and leaving the landowners to ponder your mess. Moral of the story - 33 years road hunting and ranch hunting does not equal 33 years hunting experience.
You have posted this clay pigeon story dozens of times. If you insist upon NOT learning to actually hunt and can't shake your sniper envy then go to gunsite or one of the other fine schools and get professional help. Do yourself and the elk (and us) a favor and lose this DIY hillbilly sniper training fantasy.
Your fixation with Mule Deer seems to be a lame attempt to distract from your preposterous recounts of you own hunts. No one is going to waste the time to roll in the mud with you over fencelines, units hunted, locations, etc, but your story doesn't wash. It is insulting that you think that anyone can't see through that.
You clearly have very little respect for elk, landowners, for this forum, for you hunting partners, and what that really boils down to is lack of respect for yourself.
