It's just hyperventilating over BC that makes little diff for those shooting 500 yards or less, but the forum is Long Range Hunting, so dudes here want to play at shooting to 1000 or even 1500 yards and beyond. Like you, many did that before the they had computers.
Having a buddy watch bullet vapor trails and correcting hold works great if your target doesn�t run off. To increase the odds from nothing to something at hitting game on the first shot some shooters play on their computers finding the best bullets for their guns. Don�t get me wrong, you learn lots playing with ballistics programs, but using them for first shot hits at long range is a crap shoot. Just a bit more or less wind puts the bullet off target and few if any can read the wind accurately at a 1000 yards.
Seen on TV where a marine sniper was trying to duplicate a famous long shot, but conditions were different and they couldn�t even see where their shots were hitting the side of a mountain. No vapor trails that day in the desert. Future guns may be equipped with radar bullet trackers
all of the above just illuustrates the importance of using a spotter for long range hunting.
no doubt conditions can make it difficult to see vapor trails. wind can also cause that.
there comes a point when we should just walk away unless spot and stalk is an option.
as you pointed out reading wind is difficult at best. im personaly of the opinion there are no real experts on that.
thermals are yet another rarly mentioned wind problem. they are often encountered when shooting across wide deep valleys.
as for an animal walking or running off, again using a spotter is an advantage. sometimes poor hits are what caused that. a lone shooter might be hard pressed to determine if that happened. certainly all shots should be followed up. but lets be honest about human nature.
