Sport hunting must involve two things, at least for me:
1. There has to be a confrontation with the beast.
2. The beast must have an opportunity to beat me.
The animal's senses must give it a chance to outmaneuver me and escape. My biggest thrills and challenges have been when things get up close. The closer, the greater the challenge.
Much of this "long range hunting" turns into an abstract technical challenge and is so removed that there is no confrontation with the beast. It reminds me of a video boxing game. Each contestant works his control panel. But there is no risk of any significant loss so there really is no victory. There is no skin in the game.
Once I went to a school to learn to fight with knives. You stood within feet of your opponent. Both of us used marking pens rather than blades. Man it gave me a new view of men who went to battle with swords and axes. The experience scared the hell out of me but was exhilarating as well.
This long distance stuff is more like a game built on technology. Are the warriors who fought toe to toe with swords the same "warriors" who sit in bunkers in Nevada and kill someone in Asia by piloting a drone? I think not. The latter may be necessary but it is not the same as real combat. Yes, the drone pilots have technical training and "skill" but it is not what face to face combat is about...not even close.
I absolutely agree.
I would even go so far as to say it is time for game departments to draw a line in the sand.
That could mean putting a limit on the maximum range one can fire at big game, which would of course be extremely difficult to enforce but would limit the yahoos parading around selling videos on the subject.
Another method would be making laser rangefinders illegal to carry on a hunt. People would still try really long shots, and those with the skills would use topog maps to estimate range. But for the most part it would limit us to the technology of 20 years ago, which meant most of us would be limited to a MBPR style of shooting.
Some might say this is a slippery slope, and takes away our personal freedoms, or some such nonsense. I would counter that we are already limited in the methods in which we conduct a hunt. Most of us are not able to hunt at night, which seems perfectly acceptable by the majority. We are limited in the seasons we can hunt - heck I would rather shoot a fat buck for meat now than in the rut, but that's not the way it is and I accept that.
Limits on technology are already in place with archery season. I see no reason they shouldn't be more strictly put in place for rifle season as well, especially with the technology on the way such as TrackingPoint and the subsequently improved generations which are sure to follow, which essentially turn the whole mess into a big video game.
