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

Lots of controversy about this one. The first shot was a complete miss....the second "mid-body"; they couldn't initially tell as the range was too far...

IMHO, I would have enjoyed stalking it to 200 yards or so and make the shot.

I would venture to say that Danner Davidson has more spent primers to his name that many on this forum. I can guarantee you he has more long range practice than most shooters. He also had a full team supporting the shot.

The shooter, regardless of age, was competent and practiced enough to make that shot.

Would/could I make an attempt at that shot? No, even though I have gear fully capable of it, I know that I am not.

That's a long ways!

I'd call it not so hot, not because of the distance, but because he didn't hit first shot. That can happen at any distance.(yes it's happened to me, too so no one thinks I'm preaching from the choir

Someone, trigger man, or the guy giving instructions, wasn't 90% certain.

The kid gets no kudos for being 12 years old.His old man should not start him out that way IMHO. You gotta learn to walk before you can run.

In agreement here!

Easily erroring on the side of caution I would vote unethical. At least this type of shot is not what I would be choosing to encourage my son or any other shooter, young or old to pursue. Paper and steel at this distance are fine and fun. I would take much more satisfaction in closing the distance to less than 400 yards.

Maybe just my perspective here, though I would prefer to see the distance to be closed to 200 yards or less, with 400 yards at max. At 1000 plus yards a lot may go wrong, from accuracy related concerns to calling distance ,wind and simple potential for shooter error in the field. Then there comes the question of terminal performance of the bullet at that distance.

In this case the stars came together. Truly prefer not to encourage anyone else to feel comfortable to take this kind of shot on a magnificent game animal.

I wouldnt want him shooting at me

It worked this time, but that won't always be the case. And I bet we won't see or hear about that one. I think it is poor way to start a kid shooting. It is not hunting.

Age does not matter, I don't like the long range hunting game. For many, it seems the trophy is the distance. Too much can go wrong at 100 yards, this increases the risk. Animals deserve better.

I have two issues with the scenario.

1. Can the shooter successfully make that shot at least 90% of the time in practice, under similar conditions? If the answer is no (and I'd wager a lot that it is in this case), I consider the shot to be unethical.

2. Was this about hunting elk or making a long shot? I see it as the latter, which is poor ethics in my opinion. Slap steel at extreme distances if that's what you're after. Game animals deserve our best efforts, as hunters, to get in positions that allow for clean harvests. Pretty hard to argue that happened here.

Looked to me like it was all about the video, which is a shame IMO. I didn't hear them call out the range after the elk moved. A 10-yard error at that distance is not insignificant. Did he say it was the kid's first elk?

Sure takes a lot of the hunting out of hunting. Tom

Have never shot out that far, I consider 600 years my max. I personally would prefer not to make a shot past 300, but to each his own. I am not a fan of the "long range" hunting, but I don't believe that its morally wrong. What I do find offensive is the high fives, etc after killing an animal. It Just show lack of respect for the animal that God placed on this earth for me to enjoy seeing and eating.

So a animal died just to demonstrate the skill of a kid?
If so don't call it hunting.

Fixed it for you.

Impressive shot no doubt, especially by a 13 yr. old but I didn't even bother watching the video, extreme long range shooting removes the element of hunting I enjoy most. I believe all hunters need to stick together so I'm not going to pass judgement but sometimes I think it really boils down to how much money you have to spend on equipment, range time & load development, kind of like hunting many of the ranches in Texas. I am sure that kid has done quite a bit of long range practice but the fact that a 13 year old made the shot kind of lends to the theory that it's all about how much money you have to throw at it...

I personally would be more impressed if he shot it from 5 yards with a bow or had to make a quick freehand shot at 100 yards or so with a rifle, that is the essence of hunting, this is something else, I'm not going to say it is wrong but it has nothing to do with the aspects of hunting I fell in love with as a boy.

That's exactly what they want you to believe. If you spend $X,XXX on this equipment, you, too, can make 1,376 yard shots on game animals. This video is nothing more than a commercial that happened to involve an elk getting killed.

For whatever reason the kid didn't seem very enthusiastic


Mike

How many did he wounded before he got one to brag about?

We can call it whatever anyone wants to call it.

Kill the animal cleanly and recover it, I"ve zero issues with it. Whether I'm capable or not is not an issue to this or anyone else, IMO.

Legal and dead, thats what the goal is.

Hunt em your way, let them hunt or "shoot" em their way.

I put John Burns in this same camp. He's promoting this sort of unethical "shooting" (I can't call it hunting) too and promoting his long-range gear.

Funny how John Burns disappeared from the 300 Weatherby thread once he saw that people genuinely realize how unethical he is.

I'm not impressed with the video, the guys behind the camera or the kid. They need to learn what "1 shot, 1 kill" means... As soon as the shooter learns to do so on a consistent basis, then range/distance has no meaning as far as ethics and I am concerned. The nut behind the butt and the guys telling him to take the shot were being very "unethical". I could care the fu ck less how old the kid was or who he is..