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

That bull was too far for me to shoot comfortably but I don't have a 1360 yard gong in my back yard.

The youngster seemed excited enough for a guy doing his job while on camera. This is the family business and this is a commercial being filmed so it is work.

There are lots of hunters taking 250 yard shots with a lower chance of success than this young man has with that shot. Knowing in that uncontrolled environment that the bull can take 2 steps in the time the bullet is in flight makes it a little dodgy ethically for me - but he's eating elk burgers and showing off antlers so it wasn't beyond his skill level.

Well, agreed controversy is deep. LOL

We all need to remember, we are all lovers of firearms, hunting and what not. How ever you decide to do those two, thats on you. Its not wrong, its not unethical and its using the great outdoors. Ethical is a personal feeling. It only becomes unethical if your abilities are nothing more than luck. If you abilities make it possible to shoot long distance, have at it. Not my choice but I am not hunting that way either. I condemn not and support all means of hunting as long as the kills are ethical. As for more than one shot to humanly kill your Elk, all of us have taken more than one shot one time or another. Same argument as scoped BlackPowders. Lets all stay together. Long distance is a talent, a sport and quit an accomplishment. Have fun.

Maybe he CAN do it, but the question is whether he SHOULD do it. At that range there are too many variables, especially in elk country. There are wind currents and a mobile target to consider. It's too easy to wound one.

Nope, and anyone who thinks differently doesn't really understand the biology and physiology of a 12 year olds brain/body. And to do it with the added pressure of a camera?? How many shots did he take at animals that DIDN'T get on camera?

Dad seemed way more into the shooting than the kid by a long ways.

But at 1376 yards, they could have built a picnic table with power tools to shoot off of and the elk wouldn't have even taken notice.

From his reaction, I think the kid would have had more fun playing video games at home. This was all about Dad.

That's truly one of the saddest things I've seen in a while. The kid had no interest in hunting and less than none in the elk. Dad is pimping his kid out to make a buck. The elk are simply reactive targets and opportunities to sell and ad for Dad; and the kid is a prop.

That's not hunting.

As long as that kid can put 90% of his shots into a big dinner plate at that range, it's perfectly fine by me.

But I bet he can't.

I sure hope I never need a "Support Team" to help me make a shot whilst hunting.

As to the kids excitement level,it appears to me that he is a cool customer. Beats the heck out of all these Nimrods on TV who pump their arms,do fist bumps,show me how bad their hand is shaking,and generally make an ass of themselves. I am embarrassed for them. They act like they have never shot anything before.

That may be true, but that kid was less excited about that elk than I was when I put my first tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy..

My youngest lost a tooth a couple years ago and put it under his pillow. I forgot to put money out for it. In the morning he still had his tooth and wondered what was up with the tooth ferry. I told him that she had been on strike and had a back log to get caught up on. I put a couple bucks out that night, and all was good.

I find it somewhat sad that a bull elk has been reduced to nothing more than a living target for long range stunt target shooting. About the only times I would even consider trying to shoot something at even half than range are when I would be shooting at inanimate targets or at enemy soldiers who want to kill me.

I realize many people are very good long range shooters. One of my former coworkers is an internationally recognized 1,000 yard target shooter. I realize that hunters do miss or wound sometimes when shooting from short ranges.

This shot from over 0.8 mile away is just a stunt. I hope it will not encourage others to do likewise.

John_Gregori: I didn't even try to watch your video.
It sickens me to see turdlike nimrods TRYING to set up for these idioticly, long shots on game animals.
Typical of turdlike folks though, to say and try to do idiotic things and then publicly display same!
IF... a person interested in ethically bagging an Elk spies one at 1,376 yards then said person CAN and SHOULD make every effort to stalk closer.
I agree with you 100% - said "Hunters" should have stalked closer.
I feel bad for the Elk.
Typical turds!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Encouraging a 12 year old to shoot a game animal from a distance of over 3/4 mile hardly seems ethical, right, or wise. Numerous reasons for this have been stated in previous posts, so I will not reiterate them here. Those same reasons strongly support the notion that an adult choosing to shoot game animals at these same distances is unsportsmanlike, unethical, wrong and unwise. Similarly, identifying such acts as hunting is not appropriate.

The stunt featured in this video reminded me of a notion my brother's been beating his drum about for a decade. He refers to it as the "Pussification of the American Youth". Citing participation trophies, non-competitive sports, classes without grades, irrationally risk averse parenting strategies, etc., he points out the increasing rate at which Americans spoil their children to the disadvantage of these children and society in general. I'm not sure he's originally responsible for the colorful moniker "pussification", but I've always attributed it to him. Either way, I'd bet my brother'd see this stunt as more "pussification". Taking this a bit further towards its logical conclusion, I thought to myself, what's next? Maybe we should legalize hunting with drones, then our children could hunt from the safety and comfort of the couch in their suburban living rooms. Really, what's the difference? I agree, this was exotic target practice, devoid of any of the hard and real stuff that makes a hunt hunting. I'm in agreement with the rest of you who found this stunt sad and disgraceful.

I thought it was bogus but some of you guys could make the Pope look like a piker as far as pontification.

I didnt watch the video, but I understand the first shot was a clean miss. So what was his 2 shot group? 3 feet? 6 feet? Clearly he did NOT have the skill to make that shot consistently. He could have just as likely blew its jaw or knee off leaving that animal to die a horrible death. And I could care less how many primers he has burned, he did not possess the skill necessary to make that shot, evidenced by missing the animal completely.

WTF, Brag how close you got, not how far away you shot. That was a living animal not a steel plate. In that amount of time (bullet travel) the elk could have moved and the shot wounded his jaw or leg or gutshot and moved off and died else wear without a recovery.
Nothing ethical about that hunters shot.

Who was it that said any publicity is good publicity? They are getting what they want. Certainly there are more needy 12 Year olds being Abused by adults. He shot an elk, it was big, it was far away. WOW. Next.

I struggle with supporting this type of thing. Shooting is meant for ranges not on live targets. As a former hunter safety instructor we always taught students to respect the animal or bird and try for quick clean kills. I shoot 2-3 times a month off a bench and off various field setups. I would say 350 is my cut off point with a normal field weight gun and field conditions. Not a fan of super long range.

divide and conquer.. its in our own ranks....