Jeff,
Clearly there is a grey area. No disputing that. My gripe lies with chestbeaters shooting animals way out there and bragging about (via implication) their "hunt" and/or their "hunting" skills. Where was the pursuit? Where exactly was the hunt? Where was the essence of fair-chase? Increasing the distance is easy, why not stalk in as close as you can regardless of the weapon in your hand to see just how good you really are and in the process make the experience that much more sporting and challenging AND create an even greater assurance of a fast kill?
Any fattass road hunting slob can buy shooting accuracy. On the other hand, one must learn, earn and continually hone their hunting skills.
Anyway, distance or weapon choice is not at the heart of my gripe. You know as well as I do that taking an animal at three yards can be done by just about anyone with just about any adequate weapon. Park your butt downwind of a well used game trail for 10 days during the rut and I garuantee that you'll get a shot at something, that is if you don't die of sheer boredom first. That's not hunting in my book either, its called sitting. Plenty of people do it and take animals, but we don't have a short range hunting forum. Why? - because no one would brag about it! (BTW, I'm not saying or implying this is what you did, I'm just providing the example.)
