Whelen,
I have hunted in the easter part of Minnesota many times with pumpkin throwers. I am originally from LaCrosse, WI and do most of my hunting in that county. It seems almost everything around LaCrosse is steep and thick. So i'll pass on the trip to see some thick places. I have unfortunately grown up being told "you go walk up that ridge and through that brush......and don't make a big circle around it.....go through the center." I used to carry a 20ga Remington 1100 with a short barrel and trimmed stock in case one were to get up and lick me in the face.....I hated carrying it. I would have been better off in my old football spikes and something to cover every inch of my body. I still have scars from some of the berry bushes. In fact I have had to wear a patch for 3 weeks after getting a scratch on my eye.
I also shoot IMO decent equipment....7mm WSM A-bolt with a 3-9x50 Leupy on it and I practice quite often.
I have made some longer shots and some short shots.
I also never said that I that anyone can be certain everything is going to go as planned. My point was only to understand why someone would intentionally wait for a longer shot to increase the difficulty when they were presented with a closer more certain shot.

Here is one I took in 96' in Minnesota with a 12ga pumpkin thrower. I love hunting the rut there.
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Shoot Strait....Penetrate Deep.