As I've said, the buck I killed last weekend is an example of an animal that wouldn't have been killed if *I* had been hunting hot. That perhaps speaks to MY limitations, though in this case I don't believe so. It just was what it was. Very close, very fast. NOT a jump shot- so don't even go there. Just a deer crossing a small opening in the jungle with me about 10 feet away...
Wildswalker, to your point about how people could be skilled enough to hunt very close to deer and yet not be skilled enough to manipulate the action, you might be misunderstanding me. I'm not claiming great hunting skill here. It just is what it is. I'm sure there were many other deer at 50 yards... 75 yards... 100 yards... 200 yards... etc. But you'd never know it, you cannot see them. So, you either learn how to sit very still in spots that are productive, and/or you learn to still hunt very slowly and carefully, so that you will actually see the bastids. When you do see them, they are usually very close for the reasons described above, and they are a split second or a couple feet away from not being shootable due to vegetation.
A bunch of other Oregon blacktail hunters have said the same thing, but they aren't willing to stay here and get yelled at. But, if you read the whole thread (not advised <g>) you'll see it mentioned repeatadly. Just getting the rifle raised and safety off can blow the whole thing up, and HAS blown it up for me several times, even though I've taken so long to raise a rifle slooooowly that my arms about fall off. It's not a time to be working the action of your rifle with an alert deer 20 yards away, pretending to feed but snapping his head up to look at that strange tree over there...
But again, that's all secondary to the main point which is that it's perfectly reasonable for a person to decide to hunt hot. I drink too much. I drive too fast. I ski like an insane person. I play my guitar too loud. So? Just how pussyfied are we supposed to be here? A guy hunting hot might be increasing his risk slightly, but it's still minute, and still NOTHING compared to the risk he took driving 75 mph to get to deer camp... he could have slowed down to 55 and greatly reduced his chance of dying that week, but you know what? He didn't, because [bleep] it, we are MEN here and we do take risks sometimes.
