I agree that an individual is responsible for their firearm.
I disagree, as does about 80% of us, that it needs to be unloaded while hunting, in order for that to be considered "responsible".
It's about that simple, and that it chaps your ass isn't my fault!
Now, your state and unit is completely relevant. I suspect, you are hunting an area with MANY tags, and very high success rates. In an area like that, a guy might make the decision to lose a few deer every year over the noise and motion of chambering a rifle. Or, your terrain and vegetation might be such that it kind of renders that moot; you are killing them from 150 yards away (as you've mentioned). You could probably CLEAN your rifle before taking that shot.
But you are extrapolating THAT into getting sand in your clam and gettin' all preachy about how the rest of us should hunt, or by God we are unsafe and don't belong in the woods! That's your mistake, and it's the part I take issue with. We aren't all hunting the same place, or the same way. In Oregon, we don't run deer with dogs. We don't do drives, that I've heard of anyway. We can't legally feed deer. In Wyoming, it seems that guys drive around glassing from their rig for miles around, then get out and try and put a stalk on a deer. Not much reason for THAT guy to be hunting hot; I'll agree with you!
That's not how it's done here. We get ONE TAG. It is a difficult, low-success rate tag. Not many Oregon blacktail hunters are gonna give up the one chance they MIGHT have on a buck because when they finally did everything right, or else got real real lucky, and there's your legal deer, you still have to be dickin' around loading the dang thing. A deer 20, 30 yards away won't stand for that.
So again, for the sake of fleshing our your side of the debate, give a general description of your state, unit, and the terrain and vegetation you hunt it. No reason not to... or is there?
Oergon bow hunters get a different (better) season, still have low success rates, and bitch plenty. And, I don't face a random opening. If I'm on stand, it's facing a very CAREFULLY CHOSEN opening... which is how I do well.
One last thing. I don't buy red meat. My deer and elk are what we eat for the year as far as that. Do I NEED it? No... but it's important to us, not for financial reasons but for other reasons.
And, I don't face a random opening. If I'm on stand, it's facing a very CAREFULLY CHOSEN opening... which is how I do well. 
