Well, there sure was some mighty impressive shooting. I must say however that it's not my cup of tea. I prefer to see the whites of their eyes before I shoot. That doesn't mean I don't prepare for the possible long shot. I do. WEhen I draw for elk,as rare as that is with Arizona's stinginess with the tags, the area I draw the most also has mostly long range shooting in very wide open parks. I practice to 500 meters on my ranges silhouette range in kneeling and sitting. I don't plan to shoot my .300 Mag. in the prone any time soon. I'm 72 years old and I've been hunting since I was 11. Sneaking up on a critter is what turns me on. In all that time, I've lost four animals. One deer at short range with a bow and arrow. It took off and I didn't find it until the next days when the birds showed me where it was. Another deer was hit too far back and although the wife and I looked until sundown, we never found it. The next one was an elk shot at about 45 years with a .375 H&H. It made one big leap over some tall brush and went over a cliff. We couldn't find a way down. The last was a cow elk in those wide open spaces where I seem to get the tag for. One shot at 530 yards, laser measure, about 8 in the morning, no wind, and I'm sitting on my butt. Band flop DRT. I love my .300 Win. mag. I go over, tag the elk and go back to the truck which is about a mile awy to get my wife to help with the gutting. On the way back I see too A-holes on ATVs each one with half my elk on the back of their machines. I guess I can't say I lost that one as if it got away and I couldn't find it. I still consider it a loss though. I thought I'd finally broke my elk hunting jinx. Well, we'll see what happens if and when I draw another tag.
In all my years hunting though, I've only had to take three shots I would consider long range. A Mule Deer at 250 yard in th Kaibab National Forest and another Mule Deer at 427 paces that my hunting partner wounded that was getting away. That one surprise hell out of me as that deer was really hauling. A real luck shot. Bad luck for the deer and good luck for me.
Paul B.
Last edited by PJGunner; 10/01/10.
