Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What Does It Take - to Hunt Medium/Large Game at 600 Yards?

That would suit me fine as I've shot very few deer beyond 200 yards in my lifetime. The whole of NY State between the Catskills and the Adirondacks used to be shotgun country. Much of it is open farm land with fields hundreds of yards across yet somehow I managed to kill deer there year after year and that was before the advent of rifled bores and sabot loads. Sure you saw deer that were too far away to shoot with a slug gun but nobody ever said you're supposed to be able to kill every deer you can see.

And blah-blah-blah....

This has to be one of Rick's most profitable threads, since it just keeps up the post-count and advertising rates.

Does that cut into your profits?

Yeah, we should all go back to muzzle loaders. No rangefinders, not goretex, no scopes, no nice warm boots. Moccasins and loin cloths..

My freezer and family doesn't give a chidt how long the shot was, as long as the critter gets turned into steaks and hamburger.. As far as I am concerned, that blackheart idiot can STFU. He knows nothing about what we are talking about here. He tries to impose his beliefs on us, like it is gospel. Just because he can't shoot for fu ck, doesn't mean the rest of us are in the same boat as he is in.

Between using all of man´s killing technology to shoot an animal from a distance at which he will not feel the threat and having to catch up with him running naked and barefoot and cutting his troat with a silex knife there is a lot of room in between, so there is no need to push the argument into absurd extremes.

For me, answering to the OP, shooting game at long range takes a well trained shooter with the proper equipment, and a lack of interest or skills to get close to the animal.

Sounds a lot like the Missouri Breaks, that's shotgun country too.

Just because you suck at hunting and are too lazy and stupid to learn doesn't mean we're all in the same boat. No doubt you'd have big game hunting hours extended through the night and include spot lights and thermals on the list of legal hunting implements if it was up to you. Maybe if you spent more time studying the animals you persue and brushing up on your stalking skills and a little less time taking endless pictures of targets at the range, you wouldn't need to take those long, desperate pokes so often. Since sportsmanship, hunting ethics and fair chase no longer matter, maybe we should just call it killing season rather than hunting season and make any and all technology that makes it easier and more convenient legally accessible to the modern "sportsman".

What do you call a hunter who kills an animal with a 500 yard shot?


Successful.

They call it “sport hunting” for a reason (compared to “market hunting” – meet in the freezer by any means), it’s not that we keep score as some non-hunters often think. We call it sport hunting because we have seasons, rules and regulations intended for sportsman’s probability of success and support of the practice and the long-term overall health, viability and population of the game we pursue. Ethical hunting practices are the foundation of conservation but it appears most of us have different ideas of exactly what defines ethical hunting and we’re not likely to agree on the subject based on the comments on this post.


I predict at some point, state game managers will pass laws making it illegal to shoot at game beyond certain distances, citing safety and hunting ethics as the primary reason. I don’t know what that distance may be, and it would certainly be hard to enforce, but it would keep people from posting on social media and the distance of their shot. There are a lot of new hunters who are led to believe that if they can hit a pie plate at 500 yards, steady rest, know distance, that shooting at live game in field conditions is no different. I follow a few hunting pages, the first question always is “how far was the shot” and invariably someone gets disappointed that the distance was not excessive and the OP has to explain why is was only so and so yards and was hoping for a longer shot. It wasn’t long ago a hunter would get called out of this forum if he boasted about a canyon to canyon shot.

We do put limits on what technology can be employed with respect to sportsmanship, ethics and what constitutes "fair chase". The question is whether or not the technology that allows the killing of game at ranges beyond which they can detect danger constitutes fair chase hunting practice. I tend to think it does not.

It's guys like this A**hole...Lippitt, he squeezed off a shot, sending a hand-loaded 205-grain Berger bullet through the animal from 849 yards. The .308 bullet broke the buck’s shoulder and dropped it on the spot. Lippitt says he downed a Nebraska 12-point buck earlier this year at 950 yards, and a few years ago he killed another Nebraska deer from 1,300 yards

I'd imagine if we all do what we feel is ethical and abide by game laws and such we'd get along just fine. Trying to put my ethics on another hunter is pretty tough unless they're breaking a law.

Sportsmen have imposed the ethics of what constitutes fair chase on one another since market hunting was outlawed and sport hunting regulations first implemented.

I mostly agree but if we don't have ethical standards, as upheld by local game wardens, then I suppose there would be no more elk, sheep, bears or deer. I think it was Teddy R that got the whole process started.

"This has to be one of Rick's most profitable threads, since it just keeps up the post-count and advertising rates."


I don't get paid to post here, so no.

Rick paid me to do a monthly column on this forum, but I dropped it a couple years ago--along with writing for a couple of magazines, in an attempt at semi-retirement--which works better on some days than others!

Pay no attention to my wise-ass comments, you don't need to explain to me. I just thought your original comment was funny coming from a guy who's posted many times on this thread.

And therein lies the problem, defining what constitutes "ranges beyond which they can detect danger."

It varies with the species, the habitat, and the time of the year. Early in pronghorn season they can be pretty nonchalant about people getting "withing range." Come back a month later and you can't get near 'em.


Not to mention like I said before, you could make a case that many of the technologies we use give hunters an unfair advantage. Like scopes that make 300 yard shots chip shots for many.

Are you going to be the one who gets to decide that a 300 yard shot is "not sporting?"

As far as state agencies limiting shot distances, it ain't gonna happen. Mainly because it's unenforceable.

Well, it would stop people from posting "distance" on social media pictures and videos.

Why would you care? Why is it your business?