Long Range

A recent article in the wall street journal was titled Hunting's New Controversy: Snipers. The article goes on to argue the point that if you shoot at an animal from 500 yards or farther, you're depriving him of his survival tools like eye sight, hearing, and sense of smell. 250 yards used to be a good shot but now hunters are reaching out to 1000 plus yards using rifles that cost from $1000 to up to $25,000

This brings up the discussion, is this ethical? For humane shot placement and fairness to the animal?

Like any discussion there are always two sides. In some of the videos I have seen, for instance, a 12 year old got behind what looked to be his dads long range rifle, his dad dialed the turret on the scope and got the windage all set and his child made a 1000 plus yard shot on his first elk. Will this be the new norm for the next generation of hunting?

On the other hand, too many hunters enter the woods opening day of hunting season with a rifle they have not sighted or practiced with from the previous hunting season. Taking that 200 yard shot with an off sight gun may as well be a 500 yard shot with your eyes closed. A gun shooting just a few inches off at 100 yards will amplify to missing by several feet further down range. These guys shooting long range are doing some serious homework to get their set up shooting just right.

No matter what your hunting style is, if you prefer an open sight 30x30 or a 300 custom ultra mag. We all owe it to the animal we are harvesting to be well practiced, proficient, and know your limits.