Here we go again! Is long range “Hunting” ethical or not? It is legal, and I’m happy that it is. Now before I get flamed, tell me how you would enforce ban on this practice? Hire more game wardens so they can go hunting with you and determine what shots as hunters we can and can not take? Ethics plain and simple are morals, and can you live with the consequences of what will happen if things go wrong.
TV shows like “Beyond Belief” never show the missed shots or the animal that is only wounded. They only show the shots that make the extraordinary kill (DRT) and make us believe that we all can do it as well. What they don’t show you as well is the amount of hours and money spent for the kind of practice that is needed to become proficient at shooting targets at 700-1000 yards. How many hundreds possibly thousands of rounds they shoot down range at paper, or how many barrels they change out on their rifles a year.
I say hope for the best but expect the worst when hunting. Prepare for it as well, that means learning to shoot on the edge of your comfort zone. I practice out to 400 yards quite often as I have the space to do so, don't expect to zero at 100 yards over a chrony and work up the bullet drop on a ballistics calculator and be able to walk out there with a range finder and make the shot. Some loads that are sub MOA don't stay that way past 2-300 yards so you have to find a load that will stay sub MOA at 1000 if you expect to be successful.
Now I’ve only killed one animal at what I would consider an extreme range for me and that was a mule deer at somewhere in the neighborhood of 560-580 yards, that was as close as my range finder would tell me. I made the shot as well before I even ranged it (left the range finder in the truck) so I got extremely lucky. I was guessing around 450 when I took the first shot and missed, so I elevated and killed the deer with my second shot. I shot this deer with a .270 Win 130 grain Sierra BTSP loaded to the high side of 3100 fps, this load shoots extremely well for me but at that range it barely worked on my deer. I did get a complete pass through the rib cage in the lower 1/3, which is where I wanted the bullet to go but judging by both entrance and exit wounds the bullet barely expanded.
Until that deer my longest shot on big game was a cow elk taken at 250 yards, again with the .270 Win but 150 grain Nosler Partition. No, I don’t think hunting should be limited to a 200 yard or less shot. Simply because not everyone hunts the same environment, here in Colorado a 400 yard shot can be just about as common as a 50 yard shot. I do however believe that every attempt should be made to get as close as possible to your intended game animal.
I like to get close because it allows me to better judge the animal, as well as add to the thrill of the hunt. I like to pit my stalking skills against my game, that is why I like to hunt on the ground. To me there is not much difference in sitting in a blind or tree stand and waiting for an animal to walk by or taking a long range shot at your game. To me you take the stalk (pursuit) out of the hunt regardless of range you are still only target shooting. I realize as well that I would probably have to change my hunting style were I to move to other parts of the country or give up hunting all together if I didn’t find it to my liking.
Here is the standards that Colorado requires for center fire rifles:
Quote:
1. CENTERFIRE RIFLES
a. Must be min. .24 caliber (6 mm).
b. Must have min. a 16-inch barrel and be at least 26 inches long.
c. If semiautomatic, they can hold max. of 6 rounds in the magazine and
chamber combined.
d. Must use expanding bullets that weigh min. 70 grains for deer, pronghorn
and bear, 85 grains for elk and moose, and have an impact energy (at
100 yds.) of 1,000-ft. pounds as rated by manufacturer.
e. It is illegal to hunt game birds, small game mammals or furbearers with
a centerfire rifle larger than .23 caliber during regular rifle deer and elk seasons West of I-25, without an unfilled deer or elk license for the season. A
small game license is required.
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So if you stick with the 1000 ft-lb figure you can see why the long range hunters have Magnum and Wildcat “ITIS”. So if you aren’t prepared to make that kind of investment to do this kind of hunting you should probably stay out of it. Can elk be killed with less energy than that, sure but it is hard to argue with the more is better theory. A lot of people like to stay above 1500 ft-lb of energy on elk rifles, I don’t agree with that figure but I don’t agree always with using the least powerful rifle either.