What has happened to us???

[Huntergirl]

My shot yesterday at a muley was 25yds. I just finished cutting and wrapping.
Tenderloins for supper tonight, yum.
I will take what fish and Game guy told me- too many folks taking long shots and wounding game, and say The devil is in the details. I can't dispute a fact.
There are too many hunters who are taking long shots with poor results. Couple that with the fact that ammo has spiked in price, I'm guessing there are too many hunters not practicing shots with their rifles. That is unethical.

[koolminx]

I only read page one, but If I can't get closer than 300 Yards to an Elk or a Black tail or a Mulie, then I ain't a hunter at all.

I'm a Bow guy for a lot of my hunting, and I think it's retarded to think that you must make a 700-900 yard shot because there's no way to get closer... Just plain unskilled I call it.

[rbb50]

biohazurd
Honestly i wouldnt take a shot at any animal at that distance with anything short of a .50 BMG, just my opinion...

Yeah that .50 BMG would sure do it alright.

I picked one up at a gun show once ( They actually let me touch it )

At first it looked really neat then when I picked it up I think it weighed about 40 pounds with the giant scope and everything it had on it.

Get one of those on a bench rest and I bet I could match that record that I think was 3/4 inch at 1000 yards a while back.

Still walking 1000 yards to get that meat then all the way back with it plus lugging that 40 pound thing around to where ever I had to set up a blind would wear me out pretty fast I think.

Still I have to always wonder what one of those things would do to a fox coming at me head on out at 100-200 yards with a hollow point round in it LOL

Probably skin them instantly and all that would be left is a pelt LOL, That is if it didn't just pick them up and throw them another 500 yards away LOL

[Huntergirl]

Just another fine example of what hunting has come to....

[Willie Lowman]

Get one of those on a bench rest and I bet I could match that record that I think was 3/4 inch at 1000 yards a while back.

...The record with a .50 BMG is 1.9 inches.

You are saying you can shoot better than .2 MOA with a gun you have never fired? I think I smell something.

[Huntergirl]

But Honey, you forget. He's an internet expert....

[rbb50]

As far as I know it was 3/4 inch and I had read that some where a long time ago

And yes if I had that gun I saw at that gun show I could do that

No brag just fact

Buy me the gun and I will prove it

Ok back from HEB

I was trying to find that story on line and have not yet as there are thousands of 50 BMG stories

Found this one: Rasmussen Shoots 1.9557′′ group at 1000 yards, and sets Four 50-Caliber World Records

Now I am thinking the story I saw was an unsanctioned match and had many witnesses but of course unsanctioned means it never happened in the record books

Kind of how I bowled a 300 in a moonlight madness bowling tour which was unsanctioned so of course in the record books it never happened

My friends know I bowled it because it was a joke for years if I bowled under a 200 they would be yelling “Turn the lights out turn the lights out”!!!! LOL

The only reason I was allowed to pick up that one I saw at the gun show was because I was selling a 1903a Springfield I had customized of which the guy buying it and everyone else that saw it said it was the most beautiful thing they have ever seen and belonged in a museum.

The sign on the 50 BMG he had said “DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THIS !!!!!!!!! You are allowed to look but if you even touch it your buying it

But he let me come behind the bench and shoulder it once and that thing was like a bar bell set and only because I was selling him my piece of art the 1903A Springfield 30-06 I had customized and just one time only

The price was $25,000 if I remember straight so if anyone wants to buy me one like that along with the die sets for the 50 BMG I will go to work on it and have some good rounds ready to shoot that group I’m talking about in about 3-4 months of many mathematical calculations for the reloads.

Will it be sanctioned?

No because sanctioned means a certain day and time at a sanctioned match without regard to weather or wind conditions.

Just as Rasmussen shot the group he did I can almost bet conditions were ripe that day to make it happen at that sanctioned match and that would be the only way I could beat his record by having those perfect conditions to make it happen and of course it would have to be sanctioned or it would never make the books no matter how many witnesses I had.

I sure cannot afford to go to a bunch of matches and pay for that while I wait for that one day out of years where all of a sudden the conditions are perfect to make that score

If old Rasmussen wants to bring me along with him and let me use some of his equipment I will be glad to show him some new tricks and also how he would be just as surprised as a lot of my friends are when they see me shoot some bench rest for the first time.

As it is he sure would not want to sponsor a guy that could out shoot him as that would sure not be good for his business there LOL

Remember this is bench rest shooting we are talking about now and has nothing at all to do with hunting in my book

I will still call them critters into a range of 50-100 yards or closer because when I hunt I do not use any kind of bench rest at all and the name of that game is a clean kill on the first shot

[Huntergirl]

Everthin's bigger in Texas....even the BS.

[rbb50]

That's funny you should mention that because people tell me that when they do meet me for the first time how it must be true everything is bigger in Texas.

I have to tell them No nothing is bigger in Texas than any other places I have been all over the world.

However there are a lot of people that are full of BS but I'm glad to say I'm not one of them

[wyobohunter]

It Texans don't learn to hush up about size Alaska may just split in two, making Texas the third biggest state.

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

Everthin's bigger in Texas....even the BS.

Truer words have never been spoken!!!!

I'm gonna break out the chest waders pretty quick... LMAO!!!

[infntryblu]

In the infantry if we had a shot like that, we called in artillery. As I've said in other forums, this ain't hunting, and they're NOT hunters. I think they play to many video games. I know of a few,very few people that make that shot under ideal conditions. Take their guns away , and take there hunting privledges AWAY, they give hunters a BAAAAAAD NAME.

[Todd1700]

Personally, I can get within 50 yards of a deer a heck of a lot easier than I can hit him at 800.

And I'd be more impressed of you getting within 50 yards than hitting him at 800. Cause one would require skill, the other luck.

IOW, if you know the distance, trajectory is the easy part

.

If you know how much your bullet drops at that distance it is. Sadly many people who take these long shots don't even know that. And as you mentioned windage is the tough thing. It's amazing how much a slight breeze will move a bullet at 700 yards. And heck, in swirling wind canyon country the wind might be moving in three different directions over the length of a 700 yard distance. Who could properly gauge that even if you had a way to detect it?

You never hear stories about the guy who missed, or miserably wounded the deer at extreme range

.

Or see the blown off legs on the TV shows that pimp this long range sniping with their "You can do this too if you buy our video" BS. But you can bet your bippy it happens.

The hunt - what used to happen in those intervening yards between sighting and shooting - has been diminished.

Well said. If you can't get within 600 yards without spooking an animal, then I'm sorry for being so judgemental, but as a hunter, you suck! At 600 yards you couldn't spook most game animals if you were sitting in your truck flashing the head lights and honking the horn. Most just don't consider anything that far away a threat yet. And somebody is gonna tell me that they can't stalk any closer than that on foot wearing camo and trying to be quiet? Please. If African plains animals ran every time they spotted a potential predator 600 or 700 yards away they would never stop running.


To me if you want to play "Lets see if I can hit it that far off" get on a range and play that game with paper targets. The goal of hunting should be to get as close as possible. I practice out to 300 yards with my rifles but I don't want to have to take a shot at even that modestly longe range. I'd be tickled to death to never have to take a shot farther than 50 yards. But then I'm a hunter. Not a target shooter just using animals as live longe range pop up targets.

[Art Eatman]

My problem--if it's indeed a problem--is that I was raised to believe that I was supposed to be able to hit a deer on out to 500 yards with my '06. Tell me: What 16-year-old kid is gonna argue with an uncle and a father who could indeed do that very thing? So guess what I learned to do...

But I can sneaky-snake pretty good. On a day with wet leaves and grass I managed to get within ten feet of a fat little eight-pointer and hit him in the butt with a rock. I can sit still, too: While sitting against a tree, I saw a fox. I lip-squeaked him in close enough to boink him in the nose with my boot toe.

Sure, I prefer to be sorta up close and personal when I break Bambi's neck for him. But I spent a bunch of time, thought, ammo and practice to be able to say, "If it's inside of 500 yards, I own it."

[cubesmoothie]

More power too him! I'd love to do some long range deer sniping with a bolt rifle, and i'd also like to do some bow hunting up close. They're both really fun and challenging. Heck, i want to deer hunt with a pistol too.

[Shorthair]

My longest kill ever came this year, a 300 yard shot on a grazing spike. I knew the distance because I had gps'd it from my rifle blind, he was on an old food plot that I had set up the year before. The rifle was rested, custom built, with handloads that shoot into one hole at 100 yards. The bullet hit exactly where I aimed and the buck dropped dead on the spot.
I shot expert every time I went for qual in the USMC, and at the 500 yard range I could not miss. That's iron sights on an M16. And I am confident that I can hit out to those ranges with my deer rifle, but I'd much rather get closer. Most of the deer I've killed over the past 20 years have been around the 100 yard range, unless using my bow. And as Art said, I have no problem with people doing what turns them on, as long as they're good at it and go about it ethically. Some people have no business shooting at 50 yards, let alone 800.

[Christchild]

I see both sides of the posts on this Thread, although I DO lean more towards NOT taking Crazy-Long shots, unless one is extremely proficient. I'm not entirely sure of what I'm capable of, because the ranges available are not that long, for most of us to be able to shoot outside of 400-500 yards.

Between 200 and 400 I'd be comfortable from a decent rest (treestand or shooting house) or position, say, sitting, prone or propped nice and solid (variables in my favor), but I'd rather not EVER shoot passed 200 yards... I'm not that hungry yet.

[riggins_83]

If a person is proficient in taking a shot like that then ok. There are people in the world who are probably more accurate at 400 yards than I am at 100.

Most of the time distances are eyeballed which is rarely even close to a good guess. Know your limitations and don't take extra risks in a wounding versus kill shot.

[bowtekhunter]

i say we go back to long bows and spears..lets see those 700yd marksmen hunt then

[A_Gamehog]

"I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be [sic] sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble"

You insulted the record holder of the 1,000 yard by minimizing his accomplishment.

[Art Eatman]

Serious hunters, as opposed to lead-flingers, don't "practice on elk at 900 yards". There are many, many rounds of practice on paper at even longer ranges before ever trying such a shot at any game animal.

We're always going to have that percentage of lead-flingers, whatever that percentage may be. But the serious long-range shooters are few and far between--whether in hunting or in target competition.

IOW, don't let the Internet exaggerate the imagined problem.

[hogdogs]

you don't need the skill of 1000 yard killing

And some will say we don't need to hunt meat as we have cows to eat and others will say we do not need the right to shoot guns at all
Brent

[DRice.72]

I dunno, I guess I could stalk that animal for 600 yards as he was walking away from me, or I could walk 600 to a dead one. Any way you go its going to take some skill. Different kind of skill, but skill just the same.

[langenc]

If it wasnt for laser range finders Id say many of thosr 600, 500, 400, 300 yd and shorter shots are more in the 135 to 165 yard shots.

[Phoneguy]

A group of us take hunting trips out of state to Wyoming or Colorado depending on the year. We were proud of our selves for our "long range shooting ability". We knew antelope would sometimes require long shots so we practiced until we were proficient out to about 500 yards. I have killed antelope (Ranged with my Leica) out to 475yds.

Then we met the Pen. State guys when we were hunting in Colorado. They killed a Buck at 850 yds and a Cow at 1200. We were amazed. We sat with them on more than one occasion talking about their tactics. Long range hunting requires it's own set of skills. If you are like these guys you knew exactly where you were shooting at that range. Not everyone who takes long shots posses the skills or knowledge like these guys.

I think its kind of funny to hear someone comment that you don't need a .338, that a 30/06 is big enough. Well why do you need a 30/06 or even a bow? Use a spear or better yet a rock. Technology has progressed passed the stone ages. In 30 years I'll bet someone will ask 'why do you need .339 eclectic super short sub mag? a .338 is big enough. Things change and along with that, Rifles, scopes, range finders, binocs, powder, bullets it only gets better. We have more deer now than ever before and maybe more Elk.
If someone wants to take a leagal weapon to hunt with then go for it.
If they posses the skills to shoot out to 900 yards then go for it. Some people are not physically able to crawl or walk for hours after a deer but want to shoot one. Some rifle hunters think archery hunting is not ethical (My Dad).

It's fairly easy to get close to Elk during Archery season, no so in the high country during Rifle season.