Long Range!

[Kpete]

 A friend near Cody Wyoming was given an antelope buck by a friend.  The shooter has a long range custom rifle and reported that this buck was shot at over 1400 yds.   I commented that the Wyoming coyotes probably had most of it eaten by the time the shooter could get there.
My comfort range with a bow is just a bit less than 1400 yds. Closer to 14 yds.   
Shooting and killing continue to replace woodsmanship.  (Maybe with antelope it is "plainsmanship"

[skyarrow]

I had a svd a few years back it could hit at 1300meters it was fun to shoot but I'd still rather use my bow more skill in my book

[Pat B]

Shooting like that is great marksmanship but I wouldn't consider it hunting at all. Just because you kill something doesn't make it hunting.

[beetlebailey1977]

Pat you hit the nail on the head......I have, and could still walk out my back door with my rifle and shoot deer.  That is not hunting it is shooting and killing.  I do respect anyone that can make long shots but for me I want to get as close as possible.  I have killed deer with one shot at 250 yards plus (rifle).  I would never take one of those super long shots at a animal just does not seem ethical to me.  My opinion is way different than most on a lot of things. 

[fishfinder401]

wait, most people don't shoot their bows 1400yds...i guess im a litle different then, thats my average target range

[Adam]

I agree with Pat and beetlebailey.  A lot can go wrong at ranges like that.  If it's a target, well ok, but when an animal is involved, that doesn't seem like a reasonable thing to do.  Just my opinion based on my shooting skill.  I think you miss a lot not being near the animals.  It would feel detached, I suspect.

[mullet]

And,,, everybody has their own idea what hunting is And some people just hunt for meat. I love bowhunting, but, when it comes to putting meat in the freezer, the rifle comes out.

[gstoneberg]

I've been finding as I get older that I pull the rifle out more often than I used to.  I can't even say I have that much less fun.  They're both a riot, just different.  For sure the rifle is easier to use.  I don't have a place I can shoot over 1000 yards.  Bout the farthest I can shoot is 200 which aligns nicely with my skill level.  This year I have a lease that is in a bow-only county.  That's going to get me out bowhunting deer a lot more than the past few years.

George

[Tom Leemans]

You want to impress me? Hit the x ring on a target from that range. Sorry but 1400 yards is not hunting, nor is it fair chase.

[beetlebailey1977]

Mullet you are correct.....If I want to kill a deer for sure all I have to do is grab my rifle and go sit in a few spots.  Sometimes I do that.  I have no shortage of deer.  I see at least 3 or 4 every time I go.  The last time I killed a deer with a rifle was in 2010.  This season will be another season that I will take my rifle out again.  My freezer is empty and I have a lot of does that need killing on my property and my family farm where I grew up.  Granted I will bow hunt a lot but when the times is rite the rifle will talk.  And yes I still get excited after all these years of hunting when I get ready to shoot a deer.  If I didn't I would quit hunting.

[Kpete]

I got a little more info on the episode. The buck was hit in the hams.  He took a couple steps as the shot was being made.  Which is consistent with the above comments.
The marksman gave the animal away so he was not concerned with bone fragments in the hams.
I, too, shoot game with a rifle.  I have enjoyed many hunts with firearms and I have made a couple of long range shots-always swearing them off in the future.  However these shots were 300 yds and not 1400.  NO Fish, these were not shots with a war bow, but rather centerfire rifles.
I appreciate the comments also about not being able to practice shots over 1000 yds.
An aquaintance of mine used to maintain a 1000 yd range.  He liked shooting targets at that distance...until he touched one off and found that a teen age hunter had wandered into the area of the backstop.  Through the scope he did not see that the young man was within 6 feet of the point of impact, barely visible because of the brush.  It was the first shot of the day and the young hunter was sitting on the berm of the old railroad bed looking for squirrels.  Even though the young man was trespassing, my friend was pretty shaken and stressed how difficult it is to be secure about the target area at 1000 yds.
Thanks for the discussion.

[beetlebailey1977]

Kpete I can see him being upset about that.......to be able to have a thousand yard range you would need a very large amount of acreage with it being very open to be even a little safe.  It would be no different if you wanted to do flight shooting with bows.  I have two spots that I can shoot bows long range for cast.  One on my property out to 250 yards and on the Family farm out to 350 or so.

[Kpete]

Yeah, two kids in my neighborhood used to flight shoot their bows in the back yard....Straight up.  We never put our eye out,but it was close.  Did I say WE again.  Incriminated myself.
I had a guy shoot at a 3-D mountain goat while I was standing next to the tail of the mountain goat.  65 yard shot with a target peep.  He claimed he never saw me.  I had my bow leaning on the front of the Goat and was standing next to it while others scratched shafts out of the grass behind the target.   Uhh, I started running up the range toward the shooter.  they grabbed me before I could get a hold of any flesh.     
My point, it doesn't take extreme range to make things dangerous.  Same guy shot himself with an arrow. Yes,  Drew his compound while it was pointed at the ceiling and touch the release aid button arrow went up and out and hit a concrete beam in pre-poured basement ceiling.  Bounced straight back and and the nock hit him right between the eyes.  It was of course someone elses fault.
Hey, I think I just high-jacked my own thread!