The biggest thing that I see hunters having an issue with is knowing when to say, "Nope, not taking the shot because I'm not comfortable". I've hunted with a few people that talk about having killed animals at long range, even have rifles I've seen proven on paper at long range from a bench. But when with them in the field, I see miss after miss on shots they claim to make "all the time". Be humble and honest with yourself about what your abilities really are based on experience when you are trying to ethically take a life. Taking a shot in the field on an animal can sometimes be very different and much more difficult than making a shot on paper at the range. Nothing is more gut wrenching and sickening to me than not being able to recover a wounded animal.
One instance we were lucky to have recovered an animal. I was lined up to take a shot at 525 yards but didn't feel comfortable due to a poor rest and the buck was moving around too much. A hunting partner was lined up on him as well. I decided to hold my shot and I heard BANG! from my partners rifle. I looked thru the scope and the buck was dragging the bottom half of his rear leg by a shred of skin. My hunting partner shot a couple more times and missed. Out of ammo now and trying to reload. The buck was about to get up over the ridge in that non-lethal wounded condition so I mustered all my confidence and took a single shot while he was on the move that dropped him. Really lucky in a sense too because I was dialed in for 525 yards on the scope from earlier and had no time to dial the turret. I had to quickly guess my hold over with the reticle at the new range of 655 yards as well as the lead on a moving animal. But I had practiced with my rifle at that range and much further so I knew roughly how much extra drop I would have from 525 to 655 yards. The key word is "practice". Had I not spent a lot of time at the range with my rifle that year, I highly doubt I would have pulled that shot off and we would have lost a wounded animal. Tho I will admit luck definitely played a significant roll in me pulling that shot off in the very short amount of time there was to react and from the rest I had.
And I understand that if you're a hunter you're gonna miss or wound an animal on occasion. We all do. But don't let that happen because you are taking a shot you don't really know how to make due to lack of practice and experience. The goal is to make the chance of wounding an animal as minimal as possible. If anyone tells you they've never missed or wounded an animal then they probably haven't killed very many animals or they are just flat out lying. Point is to humble yourself and realize that because a rifle can shoot a long ways doesn't mean that's always the best choice. No matter what the situation, if I can get closer to the animal with what the terrain offers me and how much time I have to get there, then I will do it.
Practice long range shooting but don't ever go out in the field looking to make a long range shot just so you can brag to your buddies. That's stupid. Practice at long range much further than you think your shots might be so your skills are honed to the point where your actual shot distances feel like a walk in the park. I do the same thing with archery. I will shoot up to 80 yards and sometimes even 100 yards just playing around. But I would never shoot an animal at those ranges. 50-60 yards is my personal max. So when I'm practicing at 70-80 yards, a 50 yard shot that I would actually take seems pretty easy to me.
memtb
