"Just a personal observance, but it seems to me like you've either got a lot of learning, upgrading and practice to do, or.......perhaps you're on the wrong forum"
I assume I haven't convinced you of the vageries of wind over long distances nor the harm of wounding without clean kills of big game?
Okay.
You don't have to try and convince me of anything concerning wind and long range shooting. I know what the wind is, I know what it does and how it does it, I know how to read it pretty **** well and I know when there is too much wind for the circumstances.
However, if I am able to visually and mentally see and interpret the wind and it's physical control over my shot, and I decide that I will be taking a "high percentage" shot, then the animal dies. I like the analogy Shawn Carlock uses in his video and I fully agree with it. If it's a shot that I would be absolutely flabbergasted and amazed if I missed, then the animal dies. But understand this, if nothing else, if there's a chance the shot would not go where I wanted it to no matter what the circumstances are then THE SHOT WOULD NOT BE TAKEN!
Again, you do not have to convince me of the harm of not making a clean kill. I've put more rounds downrange that most people do in a lifetime, I shoot year round and I practice under all conditions. Also know this, I've never lost an animal to a long range shot by anybody's definition of long range. I've passed on shots that a lot of 1 box a year hunters would have been blazing away on.
I know and understand the effects of wind, no matter what adjectives you wish to tie to the explanation. I shoot the highest BC bullet I can get, at the highest accurate velocities I can produce with the most horsepower I can get out of my rifle. I tend to stack the odds in my favor and I bitterly dislike losing. I consider making a bad shot to be losing.
There are a LOT of people on this forum that know wind and how to deal with it and there are a lot of people on this forum that know when to call off a shot. How many people do you know that routinely shoot well under 300 yards as their maximum range, that pass on shots? Judging from the shots I hear in the field during hunting season vs. the number of animals harvested, I'd say the scale is tipped heavily in favor of the competent long range hunter vs. the average short range, 1 box a year hunter.
If you feel that your combination of personal skills, equipment and ballistic capabilities limit you to under 300 yards then that is a decision you need to make.
I base my decision on taking a shot at a game animal on all of the variables, on everything physically I have control over, all of my equipment and my ability to know the difference in a high percentage shot vs. a low percentage shot.
If I have a high percentage shot, the animal dies. If things aren't up to my standards for a high percentage shot, the animal walks. I have too much respect for all game animals for it to be any other way.
Don't sell people short on their abilities when it comes to wind or adverse weather conditions. I've killed animals under conditions when most hunters wouldn't even get out of their truck, but I knew when the trigger broke that the animal was dead. Had I not known that, I'd have been back in the truck drying out and getting warm and the animal would be holed up under a nice big fir or pine tree out of the elements.
