Hunting Skill/Combination/Shooting Skill

Click what you agree with:

  • 600 yard plus shots are not hunting. This is marksmanship only.

    Votes: 72 67.9%

  • 600 yard shots plus are indeed hunting.

    Votes: 34 32.1%
  • Total voters
    106
  • Poll closed .
There are so many different types of hunting, that it's pretty difficult to make a ruling on what "is" or "is not" actual hunting.

What is the range we define as "not hunting" anymore? 400? 500? 501?

what about bow hunting? I suppose bow hunters could say that 75 yard rifle shots "arent' really hunting" :)
 
Last edited:
This is a slippery slope once you're on it. In the field what is important that you conduct your hunt in a way that is correct for you. The hunter with the proper tools and under the right conditions could be more likely to make a one shot kill at a half mile than the fellow who sees his deer 50 feet away behind a stand of willows. The anti's don't think any shot on game is ethical, regardless of the range. If we fracture the hunting community into groups who support short range shooting over long range shooting, meat hunting over trophy hunting, and domestic hunting over foreign hunting, we simply play into the hands of the ban everything crowd.
 
When I was a kid starting out hunting in the boondocks of bushland Saskatchewan, which is north of what they call the parklands, hunting was walking until you found a fairly fresh track. From our house less than ½ mile put you in excellent deer pasture. Walk most of the day and there would be a 50-50 chance of finding a fresh moose or elk track.
Easily, my most memorative day of hunting was when I was about 16, maybe 17. Fifteen minutes from the house I spotted a large whitetail buck, standing facing me, with just his head and neck showing above the willows. I levelled the long barreled 30-30, model 94 at his neck and let fly. The buck took off and I started off following his tracks in the two inches of snow.
By noon I had seen his big flag and watched him bound away, at least three times. Still only fifteen minutes from home, I walked in and ate. Went back after him, saw his rear end once or twice and at dark I walked the twenty minutes to the house! I don't think he ever took me more than half a mile from home, all day.
To me that was hunting, while the old buck taught me all the tricks.
Moose are equally smart. They always bed down in a thicket of bush, but first they walk down wind. Thus, if you follow their tracks, they will smell you coming, every time. Once you put a moose out of his bed, they are extremely hard to get for the rest of that day.
Their pattern is to feed in the early morning, then bed down for a daytime rest. In about November, they will get out of their bed about 2:30, and feed again.In the hilly country of central BC, I once picked up the tracks of two bulls, about nine in the morning. I followed them all day, then shot one of them on their afternoon feed, about 3:00.
Another time I got on a fresh bull track in the morning, spent a lot of time trying to figure out wher he would bed for the day. I picked the right spot and was circling it, when he jumped up about 75 yards to the side. I put a 220 grain 30-06 bullet through his ribs.
To me, these instances were the ultimate in hunting.
I too, have jumped out of a truck and shot both elk and moose. (On different occassions!) But to me, that is shooting game, not hunting it.
 
Would you shoot at x range left to open for me.
Lots of variables, as I'm aware there are this with one.

What I wanted from this post is to see if most people think 600 yrd shots are hunting, or if hunting means something different then a simply a long shot.

If a 600 yrd shot is huntig, then waht constitutes hunting...
killing an animal? simply shooting?

Would a 1000 trd shot be hunting?

1500 yrd shot?

Is it all hunting?

I know the 600 yrd shot is legal, but it is not the type of hunting I do. Even if the opportunity presented itself, and my ability and the rifle I had were capable, I would not take a 600 yrd shot on an animal.

That is not my hunting style.
 
If you hunted hard for 60 days straight dawn to dusk,did not see a animal of the species you were looking for, walked out of the bush after 60 days,saw it at 600 yards ,you and the gun were capable.I would call that hunting and I think(my opinion only)most of us would shoot.
 
CROWCA said:
If you hunted hard for 60 days straight dawn to dusk,did not see a animal of the species you were looking for, walked out of the bush after 60 days,saw it at 600 yards ,you and the gun were capable.I would call that hunting and I think(my opinion only)most of us would shoot.
Click to expand...

Thats the best answer yet hunting its not only about the "shot" it is about everything leading up to the shot.

If I were out hunting for weeks not seeing a single whitetail with in 100yds and after 2 weeks I see one pop out at 600yds I would try and get as close as I could but if I ran the risk of spooking him I would take the shot from 600yds. Now if I had another 2 weeks to hunt then I would try and get close if I couldnt I would pass as I still have tonns of time.
 
I would ALMOST lean towards one answer, then I think back to antelope hunting in South Saskatchewan. With good marksmanship skills, a good tool, and bald ass prarie all around.....One could perhaps do the do-able and still hold your head up high, end of the hunting day.

I did not vote though, because the required skills, tools, and abilities must come together with a solid, recognizable opportunity.
This last factor, is THE factor, that separates the fools from the real masters.

And no, I am not advocating unfettered shooting at too long a range.
Few persons would have the ability to carry this off without greif, with a single clean shot.
 
Last edited:
srt4u2nv said:
Thats the best answer yet hunting its not only about the "shot" it is about everything leading up to the shot.

If I were out hunting for weeks not seeing a single whitetail with in 100yds and after 2 weeks I see one pop out at 600yds I would try and get as close as I could but if I ran the risk of spooking him I would take the shot from 600yds. Now if I had another 2 weeks to hunt then I would try and get close if I couldnt I would pass as I still have tonns of time.
Click to expand...



So this makes it sound as though there is a problem with 600 yrd shots, you would still want to get to closer, or if you had more time left, you would pass.
Why pass if it's all good?:confused:
 
CROWCA said:
If you hunted hard for 60 days straight dawn to dusk,did not see a animal of the species you were looking for, walked out of the bush after 60 days,saw it at 600 yards ,you and the gun were capable.I would call that hunting and I think(my opinion only)most of us would shoot.
Click to expand...


And I believe this is the best example of my hunting style vs, well perhaps the forementioned.

My hunting style would not see me 60 days in an area and ultimately end up needing to take a 600 yrd shot on the last day to fill my tag.

I am not hunting for survival, so If after 60 days of "hunting hard" as you put it, I could not manage to get my animal, then this year, nature wins.
If at the last minute he presents himself at 600 yrds, I'll be taking the bullets out of my gun, laughing at myself, looking at the animal and respecting the animal,...
 
Someone posted in another thread, in regards to hunting

"I don't hunt, I shoot F class"

obviously the person was speaking of their shooting ability., not that they actually don't shoot game.

but that is the most accurate quote i have seen in a long time, even though that's not how it was intended.
 
I think it was Winston Churchill who said "polls are used by dogs too."

With that firmy planted in the back of my mind.
I am unable to supply a pigeon hole answer to your poll.

Every situation is unique unto it's self. No two hunting forays are alike, and neither are any two animals even if they are of the same species, then there are the diffrences in species, and where they are hunted.

Two many variables to nicely pigeon hole an answer.
 
limit time said:
does this go for mtn sheep:)
Click to expand...

Of course there are exceptions to any "personal hunting rule". And animals that reside in "high country" and other equally rugged terrain are often only able to be shot from greater than normal distances. I was with a friend in the mountains 2 years ago, and our greatest "stalking" skills combined could only get us 700 yards away from the dall sheep he was hunting. He got it (but only after 3 range finding shots with me spotting). But thats the way it is sometimes. We did get as close as possible. I know that I wouldn't have shot at any animal that far away, but didn't mind offering my services as spotter to increase his chances of bettering the kill....he was shooting no matter what. I don't tell others what to do, I just do this for me.
I only refer to my own personal beliefs that a person , no matter what their skills at distance shooting are, should make every reasonable effort to get as close to the game as possible to increase the percentage of a clean kill. If you need to have your back patted while showing your 600 yard shooting skills, do it with paper targets. They don't wound easily when the wind was different around 450 yards than you thought and your bullet went off course a couple of inches into the gut and not the lung. Hunting isn't about stroking your ego at your "sniper" skills, its about eating an animal you respected enough to ensure the highest percentage kill possible.
Lots of people are good at doping the wind, but even the best make mistakes. Bullet drift is much less at 175 yards than 600. And gusts can occur at any point between you and the animal, this of course is magnified at longer distances. Like sealhunter said, if he jumped out at 600 yards at the end of a long hunting season, I too would say "you won buddy....see you next year when your a couple of pounds heavier, your rack is a little bigger, and your hearing is a little less acute!!!!"
 
Last edited:
How far away you shoot your animal can't disqualify you from being hunting.

If you accidentally run something over with your truck on they way home, well, then that might be another story...but only if it's not the species you were hunting for in the first place!
 
shooting versous hunting

i believe that long shoots aren't classed as hunting although it takes skil. to me hunting is calling the animal close or stalking the animal nothing agaist the people who take (and successfully hit and kill) long shoots
 
So is shooting a deer standing in a alfalfa field 50 yds away, off the hood of a truck more "hunting" than shooting a deer 600 yards accross some remote canyon?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom