Here's the deal: a shot at a living animal has a moral aspect. You're attempting to take a life. You have an ethical duty to dispatch the animal as quickly and painlessly as possible. That means you must know you can make the shot. NOW WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO PRACTICE 800 YARD SHOTS? 700 yard shots?
I see stupid people who zero their rifles at 100 and then rely on twisting the elevation knob to shoot any range beyond 100.
Flyingdaddy, even us short range Eastern woods hunters zero out @ 200, so there really isn't much to think about about until 250. Heck, 1.5" @ 100 even thru a 4X is half a heartbeat, think buck fever, it s1/4 beat! As most of our work is done at sub 100, maybe 75-80 on average, I can see how some folks dial it up even tighter. I have never had a shot beyond 200yds, as around here, that usually crosses a property line and is therefore verobten. and then....
When I recently built a 7.62 platform for LR work and ! SHONUF' it is zero'd EXACTLY @ 100 yds unlike any of my woods guns. Why? Now, I'm old school K-I-S-S trained, but this BDX app that'll zero thatf ugly SASS rig @ any range upon my beck and call, as it needs its 100 yd zero as reference, just like the old time optics shooters do with their manual dope adjustment. I think any of these LRS pros know that, I'm a noob.
YET to your point, along a rail line in northern PA, Weyerhauser property if I recall, I saw him at dawn; I reckoned 350. Well, he went across the rails, and over the berm as I was calculating - out of view. All I knew was the ballistic table I had on the box of 165gr loads. -7@300 and -16 @ 400 by memory. NO SHOT @ 320-350 by eye. ...........
This is also memory but clear as this am. I know my gait from lots of land nav reckoning at Ft Benning. I paced off at least 475 yds. Great Spirit smiled as I heard "at least you would have clean missed that beautiful creature with less disrespect than not. Always KNOW!" Yes sir/ma'am. Everyone was fortunate that morning, and I learned. There is a higher level of discipline required engaging anything past my 200 yd woods or battle rifle zero to be sure. Not only in marksmanship but as LRS folks must know in range and dope estimates.
Time sure as heck didn't slow down to let me reckon as I watched that buck walk across the top of that berm either. So in the field, sometimes its a very small time window! so you must KNOW.