Okay, Go ahead and verbally pummel me...

[BrentM]

"The presence of copious amounts of testosterone is the greatest obstacle we have to deal with in teaching guys to shoot. "

Amen brother!

LR hunters are more like serious bow hunters to me. There is amazing amount of pride and technical understanding brewed into a potion that is only served once the proper flavor is achieved. The potion is never complete but tweaked and perfected for eternity.

 

[406precision]

LR hunters are more like serious bow hunters to me. There is amazing amount of pride and technical understanding brewed into a potion that is only served once the proper flavor is achieved. The potion is never complete but tweaked and perfected for eternity.[/QUOTE]

Now thats some fancy talk right there!!! I LIKE IT!

 

[WildRose]

"The presence of copious amounts of testosterone is the greatest obstacle we have to deal with in teaching guys to shoot. "

Amen brother!

LR hunters are more like serious bow hunters to me. There is amazing amount of pride and technical understanding brewed into a potion that is only served once the proper flavor is achieved. The potion is never complete but tweaked and perfected for eternity.

Well said. Think how rarely we see "good enough, cain't git no better" typed here... .gun)

This truly is the perfect sport for the truly obsessive compulsive sportsman.

 

[Kennibear]

442jonez

If you change your perspective it may help you understand this concept better.

Don't think, "that's 880 yards" but more of, "that's 1 1/4 minute of angle".

Case #1: Middle son @ age 15 has a glass bedded 22 Mag Rimfire w/ 3-9 $40 Banner High Powered Rifle scope. Paralax is fixed @ 100 yards and the rifle prefers Federal ammo over any thing else. Shoots Federals into 5/8" @ 75 yards every round, 3 shots or 50 shots. This is not uncommon with tweaked 22Mag RF's. One Spring day about 5 - 6 miles south of Boise in the desert he shoots up two boxes and a partial at ground squirrels none of the shots less than 100yds (zero range) nor more than 125 yards. Those squirrels have a "danger" zone of about 75 yards where they disappear at the sight of hunters. He makes every shot while they don't alarm.
He never missed, not once in 100+ shots. One shot, one hit. But that is not surprising to the average hunter because it is 100 yards. The Gopher presents about 1 1/4" square in Target area.

Conservatively an Elk presents a target of about 16" square, some say more some say less but we'll run 16 square for now. 16 / 1.25 = 12.8. 12.8 X 100 = 1280. 16" is the Elk, 1.25" is the gopher, 12.8 is how many time larger the Elk is than the gopher and 1280 yards is 12.8 times the range my son hit every one of those 100+ gophers. (Hell yes I'm a proud Papa!)

With laser range finders and quality field ballistic computers and programs first round hit have become quite regular. And by ordinary folks not just a small bunch of target masters. Looking at an Elk at 1200+ yards and a gopher at 100 and both appear to be the same size. But we don't hesitate to take a crack at the gopher.

Hope this helps!

KB

 

[Doublezranch]

I was just sitting with my morning coffee laughing to myself about your comments Wildrose. I cannot believe how true it is. Almost everyone, I mean everyone that walks through the lodge door on the ranch in Texas, has either a story to tell, or a stack of pictures trying to show how large their testosterone canisters are. We have a policy that before we take them afield, they see a video on shot placement of pigs, sign a waiver, then it's to the range. Almost every single time the first 3 shots at 100 look more like a shotgun pattern then a group. It is so hard to listen to the excuses without laughing. These are the same people we find sleeping out in the blinds and tell us they saw nothing all night. In fact we started pulling the camera chips on the stands that we put hunters just to see. We go over the pictures at the dinner table with the clients. Again...laughter breaks when everyone sees mr testosterone gets caught in a lie!!

Shooting short range, long range, any range takes patience, skill and perseverance. Knowing your limits and sticking to them is our duties as sportsman and shooters alike. We all practice, make calculated decisions, and keep all factors in mind. Shooting long range is not for everyone. Takes money and time. If you have the money and it is worth it to you to put the time in, then it is one of the most rewarding sports you could ever take part in.

 

[MMERSS]

Knowing your limits and sticking to them is our duties as sportsman and shooters alike. We all practice, make calculated decisions, and keep all factors in mind.

to include knowing the limits of those we share this experience with. LR hunting is ideal for the hunting team. Shooter, spotter, programmer and system assistant all have their limits thus limiting or expanding the team as a whole.

 

[etisll40]

Something that has taken me awhile to figure out about (long range hunting) is that it's not really about taking an animal at long distances. It's an experience whereby you are in a position to find hard to find animals and enjoy that experience. Then, make the decision whether or not you can and or want to move closer to harvest them. The beauty of glassing and sight seeing is phenomenal, a big part of the "hunt." Retrieving the animal plays into it too. I still like to hunt up close and personal, but long range hunting is almost a graduation of many skills coming together and kind of makes you a hunter/sniper. Quite fascinating really. I can't imagine a true hunter that wouldn't enjoy the experience even if meant shooting within a shorter range on the hunt. How close can you get to some of these animals, what will you see before you pick your opportunity up.

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

LET'S PRACTICE SAFELY IN THE NEW YEAR.

 

[djtjr]

I got into the game by being a naysayer. I didn't think it was right or fair and while I had a lot of game under my belt I dint have any understanding of the capabilities of the equipment or the extensive knowledge to be able to use it properly. Bobby hart a great gunsmith and someone who has been doing this long before it became cool and more of a trend took me out and really helped my knowledge. Since I was a good small ore and position shooter before hand it was really the trajectory and wind reading that I needed to figure out but blowing up milk jugs at 1200 yds regularly on my first day made the jump from the 1-300 yd shots to 4,5, and 6 relatively easy. Then time in the field and on the reloading bench and range made the next few hundred pretty easy in the right conditions. And that's the key knowing your limitations just because someone on tv dials in a gun for a novice and tells him what to do and when doesn't mean that the novice with a click chart can just go and do it with any old rig. Most decent shooters should be able to hold well enought for long shots but everything else takes time. If you dedicate yourself to it you will soon find that ranges you never thought of before become relative chip shots and that half a mile and well beond is very doable. Just don't think that it can happen tomorrow. Even if you never choose to shoot that far on game being able to helps the closer shots so much as in your mind they are now easy and confidence is a huge factor in this game. Good luck and enjoy the journey