I used to shake a great deal when I saw deer wandering towards me across a vast fields of beans. Every inch they moved made my heart beat harder and it reminded me that I had to be patient.
Back in those days I hunted with a .45 bore Kentucky rifle my great uncle had found in an abandoned barn in rural Ohio. He gave the rifle to me to repair and it was my first true hunting gun. Today we are going to be taking a look at what it takes to get started in hunting and my experiences and insight as a modern hunter.
I was a better hunter in years past. It could be said that I was a better hunter because I had one shot and that shot was only good to about 75 yards. When you hunt with a muzzleloader and iron sights you are playing a very different game than what many people play today when it comes to hunting and in my opinion it is probably the truest type of gun hunting. More on that thought later.
You see, getting started in hunting is both easier and harder than one would expect for reasons that you may surprise you. Just like many things in life, hunting is a generational tradition and leisure pastime of many, and there are industries built to help ensure your success. I will elaborate on that in a few moments, but first I need to explain just how basic this can be if you want to get down to brass tacks.
The Hunter’s Mindset
The first thing you need to understand about hunting is that it’s a relationship between the hunter, the game, and the land. The trifecta of these things can’t survive if one vanishes or becomes hostile. If the land is mismanaged, the game disappears along with the traditions carried out on it.
If hunters kill unchecked, game vanishes and the land suffers a collapse in the ecosystem. If the hunter is banned, nature falls out of balance and the ecosystem again collapses. A true hunter is a person who strives to preserve the game they kill in the present for the surety of the traditions of future generations.
The mindset of the hunter is of incredible importance to the preservation of the natural world. I have said many times that there is no animal rights group in existence that does more for the natural world than conservationists and hunters.
Political groups love to posture that hunting is murder, but are themselves responsible for countless inhumane animal deaths. It doesn’t fit their narrative to acknowledge that deer tags pay for the conservation and management of massive populations of animals.
If you want to begin hunting, you need to understand that, above all, you are personally responsible for the taking of life. The hunt is a process that demands respect and if your first inclination is to want to shoot something, you don’t belong in the field.
Shooting an animal is the foundation of hunting, but it’s only the most basic element. In the act of hunting, you’re taking away that individual animal’s life. You stop its heart from beating and cause it to never see its herd or flock again.
If you think that animals don’t feel that loss, you’re wrong. I recently lost a prized Cayuga duck to a fox and my remaining three ducks called to her for days and didn’t eat or drink. I saw them sitting on the spot I buried their sister several times in the days since her death.
What does my duck have to do with hunting? Not much, except to illustrate the fact that you must realize that you are shooting at things that feel pain, have relationships with their own kind, and can feel sadness, anger, stress, and fear. It’s thus of extreme importance to kill game quickly, humanely and with great dedication. You can’t hesitate and need to be deliberate when taking your shot. Hunting requires grit.
You will hear them scream, choke on their blood, call for help, and, if wounded, they usually look right at you as you approach to deliver the final shot knowing they are about to die. It’s not a sight for the faint of heart.
Since you come to The Truth About Guns for the unvarnished truth, I will not lie and say that the business of killing is fun or pleasant, nor is it noble or great. The pursuit or ambush is where the excitement lies. In a way, the most unnerving part of hunting isn’t the shot, but rather the anticipation leading up to it.
What is Fair Chase?
Fair chase hunting is hunting where the game has the ability to escape and evade you. Hunting where a shot is guaranteed isn’t true hunting despite what some people, even people in this industry will say. Not getting a shot sometimes is part of hunting. The chance to be in the woods partaking in the hunt is a reward in itself and you shouldn’t be disheartened if you don’t see your game.
This is all part of the hunter’s mindset. A great hunter is marked not by the size of the deer or elk he’s shot, but the manner in which the animal was taken. In that sense, a great hunter may never take a shot in their life, despite being presented with many opportunities.
I wrote an article here on the ethics of long range hunting, which is an appalling trend pushed by many companies in the industry. Long range hunting is by definition not fair chase, as it extends the distance (and possible errors) in order to make the animal oblivious to the shooter. It is, in my opinion, a form of cruelty.
A long range hunter is not a hunter, but rather a killer who values the distance of the shot over the life of the animal. I have known and talked to many of these people, including names you’d recognize. Many display a blatant disregard for the animal. Each cited the distances they shoot with a certain giddiness. “I shot a coyote at 1,100 yards.” “I shot a deer at a half mile.” “500 yards is short range to me.”
I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that long range hunting is ethical, sportsmanlike, or displays superior hunting prowess. It’s a cowardly act by people lacking the patience and skill to guarantee a clean shot, which can only ever be done at close range. The greater the distance, the more variables are introduced to the shot and variables increase the chances of cruelty.
As a new hunter, you should strive for excellence, and that excellence comes from respecting the life you seek to take by not recklessly causing harm or inflicting unnecessary pain on it. A good hunter knows when not to take a shot. If you second-guess yourself for a moment, don’t pull that trigger.
How complex is it to start hunting?
Good, basic gear is easy to find. You don’t even need a background check for it. If you go to a local gun shop or even a big box place like Cabela’s, you’ll be able to find all of this gear:
- A .50 caliber percussion muzzleloader, style of your choice. A Hawkins is ideal for most hunting.
- Black powder or a substitute.
- Patches and balls.
- Some loading equipment and small tools.
- A good knife. The knife I have used for many seasons is the ESEE RB3, but there are lots of good options out there.
- Binoculars or a rangefinder.
Get these things, zero your rifle at 50 or 100 yards, and then go knock on some doors in a rural area. You will probably have no problem finding private land to hunt on.
You’ll need to buy the appropriate tags after you settle on the land where you want to hunt. Wear some good camo or weather-appropriate clothing and sit with your back to a tree. You will have reasonable success just as I have and you will never need to open a hunting magazine or go into another gun shop again.
Keep your rifle clean and oiled and get familiar with the land. That’s really all there is to it.
The complexity comes from overthinking your gear, buying into fads, and compensating for a lack of skill with more gadgets and guns. If you can’t hunt deer with a cap-and-ball rifle, you probably shouldn’t be hunting.
Keeping it simple is the best way to start and develop good foundational skills. Patience is the greatest virtue of the hunter and you can only learn that firsthand through toil and grit. Many elements of modern hunting remove patience by extending distance or supplementing a lack of skill with gear.
Modern Hunting
Hunting is a massive industry today. Every company wants to sell you success through their ammunition, optics, and guns. Not to mention the massive markets in clothing, gear, gadgets, tools, and the brand culture that extends to aspects of everyday life.
You know a Browning man from a Remington man just by the sticker on his vehicle and, for the most part, that brand loyalty will continue to his children and was likely passed down from earlier generations. I know many a family that has a Browning logo on everything they own, right down to the tattoo on their shin.
The brand culture of modern hunting has, in my opinion, eroded some of the traditional culture of hunting. Corporatism is part of the modern world and it has had a degrading effect on the individual and their ability to succeed as a hunter. The race for more and better gear continues constantly.
It used to be that hunting gear and guns were an investment that would be passed down from generation to generation. Today we live in a world of fad cartridges, ever-changing opinions, and a great deal of fake news.
Modern hunting often turns into a race for the newest gear, ammo, and image. The first thing hunters change is their gear, not their approach. If you’re frustrated with a lack of success, perhaps change your style of pursuit instead of your guns and your gear.
If you aren’t a good hunter with a $500 rifle, you probably won’t be much better with a $5,000 rifle. Taking the time to reflect on what your weaknesses are before trying to cover them up in gear and guns will improve your results. You will be better off in the long run recognizing and improving the areas where you are lacking.
Where should I start?
If you want to be a good hunter, the best place to start is by getting involved in a group that has a strong hunting culture. I don’t know many hunters who keep at it long if they don’t have friends and family who are involved, too. Getting yourself into a local range or sportsman’s club is a good way to meet people, find good hunting spots, understand the gear and gun requirements of your area, and receive solid advice.
The world of hunting can seem impenetrable to many outsiders, but if you have a strong stomach, some patience, and dedication to your task, you will be a successful hunter. Hunting is all about mindset and you’ll be much better off if you keep it simple, reference good books and local resources, and make an effort to understand your game.
Keep in mind that hunting is an important part of the nature of mankind. By choosing to be a hunter you are choosing to return to your deep ancestral roots. Hunting starts within and if you are patient, it won’t matter what weapon you have in your hands.
Name brands mean nothing to me. For the most part I’ve outfitted my self with hunting clothes from thrift stores. Second hand wool works just fine for frosty days in the boonies. Same with a day pack. Thrift stores are full of them. Carpenter jeans work just fine in the field.
Don’t go cheap on boots.
some brands do mean quality, pendleton comes to mind. always nice to thrift some orvis or bean, bauer. more asian than they used to be. but that ain’t all china.
this sorta thing, too.
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/swiss-super-field-jacket-m70-alpenflage-surplus/8249
Woolrich coat that looked new. 7 bucks. I rummage around the thrift stores and find some really good quality at a good price. Nothing used up.
“Don’t go cheap on boots” – Should be one of the “10 Essentials” every hunter should agree on. You’re on your feet allot. Don’t pinch pennies in this area. And break your boots in before you head out.
I beg you, break your boots in months in advance, putt around this winter on the weekends in your new boots. As an Eagle Scout and Marine 0311, cry now, relax and enjoy later.
The gear part is interesting, like many things if you meet requirements (a good, accurate shooting firearm) it’s the man not the gear.
I have an Ithaca 37 in my safe from 1947, and although not a hunter at times I imagine the clear bright blue days that gun must have seen with a man long departed of this world questing for birds by a lake or pond.
My BIL invited me, I’m tempted to go. May well decide it’s not for me (as it was once described, “I don’t have an issue with hunting it’s the body at the end.”) but hey you never know until you do it.
In terms of the life, it is the way this world works. To paraphrase Hamlet, if a worm devours a king, and a beggar uses that worm to catch a fish, then eats of that fish has the beggar eaten of a king?
In short, don’t treat the game as if it were just a target that can bleed.
Getting a clean kill-shot that’s over quickly is not only an ethical consideration and/or a mark of professional pride, but a practical matter, too. Less pain for the game, less walking/tracking for you. A win-win.
That said, ethical hunting is a luxury for those whose next meal doesn’t depend on making the kill. Letting yourself or your family starve because you worried too much about being “cruel” would be the biggest cruelty of all.
Dred, well stated.
My mother grew up during the Great Depression in a poor, rural area in Kentucky. She has stated matter of factly that there were days of no food. As far as humane harvesting… on one occasion during that time, her parents walked to other farms in hopes of exchanging their labor for food. The children stayed home. A deer walked into view near the front door. My Uncle Leroy, age 6, got the family shotgun, quietly opened the door, hoisted up the gun as well as he could and pulled the trigger. By some miracle the deer was hit. When my grandfather got home it took a while to find the deer, and it probably died from shock, one of its legs being horribly mangled. My mom’s family ate quite well that night. Definitely not an ethical harvest, but who the heck cares when hunger is eating you up. BTW, Leroy got it on his backside with a razor strop for touching the shotgun without permission. But he also afterwards was thanked by his father for doing what was necessary for the family’s welfare.
Well said…like Americans opining about desperately poor africans “poaching” to survive. My mom was sent to an orphanage as a child when her father deserted the family. In the 1920’s. Hard times call for desperate measures…
In my mother’s family was her Uncle Frank. In the winter during the Great Depression he would go to the nearby Nolin River (Kentucky) and toss in sticks of dynamite, and other farmers in boats collected the rising stunned/dead fish.
Legal? No. Ethical? No. Necessary to survive? Yes.
who are these starving people who can afford ammo and gas but not a bag of beans and rice?
Uhhhhmmmm, just so you understand, if the day comes when the grandchildren are hungry, I’ll stick the .22 out the window, and harvest a deer for them to eat. Two, three, four days out of the week, there is a herd bedded down within sight of one of my windows. There are good times, there are bad times, and it is entirely feasible that we genuinely need the meat one day.
In the meantime, I have dramatically ramped up my gardening, precisely for that reason. Now is probably the time to plant sweet peas, to lure the deer into your yard. My own peas are already sprouted . . .
My father was raised in backwoods Pennsylvania, smack dab in the middle of the Allegheny National Forest in a town of some 5000 souls. The forest was right outside your window. Ammo and gas were cheap, starvation was not a pleasant alternative. His father was paralyzed in an industrial accident. When his mother could no longer feed him on what she was able to make, she sent him to live with “relatives.” Everybody hunted as hunting was the primary source of meat.
I really don’t think most new hunters are best served by starting off deer hunting. All the basics can be learned hunting small game, and everything about that is cheaper.
Very good article. One thing-
Ecosystems don’t have a balance. It’s constant feast or famine, a very cold game of numbers.
Hunting and land management protect nature from itself, so nature continues to be the way we like it(getting philosophical sorry). Otherwise it’s wolves overpopulation one year, then the deer are gone the next, after that the wolves starve, smaller litters are born, followed by deer overpopulation and the cycle continues.
Nature on its own is madness and won’t preserve itself.
This is the answer when the vegans ask “but what did nature do before hunting?????”
There’s 8billion people on earth and counting. I’m all for hunting but let’s be honest that pollution, habitat destruction, and drought is doing more than enough to kill off wild game without need for humans to do even more.
fppf,
“… let’s be honest that pollution, habitat destruction, and drought is doing more than enough to kill off wild game …”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEbwZfkeIt8
In my neck of the woods, coyote and white-tailed deer populations would be horrific if hunters were not doing their part.
thanks uncommon; makes sense
You’re right about the often-cyclical nature of predator prey populations, and they can be stable in the long term without us as additional predators, even if they can also support some level of hunting. That being said, in many places in eastern North America, we live in environments where the top predators, i.e. wolves and mountain lions have little to no presence and we (humans) can act as a check on large animal populations and the h. I think wise land and natural resource management can and often does include people pursuing game, but that doesn’t mean all the deer and wolves would starve without us doing what we do.
What’s it take to get started hunting the right way.
Money, you’ve got to have a place to hunt and that takes.
Money.
True mostly, but hunting hogs costs much less. No license or permits required, and most landowners, especially farmers around here are happy to let you bag as many as you like. State owned land is a free for all, not even needing a by your leave.
Open season 24/7/365. I don’t really hunt anymore, but culling hogs is a civic duty.
I started with a mousetrap and bits of bacon or peanut butter. Surprising how much you can learn from trapping mice on a farm. Then, I bumped up to a pellet rifle and starlings in the mulberry tree. Then came firearms and archery gear, bigger traps, and wider ranging. Dad had put down his guns in favor of fishing gear as I approached my ‘teens, but my uncle, Dad’s younger brother, picked up the slack. When I wasn’t on water with Dad, I was in the fields or woods with my uncle.
I take serious exception to one particular point of this article:
“If you can’t hunt deer with a cap-and-ball rifle, you probably shouldn’t be hunting.”
While the author suggested that in the spirit of keeping things simple (and potentially less expensive), muzzleloaders are anything but simple.
I have a much simpler solution for a new hunter: acquire a “break-action” firearm and use that instead of a muzzleloader. You cannot get any simpler than a break-action rifle. You just “break” it open, insert a cartridge, and close it. When your wild game comes into view, you pull back the hammer, aim, and fire. Break-action rifles are usually the least expensive rifle you can buy as well. And they tend to be very accurate.
Contrast that simplicity with a muzzleloader which requires powder, wadding, balls (or conical bullets), primers, a powder measure, a ball/conical starter tool (which seats the ball/conical in the top few inches of the barrel), and a ramrod to shove the ball/conical all the way down the barrel. Oh, and you have to determine exactly how much powder you are going to use. Do you go with 50 grains, 70 grains, 100 grains? And what maximum range is consistent with which powder charge and ball/conical combination?
I should also mention that you have to promptly clean your entire muzzleloader as soon as possible after firing to ensure that the sulfur residue in/on your muzzleloader doesn’t etch and destroy your rifle. (Sulfur residue in/on your rifle combines with air moisture and turns into sulfuric acid.) And don’t forget that you should not use gun oil in your muzzleloader’s barrel since that will tend to soak into your black powder and alter its properties. (Instead of gun oil, conventional wisdom tells us to use what is basically shortening–fat–to protect your rifle from moisture/rust.)
A new hunter who is looking for the most simplistic starting point should go with a break-action rifle chambered in well-established and commonly available rimfire or centerfire calibers.
more wise words and uncommon sense!
A Rossi 3-barrel would be just about ideal. Single shot break action, can be easily taken down for storage, has interchangeable barrels for 17 HMR, 270 Win, and 12 gauge. A bonus is being able to shoot a rimfire cartridge with a centerfire hammer and pin: the HMR barrel is offset so the pin strikes the rim. I’ve yet to have a misfire with mine.
I will add an extremely important element to successful hunting which the author did not mention: 90% of your effort comes before the hunting season and after the harvest.
Pre-season scouting and potential land preparation are critical. You have to find a piece of land to hunt well in advance–ideally in the Spring months. Unless that land is overpopulated with game, you will also want to spend some time figuring out where your quarry is likely to be on that land. Depending on your game and the land, you may even want to prepare “shooting lanes” ahead of time. (When hunting for medium or large game in areas with a lot of brush and/or trees, you may need to clear out long paths which enable you to see and accurately shoot game animals.)
Of course your odds of success will be much greater if you acquire your hunting equipment (archery and/or firearm/s) in the Spring or early Summer and log at least a few trips to a range to sight-in your bow/firearm and to determine your maximum possible ethical range (beyond which you are no longer accurate).
Finally, should you be fortunate enough to harvest a medium or large game animal, you will have a surprising amount of work/time to field-dress it, haul it away, potentially butcher it, and then preserve it (typically freezing although canning is wonderful as well).
Nevertheless, I find that all of the effort is more than worthwhile. Getting out in the woods is wonderful. And if you become a successful hunter, that is a great feeling as well.
P.S.
Successful hunting can be a significant economic benefit to your family as well. In my case for example, I have harvested about 900 pounds of venison over the last 14 years–which is equivalent to about $7000 of beef purchases that we would have spent at the grocery store. Even after hunting expenses, that means my family has an extra $4000 in our pockets thanks to successful hunting.
I’ve saved zero dollars on hunting – last November I took out a boring old Rem LTR .308 with an upgraded trigger and a decent scope, along with a Smith PC 627 .357 to Wisconsin. So $4000 for two guns and one optic. Flight was $550. Out of state license was $185. Deer processing was $140. My parents express shipped almost 60 pounds of meat. $441.50 (not how I would have shipped it but they were trying to 2 day it to CA while it was still frozen). A decent bottle of “thank you” scotch for my landowner buddy to hunt his private land was about $150. WI private land hunting prices are $500 / opening weekend if you are very lucky but can easily be $1500 or $2500.
If you have to travel and don’t have your own land – venison can easily be over $100 / pound!
Yeah, hunting like that is very expensive. I have been hunting on land within a few miles of my home in all but two cases where I drove about three hours each way to hunt on private land which belonged to the lifelong friend of my father-in-law.
“Pre-season scouting and potential land preparation are critical.”
Bingo.
When hunting season rolls around, the local population nearly doubles. People drive out from the city, and cruise the dirt roads hoping to see a deer. They’ve taken three days off work, but have zero idea where the deer are.
Any local who asks can hunt on my property. No city slickers will get that permission. If I’ve never seen you in my life, why should I trust you on my land? If you had showed up back in July, and talked about how hard the drought was on the garden, you would have had a chance to hunt this fall.
My first deer was with SKS with the magazine removed. Later used other guns. Now I use black powder, have for about the last 20 years. Never took long shots, 10 to about 50 yards is my shooting distance.
Next year with the change in Illinois, I think I will break out the 45-70 that has only taken pigs. Or maybe use it as an excuse to pick up a Henry.
My most memorable hunts have been with family, even when we saw no deer.
FormerParatrooper,
“My most memorable hunts have been with family, even when we saw no deer.”
Some of my most cherished and vivid memories are memories of hunts with family and close friends.
Damn, what revolver is that in the picture with JWT? Looks like a beast.
Ron,
I don’t remember the exact caliber. I am 98% confident it is .45 caliber. The only question is whether or not it is .45 Colt or a more exotic .45 caliber flavor such as .454 Casull. Mr. Taylor wrote a nice article about the hunt where he shot that critter in that photo. He posted that article something like three years ago, maybe just before the COVID-19 insanity.
Ron,
I think I discovered which revolver that is. It seems to match Jon Wayne Taylor’s review of a Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk Hunter revolver in .44 Magnum.
Here is Mr. Taylor’s review:
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-ruger-new-model-super-blackhawk-hunter-in-44-magnum/
I don’t understand the question. I learned to hunt on my Grandpa’s farm in Mississippi. By the time I was 10 I was the first person up on Saturday morning. I walked across the dirt road in front of my home and into the woods to hunt. We often ate wild game. Especially deer and squirrel.
Gadsden Flag,
Your childhood was truly blessed.
I would have been right there with you if I was a family member or close friend.
I was not fortunate enough to have any family land to hunt nor any family members to teach/instill hunting when I was a child. My first serious mentoring came from my brother-in-law and his father when I was in high school and college. Then life happened and it was about 18 years before an acquaintance “wound me up and turned me loose” again to hunting, albeit mainly on my own at first. Fortunately, several of my in-laws are avid hunters and carried the new torch of mentoring me.
And now it is my turn to mentor others. I am mentoring my oldest child who literally needs zero practice to consistently shoot 1/2-inch groups at 50 yards with a rifle. And I just started mentoring a neighbor (of sorts) in his late 20s or early 30s who has never hunted before. I have to say that mentoring others is just about as much fun as being the protege!
Uncommon since. I have a standing invitation to TTAG. friends. What would you you like to shoot? Quail, deer, duck or turkey? Gator? we have few big ones. Large bass in those. ponds too. I like to meet new friends.
Gadsden Flag,
Oh, I just may very well take you up on your offer. I will have a LOT of free time in about two months.
Quail sound interesting and I know that they taste fantastic. I have a modest amount of practice shooting skeet and trap and zero experience shooting birds on the wing. I am a huge white-tailed deer hunting fan. Gators certainly piqued my interest as well. Any wild hogs in your area?
It’s a “Hawken” rifle.
Interesting article. I must say that I actually disagreed with a number of things in the article. The comment I disagreed with most was “ If you can’t hunt deer with a cap-and-ball rifle, you probably shouldn’t be hunting.”
If ethical hunting is the primary concern of the author then I would argue that for a new hunter that may be one of the more unethical choices of firearms they could make. There are much better options that would not break the bank and would provide increased accuracy, better ballistics and thus provide a more humane kill.
Further the author provided the following statement in the Fair Chase section of the article, “The greater the distance, the more variables are introduced to the shot and variables increase the chances of cruelty.” While this comment is true when considering the extremes, the inverse would also be true. If you are too close to your game there is an increased likelihood of spooking the game at a critical moment resulting in an inaccurate shot.
I know many people feel that hunting is an almost religious act. It is not. Animals do not have souls. It is a fun activity that can provide a lot of positive outcomes. It can help you connect with your kids, it can be good exercise, it can provide delicious food, it can be a stress relief…..or it can just be a good time to hang out with buddies and have a good time.
This past weekend I spent two and a half days hunting dove with my buddies. I pose a question to all those in the TTAG universe: While hunting dove last weekend I made several shots at long distances on dove (mostly missing), which I refer to as Hail Mary shots. Where those considered unethical shots? Are any shots that are missed considered unethical?
Based on the article it seems that the author would feel that any shot that is less than almost certain is unethical. I truly would like to know what you guys think.
This is a rather opinionated article that is probably aimed at specific audiences. Don’t come onto my farm property to ask to hunt. We have a locked gate and a contractual agreement for hunting rights.
If i shoot a coyote or deer at 200+ yards, I’m not considering the ethics. The animals continuously destroy what I put money and effort into growing. On the flip side, good protein is expensive, and that doe will add 40 lbs to my freezer.
Great article. I live in southern Arizona. Most hunting here is on public land. My sons and I typically hunt Coos white-tail deer in the Santa Rita mountains. It is very different from the type of hunting the author writes about. Long shots are the norm – typically 200 yds or more. My son and grandson hunt with a .308. I hunt with a .270. A good scope is a must. Hunting requires lots of hiking in rugged terrain. A typical shot is 2-300 yards with my son taking a deer with a 421 yard shot last year, one bullet right through the heart. He and my grandson harvested the meat and rack, and then hiked about 2 miles to the road. It was getting dark, so I guided them in with a flashlight.
If I didn’t shake and get excited when I see a deer while hunting, I’m done hunting. Even yearlings and does get my hear racing. And I don’t have a problem shooting one of them either, when/where legal.
So it’s unethical to hunt from a distance where the game can’t see or hear you? Get out of here with that. Hunting doesn’t have to be as hard as possible. Some people are hunting for food they actually need. If they have a tag for the animal and can make the shot with confidence, who cares what distance it is taken from? The animal is dead either way. What interest would the hunter have in trying to get any closer, if it’s already within their range?
Agree with LCinCO. I hunt in southern Arizona – most shots are over 250 yards. Terrain is rocky, dry with little to no cover. And in AZ it’s bucks only – and tags are coos or mule deer not both. So before a person judges what I should or shouldn’t shoot at – come out here and try to get a 20 yard shot first.
Some well-reasoned opinions, and certainly well thought-out. From a biblical perspective, “I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables.” Literally, a gift from God and while hunting, should be treated as such.
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