ways to consearve wildlife and still enjoy the hunt so we dont wipe it all out.

[pro 111]

Dont leave the couch and watch Jim Shockeys hunting adventures..:lol::lol:

[walks with deer]

sounds like somebody is too chesp to buy a good scope..

[marcus44]

I agree I don't see the point in shooting an animal from 700 plus meters away. You don't know what is around it and what could be in the way. It's not for me

[Huntingtyler123]

If we want to continue to hunt we all need to make an effort to hunt predators. Long range shots is the least of our worries.

[Rayne]

I’m still new to hunting but of the 7 animals I’ve harvested 110 yards is my farthest shot. I enjoy getting as close as I can before the pulling the trigger. I’ve shot 4 animals under 20 yards and only 1 of those was with a bow.

[Ride Red]

Our wildlife declines aren’t from long range hunters. There have been multiple threads discussing/debating our wildlife issues in depth.

[pro 111]

Your right . It s just one of many things. I posted this for more of a debate to see what most people thought about long range hunting in general..
Our wildlife declines aren’t from long range hunters. There have been multiple threads discussing/debating our wildlife issues in depth.

[pro 111]

sounds like somebody is too chesp to buy a good scope.. No actually i bin looking at my collection of long range shit getting more complex . and my trophy wall getting smaller cause i spend all my time shooting it instead of hiking off my fat ass looking for a new spot to hunt. lol . Was way more fun 20 years ago with the old 270 and a bushnell elite . LOL.

[pro 111]

If we want to continue to hunt we all need to make an effort to hunt predators. Long range shots is the least of our worries.
Agreed . Keep the long range junk for the predators. Thats where they belong.

[Bugle M In]

I'd say this.
Keep the shows for long range coyote/wolves and target shooting.
Get rid of the elk hunts with 1000 yard shots!

That being all said, many people might try a shot like that in their lifetime, some more than others, while others will never try it, but for most folks,
no matter how much they spent on gear and gizmos, they still wouldn't hit a barn out to that far!!

The average guy at the range, and I am talking almost 80% are just happy if their shots hit around a 6" circumference, and that's at 100 yards!!
Now throw in buck/bull fever, and more likely shitty rest, good luck outside of 200m for many.

[srupp]

Hmmmm tv shows sell products. .the $10,000 rifle $6,000 scope..they show the hits..what about the misses? Its the sizzle not the steak..actually seen a guy who said..we are 700 yards from this grizzly bear..we simply can NOT get any closer good thing we have tge new remchucker mangelem in 747..lol
If you cant get closer than 700 yards to G bear..take up knitting..the subsequent shot was heavily edited. .pathetic.
Now there are guys who can do this pretty much every time? But not on a grizzly IMO.
Im not going to say what you are comfortable with..stay in that zone..and spend considerable time and effort when things go a tad wee bit off.
Furthest shot on mefium game..318 yards on my stone sheep..rock steady rest. .literally..hit the heart.
Longest shot ever 400 yards on a moose..went 15 yards
I do have a ballistic turret on one rifle and a etched reticle on the other ...
There are guys who get their mail at the shooting range..they are much more capable shooters than I.....why...practice thousands of rounds.
Cheers
Sorry guys nother bad night..sick sucks !
Steven

[Ron.C]

Its a very slippery slope to start to talk about banning any type of hunting.

At what point does each hunter think technology has overcome fair chase? You probably get 10 different answers from 10 hunters.

And as far as wounding game, an inexperienced undisciplined hunter can wound more game at 50 yards then a patient, capable marksman will at 500 or more.

I also think people by nature are hypocrites. How many guys will condemn long range hunting when they have made a poor choice in the field " shooting beyond their practiced range, shooting at running game when they have not practiced this, not putting in good effort to recover....

I stopped watching almost all hunting shows because of the ridiculous celebrations that some feel the need to film
I will still watch Jim Shockey, Solohunter and Meateater simply beacause I like the restraint they show and the lack of fist pumping and booyas when an animal is taken. I think these guys do an awesome job showing what hunting is about. And they take all manner of game with all manner of technology. There are some pretty lengthy shots taken in these shows as well. But these people are hunters and should be able to chose the method they like, and not be pigeon holed

For the record, I am not a long range guy. But I do have a CDS turret on my 4x14 VX3 topped 7mm-08 because I dont want to hold over if a get a shot at a goat at 350 yards. So I guess by the OP' thinking that's not fair chase.

I'm not going to jump on a bandwagon calling for a ban.

[caddisguy]

Hunter harvest is a small fraction of wildlife mortality.

I would be willing to bet than 90-95% of harvests are under 250M.

If you are that worried about hunter harvest, you should advocate that shots under 300M should be made illegal. Give those poor little animals a chance and stop taking 10-20 yard shots... that takes zero marksmanship skills... man up and join that 500M+ club... that is, if you want to enjoy it and not wipe it all out... too many unskilled "hunters" shooting animals at close range giving them no chance :D

[BCBRAD]

I am not for a ban on anything. In BC we 'hunters' were called management participants, used to get a sew on crest when you sent a tooth in.

To me, especially a limited enter hunt, is were the biologists deem that 'X' number of animals can be taken in an area with no long term impact on the general population. An open season hunt is based on the average time of the hunt, past success ratios and other factors that we are not privy to.

With that, why should anyone give a shit by which method and tools the animal is hunted!

Short range, long range, bow & arrow, spear , jack knife, muzzleloader, cartridge black powder, hands on strangulation or the latest "sniper" system costing upwards of 10g. End result is an animal is taken, if the hunter is proficient with tactics and use of his/her tools.

Reliable hits in the field at 500m are not flukes on the part of the shooter, a lot of quality practice ,equipment choices (reliable scope is a big consideration), correct bullet for the game, distance and velocity of said bullet at POI all are part of a reliable quick kill.

A friend and I practice pretty much weekly at distances from ~1200 yards down to 200 yards, targets are steel and are of the size of an average deers heart lung area. If you do this you will know 500m is a long shot in the field. At 500m most decent rifle/scope systems with reliable (not cherry picked) 1 moa accuracy will get you there. Expect to spend $3-400 (in ammo)a month to keep the skill level up. The shooting position in the field strongly dictates the distance for a reliable hit.

Only study and practice increase your danger zone.

Or as the OP suggests we could use a warped wooden 270 flinging 130 Sierra's at moose size game with a 3x9 scope, always set at 9 because , you know why leave a few extra 'X's' on the table......besides it will hit a 20l pail at 100 yards or at least it did last year.

Sorry to be cynical, but banning (anything) demonstrates that a person or group is lazy of thought.

[hawk-i]

I say we ban Trail Cams instead! :)

[Wild one]

I say we ban Trail Cams instead! :)

And old people they have way too much experience giving them an unfair advantage :lol:

[Bernie O]

Some of you guys sound like liberals. I dont like it[or cant use it] so lets ban it.

[Island Idiots]

I say we ban hunters who think we should ban other hunters. Everyones a critic. No I do not believe in making unethical shots. We should educate and encourage ethical hunting, but we need to stick togehter as a group. I dont know when shooting at targets at 1000 yards was changed to shooting at game at 1000 yards but its wrong. Anyway, we are all individuals and we have different values. All we can do is work to encourage ethical hunting and encourage long range shooting at ranges.
I hope you are feeling better soon SRUPP. Hang in there, sending positive vibes your way my friend.

[walks with deer]

lets ban islanders from the mainland..hell your only allowed to hunt in the mu..you live in.

[Ron.C]

Its kind of hard sometimes to know how serious someone is when they post online.

But to the OP, how many animals did you shoot with your Zeiss 4x14x44 before you came to the realization that it wasn't fair chase to use a scope bigger than 3x9? Why not fixed power below 5x? Why not iron sights? Hell, why not single shot or black powder............

What if someone "other than you" recommended a ban on the equipment that you feel is ethical. What if the" Ban it " bandwagon you were on didnt stop where you thought it should have?

What if someone determined it's not ethical and made it illegal to take kids below the age of 18 into the mountains and have them participate in hunting?

On and on it goes.. .

People can change the way they view things and may do something different or change their values as the move through their life. And there are some legal methods of hunting that we wi never all agree on.
But I liken this debate to a guy that only owns a shotgun for bird hunting to jump on the anti handgun bandwagon because he thinks it wont affect him.

[brian]

Sound management practices, determine how many animals are surplus to the over all population by using current animal census practices and use tags and or LEH to make sure over harvest doesn't happen. Support animal populations by protecting or rebuilding habitat.

Unsound management practices, ban shit you happen to not like.

[scott h]

Our wildlife declines aren’t from long range hunters. There have been multiple threads discussing/debating our wildlife issues in depth.
Maybe not, but I'm sure most of us have found dead animals that were shot. Most I'd venture to guess were wounded due to shi++y shooting and then lost. Nobody can make me believe that the chances of that occurring don't go up exponentially with the distance the shot was taken.

[albravo2]

But I liken this debate to a guy that only owns a shotgun for bird hunting to jump on the anti handgun bandwagon because he thinks it wont affect him.

What Ron said.

[skibum]

Man I wish I could find even a 500 yard sight line where hunt.

A 1000 yard shot does take a lot of skill and practice. I am impressed with them. Personally, doesn't mean I think it is fair chase though.

The animal has no idea that you are across the valley - I guess it adds to the nerves a bit that you are shooting at a live animal instead of a gong, but don't think the difference is that great. Still wouldn't be a dick to someone who pulled it off.

[Bugle M In]

I remember watching those folks with Nightforce (forget the show on WildTV).
Anyways, they took a bull elk with their Berger bullets at something around 1000 yards.

And like Srupp said, they made it sound like there was just no way to close the gap and it was getting late etc.
What a load of crap!
Not a tree in the way, just had to go down the hill and close the gap and shoot somewhat uphill and plenty of time.

Worst part, they had probably 150 yards in fron of them, straight out, that they could have walked in under a minute.
Wouldn't have spooked anything etc.

The reason they didn't, they wanted to get a kill shot on an elk at 1000+ yards, and not 1 yard under 1000!!!
Just wouldn't sound as cool on TV to the viewer.

Never watched that show after that!!! ever again.

[RiverOtter]

I agree on the BOTW/GW's giving hunting a black eye. Personally I think most of it's a bad joke, possibly with the exception of the few that actually put the time in and have the humility to pass when conditions are not perfect.

That said, I'm pretty much anti-ban on nearly everything, simply because it's a slippery slope with no return.

What BC wildlife needs most, is common sense management that does what's needed to stabilize/increase not what a bunch of Citiots and foreign lobbyists 'think' is best.

A Wolf cull and ramping up bear hunting would be a giant leap in the right direction. Not too mention all BC residents being bound by the same law.

Dreams are free, right? LOL.

[MichelD]

I will not join a bun fight over long distance vs close up hunting. To each their own.

All I will add is my own perspective.

I have a handful of big game rifles but none are laser beam accurate.

Judging by the way my groups open up between 100 metres and 200 metres. I know that my rifles and I are not capable of anything beyond 300 and that would be stretching it.

Besides that, no matter that I have my rifles figured out to 200 metres, most of my shooting game has been under 100 metres anyway. The last two deer I got were shot at between 60 and 80 metres away and the last black bear a similar distance. And I've shot game animals 4 to 5 metres away on occasion too.

In my case it is much more important to know where my bullet will be at 25, 50, 75 and 100 metres than great distances, that is for darn sure!

[BCBRAD]

Its kind of hard sometimes to know how serious someone is when they post online.

But to the OP, how many animals did you shoot with your Zeiss 4x14x44 before you came to the realization that it wasn't fair chase to use a scope bigger than 3x9? Why not fixed power below 5x? Why not iron sights? Hell, why not single shot or black powder............

What if someone "other than you" recommended a ban on the equipment that you feel is ethical. What if the" Ban it " bandwagon you were on didnt stop where you thought it should have?

What if someone determined it's not ethical and made it illegal to take kids below the age of 18 into the mountains and have them participate in hunting?

On and on it goes.. .

People can change the way they view things and may do something different or change their values as the move through their life. And there are some legal methods of hunting that we wi never all agree on.
But I liken this debate to a guy that only owns a shotgun for bird hunting to jump on the anti handgun bandwagon because he thinks it wont affect him.

I use a 6x scope for hunting, do not feel limited at all.

[cameron0518]

If you are confident in your shooting abilities, go ahead. I turned down the biggest buck I have ever seen because it was too far away and bad angle. Know your limits. Personally, I would like to see the cow elk , cow moose and mulie doe draws closed where the populations are low and struggling. I have stopped applying for them. It's hard for the population to recover if you are shooting the offspring providers. I don't critisize anyone that does, it's just what I choose.

[Haydenmk]

To me who cares how "easy" it is for a hunter to harvest an animal. If we want to help populations hunters need to be selective and there needs to be less opportunity. How come there's so many MD does being taken in a declining population??

[hawk-i]

Hmmmm. maybe, just maybe, all hunters should hunt by the same rules!

[walks with deer]

sorry all game populations hit a all time low of my lifetime...that said i am personally seeing a hige rebound in region 3 and my dad is seeing the same in region 8...region two blacktails are thick...and elk ever increasing.provincialy there are adjustments that need to be made..

as per long range shooting i have met many men with a multy recticle and or turret but have never shot those distances in practise but will claim to shoot at game...that is grosse...shoot within your capability for respect for the game not just conservation.

[boxhitch]

ways to consearve wildlife and still enjoy the hunt so we dont wipe it all out.BC hunting regs are the control valve, follow the regs and the allowable take is sustainable.
Hunters blaming hunters for populations declines is damaging and self-destructive

[pro 111]

LOL . OK good answers. Was bored the other night . Thought I would stir the pot a bit.. Ron C.. I love my Ziess . LOL..
Nice to see there are still some on here with a sense of humour.. Site was getting kida boring..
Happy Hunting.

[pro 111]

You are all correct in saying we shouldnt really be banning anything.
lol .

[pro 111]

You would starve around Kamloops. lol . To many restrictions...
lets ban islanders from the mainland..hell your only allowed to hunt in the mu..you live in.