358 Win –
While I understand your feelings about long shots, I don’t agree that they are “foolishness” per se or that they should only be attempted on wounded game.
Granted, there are folks who cannot hold a 4” group at 100 yards and these people really have no business attempting a 500 yard shot on game.
It is equally true, however, that there are hunters for whom 500 yard shots are not long at all.
As I see it, and ethics aside for the moment, there are a number of factors that go into making such a shot:
1. A rifle, scope and load capable of good accuracy. Groups of 1-1/4” at 100 yards will do nicely for 500 yard shots at most big game. Smaller is, of course, better.
2. The ability of the shooter to shoot accurately from whatever field position is used.
3. Knowledge of the chosen load’s trajectory.
4. Accurate range determination.
5. Accurate determination of the effect of the wind.
That doesn’t sound too difficult, and in fact it is not. Last fall I took Zack, a friend of my oldest daughter, to the range. Zack had shot rifles before, but had not shot anything for 4 years. We started out at 200 yards plinking clay pigeons. Misses were the rare exception for both of us, so we backed off to 300 yards. Zack soon informed me that it was still “too easy”, and indeed it was. I decided to back off to 400 yards but no bench was present. Rather than lay in the dirt we continued on to the 500 yard position. I had never shot my bolt guns from 500 yards before so the first thing I did was take two sighters with the .22-250, using the same aim point for both. On my 3rd shot I made a slight adjustment and barely missed and my 4th shot broke the pigeon. I told Zack where to aim and he also broke a pigeon on his 2nd shot. We repeated this story with the .257 Roberts, the only difference being that Zack broke the pigeon on his 1st shot.
We then backed up to 600 yards and broke out the .300 Win Mag. Again, since I had never shot this rifle past 400 yards, I took two sighters, using the same aim point for each, with each just missing a freshly painted steel gong at the 10:30 to 11:00 position. Adjusting appropriately, my 3rd shot rang the gong. I handed the .300 Win to Zack who promptly rang the gong as well. On inspection both bullets had hit about 1-1/2” apart about 2-1/2” out from dead center in the 10:30 to 11:00 position.
Yes, we were shooting from benches – wobbly, heavily weathered wooden benches. A good rock, log, stump, bipod or other improvised rest would have been as good or better. (Case in point, I have used the .257 Roberts to take two coyotes at ranges between 480 and 490 yards, using field positions and improvised rests. Three shots total, one head shot and one Texas Heart Shot followed by a lung shot.)
The equipment was nothing special, either – a Ruger MKII .22-250 VT with a Simmons Whitetail Expedition varmint scope, a Ruger M77 .257 Roberts with a used Leupold Vari-X III 4.5-14 scope and a Ruger MKII .300 Win Mag with a “canoe paddle” stock and a Burris 3-9x Fullfield II scope with a Ballistic Plex reticle. Nothing custom, nothing fancy, but they all met the “reasonably accurate” criteria. We were able to brace the benches with our legs to eliminate some of the wobbly, I knew the calculated trajectories of the loads, we knew the range, and wind was almost non-existent. Thus the 5 conditions I described above were met.
The point of this story is not to brag about my shooting capability, which frankly is not that great, but rather to show that even someone who hasn’t shot in 4 years can hit well at 500 yards and beyond given the right circumstances. Every shot taken at 500 and 600 yards, including my sighters, would have easily been a kill shot on elk or mule deer. A few shots at 500 and 600 yards do not prepare me for such shots at game, but there are those that practice much more and at greater distances. For many of these people, 500 yards is a chip shot.
There is the argument that a “real hunter” would get closer. That can be the subject for another debate, but the fact is that while choosing not to shoot is always an option, getting closer is not. That’s where ethics come into play.
My goal as a hunter is quick, clean, one-shot kills. Most of the hunters I know share that ethic. The shooting skills of hunters vary greatly and while some can accomplish that goal at extended ranges, others cannot manage it at 100 yards. IMHO the difference between an ethical shot and one that is unethical revolves around the preparedness of the shooter more than it does the range of the shot.
Most people would consider 85 yards to be a ridiculously easy range yet a co-worker managed to gut shoot an antelope at that distance last fall. While I don’t have all the details, it was, in his words, “not pretty”. Was he more ethical than a well-prepared hunter who makes a heart or lung shot at 500 yards? I don’t think so.
How about freehand shots at running game at 100 yards versus 500 yard shots at standing game using a tree log, rock, stump or bipod for a rest? Frankly, I’ve shot at enough running coyotes to say I’ll take the 500 yard shot.
Again, with other factors being equal, it isn’t the range, it’s how well prepared the hunter is to make the shot. IMHO.
