Ever OK to shoot from a truck?

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

The question is not would you ever shoot off of the truck but what do you consider hunting and what do you consider shooting. Is arriving at your whitetail stand before sun up and watching a 1-acre food plot all day hunting or shooting? Is working behind a pointer and flushing a pheasant after your shotgun is shouldered hunting or shooting? Is standing on station in the Arden forest waiting for driven boar to run by hunting or shooting? Is being helicoptered to the top of a mountain in New Zealand to get closer to Red Stag or Tahr hunting or shooting? Is hiking up a mountain side to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is driving to the exact same spot to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is waiting on a river bank for a bull Hippo to expose his brain hunting or shooting? Is waiting in a blind for a Leopard to come to the bait with your rifle firmly supported by a portable shooting bench hunting or shooting? Is sitting in an established ground blind or tree stand watching a waterhole 20 yards away hunting or shooting?

In my opinion they are all hunting but some of the hunts are more challenging than others and that is where the difference come in, what I find challenging you may not and visa versa. On our family hunting land in Michigan we have several elevated shooting shacks and several tree stands to hunt out from, when it is 12 degrees and the snow is falling and unlike my father and brother who choose to hunt in one of our insulated shooting shacks with a propane heater and I choose to “Man-Up” as we call it and hunt from one of our tree stands does not mean that my father and brother where not hunting. No, it just means that my hunt was more challenging and a lot colder than theirs.

What you find challenging in your 30's you may find impossible in your late 60's and 70's does that mean you should stop hunting or just change the way you hunt.

Art
Couldn't have said it better my self.
As we get older our methods change to suit our physical limitations.
Bob

 

[Mekaniks]

The question is not would you ever shoot off of the truck but what do you consider hunting and what do you consider shooting. Is arriving at your whitetail stand before sun up and watching a 1-acre food plot all day hunting or shooting? Is working behind a pointer and flushing a pheasant after your shotgun is shouldered hunting or shooting? Is standing on station in the Arden forest waiting for driven boar to run by hunting or shooting? Is being helicoptered to the top of a mountain in New Zealand to get closer to Red Stag or Tahr hunting or shooting? Is hiking up a mountain side to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is driving to the exact same spot to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is waiting on a river bank for a bull Hippo to expose his brain hunting or shooting? Is waiting in a blind for a Leopard to come to the bait with your rifle firmly supported by a portable shooting bench hunting or shooting? Is sitting in an established ground blind or tree stand watching a waterhole 20 yards away hunting or shooting?

In my opinion they are all hunting but some of the hunts are more challenging than others and that is where the difference come in, what I find challenging you may not and visa versa. On our family hunting land in Michigan we have several elevated shooting shacks and several tree stands to hunt out from, when it is 12 degrees and the snow is falling and unlike my father and brother who choose to hunt in one of our insulated shooting shacks with a propane heater and I choose to “Man-Up” as we call it and hunt from one of our tree stands does not mean that my father and brother where not hunting. No, it just means that my hunt was more challenging and a lot colder than theirs.

What you find challenging in your 30's you may find impossible in your late 60's and 70's does that mean you should stop hunting or just change the way you hunt.

Excellent post

 

[sestoppelman]

I once popped a pig that had been giving us the royal run around in Botswana from the back of the truck. I felt bad about it at the time, but it was getting pretty frustrating chasing the bugger all over the Okavango!
Swore I would never do it again unless the circumstances really demanded it. Held to that for quite some years, but I must confess. When in Namibia in '17 near the end of the hunt I still had a duiker on my list and had not been presented with a shot yet. On the way back to camp near dusk, one popped up and darted across the road while we were stopped looking at tracks in the sand.
PH hollered someone shoot it, its a monsta! I laid the '06 over the cab and popped him mid flight over a fence and rolled him. It was a good shot and being chances had been slim, I cant say I beat myself up too hardily over that one.
And it was a very good duiker, my only one.

 

[One Day...]

"Legal" vs. "acceptable" vs. "ethical" and various applications...

"Legal", "acceptable" and "ethical". Neither of these 3 concepts survive crossing a political border, a cultural divide, a societal norm, a value system, etc.

Legal in this country may not be in that country; acceptable in this culture may not be in that culture; ethical in this value system may not be in that value system, and in this time or that time, under these circumstances or those circumstances, etc. etc.

I personally see a 3 tiers filter process:

1. Is it legal where you are (the bare minimum, nobody wants to sleep in jail, right?);
2. Is it acceptable to the people you are with (the next level, nobody wants to be the pariah of the safari camp, right?);
3. Is it ethical in your value system (the true filter, it being legal and acceptable to others means nothing if you are not OK with yourself, right?)

Shooting from the truck?
I personally value the chase infinitely more than the kill. I therefore seek the hunt, but I only shoot/kill because it is the logical conclusion of the hunt. So, shooting from the truck during a hunt is of no interest to me, even if legal in the country I hunt, and even if acceptable to the PH I hunt with. But if others do it (where legal), it is truly their issue, not mine.

I could be judgmental and say that this is unethical, or that they are cheating themselves of the true hunt, etc. but this is preposterous because it assumes that they share the same value system I have ... which may not be the case. Therefore, if legal and locally accepted, to each their own. Does it make any difference to the dead animal having been shot from a truck or not?

BUT, there are other examples of legal/acceptable/ethical, or not, practices, which, in my mind, are just, or even more, interesting. For example:

Sniping at game?
I personally shoot steel at 1,000 yd regularly, and I therefore know that for most people a 600 or 800 yd single killing shot at game from a field position is a gamble. So, I do not snipe at game, even though it is legal, and even though current societal norms tend to accept it very well, not to say encourage it. But if others do it, it is their issue, not mine, right?

Well, in this case, not quite, there are the consequences of crippling game at long range: unethical needless animal suffering, and unacceptable anti-conservation practice of multiplying wounded animals all over the landscape...

African carry?
I personally do not use the African carry with a cocked rifle over a loaded chamber because the bottom line is that unless you are first in line (which is how African carry was born: the gun bearer ahead of the hunter was carrying this way so that all the hunter had to do was reach forward for the rifle), so, unless you are first in line you are pointing a loaded and cocked rifle at the head or back of the person in front of you. It is legal, and an acceptable practice to many, and many will argue that it is ethical if the rifle safety is engaged, right?

Well, in my case, I do not do it, and I personally refuse to be followed by someone who practices African carry with a cocked rifle over a loaded chamber, and I do not care whether the safety is on or not. End of discussion for me.

In summary...

Shooting from the truck? If legal, to each their own...

Sniping at game? Even if legal and accepted, the data shows that in most cases it is irresponsible, therefore I would consider it unethical...

African carry (or any form of unsafe gun handling)? May or may not be legal (e.g. loaded rifles in the truck); may or may not be accepted by the PH; may or may not be considered ethical by various folks, but to me it is simply unacceptable: your loaded & cocked barrel will not be pointing at the back of my head. Period.

So, in the end, if it is legal, then it all becomes personal, including whether you want to face social nonacceptance or not...

 

[Ridgewalker]

My personal preference is alone with a backpack on. Bivouac nightly overlooking a meadow. No guide. No PH. Only me and the beasts. Sadly I can no longer do that and expect to come out alive.
I’ll take what I can get. I still enjoy walk and stalk, but a lot slower now. Toby458 volunteered to carry me on his back if I’d get us to the Caprivi!

 

[Wyatt Smith]

My personal preference is alone with a backpack on. Bivouac nightly overlooking a meadow. No guide. No PH. Only me and the beasts. Sadly I can no longer do that and expect to come out alive.
I’ll take what I can get. I still enjoy walk and stalk, but a lot slower now. Toby458 volunteered to carry me on his back if I’d get us to the Caprivi!

I enjoyed the solitude in the timber as much as any other part of hunting. I swear sometimes I wouldn’t even care if my gun was loaded or not.

 

[WAB]

No issue killing critters that need to be killed from the truck, I just don’t consider it hunting.

 

[Zambezi]

The question is not would you ever shoot off of the truck but what do you consider hunting and what do you consider shooting. Is arriving at your whitetail stand before sun up and watching a 1-acre food plot all day hunting or shooting? Is working behind a pointer and flushing a pheasant after your shotgun is shouldered hunting or shooting? Is standing on station in the Arden forest waiting for driven boar to run by hunting or shooting? Is being helicoptered to the top of a mountain in New Zealand to get closer to Red Stag or Tahr hunting or shooting? Is hiking up a mountain side to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is driving to the exact same spot to glass for Elk at 400 + yards hunting or shooting? Is waiting on a river bank for a bull Hippo to expose his brain hunting or shooting? Is waiting in a blind for a Leopard to come to the bait with your rifle firmly supported by a portable shooting bench hunting or shooting? Is sitting in an established ground blind or tree stand watching a waterhole 20 yards away hunting or shooting?

In my opinion they are all hunting but some of the hunts are more challenging than others and that is where the difference come in, what I find challenging you may not and visa versa. On our family hunting land in Michigan we have several elevated shooting shacks and several tree stands to hunt out from, when it is 12 degrees and the snow is falling and unlike my father and brother who choose to hunt in one of our insulated shooting shacks with a propane heater and I choose to “Man-Up” as we call it and hunt from one of our tree stands does not mean that my father and brother where not hunting. No, it just means that my hunt was more challenging and a lot colder than theirs.

What you find challenging in your 30's you may find impossible in your late 60's and 70's does that mean you should stop hunting or just change the way you hunt.

In my very humble opinion, hunting isn't only walk and stalk but also "ambush" hunting such as sitting in a blind or a stand for hours on end. Just like an ambush predator one has to use all your senses and remain quiet and concealed. This could be termed a skill and a form of hunting. Being a gun in a driven hunt also takes a lot more than just waiting for the quarry to be flushed. It's more of a traditional community hunt and is a skill in it's own right.

Driving along in a truck, spotting the quarry, applying the brake and blasting the animal takes no skill except the ability to press a brake pedal and aim straight.

But each to their own.

 

[Von S.]

"Legal" vs. "acceptable" vs. "ethical" and various applications...


Sniping at game?
I personally shoot steel at 1,000 yd regularly, and I therefore know that for most people a 600 or 800 yd single killing shot at game from a field position is a gamble. So, I do not snipe at game, even though it is legal, and even though current societal norms tend to accept it very well, not to say encourage it. But if others do it, it is their issue, not mine, right?

Well, in this case, not quite, there are the consequences of crippling game at long range: unethical needless animal suffering, and unacceptable anti-conservation practice of multiplying wounded animals all over the landscape...

Sniping "AT"Game ?

It that kinda like people who shoot at game at 50 yards and can't tell you where they will hit it at even though its standing perfectly still and broadside ?

The shooting at steel plate has been a fad for a long time now. I first experienced it in the early 70 in Fresno California at a range where they had a 5 ' x 10' piece chained up at 1000 yards. And as I watched people wail away at it with all sorts of stuff I wondered just why the hell anyone in their right mind would do it. I have a half a dozen heavy duty spinners with a 4 " circle and I put a dot sticker in the center when that gets hit at 1000 yards you are doing something....especially when you hit it with something that can legitimately kill with one shot.

As these days I no longer have the talents that make 3 shots in a row possible to put 3 shots inside that 4" circle so I decided to do what is right and don't shoot at anything that far out and I have the willpower not to exceed my self imposed limits.

I wonder just how many less bullet sprayers there would be out there shoot "AT" game if the shooters at close range had to give up their iron if they couldn't hit a 3 shot group at 50 to 100 yards offhand into a 4" circle?

I do carry a range finder and will and do pull it out and use it for anything and everything that I am getting ready to send to its final test. Though up to 200 yards I don't bother.

But that's me because I can tell what 200 yards actually is. Can everybody do that? Maybe 2 out of 10 as a guess. Ride with someone out in the middle of nowhere and ask them how far is it between things like telephone poles or how far is. that big tree in the farmers field is and you'll get some surprises.

I have mentioned many times over the years that when you
shoot something that pumps blood there are 4 things that can happen. You can stop it dead in its tracks, you can kill it with a minimum of it running away, you can wound it which most often leads it it becoming buzzard nail, or you can completely miss and it gets to run away. With many people the best thing they can do is absolutely miss and save the creature a slow dying.

I will be leaving to head north- north west to murder groundhogs. I will be taking a17 rem, good for 200 yards, .223 which is good for 300, but the USMC shoot qualify at 500. A22-250, a 220 swift, a 5.6 vhse which has more power at 300 than a 223 at the muzzle, a 6.5 Grendel, a 6.5 Jap and a 6.5 Swede. A 264 win, 25-06, a 250-3000 AI, a 30-30 , a378 wm and a 50bmg.

My brother from Alabama will bring the 308 I built him and use my surplus ammo and will beat me everytime.... he's just that good.

 

[HWL]

My last truck I shot from was a Leopard 1 A5 main battle tank.

Ever since, I prefere to walk, become part of the environment and feel the challenge of nature.


HWL

 

[crs]

HWL,
But in the tank, you need not watch out for poisonous snakes!

Are there snakes where you walk to hunt?

 

[HWL]

HWL,
But in the tank, you need not watch out for poisonous snakes!

Are there snakes where you walk to hunt?

Not the real dangerous, but I am aware.

HWL

 

[Saul]

I would never shoot from a truck and consider that hunting. For me, hunting is far more about the stalk and being in nature than it is about pulling the trigger. While everyone is entitled to their own preferences, there is still a difference between what is legal and what is ethical.

 

[Charles de Ribeau]

African carry?[/B]
I personally do not use the African carry with a cocked rifle over a loaded chamber because the bottom line is that unless you are first in line (which is how African carry was born: the gun bearer ahead of the hunter was carrying this way so that all the hunter had to do was reach forward for the rifle), so, unless you are first in line you are pointing a loaded and cocked rifle at the head or back of the person in front of you. It is legal, and an acceptable practice to many, and many will argue that it is ethical if the rifle safety is engaged, right?

Well, in my case, I do not do it, and I personally refuse to be followed by someone who practices African carry with a cocked rifle over a loaded chamber, and I do not care whether the safety is on or not. End of discussion for me.

Thank you for bringing this up. (It really deserves its own thread.) When I see photos or videos that show people using the African carry, I always cringe. Yes, I am safety conscious, but I believe when it comes to life or possible death, you can't be too careful. The African carry is not being careful enough, even if it is "cool", "macho", or whatever term you prefer. When you point a loaded weapon at someone else, it's just plain stupid. It's not even an efficient way to carry and be able to quickly bring your weapon to bear on a target.

'Nuff said.

 

[Nyati]

Thank you for bringing this up. (It really deserves its own thread.) When I see photos or videos that show people using the African carry, I always cringe. Yes, I am safety conscious, but I believe when it comes to life or possible death, you can't be too careful. The African carry is not being careful enough, even if it is "cool", "macho", or whatever term you prefer. When you point a loaded weapon at someone else, it's just plain stupid. It's not even an efficient way to carry and be able to quickly bring your weapon to bear on a target.

'Nuff said.

I often use the "African carry", with an empty chamber.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Different strokes and to each his own but this'll be me, eventually.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Seriously, I've killed a ton of stuff off the bakkie and had them for dinner over the duration of the hunt. Night hunting is the best. Nothing like whacking a lit up springhare with the Fireball at 250 meters for the bushmen's pot.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

My last truck I shot from was a Leopard 1 A5 main battle tank.

Ever since, I prefere to walk, become part of the environment and feel the challenge of nature.


HWL

HWL
I heard of using enough gun but man that is the best. Those impala and Springbok better watch out
Ha ha ha ha
Bob

 

[crs]

I began hunting/shooting live things with a Daisy pump BB gun and ANYTHING - ANYHOW was the rule.
With that BB gun and a dog, my brothers and I brought home the main course for many meals.

After a few years , I was riding on the right front fender of our 1942 Hudson shooting running rabbits at night with my S&W M18 .22 revolver. I have also shot them with the M18 while driving my 1958 TR3A with the top down at night enroute home from UT for the holidays; better than nodding off and running into the ditch.

Having evolved from BB gun to .22 rifle to 20 gauge double gun (old meat in the pot), using a hand gun added sport to the activity. Yes we cleaned the rabbits to be cooked for dinner for 5 people.

I love hunting and shooting most any critter with most any firearm.
I abhor being preached to about the ethics of killing anything other than another human.
For the above reason, I skipped all the BS and came to the end of the thread to have my say;
"It all depends" and that includes the killing of any living thing.

Rant over!

 

[IvW]

Different strokes and to each his own but this'll be me, eventually.

View attachment 349549

I would get a younger nurse that one looks like Eva Braun......