Hahaha, I don't know about my buddies, and I don't know about myself because I indeed do not take such shots at animals, and I won't raise my blood pressure about your sarcastic bend (is it really necessary?), but I will tell you Dear
Chago, that this type of shooting I formally learned while in uniform (hint), and I still shoot enough steel at 1,000 meters on a monthly basis to know for a fact that
for most hunters with most hunting rifles from most field shooting positions a cold bore one shot kill at 600, 700, 800, 900 or whatever yardage you care to consider, is more a gamble than anything else.
Admittedly, laser rangefinders, portable weather stations and reliable scope internal reticle elevation systems have considerably simplified things, but still by virtue of simple physics even a good 1 MOA hunting rifle disperses to 8.4" groups at 800 yards, therefore hitting
RELIABLY, PREDICTABLY and
REPEATABLY a 6" vital area at 800 or 900 yards with a hunting rifle from a field hunting position is already out of the shooter's 100% control.
No, I do not have a spreadsheet of data, but I do have a couple friends in South Africa who film safaris for a living, and I do believe their report that the glorious long range one shot kill sequences we see on You Tube generally require an inordinate amount of shooting
As for my direct 45 years of center-fire shooting experience, I have watched enough Hail Mary shots (a few of which I was stupid enough to take myself), to stand comfortably by my point that for every one-shot-kill in the hunting field at 600 or 800 yards, there are many, many (repeat: many) shots that cripple or miss when the shooter is lucky.
And I will not even get into the issue of bullet performance at long range when velocity has dropped enough that expansion is unpredictable and crippling hits may not even be detected by the shooter...
I do not doubt that you may have killed an animal at 965 yards, but this in itself does not impress me. Unless you shoot a dedicated long range rifle from controlled prone position that truly,
every time,
everywhere (altitude, weather front pressure, temperature, humidity, wind, etc.) shoots 1/2 MOA 5 shot groups (that is 5 rounds in 0.5" at 100 yd) then a 965 yd hit in a 6" vital area is just luck, because even a good 1 MOA hunting rifle shoots a 10" group at 965 yards under the best circumstances and with a top notch shooter. Do you shoot such rifle? Do you shoot it that well? If the answer is "yes" to both questions, then you are uncommonly equipped and uncommonly skilled, and all the power to you. I mean it.
My experience however, is that while I have not been able to take to the 1,000 meter range all the folks who have been bragging to me about their 600, 800 or 1,000 yd elk or pronghorn kill with their off-the-shelf hunting rifle and hunting scope, a few friends did come, and it was quite educational for them to burn a few boxes of cartridges trying to ring steel at those distances. Do I need to say that most could not? They were not bad shooters mind you, because they could get a few hits with my Mk13 after I clicked the range, doped the wind for them, and discussed recoil control techniques with them, but in all cases (so far) hitting reliably, predictably and repeatedly (those words again) a 12" steel plate - never mind a 6" plate emulating a vital area - at 800 yd
exceeded their hunting rifle/scope capabilities and their un-coached ability.
Therefore, yes, I personally consider it unethical
for most hunters with most hunting rifles from most field shooting positions to take a shot at game at 600, 700, 800, 900 or whatever yardage you care to consider, because the probability of a human one shot kill is quite low for most hunters with most hunting rifles from most field shooting positions. You may be the exception
Chago in which case this may be perfectly ethical for you to do so...
I am certainly ignorant of a lot of things, but long range shooting happens to not be one of those, and in my experience dang few people can take a $1,000 cash bet on a one-shot-hit on a 6" plate at 965 yards. I know that I don't
But indeed to each their own. There are laws to define what is legal. There are none that define what is ethical, so it IS a personal matter...
Anyway to each their own indeed, but when I shoot at those distances - which is quite often on steel actually - this is what the rifle looks like, and this is what the sight picture looks like...
.
