Ethical Long Range Hunting

What you need to know at the outset is that the concept of ethics in hunting has no formal definition. There's no governing body for this stuff, and no company or organization leading the way.  At least not one that hunters recognize as an authority.  These statements will anger some people and I'm ok with that.

The problem, and it's not really a problem, is that hunters are a freedom loving breed.  We don't like anyone telling us what we can shoot and how to go about shooting the game we love to pursue.  This being said, the point of this article is not to bash ethics or the people who take it seriously.  I think some of what these folks profess is important.



This is usually how an ethical argument on hunting goes these days -
Hunter: I shot an elk at 800 yards.
Ethics Nerd: Oh my gosh, how can you possibly get a good, clean, one-shot-kill on an animal at that distance? No one should be shooting animals from that far away!
Hunter: I'm comfortable taking these shots because I've trained a long time and can make first round hits at this distance almost every time.
Ethics Nerd: I don't care, do you even understand the ballistics of the round you're shooting? Do you know how much energy is lost at that range? You're just going to mortally wound the animal and it's going to die a painful death, and you're never going to recover it!
Hunter: As a matter of fact I do know a lot about the ballistics of my 300 win mag. Believe me, that distance is a chip shot for this caliber and the retained energy is still massive at that range. If I hit the animal, it will die quickly.

This goes on and on. You get the idea.  For me personally I feel very comfortable taking shots on large game out to 600 yards.  At my skill level, a first round hit and kill at that range is highly probable. So for me this becomes my ethical barrier.  As my skill level and experience increase, my ethical barrier adjusts as well. Obviously what I'm saying is that this discussion is all relative. While my ethical barrier may be 600 yards, yours may only be 300 yards.  There are well known hunters that take shots out past 1000 yards on large game. Go watch anything from Gunwerks on YouTube and you'll see what I mean.



What is your ethical barrier? What's the max distance you are comfortable taking game? Where do you land on this discussion? Comment below.

-ME