{"id":16338,"date":"2020-11-22T16:15:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T16:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/?p=16338"},"modified":"2020-11-22T16:18:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T16:18:47","slug":"you-might-be-doing-it-wrong-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/you-might-be-doing-it-wrong-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"You Might be Doing it Wrong – PART II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hunting is a very personal thing. It allows humans to express the programing within their DNA and we follow traditions that have been passed down for many years. As long as a hunter is within the law, other hunters have no business passing ethical judgement on their actions. I\u2019ve participated in many forms of hunting all over the world. Some I enjoyed more than others, some I will continue to do, and some I will never do again. Until we are once again regulated to hunting as our primary source for food, our hunting ethics are mostly dictated by law, and the main purpose for our pursuit, is fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019m sure many of you are, I\u2019m routinely asked for advice with regard to how to be more successful at hunting. Hunting is \u2013 as I have written before \u2013 an art and a craft; some are very good at it because they have learned things that make them more successful. Being more successful at hunting is not what this is about. This is about having more fun while hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Humans love to be close to the action and will pay big money for it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The practice of shooting at animals at great distances while hunting is becoming very popular, and manufactures are doing everything they can to support this endeavor. Oddly, this desire to engage at distance is in direct contradiction to almost everything else humans do for fun. There\u2019s a reason front row and ringside seats cost the most; that is where everyone wants to sit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunters are now beginning to marvel at the distance of the shot more so than the skill of the stalk. But accomplishments we\u2019ve marveled at for many years were just the opposite. Back in junior high, when you managed to sit beside the best-looking girl in school during lunch, you told all your buddies about it. If she was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria, you never mentioned it. Humans like to get close to things they\u2019re excited about because, well, it\u2019s more exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dangerous game hunters get close for two reasons. First to make sure the shot is a sure thing, and because it is more exciting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Think about it this way. If you go to Yellowstone and the buffalo are standing in the road right beside your vehicle, you are amazed. If a bull elk or a grizzly bear is standing beside the road, you\u2019ll watch in wonder until they leave. If they\u2019re meandering around a half mile away, you\u2019ll acknowledge them, but drive on. Listen to anyone tell their tales of seeing animals in a Natural Park and almost all the stories share the common thread of, \u201cwe were so close.\u201d Humans like to get close to things that excite them. If you share an airplane with Ivanka Trump, you\u2019ll mention it; if you sit beside her on an airplane, not only will you brag about it, you\u2019ll never forget it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a treatise against the ethics surrounding shooting animals at long range while hunting. And, I\u2019m not saying it is something that should never be done. I think hunters should experience all sorts of methods. In fact, being able to effectively take an animal at a great distance definitely improves your chances for success. Consider this, since the dawn of time hunters have been trying to figure out ways to increase their effective range. It\u2019s why we have the 300 Winchester Magnum, high magnification riflescopes, and incredibly efficient and gravity defying ammunition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Few things in hunting compare with the whitetail rush and it is intensified with closeness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What I\u2019m saying \u2013 and this is important \u2013 is that hunters will very likely have more fun and more memorable hunting experiences if they try to get as close as possible to the animal they are after. These close encounters are what memories are made of; they are unforgettable experiences that brand themselves on your soul. Hunting is about closing the distance and I\u2019m of the opinion that when you close that distance with your feet as opposed to feet-per-second, you have more fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you need to be a good marksman to hunt? No, but it helps. Do you need to be able to shoot at great distances to hunt? No, but it helps. What you really need to be able to do, to be successful at \u2013 and really enjoy hunting \u2013 is to be able to hunt. Even so, sometimes the arts and crafts of hunting and distance marksmanship come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finding game requires skill. Getting close requires a different kind of skill as does making the shot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was hunting mule deer in Wyoming and late one evening we located a nice buck at almost two miles away. The next morning, we found him close to where we had seen him the night before. When he bedded down, we began a stalk that took more than two hours. Lying prone just over the crest of a ridgeline with my rifle on a bipod, I distinctly remember my guide telling the range was 91 yards. The buck stood up and just as ready to shoot my guide whispered, \u201cWait, let me turn the camera on. I want to get this on film.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the camera came on it made a beep and the big mule deer buck immediately took off down the canyon. We had this buck dead to rights, and it had been a very exciting stalk with low crawling and much anticipation. My guide was cussing and apologizing, I was swiftly slinging up and rolling over into the seated position as I watched the buck increase the distance with every step. He stopped and my guide said, \u201c318 yards.\u201d I placed the reticle slightly over his back and the buck collapsed at the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The stalk was over a mile long and we closed the distance to less than 100 yards. However, the shot ended up being much further.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yes, practice to make whatever shot you think you might have to take to fill your tag. But what I\u2019m saying is that if fun is the main object of your pursuit, get closer! Instead of bragging about how far the shot was, maybe what hunters should be bragging about is, how close they got.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunting is a very personal thing. It allows humans to express the programing within their DNA and we follow traditions that have been passed down for many years. As long as a hunter is within the law, other hunters have no business passing ethical judgement on their actions. I\u2019ve participated in many forms of hunting all over the world. Some I enjoyed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2821,2522,2820],"tags":[395,99],"class_list":["post-16338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-empty-cases-exclusive","category-hunt","category-latest","tag-hunting","tag-long-range-hunting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/stag.jpg?fit=800%2C472&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hujZ-4fw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7812,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/mom-the-hunter\/","url_meta":{"origin":16338,"position":0},"title":"Moms Matter","author":"gunwriter","date":"December 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Crisp fall days never fail to flood me with memories.\u00a0I can remember lying in a pasture field beside my Mom, in the dark, looking at the stars, and listening to coonhounds sing along behind a ringtail headed to his den.\u00a0I can remember sitting on a log, rifle on my lap\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DD.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DD.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DD.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/DD.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13989,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/sunday-hunting\/","url_meta":{"origin":16338,"position":1},"title":"Sunday Hunting","author":"gunwriter","date":"November 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing as how I\u2019m not a famous Hollywood actor or musical icon, I obviously do not have the qualifications to tell you who to vote for, for president. Apparently, by pretending to be someone else you are qualified to give that kind of advice. I have however hunted my entire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDITORIAL"","block_context":{"text":"EDITORIAL","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sh-6","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SH-6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SH-6.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SH-6.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/SH-6.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7109,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/maximum-practical-range\/","url_meta":{"origin":16338,"position":2},"title":"Maximum Practical Range","author":"gunwriter","date":"June 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We here a lot of talk about maximum effective range but how effective are most shooters at the distant ranges where a rifle is capable of being effective? I've connected with very small targets at ranges beyond 1000 yards. I've also missed deer - given a shot I thought was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/LW-1024x479.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/LW-1024x479.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/LW-1024x479.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/LW-1024x479.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15498,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-hunting-wire-22-february-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":16338,"position":3},"title":"The Hunting Wire – 22 February 2019","author":"gunwriter","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This weeks edition of the Hunting Wire features a new long range target, how to better hunt with kids, Wilson Combat's 300 HAMR, information on the 300 Savage, a new rifle from Mossberg in 450 Bushmaster, and an editorial on long range hunting. 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