As others have already stated, the ability to kill consistently at extreme ranges significantly declines as range increases.
I agree it is poor sportsmanship to fire where wounding is more likely than killing clean.
I am not a long range shooter and take most of my live bird targets under 25 yards behind points. I have seen some long range wizards who appeared to be killing regularly at distant ranges on ducks. When the huge distances were measured I discovered most shoots were still under 35 yards with few over 40 yards. It was during this phase I discovered how close my long range duck shooting really was at that time.
If you are one of the few skilled among us who can consistently kill farther then I salute your ability and hope you are correct.
I believe there is a tendency on my part and others too to overestimate range. Or to confuse where a bird fell with where it was hit. I discovered when I duck hunted that actually measuring the distance with a know length line to my range limit decoy changed my whole view of range estimation. Many of my hunting buddies belived my 20 yard decoy was 30 or more and my 35 yard decoy at 50.
It is each of our responsibility to know what ranges we can effectively engage at and not get over ambitious and wound needlessly.
Last edited by old colonel; 03/22/13 04:04 PM. Reason: spelling
