As far as long range hunting (not target shooting) about the only time my son and I take extra long shots excluding varmit shooting is Coues deer hunting as an example. Other big game elk size of course more powerful cartridges would most likely be used. I know guy's who commonly use 30-378's for long range Coues deer which is just slightly over kill but there is a reason they use them and other larger calibers/magnums that fly well at long ranges. It was a bust for my son this year only seen 1 Coues buck at 600 yds and then he was gone, they don't call them the gray ghost for no reason. Generally where we hunt it's cactus, rocks, very heavy brush/vegetation , these little german shepard size Coues deer if you ain't seen them they tend to hold tight like a Mearns quail. Long shots are normal commonly taken across canyons or in ravines up hill and down hill in some of the most god awful rough country you would ever want to hunt in, and then in the early season it's rattle snake country, we've had friends damn near sit on them, some dogs have been bitten, that's an expensive proposition. Anyway in a different hunt unit next to our unit 3 friends hunted Coues all 3 were using Ruger all american 6.5 creedmoor, 3 Coues one at 500 yds, one at 550 yds and one at 600 yds. Past years other friends and their kids have taken Coues using 6.5x06 custom rifles purpose built, some other calibers and most recently 6.5 creedmoor's with one of the daughters taking her deer at 700 yds and I know of others that have taken Coues at a lot longer ranges. These are not run of the mill hunters they have very accurate guns set up using the right scopes & optics, the right drop charts & ballistic programs, a lot of shooting practice, glassing long distances is the norm. For a less expensive rifle for out of the box accuracy that little Ruger all american in 6.5 CM isn't bad. Our Vanguard synthetic in 6.5 CM is spot on it's a 1/2 " shooter with 143 grain eldx, the rifle had to be free floated and glass bedded for me to be happy with the overall consistency from shot to shot and now it's right on. I got tired of big spotting scopes on these kind of hunts so I went out and bought a little Leupold gold ring 15-30x50mm spotting scope strictly for this type of hunting although for a few more dollars that little Vortex 11x33 Razor is really nice and I think better finer adjustments, both are very light weight and honestly when do you really need more than 30 to 40 power to count points, most all of us use some type of high power bino's 12 x 50's, 15 x 56's, some 20 x binos and a good pair of lightweight lower power 7 or 8 x bino's is not a bad idea to carry also for fast scanning close in. Anyway for people who have never hunted like this it's different and not for everyone, you really need at least one other person or better yet 2 other people hunting with you with radios so they can spot and walk you into your downed deer , because at these ranges by yourself you probably won't find it in the brush in the afternoon before the lions, bears, other predators get to it later that night, last time that happen a good friend got lost , left the deer in a safe spot he thought and headed back in the right direction with the deer head and next morning when he went back the deer eaten by a mtn lion and basically ate all the good parts, the kitty was probably watching him the whole time. If you think about it hunting the more open areas 500 yds is kind of the new normal with all the new technology, guns, cartridges, rangefinders, and optics , whereas not that many years ago 300 yds was a pretty long shot. I look at long range in a couple different ways there are slob hunters no matter what ranges you are into, if you can't do it, don't want to do it, not willing to take the time to train & practice then don't do it, but there are those hunters shooting extreme distances a lot of times due to hunting situations you flat ass cannot get any closer to your animal, so who's right the hunter who is a slob hunter that cannot hit a deer at 75 yds or someone who trains at long ranges and a gust of wind blows the shot off ? There are a lot of times I just won't shoot for whatever reason, bad set up, wind, don't want to pak it out of a canyon. Just food for thought I'm not one to judge I've muffed a few short range shots in my day. I do think when people get to a certain age getting the animal is just not as important any more and I see that all the time the older I get when old hunting friends just stop hunting because they can't find anyone to go with them, lose interest or find other things to do.
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