Wow. Fourteen pages in less than two days. At some point I'll sit down and read all of them. But to be fair, what needed to be said was probably covered in pages 1 and 2 and most of the rest is just bitchin' and Lockdownitis.
Fact #1: 420yd is not a long shot, nor is it long range. It is (technically) medium range, which starts at 300yd and runs to 600yd. Some will say 700yd.
Fact #2: Clearly, a medium range shot like this is not stalking, never was, never will be. But neither is any shot much further than whatever range equates to the distance within which the deer stands a reasonably good chance of detecting the shooter. So a lot of what are classed short range shots - technically - are actually a lot further than can logically be classified as stalking. A lot of this is really semantics, what applies to you will not apply to someone else, somewhere else, and so on. It must be remembered that most centrefire small-bore hunting cartridges shooting a bullet in the 130-180gr range have a Maximum Point Blank Range of about 250-300yd.
Fact #3: Few sports are as bound up in culture and tradition as deer stalking, game birds, fly fishing etc, i.e. game animals. The minute someone steps on the toes of local culture and tradition, people loose perspective and start ranting. Culture and tradition rarely directly reference technology and skill. This is a problem.
Fact #4: A 420yd kill shot is easy. I do it all the time without a second thought. In my world, it's not even a long shot, and I'll rarely turn it down. It has to be blowing Gale Force Fortybastards for me to turn that down. This for the purpose of pest control. Deer, goats, wallabies and pigs. I shoot rabbits and hares with a .223 way past 300yds on autopilot. I'm bloody good at it. I have to be. But I have come to realise I don't particularly care for it, especially after two solid weeks of pinging deer and goats at ranges far, far in excess of 420yd. I tire of the killing and yearn for the intensity and excitement of the stalk. I'll say this absolute honesty - when I come home from pest control, I feel quite empty and hollow, and my wife will attest to the fact that the sheer scale and intensity of the killing wears me down. This is something I have come to recognise quite acutely in the last few months. I won't stop though. I can't stop.
Fact #5: The technical skills required to make these shots is learned, honed with practice and perfected through experience. Those that haven't done it at all, yet light up like Apollo 11 to speak against it, and denigrate those that do, are simply blowing hot gas out of the hole in their face. It's meaningless twaddle.
Fact #6: The issue of the point of impact. I aim for the high shoulder. It gives me a very high probability of a bang flop, and any failure to incorrectly target the animal will either result in a fast death or a clean miss. You can work that bit out for yourself, it's not hard. The stag in this story was hit in the neck. I don't aim for the neck at that kind of range. But the animal is dead, next time the shooter might do something differently, or he might get a different outcome. Read into that what you will.
Fact #7: There is a world of difference between the recreational stalker - often very quick to pass judgement - and the professional deer shooter. I'm not a professional, but I might as well be, considering the number of deer I shoot and why I shoot them. I'm shooting them for my financial benefit in the long run - less deer and goats means more sheep and honey. And a freezer full of perfect venison. Simply really. Helluva lot cheaper than hiring someone else to do it, and the meat and homegrown vegetables is extremely satisfying. There is also a world of difference represented by the 18,052km between Whanganui and Inverness. Might as well be different planets. What is so interesting here is that in New Zealand, a post claiming a kill at 420yd wouldn't even get a mention. Not so much as a batted eyelid. FOURTEEN PAGES OF RECRIMINATIONS? You'd get laughed out of the pub. It's that simple.
Fact #8: Shite happens. A message to all the anti-420yd shooters, those who sit high and mighty in their throne of self-rightousness. We all know that deer are shot, wounded and lost, at ranges that actually are proper close range. So close you can smell the buggers. That's why we have the likes of the dog tracking services and so on. Because it happens. All the time. Frequently. It's happened to you. Doesn't happen to me of course, because I'm a superhero from Ásgarðr. It will happen again, to you and maybe to me. I hope you find it as humbling as I have. Get over it.
Lastly, I'll say this again, because I've said it before on here. I've had lots of visitors to NZ & Aus over the years, family and friends, friends of family and so on. There's been a handful that subscribed fully to Facts #3, 5 and 8 and those fellas were generally a pain in the arse to have to take out on the hill. Because things are different here, very different. But in every instance I can remember, those fellas that got over themselves, and under guidance ended up shooting a deer at well over 400yd, they freakin' smoked them. And you know what? They had a smile from ear to ear and were even tempted to holler a bit, yankee style. We don't holler. Don't ever holler.
Hypocrisy? You betcha. But it's forgivable, because they didn't know, they just thought they knew, but they didn't. Ah well, life goes on.
If you're uncomfortable, then don't do it. I respect the individual's choice, their call. My choice, my call. Mr. Original Poster's choice and call too.
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