I have been watching alot of long range hunting on YouTube lately and I got to thinking how spot and stalk hunting isn't very spot and stalk anymore. It's really more spot, setup, range, dial, shoot. Just the way I like it...
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I have been watching alot of long range hunting on YouTube lately and I got to thinking how spot and stalk hunting isn't very spot and stalk anymore. It's really more spot, setup, range, dial, shoot. Just the way I like it...
Long range hunting is really more like ambush hunting. Set up in a place where you can see far out, glass, spot, range, shoot.
Both are options. A lot of time the terrain dictates the style of hunt.
I have an elk hunt coming up this week. I'm comfortable with a 550ish yard opportunity, but my unit is mostly dense forest, so I may be forced to take a much, much shorter shot.
Thats exactly right, the terrain dictates how you hunt long range. Some places such as much of the west allows for a spot and stalk hunt.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywerks
Even there however many hunters are opting for a spot and shoot from here approach. In much of the east spot and stalk isnt a possibility
therefore most is a shoot from here situation. Terrain also plays a roll as to how the shooting is done. Best not to be giving advise to others
on how they hunt or shoot till youve experienced their situation.
In the canyons I hunt in: terrain dictates long range ambush.
The brush is heavy enough you can't see 30-50 yards in most places. Because of the brush you can not approach quietly regardless of patience or skill and given the distance alone from a "spotting" area to "stalking area" (down one side and up the other) the time involved would negate any possibility of a well planned stalk.
Even the ambush method often needs the shooter to remain at the firing position and talk a partner on the radio to the target before recovery can begin.
It's either that or go traipsing threw everything, spooking everything and saturating the area with human sent in a desperate attempt to get a panicked sudden shot opportunity at point blank range as they run for there lives and that approach usually just pushes them deeper and rarely results in success, let alone a calm calculated well informed ethical shot.
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Terrain rules......... Dictates methods and equipment needed for success.
That is were the elk flee to once the dear hunters start traipsing threw everything and that is why they flee there so.......it really is the only way in my area..............you have to "GO WERE THEY GO" if you want to bag one.
But when you actually choose to arrive there makes all the difference.
I've only long range "spot and shot" on big game once, 657 yards on a antelope , one shot clean kill, and to be honest i felt like I cheated a bit.
This year I took a nice 5x5 whitetail buck @804 and a monster 6x7 bull elk @915 both clean, one shot, "perfect" kills.
I don't feel like I cheated..........more like I evolved, prepared..... trained, overcame.
I didn't come to play, I have not come to coexist, I came to win........ Tags filled, freezer's full, conscious clear, life's good.
Can't argue with that!
I had the chance to hunt elk last year. I bought a new 30-06 and shot all summer, never shot a rifle before except a .22 (slug gun hunter). Ended up finding the elk beded down in the bottom and me and the guide worked down to them while others in our group glassed and watched it develope from the ridge above I was later told they all almost had heart attacks because we were right on top of them. Ended up with a 40 yard shot.
Dave