Seriously? What is long distance anyway?
This is an interesting thread! Having said that the questions should really be - is it unethical to take a shot at an animal at a distance you cannot consistently hit a 12" x 12" target? (or whatever the "kill zone is for the animal you are hunting)
At one end of the spectrum we have the average person with an average rifle that may be accurate at 100 meters to 200 meters. From my experience the average hunter may go out prior to hunting season and shoot a box of ammo at 100 m to make sure everything is "OK". I should note that this is supported by statistics that say the average big game kill shot in North America is somewhere between 75 m and 100 m.
At the other end of the spectrum you have the serious long range shooters who can make shots repeatable at distances in the 800m to 1000+ m range . These people separate themselves by the following:
- they understand practical ballistics (I would say 95% of hunters do not), and
- they have the correct equipment (range finders which range to over 1000 m on non reflective targets, hand held barometric stations, ballistic hand held computers), and
- a rifle and optics which are capable of shooting under 0.5 MOA, and
- The most important - a significant amount of time behind the trigger practicing.
Real practice at various distances is extremely important. These people shoot in the order of 1000 to 3000 rounds a year!! Yes that much. And guess what - if you are that good you probably compete in long range shooting too. For these people I would say they have the same probability of hitting an elk at 1000 m as the average guy does at 150 m.
On the equipment side, the equipment is specialized and you pretty well do not buy anything from the local store (other than powder, primers, and bullets). For example a range finder capable of ranging in non ideal situations up to 2 km will cost you in the order of $5,000 to $10,000. This type of rangefinder will give you distance, compass reading, and the vertical angle you are shooting. All items you will need to make a longer distance shot.
By the way, my 15 year old daughter shoots with me and she can consistently hit a 8" circle out to 700m!! And yes she shoots about 1000 round a year! So far she has taken three animals and 2 of them were over 350 m and they were all one shot kills.
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