[fabsroman]

OBA,

I have only had a very long shot (i.e., over 400 yards) presented to me once in the time I have been hunting for deer. That day, I had 8 does pass by me on the run, they stopped at 150 yards to look back at me while I was trying to get a bead on them. I happened to be hunting on the ground that day about 3 years ago. I killed two at 150 yards before they entered the brush. They popped back out somewhere between 200 and 300 yards away and I killed another. After that, they ran through an alfalfa field and stopped a ways away. I had the time to set up the rifle, but didn't have a range finder on me and couldn't tell what the distance was so I didn't take the shot. I seriously doubt I could have closed the distance on those deer with them looking right back at me. If I had it to do over again today, I still doubt I would have taken the 800 yard shot that day even with a range finder unless I had a drop chart on me too and a really steady rest.

Further, the land I hunt around here isn't a vast ranch where you can wait for the right moment to stalk game or use different terrain to stalk them and take different approaches. Yes, I have seen the stalks that are done on these hunting shows and there is no way that I would have the opportunity to do that. The largest farm I hunt is 300 acres, it is on the side of a mountain, and it is rather narrow. By the time I stalked to within your reasonable range, the deer would most likely have moved off the farm or seen me coming down the mountain. I don't have the luxury of waiting the game out and seeing what they will do. I looks at some of these hunting shows in complete disbelief and wonder how these guys would fair hunting on small parcels of property. I am also astounded by the number of big bucks I see on these farms that are just eating right next to one another. I have never seen that during any of my hunting. In fact, I have yet to see two bucks in the same group of deer.