The Backfire Milk Jug Challenge. Quite the LRH Backfire!

Technology hmmm. Being from the Midwest I’ve watched technology take over whitetail hunting. It certainly makes my job easier to a point as you can get too many cameras going to keep up with it all the sd cards.

I grew up hunting in the late 80s, early 90s. Two by fours nailed in trees for a tree stand and compound bows with aluminum arrows were high tech then. Deer populations where very low as well.

I have seen two built deer blinds that have business centers in them. Fax/scanner/copier, computer, tv and Wi-Fi. I’m surprised I haven’t seen this yet but I’m waiting on the day when someone puts a 360 rotating flir on top of a deer blind. I imagine the hunter sitting in the blind watching the flir monitors while on their phone, waiting to see the image of the right deer before looking outside. Not my idea of a good hunt but I know it’s coming. It pretty well defeats the purpose of getting outside, into nature. But that’s the direction we’re heading.

Kneedeep
 
I agree Rausch. I've hunted bear off a bait. It isn't as easy as it sounds. To do it right it takes a lot of work. I quite bait hunting off of bait when the hound guys started using my bait barrel as their starting point to run their dogs. There is a lot less ethics out in the wood these days too. I've had two tree stands stolen in the last 10 years
 
Rausch said:
I agree tree stands are dangerous. I use them from time to time depending on the circumstances.

My original point was one situation is no more unethical than the other. I didn’t even touch on the fact that some states allowing baiting. The level of technology that goes into hunting these days allows for many advantages compared to 50 years ago and it seems the hunting community in general is quick to judge what someone else considers ethical.

We as sportsmen have enough enemies in the anti groups. We don’t need to divide ourselves further.
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I agree, let us not divide, but also let us police ourselves so that we put the animal/game welfare over our personal pride. I think hunting is pitting human intellect vs animal instinct, and we engineer on multiple levels how the kill goes down. So let us always favor the side of intellect that brings about a quick kill. Animals have done nothing wrong to deserve anything but that. I'm all for anything that brings the game closer and/or kills it quicker. As Hammerheads I know we're all on the right track with the quickest killing bullet anyways, :cool:.

Never should a hunter say to themselves, "let's see how far away I can kill this thing". I think if that desire to test skill is present, the guy should shoot a steel plate at great distance. I do understand some game just don't get all to close naturally, so our intellect needs to tell us to focus/practice the marksmanship fundamentals that will ensure a good kill. The takeaway from this milk jug thing is the stark message that most hunters need lots more marksmanship practice to be engaging animals at longer distances.
 
I have to agree with BFD. There’s a lot of bragging going on over there, though I’m certain that some can back their claims……Lance immediately comes to mind!

A couple of months back a LRH member devised a little shooting competition, starting at pretty close range and incrementally increasing the range. It garnered near “zero” attention from the self professed “Annie Oakleys” on the forum. Perhaps it was beneath their “dignity” to participate with mere mortals! memtb
 
I guess it’s in my nature to play devils advocate. Animal welfare? We’re trying to kill them, not much welfare in that. However I do agree with you. I owe it to the animal to do my part to make it as quick a death as possible. Sometimes that means a well placed follow up shot too.

I personally don’t know anyone who hunts that way. I regularly shoot 1000 plus yard rocks and gongs. Makes 600 yards on an elk feel like a chip shot. I don’t have a self imposed limit on game as every scenario is different. I’ve seen 700 yard shots that were far more ethical than a 200 yard shot given the conditions.
 
Gerald Dilgard said:
I don't like to go that far on vacation. Maybe we forgot what hunting is. Getting close to game is the hard part. A Whitetail at 25 yards and one at 300 are two very different animals. You need to use Hunting Skill, not just shooting skill.
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Why? I have been very successful in Western Oregon every year by taking the first legal animal I see. Close or far makes no difference to me.
 
RichCoyle said:
When I see someone who appoints themselves as more important than the rest of us with "should" I become a little annoyed. Maybe I "should" not.
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Well Rich, that is a you problem that your ego betrays you on, because I just provided my opinion on the matter and not claiming to be better than anyone else.
 
I have learned over the last several years that there is a lot more ways to hunt than I grew up doing. I am much more ok with the different styles and methods than I once was. My way might not be your way, doesn't make one of us wrong. Short of the trash hunters that are destructive to the lands and other people's property. Brian and I played the long range hunting game for quite a few years. It was all about trying to see how far we could kill the animal. We are over it now but I don't hold it against anyone that wants to play that game. In all honesty or is harder to find a thousand yard shot than a 300y shot.

I never dreamed that I would sit in a blind 100y away from a timed feeder waiting for it to go off and watch all the conditioned animals come in and see if there is one that I want to shoot. What's the sport in that? Or sitting in a tree stand in a confined area that funnels a travel corridor waiting for an animal to walk by that has no natural instinct to look up in the trees for danger. What's the sport in that? I could keep on going but I won't. There is lots of ways to hunt and now I'm willing to try them. I may or may not like it. What I am gathering as I try different things is they all have their own different excitement that we as hunters want.

My point of doing the milk jug challenge is to point out that making shots in the field out to moderate ranges is not easy. I want to get a few shooters together with various types of shooting equipment. Shooters that I respect as pretty darn good. Not trying to see who is best but to see just how difficult it is. To find out if there is an advantage to particular equipment, speed, bc, and technique. I expect it to be very humbling. My hope in this is that through our humility we can show the difficulty involved. I have no desire to make a point or draw an ethical line in the hunting sand. We all have varying levels of shooting capability as well as levels of equipment. I do hope to show people that just because they purchase the newest wiz bang hunting setup, it doesn't make it easy. I expect that we will all have a lot to learn.

I already purchased a case of gallon milk jugs. 480 of them! Now we just have to iron out the location. The smaller we keep this event the better the chance that we can accomplish it. Private land looks to be out of the question. Too much liability to the owner.
 
Great post, Steve - especially the intro.

Some of us can be stuck in our ways, with limited perspective. It's refreshing to open one's mind and experience different ways of doing things.

I think anyone who shoots at distance understands that success (hit percentage/probability or whatever) is governed more by the conditions than it is by the distance.

Probably intuitive to many of us here, and easy to explain... But somehow tough to understand without experience 👍
 
Well said Steve. I never thought I would bow hunt as much as I do. It isn't fun sitting in a blind in August with the sun baking you. However having antelope within 20-30 feet of you is amazing. It is hard to have more of an adrenaline rush than having a bear ventilate your blind when you are hunting over a bait barrel. I've enjoyed long-range successes too. I've hunted elk and deer in southern Oregon where you might be trying to shoot 500 plus yards over a clear-cut, or the brush is so thick I passed up a 12 yard shot on an elk. The bottom line is I have had a lot of fun and have enjoyed the challenge of the hunt. I will continue to do so, or I will not hunt anymore. I don't need to meet anyone's expectations except my own.

When it comes to the milk jug challenge, I have been doing that kind of practice for years. In my opinion it isn't enough to just be a proficient range shooter. I must confess that it took me a long time to get to the maturity to simply enjoy the success of a fellow hunter, rather than be jealous or feel cheated that they got the animal or the shot and not me!

Now if we could just figure out a way to get the adrenaline rush into our practice sessions.
 
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For those who want a quick set up similar to the milk jug challenge, Farleg’s balloon shoot is great practice. This particular shoot was 225 yards in to 30 yards for an upcoming hunt. There were a couple things gained from this practice session. These ranges as well as shooting positions were similar to what’s anticipated for the hunt.

I’d encourage any hunter to do similar practice based off their hunting scenario. It will show where your limitations are based off of your shooting position/rest.

Kneedeep
 
kneedeep said:
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For those who want a quick set up similar to the milk jug challenge, Farleg’s balloon shoot is great practice. This particular shoot was 225 yards in to 30 yards for an upcoming hunt. There were a couple things gained from this practice session. These ranges as well as shooting positions were similar to what’s anticipated for the hunt.

I’d encourage any hunter to do similar practice based off their hunting scenario. It will show where your limitations are based off of your shooting position/rest.

Kneedeep
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Did you have any trouble getting the golfers to get off of the Fairway? Asking for a friend! 😜 memtb
 
My son and I went a did a little shooting last night standing off sticks in preparation for our trip to Africa next week. It is very easy to badly pull a shot at 100y. A little bit of practice and the stick shooting feels more natural. For us guys that are only used to fully braced into a prone position when hunting it takes some getting used to.
 
Steve Davis said:
My son and I went a did a little shooting last night standing off sticks in preparation for our trip to Africa next week. It is very easy to badly pull a shot at 100y. A little bit of practice and the stick shooting feels more natural. For us guys that are only used to fully braced into a prone position when hunting it takes some getting used to.
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I like my trigger sticks tripod.
 
Rausch said:
I agree tree stands are dangerous. I use them from time to time depending on the circumstances.

My original point was one situation is no more unethical than the other. I didn’t even touch on the fact that some states allowing baiting. The level of technology that goes into hunting these days allows for many advantages compared to 50 years ago and it seems the hunting community in general is quick to judge what someone else considers ethical.

We as sportsmen have enough enemies in the anti groups. We don’t need to divide ourselves further.
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Totally agree with you.
 
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