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Recommendations vs Private Practices
Posted by Michael Strahan on Mar 01 2006
Here's a bone to chew on fellas,
I submit that we should exercise a conservative approach above what we might actually do in the field (assuming we have a high level of proficiency), when we're recommending, in a public forum, what someone else should do. The last thing I'm going to do is suggest to someone I don't even know that they should take a head-on shot on anything. As soon as I do that, someone who really should not be taking that shot will become emboldened do that and more, with the result that he'll either abandon the wounded animal or spend the rest of his hunt in a futile search for it. No thanks.
I have not always successfully held to this standard, but if you're going to write in a public forum, it's generally a best practice to make conservative recommendations to strangers, the skills of whom you are not aware. I'm not going to tell you whether I've taken this shot, because someone will use that information to justify something they should not do. What I WILL tell you is that I have never lost an animal that I have personally shot. I'm not bragging about that, I've been fortunate to have what I consider to be an unusual track record in that regard. Some of that is simply being in the right place at the right time. Additionally, I get as close as I can, I know EXACTLY what my weapon will do at that yardage, and I ALWAYS look for a rest to shoot from. I can categorically state without hesitation that I have NEVER taken a shot at big game and "hoped" or "wondered" what would happen as a result, yet to hear some of the stories of my peers I sometimes wonder if this is a common practice. I'd rather take no shot at all than a marginal one, and as a result I have missed several opportunities to take game that is, as far as I know, still growing larger antlers each year that goes by. Fine by me. That leaves another animal in the woods for both of us to hunt.
I respect folks who have the skills to take these sort of shots and consistently kill game this way, however I question the wisdom of sharing such experiences here. No disrespect intended to anyone.
-Mike
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