"100 Yards is a Long Way" - An Article on Hunting; Past, Present, and Future

[Whootsinator]

I found this to be a VERY interesting read. Short, but really made me think. I liked it.
100 Yards is a Long Way

Originally Posted by 100 Yards is a Long Way - By Bruce Rutherford

This summer I have had the pleasure and the privilege of teaching my grandkids to shoot. Part of the fun is that they are learning with the same rifle with which I learned. A Winchester Model 68 single shot .22 rimfire.
My grandfather bought it mail order from Montgomery Wards, for $4.50, back in the 30's. I put a scope on it when I was a teenager, but now the scope is gone and it has the same front bead and semi-buckhorn rear sight that it originally wore.
It's a simple gun, manual load and cock, not much to break or malfunction. The stock is pretty well beat, after 75 years and five generations of shooters, but it still shoots straight and the grandkids are getting pretty proficient at busting pop cans, full of water of course, at 50 feet.
After a recent shooting session with them, I set up a rifle target at 100 yards because I wanted to try out some new .30-06 ammo and also because I was a little bored from handing out dozens of .22 cartridges, one at a time, to the grandkids. They were impressed with the distance I was attempting to shoot and at the "smaller than a pop can" bulls eye. "Can you really hit that from this far away, Grampa?"
Well, I hope so. Their curiosity and questions got me to thinking about the distances we shoot and what we think of as a long shot.
My '06 has a 3x9 Leupold on it that not only allows me to shoot 1 inch groups at 100 yards, from a bench rest, but also lets me see where I hit without walking down to the target. Quite an improvement over the open sights and the 3x and 4x Weavers that were common when I first started big game hunting, back in the 60's. I remember very well walking back and forth to the target after every third shot, to see the results and mark the group. Probably a good thing in retrospect, as it allowed time for the barrel to cool.
Nowadays we think of 100 yards as almost the minimum distance for modern rifle shooting and hunting, and we insist on a gun/scope/cartridge combination that is capable of at least two or three times that distance, at the very least. Modern innovations in cartridge and bullet design have made even the venerable .30-30 into a 250 yard cartridge, assuming that we can hit what we are aiming at.
It is paradoxical that, in this modern age, we have more technical capability than ever before and at the same time, less need for it. If we miss a shot, we will get another chance, tomorrow or next week or next year. A hundred years ago, missing a shot might mean no meat on the table. A thousand years ago it might mean starvation.
What would our ancestors think of all this technology that we consider so essential? They would probably conclude that we are a bunch of techno-weenies that have no right to call ourselves hunters.
Looking backwards in time, we see the first smokeless powder sporting cartridge, the .30-30, as a quantum leap ahead from the black powder cartridges it replaced. No need to even think about trajectory out to 200 yards. Just point and shoot.
Those black powder cartridges were a big step above the cap lock muzzleloaders that they replaced as well. A watertight package that went off every time you pulled the trigger and another shot only seconds away. The percussion cap ignition was a big improvement over the flintlock. It eliminated the delay inherent in the flintlock and also eliminated the powder burned cheek. Rifling in the barrel made the bullet go to the same place every time, assuming you did your part. Before that was the smoothbore flintlock musket, and then 100 yards really was a long way. From the smoothbore musket to the 3000+ fps magnums was only 150 years. Barely a blip in the history of hunters and hunting.
The bow and arrow innovation was the "short-magnum" of its day. A faster, flatter shooting projectile, in a compact package, able to be fired from a concealed position with a minimum of movement. But with a bow, 100 yards is really, really a long way. Too long in fact.
Where I hunt, in the mountains of Colorado, there is archeological evidence of hunters who were there a long time ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. They built stone walls that naturally funneled traveling animals towards pits that were dug at the end of the walls, where they waited, with spears, till their quarry was within spitting distance. Back then 100 feet was too far.
Whoever those people were, they were long gone when the modern tribes, the Ute and the Arapaho, arrived. All that is left of their hunting technology is their stone walls and spear points. Mute testimony to the days when hunting was serious business.
If I am honest with myself, I have to admit that there is very little difference in practical field accuracy between my .50 caliber Hawken muzzleloader and my '06 with the Leupold. I can hit a paper plate, offhand, at 100 yards with the Hawken and I can't do much better than that with the '06. The scope just magnifies my wobbles. Beyond 100 yards, I had better pass up the shot or find a good rest. I have killed elk and deer at longer ranges than that, of course. But I have also missed quite a few.
Given normal hunting conditions: wind blowing, cold, stiff fingers, out of breath, bulky clothes, low light, snow or rain, buck fever, 100 yards is a long way. Most of the deer and elk, especially Roosevelt Elk, that are killed every year, are shot at 100 yards or less. I know that most of mine have been. I suspect that most of the animals that are wounded and crippled are shot at from further away. Probably by someone who once hit a paper target at 300 yards, on a calm summer day, from a bench rest.
Automated laser range-finding scopes are available now to completely eliminate the guess work from long distance shooting. Too bad they don't come with a built in gyroscope to hold the gun steady. Now I know how my Grandfather felt when everyone insisted that he needed a scope on his rifle, after successfully hunting without one for fifty years. He finally got one, a Weaver K3, when he was 65 years old.
Personally, I will never have a laser range-finding scope on any of my rifles, but my grandkids probably will. First though, they are going to practice shooting that old Winchester single-shot till they can hit a paper plate at 100 yards.
Because 100 yards is a long way.

[andy*]

Excellent article. 100 yards is a long way where I live. I like the simple 4x scope on my J.C. Higgins Mauser and my .54 Hawken will fulfill my big game hunting needs here in western Washington. If you want to test yourself do as the fella did in the article and shoot off hand with an iron sighted .22 rifle at a target. Lots of fun and a bit of learning too. Andy

[Whootsinator]

That's actually how I shoot the most. I can't afford to feed my .30-06 to just be a fun range gun. I can, however, afford shooting my Mosin and .22 for fun. Both have ironsights, both are bolt guns, and I always shoot offhand.

[hey_poolboy]

I used to spend a lot of time shooting like that. We would frequently put up pop cans on a wire and shoot them at 100 yds. off hand. I am anxiously awaiting being able to teach my girls to shoot with my childhood 10/22. Right now they're stuck with the BB gun, of course they are only 3 and 5.

That brings back great memories of shooting with my dad and grandpa. We always had such fun shooting at the wildest things. Grandpa was a stickler when squirrel hunting though, it was one bullet at a time. If you couldn't hit it with one shot you could wait until another came along. In the meantime you should think about why you missed the first time.

[Shootester]

Originally Posted by hey_poolboy

I used to spend a lot of time shooting like that. We would frequently put up pop cans on a wire and shoot them at 100 yds. off hand. I am anxiously awaiting being able to teach my girls to shoot with my childhood 10/22. Right now they're stuck with the BB gun, of course they are only 3 and 5.

That brings back great memories of shooting with my dad and grandpa. We always had such fun shooting at the wildest things. Grandpa was a stickler when squirrel hunting though, it was one bullet at a time. If you couldn't hit it with one shot you could wait until another came along. In the meantime you should think about why you missed the first time.

I like that!

[Whootsinator]

Hehe, I like that one too! With squirrel, at least, it's ethical. If you hit it, it really isn't going anywhere, no matter what you hit it with or where. Not much chance of making a squirrel suffer...

With deer, if a new hunter accidentally shot its gut or hind quarters, I would consider a quick followup to be more ethical. Enough deer are lost and suffer as it is.

[pajaro]

that article sure puts things in perspective...... before horses, the native americans had to be silent as cats, and use lots of deception....... we have it really easy by comparison........

as in really really easy..... we have supermarkets, food stamps, etc. etc......

there are indian grinding holes in the granite near where i live, i see them often...... that's a lot of work, grinding acorns and seeds..........

[big boomer]

Good article I would llike to tell you that many people tell me how they shoot at 100 and when I see them shoot its closer to 50 they don't realize how far 100 is.

[GlockMeister]

You know what, that was a great no frills honest and sincere read out of the mind and through the eyes of an old timer that remembers when, that remembers the good ole days.

On a side note, and I don't know about any one else here, but I'm sure many feel the same way, but any chance I get, whether it be at a gun show or at a restaurant where I stopped in for a good ole cup of Joe, I stop and talk to those old timers (and I say that with much respect) every chance I get because most have a wealth of information and well, quite frankly, I think they all at the very least deserve the respect of someone looking them in the eye and just saying hello.


If you're wondering where that came from, I just had and took an opportunity about a week or so ago as I just described while at a gun show.
He was there selling ammo cans. It was the second time I saw him in as many gun shows and both times I took the opportunity to talk to him. I suppose now that I think about it, it could have been him telling that story just as well. I'm sure he's got grand kids, an old rifle and like many old timers, again, with much respect, shot with the irons for many years before ever getting a scope. and then probably only did so due to them aging eyes we'll all encounter...

[samuel]

My grandaughters,13 and 15,still like shooting rifles some,but would rather shoot handguns.They say rifles are too easy.I think it's more,the shooting is faster with handguns.They can both print 4" groups at 25yds with most .45 SA auto-loaders.They are fairly fast with 9mm,s but have a ways to go in the accuracy dept. ,,,sam.

[quietman]

This brings back memories.

As a kid hunting in the seventies, much of what he says rings true. We were "adopted" by our best friends dad after ours died. He was the one who taught us how to shoot.

Sam was a country boy from the hills of Kentucky who loved everything about Montana. He helped us pick our rifle and scopes. Even though he had a Leupold 3x9, he wouldn't let us get anything over a 4x as he said we wouldn't need it. And the way he hunted and taught us to hunt- he was right.

Turns out the Leupold was a gift or he'd still have been using a 4x.

He even made us learn to shoot with open sights before he allowed us to scope the rifles.

We though we were pretty hot shooting 3 inch groups at 100 yards, until he started shooting pop cans laying down so he was shooting them end on at 300 yds. Never saw him miss. Told us to practice more.

And the most amazing thing for most modern hunters, he NEVER used a bench or allowed us to use one after the rifles were sighted in. All practice was done from the 4 main positions, standing, kneeling, sitting , and prone. (Maybe this is why I got severely irritated when a local range I tried out only allowed shooting rifles from a bench).

And the pop cans at 300 yards- those were usually done with him shooting prone, although he also did it a couple of times sitting. No bench, no bipod, no rest.

What can I say about that type of practice once we were in the field hunting? Everything he shot, he hit. Everything his son shot, he hit, everything we shot, we hit. And you better not wound an animal from a bad shot as he'd told us right up front there'd be hell to pay from an irresponsible shot. Sure he allowed for the sudden spooking or movement as you were squeezing the trigger. It had happened to him occasionally. But if he saw you lining up for a dicey shot, you'd never get a chance to take it, and then you'd spend the rest of the weekend sitting in the camper. Saw that happen to his son once.

He respected the game he went after and taught us to do the same. To him, the gun didn't make you a hunter, everything you learned about stalking, tracking and knowing the animals was hunting. The rest was called shooting. And you better be good at both.

Someone on MarlinOwners said something I really like about many modern "hunters"-. There are hunters and there are gunners. Hunters work on getting get close as the can. Gunners look for something that allows them to shoot from a long way away so they don't have to invest so much time in the hunting part.

Yeah, I have lots of fond memories of him, and appreciate what he taught me. He was a good, good man and an excellent example of a outdoorsman.

[DUGABOY1]

Originally Posted by GlockMeister

You know what, that was a great no frills honest and sincere read out of the mind and through the eyes of an old timer that remembers when, that remembers the good ole days.

On a side note, and I don't know about any one else here, but I'm sure many feel the same way, but any chance I get, whether it be at a gun show or at a restaurant where I stopped in for a good ole cup of Joe, I stop and talk to those old timers (and I say that with much respect) every chance I get because most have a wealth of information and well, quite frankly, I think they all at the very least deserve the respect of someone looking them in the eye and just saying hello.


If you're wondering where that came from, I just had and took an opportunity about a week or so ago as I just described while at a gun show.
He was there selling ammo cans. It was the second time I saw him in as many gun shows and both times I took the opportunity to talk to him. I suppose now that I think about it, it could have been him telling that story just as well. I'm sure he's got grand kids, an old rifle and like many old timers, again, with much respect, shot with the irons for many years before ever getting a scope. and then probably only did so due to them aging eyes we'll all encounter...

Sir the article you were talking about is a great read, and is an honest statement of facts, and a testomony to the ethic of family, and hunting.

Haveing said that, your post above is in the same league as the article posted at the top of this page! You were tought by parents who cared about makeing a citizens of their childeren, and you sir are a credit to thier effort. I was tought the same way, and let me take this oppertunity to congratulate your parrents, for your up-bringing, and you for takeing thier teaching to heart. From a 73 year old codger I say Thank you for the respect. It is disheartening when I see young kids today who seem to respect nothing. The top post and your reply are a breath of fresh air!

............................................

[ArkansasHunter]

I thought it was going to be a scientific article on shooting at lesser yardage in order to hit better at 100. I think LOL

Anyway I read and enjoyed it...Thank you

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by GlockMeister

I'm sure he's got grand kids, an old rifle and like many old timers, again, with much respect, shot with the irons for many years before ever getting a scope. and then probably only did so due to them aging eyes we'll all encounter...

That's why I finally started using scopes. On most rifles I simply find too much 'fuzz' on the front sight to shoot as well as I'd like with it. Trouble is, I've grown to like the magnification so much, it's now "How powerful a scope can I afford to put on this thing?"

[Metronome]

One of my favorite memories at my range was when an 'Old Codger' noticed me shooting my Turkish Mauser (my first big game rifle) to little effect other than making it go boom when I pulled the trigger. He gave me some tips, and showed me how to aim and hold the rifle correctly. After we called for a clear, I retrieved the target from the 100 yard mark and I was flabbergasted I had managed to keep 20 bullets on a 6" circle! Haven't ever felt that good about anything with glass on it.

[Don357]

I first started shooting a Daisy BB rifle at cans, birds, toy soldiers, rats, and whatever else I could find on the dairy farm where we lived, until my grandfather taught me about squirrel hunting with a 20ga break open Stevens shotgun. He bought me my own Model 66 Ithaca 20ga when I was 9 years old. I started shooting rifles after my brother gave me his .22 single shot with a 4x scope that looked like a piece of 1/2" pipe. I got deadly with it at 40yds and could bring back a squirrel for every cartridge I shot most times. I even shot .22cal match rifles at 25yds in high school ROTC, but never shot a "big rifle" until I joined the Army. Then I realized what it actually takes to be a good shot. A man sized pop-up silhouette at 300yds is harder to hit than it sounds, even with military peep sights. I now use a 3x9 scope on 2 of my deer rifles and my squirrel rifle and a 4x LER on my other deer rifle. Most of my shots at deer are under 100 yds although I can take squirrels at anywhere from 25 to 75 yds. It is true that we are a spoiled people when it comes to hunting guns now, but I am thankful for the things that make it so that a half blind(lol) guy like me can still enjoy hunting.

[Whootsinator]

Glad you guys enjoyed the article, and that it made you remember or think of good times, and current.

[shop tom]

Wonderful read.

This should be engraved on a board and hung over every hunting camp's mantel:

"Given normal hunting conditions: wind blowing, cold, stiff fingers, out of breath, bulky clothes, low light, snow or rain, buck fever, 100 yards is a long way. Most of the deer and elk, especially Roosevelt Elk, that are killed every year, are shot at 100 yards or less. I know that most of mine have been. I suspect that most of the animals that are wounded and crippled are shot at from further away. Probably by someone who once hit a paper target at 300 yards, on a calm summer day, from a bench rest."

tom

[Da Mc]

I've always found that a good scope is the key to making any rifle shoot well. Just don't be suckered in by brand name or price. A friend of mine always buys the best of everything and he went for a $2500.00 Swarovski 5-30x50 Z6I. Bass Pro Shops ordered one for him and 4 weeks later he received a regular Z6 without illumination and the scope cover had a broken band on it. He accepted it because he didn't want to have to wait for another month to get the right scope. They ordered another scope cover for him 5 wks. ago and still no cover. The eye relief is extremely hard to find and he always has problems with it. I looked through it and wasn't impressed at all. My $300.00 IJK Optics 10-40x50 is a lot easier to see through and I can't see the difference in the clarity vs. his scope. My recommendation is to go with a luepold or Nikon or something more readily available that is in stock. You won't see many Swarovski high dollar ones in stock cuz they are too expensive to stock. You would definitely want to look through the scope before buying it just as you would test drive a car before buying it to see if it fits your personal needs. He regrets buying one sight unseen but a lesson learned. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[big shrek]

This oughta be a Sticky.