Lawmakers Ponder What, If Anything, Can Be Done To Regulate Extreme-Range Hunting
BY Herschel Smith
1 day, 20 hours ago
The hotly-debated hunting matter of how far is too far for ethical rifle shots came up again Friday at a Wyoming legislative committee, where lawmakers were in a quandary on how to regulate the issue.
Members of the Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee noted that extremely long-range hunting shots are a growing concern, as they relate to hunting ethics.
But they questioned whether there’s any practical way to regulate the practice without trying to legislate ethics and morals.
The topic “keeps coming up over and over,” but it’s difficult for regulations to stay ahead of the rapid pace of firearms and optics technology, committee member Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, said.
In one much talked-about instance, a hunter in Fremont County shot an antelope from nearly 2,000 yards away.
Some hunters argue that any shot beyond about 600 yards is just too far.
Committee co-chairman Rep. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, said he’s been hearing concerns from the hunters among his constituents.
“It is definitely affecting Western Wyoming,” Byron said.
He noted that he heard a story about a hunter who was preparing to take a 400-yard shot at a big game animal, only to have another hunter blast it from much farther back.
I wouldn’t worry about regulating ethics and morals. All laws are legislated morality.
2000 yards is simply too far to take an ethical shot in my opinion. You’re risking pain and suffering of the game animal and that’s just not a moral thing to do. It’s a shame that hunters can’t self regulate, but also a testimony to a sad state of affairs where hunters want to be the next “stud” who took game from a greater distance than the last record. It seems to me sort of like golfers getting out and wanting to put little white balls in holes in the middle of a field. Men worry a great deal over what I consider to be a stupid game.
Erik Cortina has said that he wouldn’t take a shot on a game animal at further than 600 yards, and anyone else shooting out there isn’t Erik Cortina, plain and simple.
Again, it’s a crying shame that hunters don’t have the morals to self regulate.
On June 8, 2025 at 11:15 pm, Dan said:
Any group that won’t self “police” WILL eventually be policed by the state…
On June 9, 2025 at 7:16 am, Latigo Morgan said:
While they ignore the biggest problem – road hunters.
Lost a big buck I’d been stalking to one of those assholes. I was following him up a canyon and could not quite get a clear shot on him. When he got up to a road, I heard the shot. They just cruise up and down the roads in their ATVs and 4×4’s until they see something. Yeah, it’s already illegal in my state, but it doesn’t seem to be enforced. I ran into two game wardens that day who must have been sitting around with their thumbs up their backside, because they were right close to where it happened.
Another time, I was sitting out on a finger where 3 canyons intersected glassing for mule deer. I heard him before I saw him – a dude came out where I had hiked to on a quad, there was no trail. He’d seen my truck parked up the way and then saw me and rode, not walked out to ask me if I’d seen any deer.
You want ethical hunting? Ban ATVs unless they are being used to retrieve an animal.
On June 9, 2025 at 10:03 am, Ken said:
Root cause for most of these yahoos…. lack of an education. In the old way of educating. Too much “education” is now about feelings or how to do a job or just not educating at all. Just “business”.
I talked to a young man ( well he is now in his late 40’s) I helped teach how to fly. He is now a examiner. He said he has kids that cannot pass the practical test standards, but demand he pass them anyway because that is what they want…..
On June 9, 2025 at 10:08 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Ken,
I can’t tell them over this forum, but boy do I have some stories on mentoring young engineers today.
On June 9, 2025 at 2:37 pm, MTHead said:
Most people aren’t good shots. We just can’t get out enough. That being said. This may be a problem, but maybe not a big problem.
As most people even with high-dollar equipment are not going to hit anywhere around where their aiming at 2,000 yards.
And 99% of people hunting wouldn’t even try taking a shot passed 400 yrds. Which is a very long way away when hunting.
Sure, assholes are assholes. and taking/attempting to take game beyond 400 yards is ignorant to me. to many ways to screw up. Good equipment should be used ensure a quick kill, not extend range.
I have always had a mental rule that if game got passed 300 yrds. They get a pass. Especially with my old eyes.
But once again, this is a 1%’er problem. If that. And government is never an answer to problems.
Nor should we be wanting them to get involved.
You’all want to have to prove the distance you shot your game at or get a citation for not doing so? Just make this a thing.
On June 9, 2025 at 5:38 pm, X said:
Eh. Sort of a nothingburger. There is no satisfactory resolution to this other than self-imposed ethics.
The guy actually make the kill at 2,000 yards, didn’t he? How is that any less ethical than the guy who is a lousy shot, jerks the trigger, and shoots it in the ass or the leg at 100 yards and it runs away wounded?
The only answer is to know your own skill set and know your own limits. A lot of people would say a 600-yard shot is unethical. Well, I shoot at 600 all the time, just shot a highpower match on Saturday and did pretty well at six.
Depends on who’s behind the trigger. Is the distance absolutely known? Can the shooter make the right wind calls and elevation calls? Will the caliber retain enough energy at distance to make clean kills?
I agree that it is unethical to simply lob a “Eh, what the hell, let’s wing it” shot at a faraway animal. You could shoot it in the face or the ass and it could run away mortally wounded and you’d never know it.
It’s different, though, if you can CALL the shot at that known distance. Then, what is unethical for Hunter A might not be unethical for Hunter B.
You can extrapolate this principle to a lot of other aspects of hunting, too. I think a lot more wounded animals are lost to bowhunting then gun hunting. Should it be banned? Some people say hunting deer with a .223 is unethical. Well, I have killed four deer with it and they have all been one-shot kills. But they have all been small deer within 20-90 yards. It would be unethical to take a 500 yard shot on a 250-lb trophy buck with a .223 even if you could make the shot.
Indeed, I think leading a running deer and emptying a pump action shotgun at it is unethical. Personally I will only shoot still deer or deer moving no faster than a walk. But millions of hunters have blasted away at running, flagging deer that have been jumped or driven.
I always strive for the cleanest, quickest kills possible, but nonetheless I have lost a few wounded deer over the years and I felt absolutely horrible about it.
But that’s going to happen. By definition hunting will not have a 100% successful kill rate. The only way you get that is to herd animals from the rail car down the chute into the slaughterhouse.
On June 10, 2025 at 6:23 am, Heywood said:
“Again, it’s a crying shame that hunters don’t have the morals to self regulate.”
This is the problem with all of society now. Most people can no longer self regulate. And that’s the way the controllers want it. It is why they work so hard to remove religion from our society. It is a plan.