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.
“The animal they were staring at tipped over and they heard a loud ‘bang’ from somebody that was about 400 yards behind them,” Byron said.
Ruining Hunters’ Reputation?
The topic was brought before the committee by Rep. McKay Erickson, R-Afton, who isn’t a committee member.
Among other things, there are concerns over how extreme long-range shots might blight the reputations of hunters, he said.
“The growing concern is that we are so busy trying to keep up with the latest weaponry, gadgetry and accoutrements, we are failing to seriously predict its impact on Wyoming, hunting and fair chase,” he said.
“We may risk further wounding our images as sportsmen while catering to big money companies that promoted it, as well as cloud our young people as to what hunting really is,” McKay added.
Though he questions how far hunters should shoot, McKay said that he enthusiastically supports the sport of extreme range target shooting – where contestants sometimes try to stretch shots out to a mile or more.
In 2022, a Wyoming rifle team set a world record, scoring a hit on a target from 4.4 miles.
Special Shorter-Range Seasons
McKay said he doesn’t think that extreme-range hunting is a matter the Legislature should try to tackle. Instead, it might be considered by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Game and Fish Commission – which directly oversees the department.
McKay noted that there was a 2017 study that took an in-depth look at the effects of technology on hunting ethics in Wyoming – but much has changed in the 8 years since.
Joe Sandrini, a retired Game and Fish game warden and biologist, told the committee that he helped draft the 2017 study, and agreed it’s probably time for an update.
The central question is what constitutes “fair chase,” Sandrini said.
Fair chase boils down to hunting in such a manner that animals have a reasonable chance of escape, but exactly what that means remains an open-ended question among hunters.
The extreme distances that some people are shooting from might push the boundaries of fair chase ethics, because of the inability of animals to detect the hunters’ presence and flee, he said.
Sandrini and others noted that some states have implemented special hunting seasons for shorter-range weapons including rifles with open sights or lower-powered scopes, handguns and the like.
Sandrini said such hunts might work in Wyoming, especially in more densely settled areas, where taking long rifle shots might not be safe.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
