This is something that I've been thinking about for a while.

The sensible consensus seems to be that your maximum hunting range given a particular shooting stance is the maximum distance you can consistently group your shots within a 1'' (25mm) circle.

So mine for instance are:

(in still, ideal conditions but unsupported)

Standing 10 Yards ( )
Kneeling 25 Yards
Prone 45 Yards

(and I mean stable versions of each position, not kneeling in a 1 in 3 hill for instance)

as I said that's in still conditions - the greater the wind the closer my ranges get (my maximum ranges if I'd been hunting in the conditions that prevailed at BAGS would have been...oooh...about a yard ).

Okay...so we have a nice still day (for example the kind of day we had at the UKAHFT Bisley shoot last year) and we see people consistently recording scores at UKAHFT rounds in their 30's.

Well that's okay, great in fact, everybody has to start somewhere and HFT is a great 'place' to start and HFT is all about fun as well.

But...

A lot of these people are possibly hunting live quarry.

Is this something to be concerned about?

Okay, I hear a lot of people say that it's different when hunting.

'I never wound quarry, when I hit an animal it's lights off'

Maybe they mean it matters more so there's more focus. Perhaps just the fact that it's a living animal somehow raises the game in some psychological/mystical manner.

Or is it perhaps in some cases that, what is thought to be a miss (after all you'd have to be pretty arrogant to say every shot you take always goes where you aimed it) is in fact a wounded animal, just boosted enough on adrenaline to get away?

I don't think I have an answer BTW and I'm certainly not saying anybody who posts a 34 at a UKAHFT round should have their hunting kit taken off therm I just thought I'd ask what people thought.