My new (old) little .177 bullpup.

I'm in 2 minds on that.
I can see your point but query your view on distance shooting. You have to be out there to find the animals, which in itself is hunting. Your Activly looking for an animal to shoot. That's hunting. Stalking is a differnt thing.
I'd also point out deer are pest animal, and as you say thermals are wonderful for pest control.
If I'm looking for food, why wouldn't I take a long shot? I'm not there to play cat and mouse. Do you consider a 60m shot on hare in an open paddock hunting? I do, Im still out there, fact the hare is in the open and I won't get any closer doesn't lessen that. The skill needed to to shoot that distance is higher (I'm a springer shooter).
I apply the same to any animal.
Don't get me wrong the object of the hunt is to get as close as possible without spooking (for shot assurity) but if the opertunity arises for a long shot... its what guns were designed to do.

I agree with what you say about fair chance and respect for animal, the actual thrill of the stalk and trying to play the quarries senses.
That however does not dictate what and what isn't hunting really. Sitting on quad and shooting long distance is no differnt to me walking a paddock with a spot light, picking up a hares eyes and shooting. With a 22lr I can honestly say the shooting range will extend substantially at which I shoot at. The alienation of the animal shot at distance ends when you get to it. When you pluck it/skin it, butcher it.
But as you say , its my view needn't be anyone else's.

Well can't be any fairer than wearing a high vis. And I thought I'd got into uncomfortable awkward positions!
So did you get it?

It was the hardest shot of the night. I had to hold the muzzle against the frame, and could barely see the bird, then think about hold over at that range, (more like how high is my scope off the barrel).

Maybe a pistol as well for those close jobs? 2250 stock?

007 and Q combined. What happened to the rig? I watch Ted's holdover and you see him using a phone holder on his scope and ph. It looks like a rather pleasent way to shoot from a screen. Espially for older eyes starting thier decline.

I still have it, but have been using the Sytong as it's a bit more compact. There will probably be old photos on here of it somewhere.

After my post on the 15 July, I’ve got an update on pellet penetration in pigeons.

I needed a power tune and pellet combo that would kill a pigeon at close range (under 10m) but not over penetrate and exit the bird because of the glass roof up above them… 🤔
I setteled on a 8.14gr flat nosed match pellet, traveling at 501fps, which gave 4.8fpe.
It was very accurate and did its job on a few pigeons, but after doing some penetration tests I was actually worried about under penetration… 🤔 I was worried the flat nose pellets were not penetrating deep enough to get through the breast mussels and into the heart/lung vitals, resulting in a slow death. Not ideal. Only about half of the test shots seemed to get deep enough to get to the vitals.

I decided to change to JSB Exacts 8.44gr domed pellets, at the same power setting on the rifle. They are slightly heavier than the flat nosed pellets, but should give about the same FPE, but the domed shape should give better penetration, so I believed.

The other night I got asked to attend to another pair of pigeons that have moved in and started nesting exactly where the previous pair was. I went down late at night and found the male sitting up very high, just under the glass roof… Humm. The female was on the nest, and besides a tight angle (she was on a shelf about 3m high), if i backed up a few meters I could just see her head. She had some weather board behind her so I was happy to take the shot.
A pellet behind the eye removed the back of her head and she flapped to the floor where I retrieved her and put her in the back of the Ute.
I looked at the male again, and again, and again…. So tempting. He was just sitting there right above me. But I kept telling my self, we’re expecting more penetration, but we don’t know how much!!! It’s just not worth taking a shot with that glass roof behind him. So out of frustration I threw a stick at him and it flew off out into the darkness!

When I got home (close to midnight) I set up the recovered pigeon in front of my pellet trap and did some penetration tests with the domed exacts. Well, about half of the shots made it through to the heart/lungs, which is exactly what I wanted, the other half exited!
Boy was I glad I had had enough self control to pass up the shot on the male!
The pellets I recovered from the pellet trap had not been flattened, suggesting they had lost most of their energy traveling through the target and were probably only just making it out.

I need to now chrono the JSB exacts 8.44gr and determine their fps and fpe.
It’s nice to now have a choice of pellets and to know how each will perform 👍🏻