I recently saw this video for the first time on a Sunday morning while I was sitting on the couch watching the weekend hunting shows I enjoy, and I've viewed it a couple of times since then. Each time I watch it I am disappointed in GAMO for airing it. Like Gene, and others, I have a 1250 and have a good grasp on what it is capable of. Is it capable of killing a hog that size??? Yeah, if you set up a situation where the perfect set of conditions exist and you also get lucky,,, which is exactly what it appears GAMO did on this video. But does the fact that you can orchestrate such a kill mean that you should now advertise the gun as a viable big game rifle?
Absolutely not. What's next?? Shooting deer in the eye with a pellet gun and hoping for a kill?? Besides,, in my eyes setting up controlled shooting conditions is NOT HUNTING,,, it's AN EXECUTION,,,, and there is a big difference between the two.
In all the hunting I do, and I do alot of hunting, my quarry has all the advantages and I am the one operating with the handicap, and it doesn't matter what I'm hunting whether it's squirrels or bear,,, that fact doesn't change. They hear better, run faster, have better eye sight, are more perceptive, and have survival skills that I can only dream of. In order to bag my quarry I have to use every resource at my disposal, and every hunting skill I've managed to master, in order to have even a fair chance of bagging some game. That is hunting, that is the challenge and that's how it's supposed to be.
Videos like this one will only serve to convince some inexperienced air gun "yahoos" that it's now perfectly fine to take that springer air gun on a big game hunt. The result is in fact going to be either a hunter who gets hurt by the game their hunting or wounded game running off to possibly die a horrible death. Heck, I could shoot a deer in the head with a .22 caliber rimfire rifle and probably get a kill if the conditions are just right, but does that mean I should do it? NO !! That's why NY State, and all the other states, have game hunting laws that dictate what weapons are legal, and practical, for hunting various game animals.
I think if GAMO wanted to promote air gun hunting with a springer air gun they should've done a video that dealt with hunting small game. It would've been just as interesting to prospective hunting customers and I feel it would've been much more "responsible".. Anyway,,, just my 2 cents.................
Jeff
