I think there is some room for middle ground as well. Personally, I like to understand the physics.
In reality, I take great comfort in knowing what variables, matter and which ones don’t at specific ranges.
I think that you can know a lot about shooting without getting into the greater than 500 range shots that everyone is talking about.
This is my take as well. I see too many tacticians in the field. Rambo's who think hunting is just shooting. They can snipe a fruit fly at 800 yards, but lack woodsmanship skills. Couldn't find an animal unless they trip over it. Couldn't stalk a beef cow inside of 300 yards.
Then there's the trad bowyer who could count coup on any animal in the woods, but then couldn't hit it with a weapon if he had to because he's not interested in how projectiles fly through the air beyond 30 yards.
Find some middle ground between those two and you've got a killing machine.
Anyone know
@RosinBag here? That dude is a woodsman, AND obsesses over details and ballistics. Gun or bow, he's a killing machine. A tag in his hands is an automatic punch.
Tags are hard to draw. Mountain hunting is physically and mentally difficult. You can damn well be sure that if there is a variable within my control, I'm going to address it. Like my equipment and my understanding of it. But that's just me. Some guys just wing it, in life and in hunting. That's their choice.
The beauty of a quality scope, rifle and mounting system that is built to dial at longer range is that you can ALSO be lethal with it at shorter range. The same is not true with a traditional rifle set up that will only handle one half of that previous sentence. When I enter the field, I like the ability to do both. But again, that's just me.
My issue with the OP's take, and he's a good guy actually, is the 500 yard part. I'm going to be frank here. If he just left it at 2-300, rock on with your classic .270 and 3-9 duplex. It's perfectly suitable for that. But move that target out to 500 with the same gun/scope and without a very detailed understanding of ballistics (environmental effects and true velocity, not what it says on the box) and intimate knowledge of your reticle's subtensions (most hunters likely don’t even know what that means) you should not be slinging bullets at 500 yards. That's way beyond maximum point blank range and you are just guessing. Animals deserve more. There’s no need for the ol Kentucky holdover when we have better tools these days!
So OP, if you want to use your current set up, keep it to 300 yards or so. You may have gone beyond that in the past, but be honest with yourself and how you did that. If you want to go beyond that range, you owe it to yourself and the animal to upgrade your equipment and/or your knowledge base.
Happy father's day.