I am also certain that her father knew what was beyond that ridge, so no sweat there. But, I would never make that shot in unknown territory.

I don't know how they are certain the first tries were too high. They could easily have missed in any direction and not known it. They certainly didn't see any spash. Not knocking on Palin, but it seems the guys with her did a lot of work to make her look good.

Too bad they couldn't bag a Polar Bear. A mom with 2 cubs.

They INCLUDED the mistakes, and misses, that could SO EASILY have been edited out. But, they left them in.

I cringed when her Dad kept reloading her weapon, but then I thought, he's probably been doing that for her since she was 10. They left IN these parts, the multiple misses, that others might have left out.

I believe that's called "Transparency" by another crowd, but here, it's real.

The libs will try to make hay out of this, but honest people will see what is there to see.

Bill,
All true. I didn't mean "look good for the camera". Just little things like stacking the packs for her, coaching on every shot, and reloading, even taking the safety off for her on the second rifle.

I don't hunt, but I imagine a group of hunters working together have some plan among them for who gets to take the shot and at some point, the next guy in line gets to take over when the primary isn't getting the job done.

When I take my girl out shooting, I don't do anything for her that she is capable of doing herself. I watch her and intervene only when needed. But then she had been telling me to let her do it herself since she was 5.

Prof. Hale,

I was not responding to your first comment, as I was in a hurry. I should have, though, and I shall now.

Experienced shooters and their companions most certainly CAN tell where a shot went, high, left, etc.

"Not knocking on Palin, but it seems the guys with her did a lot of work to make her look good."

Howzat, Prof? Helping her with a shooting rest -- on camera? Pointing out that what they were doing wasn't working -- on camera? Handing her a rifle that WAS sighted in with which she killed her prey with one clean shot?

But, you unmask yourself, Professor, with this gem:

"Too bad they couldn't bag a Polar Bear. A mom with 2 cubs."

"Not knocking on Palin..." there Professor???

But they didn't, much though it clearly would have pleased YOU. Those thoughts came straight from YOUR mind, YOUR brain, genius.

Bill,
You misunderstand completely.

1. I shoot a lot. Past 100 yards, I can't tell where the bullet went unless it hits something. Even when it hits paper, I need a spotting scope to see where it hits. Based on the serious money spent by other serious shooters on spotting scopes, I am guessing they have the same trouble.

2. I have 20/15 vision.

3. While Sarah Palin is not my favorite politician, I do rate her higher than many of her opponents. I don't think she is qualified to be the next president, but then the current office holder has proven that qualifications or experience are not important. What I don'thave is a knee-jerk support for her or any other politician. As a group, I find them all to one degree or another, self-serving opportunists.

4. I really do wish she shot a Polar Bear. I hate those things. They are Death in a fur coat. But I really want to kill them because it makes environmentalists blow a fuse. I hate them even more. I wasn't being sarcastic.

5. Like I said, I don't hunt so perhaps all that pillow fluffing is normal. It just seemed like too much hand-holding to me. Just my opinion. Not enough to influence my vote in 2012 and I won't be telling all my friends, "don't vote for Palin, it took her 5 shots to take down a Caribou".

6. At least she knows which end to point at the freezer filling. Other politicians at NRA events have looked a lot worse. ( I think I remember pictures of Gore at some event holding a borrowed shotgun for the photo-op).

7. People miss some times. It's not the end of the world. I agree with CY's assessment that the scope was not in proper alignment. I know my guns. I shoot with them often. So I know where each one is zeroed and I know the bullet drop at different ranges. I know that the zero is for a specific weight of bullet/powder combination. I know how to compensate for that using my scope. So I find it odd (but not impossible) that she got a first-round hit using someone else's rifle after missing four times with her own. I will allow that her modern schedule doesn't leave her much time for getting to the range.

OK, Professor,

I doubt the first gun was hers since she asks if it kicks, but let's agree to disagree.

I stand by my other statements.

I have to assume that the gun had been sighted in before the hunt. I just think that a man like her Dad would be fairly sure of his weapon. That noted, "Dad" did take a pretty hard, face foward fall into rocky ground while carrying the gun. I would have checked the gun after that fall. And on a side note: "Becker", very capable fellow, could he be the bodyguard?

So she took 4 shots trying to re-zero the weapon after it got banged around, figured out it was a waste of time, switched to another weapon, kill the target with the first hit, and you criticise her for that?

And that's without knowledge of what was cut out... Things like fiddling with the scope in between shots maybe.

Having someone else load your weapon used to be common practice, and maybe still is, elsewhere.
While maybe not in America, in Europe in hunts it was normal for a servant to handle the weapons, hand them to the hunter to take the shot loaded and ready for use, then take it back for reloading afterwards.
I've never hunted myself, but family who've been on hunting trips even recently but have no license to use firearms were drafted for similar duties, carrying tools and shot game (by law they can't even carry an unloaded gun or ammo).
Wouldn't surprise me if larger hunting parties in the US have a similar setup.

please.....

Dad rolled down the hill in the scene previous to the multiple shots on the caribou. of course that knocked the sight off.

when she was missing the 11B in me couldn't believe they hadn't checked the zero, but as the post hunt scene in the river bed showed, the zero was off.

Duh.

my "wtf" moment was when Dad said they weren't going to gut the animal, but when they walked off, the carcass was a skeleton, and they were processing the heart, etc, back at the ranch....

is there a shortage of continuity people in Alaska, or are the "industry" people who are shooting this going out of their way to leave flaws for their fellow leftards to snark at?

regardless, i still love Sarah, if for no other reason than she makes the moonbats crazy.

Go Sarah, Go!

I think it is great that they left all the shots un-edited, that is how a hunt often goes with more experienced hunters helping out a less experienced hunter. She never pretends to be the greatest mountain climber, fisherman or hunter, but she goes out and does it. Thats wonderful. The fact that that she took another rifle, and got the kill first try, shows she can shoot. The bullets dropping over the bluff gives me the willies....but I am sure the camara crew had staked out the backdrop.

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