Well this started to spiral towards boringly sensible consensus so let's widen the perspective.
As a pretext I say long shots at game are generally frowned upon up here. Some are willing to accept 300yd shots at birds and on the same sentence disapprove shooting a moose past 200m because that one guy once tried and boy did we look for that one all night and day until men died of hunger and cold claimed the rest. Anyways, discussion is largely hindered by the loud oldtimers who refuse to accept any technological advancement since times before they weren't even born.
So, last fall I was browsing facebook and there was someone posting a picture and a story how they shot a moose at 400m with 338 Lapua magnum, don't remember the bullet but it had apparently performed excellently.
In about 15 minutes the person was condemned as disgrace of hunting community and pretty sure someone had managed to threaten their life and family as well. Mind this was a hunting group, so not even the vegans on the roll. Buried deep in the comments was the explanation that the moose was assumed to be wounded from another hunter shooting it earlier and missing completely, so he decided to take the shot he knew he could do when the opportunity presented itself.
Something that really baffles me is why did the hunter even feel the need to justify their actions. The shot was clean and hit spot on on the lungs so clearly it was within his comfort zone. The cartridge in question most definitely could be considered up to task and there was nothing suggesting adverse conditions or factors that would make the shot reckless.
Yet somehow this same group of people decided to ignore the hunter who missed completely, apparently from acceptable distance.
What I take out of this is what is the obsession with distance? I can shoot 8" plate at 500m quite confidently, I would most definitely not try the same shot at game with my current shooting skills but I have no problem seeing how someone could do that with acceptable certainty. I have missed much closer, off hand moving target, list of excuses is long and luckily I've managed to move past that and practice again for coming season more than ever. There is a limit after which the game has time to pack up the camp, move off and let the dust settle before the bullet gets there but even that doesn't have clear cut limit.
I'd like to end with notion that I find almost nothing as exhilarating as standing within 10 meters of a moose. I've done that twice, once without a suitable tag and once without my rifle. I certainly do prefer getting close to the game but I'm not going to go juddging other ways to hunt. Well maybe the 1000yd elk shot clips on youtube where the spotter needs to walk in the shooter before they get a clear gut hit and high five and woohoo like baboons on party island while the elk keels over and dies, not from the bullet but out of shame. Probably.