Yep that's some shooting.
It's irresponsible to take shots you can't make. I've seen a
whole lot more "ignorant and irresponsible" shots taken at 2-300Yds than I have at 6-1000Yds. The folks who shoot long range tend to
know what they're doing and have developed the skills and invested in the equipment to do it right.
They are usually just the opposite of ignorant and irresponsible, they are
very knowledgeable, and know the precise limits of their equipment, themselves, and conditions, and don't shoot outside them. If you can hit 10 for 10 at 1000Yds there's absolutely nothing irresponsible about it, and the only ignorance is in those who don't know how to do it.
It's just too bad more of those oh-so-moral "normal range" hunters don't take the time to cure their own ignorance and limit themselves to shots they can responsibly make. How many times have you heard someone bragging about the whitetail he bagged at 250-300YDs with his 30-30? Here's a guy shooting at extreme range for his firearm without knowing the exact range, and you can bet without knowing the ballistics of his round at that range. You can also bet that for every one of those dead deer you hear about from that type, there are 10 wounded or clean miss whitetails out there from the ignorant and irresponsible who so like to moralize about people doing what they themselves don't have the skills to do.
Contrast that with Thompson's antelope where he knew
precisely what the range was (1011yds) and
took 2 hours to set the shot up. You can bet that 2 hours was spent at least in part waiting for ideal conditions and in running the ballistics through a computer for the exact range and conditions.
Ignorant and irresponsible? I don't think so,
Thompson makes a living teaching people to make those shots 10 out of 10 times.
Long range certainly isn't for everybody, and some would say it's "just shooting" and not hunting at all (some would say shooting from an elevated stand over a feeder isn't hunting either), but no way is it "ignorant and irresponsible".