No, I meant exactly what I said. In the realm of hunting you are generally in an area of a thicket or wood line where visibility is going to be more limited than say at Camp Perry or even your local range where there are no obstructions for the full 100, 200 or even 1000+ yards of the long line, plus at the range you are aware where everyone is. Being that most hunters do not completely scout the area and adjacent areas they are hunting, there is a higher probability that they will not know what is 600 - 1000 yards down range, possibly even on someone Else's property. That said this assertion CAN NOT be applied to everyone but is a general safe assumption when erring on the side of caution.
That said even a 22 with one helluva artillery style lob can traverse quite a distance on the occasion that the hunter is excited jerks one off and misses, do you think they will be able to quickly do the trig in their head to determine a rough approximation of the trajectory and know what is there? probably not... in the flood of excitement I would be willing to be they are going to rack the bolt and break off another round if the animal is still around never thinking about what their miss actually hit.
Having been a smallbore and highpower shooter for over 20 years there is a major difference in shooting long line versus hunting, some are as stated above. I can say that yes when in the "zone" or as Lanny Bassham would put it, having your well trained subconscious take over, I do not know when I have broken my shot, but I know where it is going and can usually even call that shot for which clock quadrant and what ring before I ever break my eyes over to my spotting scope. That said the major differences there, is on the range the shooter knows what is infront and surrounding them and they are watching a lot more than being zoned in on the target as you HAVE to dope the wind and mirage. Most importantly that shooter that can "zone" in has spent hundreds of hours on the range repeating every exact motion like a robot to train their subconscious and develop muscle memory therefore there is a lot more decided and meticulously planned actions versus a snapped jerk during an adrenaline rush.
Once again there are caveats, but in general terms erring on the side of caution I will stand behind my statements any day.