Calvin45
Well-Known Member
The deer or squirrel might beg to differ…Bank shots don't count if you don't call it
Have you ever had a what the h--l shots?
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Not mine, but I was there.
My friend and I were muzzleloader hunting last year, first time muzzleloader for me. I filled my tag on day 1.
On day 2 after lunch, we were headed up to a spot he knew and while on the road my friend said "bucks". I didn't see them, but he said slow way down he would hop out and for me to just keep going and drive up the road a hundred yards or so and wait for him. He is very experienced in muzzleloader shooting and we practiced a couple weeks before and he was dialed in very well out to 200 yds on paper. He was ringing the steel at the range at 300 and 400 too.
He disappeared off into the trees as I watched in the rear view mirror while pulling away. I drove til I heard the shot. I waited by the truck and he stepped out to the road shortly after with a thumbs up.
I walked down and asked where is it. He walked me to where he shot, maybe 50 yds in, and pointed to the dead deer. He had a 30-40 yard shot. 1 and done. It dropped where he shot it.
We walked up and couldn't see blood. But the deer was dead. We rolled it over, no blood on the chest or ribs. Finally we noticed a few drops on the side of the neck, barely visible. He hit him through the neck portion of the spine. For a short shot he was a little mad at himself and said wow I missed my aiming point by a lot for that short of a shot. I said, well, it was a good miss in this case and did the job. I also it could have been worse if you gut shot him and missed the other way. So this WTH shot ended well.
My friend and I were muzzleloader hunting last year, first time muzzleloader for me. I filled my tag on day 1.
On day 2 after lunch, we were headed up to a spot he knew and while on the road my friend said "bucks". I didn't see them, but he said slow way down he would hop out and for me to just keep going and drive up the road a hundred yards or so and wait for him. He is very experienced in muzzleloader shooting and we practiced a couple weeks before and he was dialed in very well out to 200 yds on paper. He was ringing the steel at the range at 300 and 400 too.
He disappeared off into the trees as I watched in the rear view mirror while pulling away. I drove til I heard the shot. I waited by the truck and he stepped out to the road shortly after with a thumbs up.
I walked down and asked where is it. He walked me to where he shot, maybe 50 yds in, and pointed to the dead deer. He had a 30-40 yard shot. 1 and done. It dropped where he shot it.
We walked up and couldn't see blood. But the deer was dead. We rolled it over, no blood on the chest or ribs. Finally we noticed a few drops on the side of the neck, barely visible. He hit him through the neck portion of the spine. For a short shot he was a little mad at himself and said wow I missed my aiming point by a lot for that short of a shot. I said, well, it was a good miss in this case and did the job. I also it could have been worse if you gut shot him and missed the other way. So this WTH shot ended well.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I knew a man, since deceased, who while very competitive had no reluctance to admit he missed…because he still hit and came home with his elk (or moose, can't recall).
He shot it on a frozen over lake (Saskatchewan in December, a late season) and while normally an incredible natural marksmen AND eyeballer of distance, he misjudged how far away it was BY A LOT. again, on a frozen lake, not right near the shore/treeline, so absolutely no sense of scale or reference…just white everywhere and an animal in the middle of it.
The bullet actually bounced off the ice and miraculously kept going straight, double lunged the beast anyway, did a 100-200 yard dead run and piled up. But he knew something was off when he realized how dang far he was having to walk to get to it, and went back over everything after and sure enough you could see the big scratch/gouge and sooty appearance in the ice where it made contact. 7mm rem mag.
He shot it on a frozen over lake (Saskatchewan in December, a late season) and while normally an incredible natural marksmen AND eyeballer of distance, he misjudged how far away it was BY A LOT. again, on a frozen lake, not right near the shore/treeline, so absolutely no sense of scale or reference…just white everywhere and an animal in the middle of it.
The bullet actually bounced off the ice and miraculously kept going straight, double lunged the beast anyway, did a 100-200 yard dead run and piled up. But he knew something was off when he realized how dang far he was having to walk to get to it, and went back over everything after and sure enough you could see the big scratch/gouge and sooty appearance in the ice where it made contact. 7mm rem mag.
Treetopnonstop
Member
Not me, but a story I've heard a hundred times.
Years ago some local kids were hiking an old railroad grade with an older guy. Typical kids had their 22's on their shoulders military march style. A grouse took off and one kid drops it, the older guy snorts and says "like to see you do that again!".
Don't think he ever killed a flying grouse with a 22 again but he did go on to compete for the USA in Olympic shotgun shooting…..musta been a decent shot.
Years ago some local kids were hiking an old railroad grade with an older guy. Typical kids had their 22's on their shoulders military march style. A grouse took off and one kid drops it, the older guy snorts and says "like to see you do that again!".
Don't think he ever killed a flying grouse with a 22 again but he did go on to compete for the USA in Olympic shotgun shooting…..musta been a decent shot.
Calvin45
Well-Known Member
That's the sort of thing you DO NOT TRY to do a second time
. Let the record stand as it is!My dad is an expert outdoorsmen and good hunter, but not a gun nut at all, and by his own admission not a particularly notable marksman. Hasn't really had to be, as I mentioned he's good in the field, has hunted his whole life with an iron sighted 30-30 and I think the farthest shot he's ever taken was 150 yards, and most have been inside 50…he's always been able to get real close.
Anyway; in college me and my friends were all plinking at some frost bitten produce one fall including a bunch of pumpkins just for fun. The old man comes out with his lever gun. He is not a man of bravado or big talking so his attitude about all this was even funnier:
I ask him "you gonna shoot a pumpkin dad?"
AND HE SCOFFS AND LAUGHS. "I'll save them for you amateurs. I'm gonna shoot the stem clean off the top of that one".
He loads exactly one cartridge into the gun, casually shoulders the thing, points in the general direction of the pumpkin…and shoots the stem right off the top just as he said he would! I detected a very slight moment of surprise on his face, followed by a gleeful smile, followed by absolute SMUGNESS.
He doesn't say anything, just walks back in the house…
