I Know This Is LRH... But What Is The Shortest Distance You Have Taken A Live Target?

[Darryle]

I had thought about this and considered the wood ducks in my face pretty close. Then got to discussing wild pigs, took many at less than 10yds, but the wildest, closest and most terrifying was a 350lb boar at the muzzle. I side stepped him twice, third time I just held the rifle out as I side stepped him a third time and pulled the trigger, he still took a fews seconds to expire. This was with a H&R Handi in 450 Marlin using a 350gr JHP Hornady. I hit him once prior to the last charge right between the eyes, took the fat and meat off down to the skull and just seemed to anger him more

 

[Bravo 4]

Rifle: So close I had to look down the side of the barrel.
Bow: About 15' straight down, or 0 yards with angle compensation.
If bowfishing counts I had an Asian Carp jump out of the water & into the boat and stab itself on my arrow.

 

[dgr416]

Black bear 12 feet deer 3 feet .The deer almost ran over me .The best was fixing to try to get into my cabin again .

 

[bamban]

6 ft long rattler from 5 ft with my 1911. It crossed the fence line where I was sitting on the ground leaning my back against the fence post. This was in SOTEX by Laredo.

 

[Sobewan]

When I was a kid growing up on the farm we used to catch mice in the feed box all the time and whack their heads against the edge of the feed box to kill them. We used to wring chickens by the neck too. Killed a few other things by hand with knife that I'm not so proud of. As for fire arms I guess I killed more than a few rats and ground hogs within arms reach... clubbed a few with a shovel now and then too come to think of it. We also slaughtered beef on the farm. Dropped quite a few steers up close and personable with a .22 over the years. As for hunting, my very first white tail deer walked within a few feet of me... close enough to reach out with the barrel of my rifle and touch it seemed. There I am in my bright hunter orange leaning against a tree having a conversation in my head about what the splick do I do now? I was certain she would bolt if I so much as twitched a nose hair. In the end, I watched her wander down the trail about 70 yards before she presented a decent shot set up.

Of all the memories the one that stands out the most in my mind is one when I didn't pull the trigger. I was 14 or 15 years old and had been slowly but surely eradicating a large ground hog "infestation" around a couple of our hay barns. One day I saw movement by a spot I knew to be a ground hog den. I had not seen any activity for a few weeks and figured I had cleaned them out. But there was something out there and I was out the door and in stalk mode in no time. After about ten minutes I had worked my way along a fence line approaching the barn and den. With incredible patience and caution I crept along that fence line so slow that I got within 15 feet of my prey... a mother fox nursing her litter out in the open and enjoying a little respite in the sun. I must have stood there another 10-15 minutes just taking it in. Finally I raised my gun, pointed and said "Bang". In the blink of an eye every kit disappeared down into that den, hitting the side of the barn so hard it made a loud audible bang. The mother meantime bolted around the back of the barn... And then as in disbelief of what had happened she poked her head around the corner, looked at me and stepped fully out in the open, twisted her head and gave me a sideways up and down as I stepped away from the fence post I had been hiding behind and nodded. We both turned and gave a final look over our shoulders at one another and I recall feeling on top of the world for having out-foxed the fox.

 

[Marplot]

Sitting in my back yard reading. Bumble bees hovering near me. I got my pellet pistol and started shooting them out of the air. A lot of fun.

 

[Old Hickory 45]

I was squirrel hunting in KY with a local pal that warned me to be careful of copperhead snakes. We were climbing a coal strip mine rubble pile and It was an early cool morning. I placed my hand on a flat rock above me and when I pulled myself up, my hand was right next to a big sunning copperhead. I did an acute slomo move with my hand, moved over a few feet, and shot the snake.

Another time, when my brother Chuck and I were kids and squirrel hunting, we found a human skeleton in the woods. That turned out to be a big deal. The top of the skull of the body was crushed.

 

[liltank]

About 5ft using an H&R 22LR pistol on a groundhog in a culvert. Heard him moving around behind me while scanning fields for long range groundhogs!

 

[Old Hickory 45]

An old boar cinnamon bear and a large female bobcat at 5'or 6' distance.

I was sitting still while squirrel hunting and froze when the cat approached. Stupid cat seemed curious and was stalking close to figure out what I was when I pulled the trigger of my BMAG .17 WSM. I was sitting about six feet from a cow path in the woods when the hunting cat came up the path. When the cat's head was blocked by a small tree as it stalked, I raised my rifle and set to shoot when the cat's head cleared the tree. The 20gr bullet went through the neck and into the body without an exit. Cat died so quick it didn't even kick like most cats shot with a lesser round.

At the same farm on the Mississippi River bluff, I body shot a problem big feral tomcat at about 100 yards distance with WSM 20gr and it flattened the cat and not even a kick or flop of the cat.

When I was a kid my first rifle was an old Winchester .22 WRF. I bet most of you have never even heard of the old .22 WRF.
With the .22 WRF, I snuck up on a hiding rabbit in an old Iowa deserted homestead chicken coop. The cottontail rabbit was hiding inside and squeezed between a feeding trough and the wall. I slowly moved the rifle to its head and shot it. Distance was only an inch or so.

.22 WRF ammo was too expensive back then for me, $1.60 per box of 50 and was an insane amount of money. I was a kid working 12 hours per day in melon fields for $.25 per hour. I had to trade the rifle because of the huge ammo cost. Many adults were earning $1.00 or less per hour at that time.

 

[Dendro]

Took my first deer at almost dark one evening sitting with my grandfather when I was around 8 or so, she was probably around 15 yards from us when he handed me his old 12 gauge OU. I can still to this day close my eyes and in my mind see the fireball that came out the end of that barrel & remember his arm on my back bracing me for the recoil. She flopped where she stood, but was still alive & kept lifting her head up & kicking her feet, I went to fire the other barrel and he stopped me, telling me I'd mess up more meat. That's when he pulled out an old folding knife & made me walk over and put her out of her misery with it, a young boy became a man that night.

 

[Airedale56]

Found it! I'm assuming of course that your partner escaped unscathed...

Yes, he did escaped unscathed that day.
And he remains grateful, today.

 

[Pastor Gun.zales]

Took my first deer at almost dark one evening sitting with my grandfather when I was around 8 or so, she was probably around 15 yards from us when he handed me his old 12 gauge OU. I can still to this day close my eyes and in my mind see the fireball that came out the end of that barrel & remember his arm on my back bracing me for the recoil. She flopped where she stood, but was still alive & kept lifting her head up & kicking her feet, I went to fire the other barrel and he stopped me, telling me I'd mess up more meat. That's when he pulled out an old folding knife & made me walk over and put her out of her misery with it, a young boy became a man that night.

I and my boys have been in similar situations. Sometimes it is me using the knife, sometimes it is them. One thing is for sure, it has to be done.

 

[Stammster2]

I shot a deer back in 1997 that popped up in front of me in the mountain laurel in Pennsylvania. I instinctively lifted the 30-06 from low ready, shouldered it, and pulled the trigger.

After the shot, I didn't see the deer anywhere in my vision. I took one step forward and stepped on it. From muzzle to deer was less than 2'. Bullet entered the mouth and exited out the back of the head. The muzzle blast singed its whiskers.