codyadams
Well-Known Member
Not proud of this, but I figured I needed to post about it to possibly save someone else from making the same mistake.
The trigger on my rifle was getting a little gritty feeling, so I took my rifle out of the stock, removed the trigger, cleaned it well, then reinstalled it, put it back in the stock and torqued it down to 65 in-lbs as I always do with this rifle. Then, I made a stupid mistake....I did not go confirm my zero......
I loaned my rifle to my buddy to go shoot a pronghorn or two. His first one was around 450 yards. He entered in the elevation, doped for a little wind, and took the shot. Instead of hitting at the top of the heart where he was aiming, he schwacked her in the neck where it meets the chest, about 8 or so inches to the right and about 3 inches high. No big deal, he figured he pulled the shot, and the doe dropped in her tracks. His second goat was shot at 150 yards, and went without issue, double lung shot from kneeling position, a few inches back, but an acceptable hit.
The next day I have my rifle, and the goats around here are getting pretty skittish (we have killed around 10 so far....) so I see an unsuspecting group about 1500 yards away. I close some ground, but by the time I get to around 1000 yards, I see that the entire group is staring at me. I guess this is as close as I'm getting....
I lay down prone, and range at 980 yards. I have shot consistently around .5 to .75 MOA out to 1230 yards with first round impacts on targets less than MOA wide in conditions like this with this set up, so I feel alright with the shot. I start watching wind in my spotter, and I get really confident with it, a 2 o'clock wind that I bracket at 3-5 mph and is very consistent, so I dope for 4. I wait for a doe to get perfectly broadside, aim top of the lower third strait up the leg, look at the mirage one more time, it's holding.....I send it. As the bullet is flying I'm watching the goat, knowing that as soon as that bullet gets there she is going to pile up, because the shot was solid, and the mirage has not changed. But this happened instead....
I am disappointed, shocked, and rattled. This rifle has taken over 40 animals ranging from really close out to 985 yards, and nearly all of them were one shot kills, mostly with them dropping in their tracks. I start trying to figure out what happened, and the only thing I come up with is I messed up the wind call, significantly. The prevailing wind in the area normally goes the opposite direction, perhaps I somehow misread the mirage, and the wind was only blowing that direction where I was at? I don't really know. At least it was a clean miss, and we don't have a wounded animal to chase, however my confidence just took a hard hit. I guess next time I will take more time and not miss the wind call....
Fast forward to the next day, I'm strapping on my pack to go back into a basin we scouted out on line that looked good, and when we got up there it is even better looking. We have nearly three miles and 800 ft elevation to go, so we start the pack. Soaking in the beauty and majesty of the Wyoming mountains helps the miss from the day before to fade away, and I get lost in the moment. As we enter the basin, we start glassing through binos as we make the climb to a high point where we plan on spending most of the day looking for a good buck. Pretty soon I spot a doe and fawn, so we sit down to take a closer look around. Shortly after, we see a legal buck, but is only an 18" wide 3x3. Only a couple minutes later, I hear my cousin say "that's a shooter". I locate the bedded buck in my spotter, and he is a 4x5, has decent forks, but only a little past his ears wide. I had hoped for a little bigger buck, but I want the meat, and I have wanted to shoot a 5 point for a very, very long time, so I decide he is going to hit the dirt.
I got set up for the shot, ranged the buck at 665, and started reading wind. Looked like a light 2-3 from 3 o'clock, so only .25 MOA right, up 11.25 MOA. I put it in, and got comfortable, as I figured the buck would be there for a while as it was 10:30 in the morning. I asked my cousin to keep glassing for other bucks while we waited for this one to stand, but we didn't have to wait long, maybe 2 or 3 minutes. I watched the mirage through my scope as my cousin got the phone scope adapter on, and it wasn't changing. Soon as my cousin told me he was recording, I began my shot. strait up the leg, he is facing a little downhill, I'll go for a heart shot....I rest my crosshair on top of where the heart should be, I'm as solid as on a bench....I slowly start my press....I feel the rifle recoil and see my bullet sail in, and hit way back...I hear "you hit back, put another one on him!" NOT AGAIN.....I adjust 6 clicks left for a quick adjustment, and ask for confirmation where I hit, I get reloaded and get back on him....he is moving so I need to lead a little to account for time of flight, and send another aiming high shoulder to try to break him down. My cousin says high lung, but the buck shows very little reaction (the bullet actually skipped off his back) and he keeps walking, I reload, and he stops behind the tree. It seems like ages that he is standing there....but in reality it was only 40 seconds before I decide to take a chance on sending one through the limbs...I aim center shoulder to try to get a solid hit, and send it. FINALLY, I see the buck crumple on impact. I am relieved....but what in the heck is going on!!!!!
We get him processed, and pack him out. The next day, I do what I should have done a long time ago, I take my rifle to the range. Set up and 100 yards, and send a 3 shot group. Well....it's .35 MOA, and about 1.5 MOA right, and about .6 MOA high. Yup.....that would do it. And I feel like a total jack wagon, I could have made a much cleaner kill, I wouldn't have missed that doe and rattled my confidence, and my buddy would have made a shoulder hit instead of a neck shot, not that his scenario ended badly, but he didn't hit where he was aiming.
So hopefully this can be a lesson to others, to ALWAYS double check your equipment ANYTIME you do ANYTHING. I always preach doing the best you can to be as precise and accurate as possible, and I failed at that. Hopefully this story of mine can help someone else from going down the road I did, and learning the hard lesson I learned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this novel. Take care, and God Bless.
The trigger on my rifle was getting a little gritty feeling, so I took my rifle out of the stock, removed the trigger, cleaned it well, then reinstalled it, put it back in the stock and torqued it down to 65 in-lbs as I always do with this rifle. Then, I made a stupid mistake....I did not go confirm my zero......
I loaned my rifle to my buddy to go shoot a pronghorn or two. His first one was around 450 yards. He entered in the elevation, doped for a little wind, and took the shot. Instead of hitting at the top of the heart where he was aiming, he schwacked her in the neck where it meets the chest, about 8 or so inches to the right and about 3 inches high. No big deal, he figured he pulled the shot, and the doe dropped in her tracks. His second goat was shot at 150 yards, and went without issue, double lung shot from kneeling position, a few inches back, but an acceptable hit.
The next day I have my rifle, and the goats around here are getting pretty skittish (we have killed around 10 so far....) so I see an unsuspecting group about 1500 yards away. I close some ground, but by the time I get to around 1000 yards, I see that the entire group is staring at me. I guess this is as close as I'm getting....
I lay down prone, and range at 980 yards. I have shot consistently around .5 to .75 MOA out to 1230 yards with first round impacts on targets less than MOA wide in conditions like this with this set up, so I feel alright with the shot. I start watching wind in my spotter, and I get really confident with it, a 2 o'clock wind that I bracket at 3-5 mph and is very consistent, so I dope for 4. I wait for a doe to get perfectly broadside, aim top of the lower third strait up the leg, look at the mirage one more time, it's holding.....I send it. As the bullet is flying I'm watching the goat, knowing that as soon as that bullet gets there she is going to pile up, because the shot was solid, and the mirage has not changed. But this happened instead....
I am disappointed, shocked, and rattled. This rifle has taken over 40 animals ranging from really close out to 985 yards, and nearly all of them were one shot kills, mostly with them dropping in their tracks. I start trying to figure out what happened, and the only thing I come up with is I messed up the wind call, significantly. The prevailing wind in the area normally goes the opposite direction, perhaps I somehow misread the mirage, and the wind was only blowing that direction where I was at? I don't really know. At least it was a clean miss, and we don't have a wounded animal to chase, however my confidence just took a hard hit. I guess next time I will take more time and not miss the wind call....
Fast forward to the next day, I'm strapping on my pack to go back into a basin we scouted out on line that looked good, and when we got up there it is even better looking. We have nearly three miles and 800 ft elevation to go, so we start the pack. Soaking in the beauty and majesty of the Wyoming mountains helps the miss from the day before to fade away, and I get lost in the moment. As we enter the basin, we start glassing through binos as we make the climb to a high point where we plan on spending most of the day looking for a good buck. Pretty soon I spot a doe and fawn, so we sit down to take a closer look around. Shortly after, we see a legal buck, but is only an 18" wide 3x3. Only a couple minutes later, I hear my cousin say "that's a shooter". I locate the bedded buck in my spotter, and he is a 4x5, has decent forks, but only a little past his ears wide. I had hoped for a little bigger buck, but I want the meat, and I have wanted to shoot a 5 point for a very, very long time, so I decide he is going to hit the dirt.
I got set up for the shot, ranged the buck at 665, and started reading wind. Looked like a light 2-3 from 3 o'clock, so only .25 MOA right, up 11.25 MOA. I put it in, and got comfortable, as I figured the buck would be there for a while as it was 10:30 in the morning. I asked my cousin to keep glassing for other bucks while we waited for this one to stand, but we didn't have to wait long, maybe 2 or 3 minutes. I watched the mirage through my scope as my cousin got the phone scope adapter on, and it wasn't changing. Soon as my cousin told me he was recording, I began my shot. strait up the leg, he is facing a little downhill, I'll go for a heart shot....I rest my crosshair on top of where the heart should be, I'm as solid as on a bench....I slowly start my press....I feel the rifle recoil and see my bullet sail in, and hit way back...I hear "you hit back, put another one on him!" NOT AGAIN.....I adjust 6 clicks left for a quick adjustment, and ask for confirmation where I hit, I get reloaded and get back on him....he is moving so I need to lead a little to account for time of flight, and send another aiming high shoulder to try to break him down. My cousin says high lung, but the buck shows very little reaction (the bullet actually skipped off his back) and he keeps walking, I reload, and he stops behind the tree. It seems like ages that he is standing there....but in reality it was only 40 seconds before I decide to take a chance on sending one through the limbs...I aim center shoulder to try to get a solid hit, and send it. FINALLY, I see the buck crumple on impact. I am relieved....but what in the heck is going on!!!!!
We get him processed, and pack him out. The next day, I do what I should have done a long time ago, I take my rifle to the range. Set up and 100 yards, and send a 3 shot group. Well....it's .35 MOA, and about 1.5 MOA right, and about .6 MOA high. Yup.....that would do it. And I feel like a total jack wagon, I could have made a much cleaner kill, I wouldn't have missed that doe and rattled my confidence, and my buddy would have made a shoulder hit instead of a neck shot, not that his scenario ended badly, but he didn't hit where he was aiming.
So hopefully this can be a lesson to others, to ALWAYS double check your equipment ANYTIME you do ANYTHING. I always preach doing the best you can to be as precise and accurate as possible, and I failed at that. Hopefully this story of mine can help someone else from going down the road I did, and learning the hard lesson I learned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this novel. Take care, and God Bless.
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