Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Shooting animals in their beds

I have done it for years and always considered it the ultimate coup. Then recently I have heard some well respected hunters state that they wouldn't even consider shooting a bedded animal.

What gives?

Slide over, I'll shoot.

perhaps they were refering to pheasants or quail

You mean I can't shoot quail on the ground either??? What's next, I won't be able to shoot duck on the river either.

Dang

Pheasants and quail are one thing but deer....I wouldnt give it a second thought.

thats the best way to shoot em! If you hit them good they are very VERY unlikely to get up! i shot my last deer in his bed, he went as far as to lay his head down. DEAD!

I'm not going to wait for the animal to get up and I am not going to try get his/her attention so they will.
One of the things I have read about those against LR hunting is that the animal is likely to move and potentially wound an animal. If they are bedded the odds of them not moving are good.
Shot a cow in her bed last year-She never stood up. A bull I shot in his bed a number of years ago did a quick get up & turn around and went less than the other side of the cedar before he was down for good.

+1

I don't do the long range thing but finding and taking a bedded animal is very hard and something I'm proud of. They have the advantage and I still got'em.

RH

I have taken a few animals (3)out of their beds. In all cases their chins hit the dirt right now. All of these instances were in the 100 to 200 yard range thou. Last year I waited for a pronghorn to get out of his bed before shooting him. He was about as far away as I care to shoot and was bedded at a poor angle. The choice to wait was based on my shooting ability. I think I made the right choice. I didn't have to wait long either, 10 to 15 minutes.

Shoot'em in, under, or jumping in their beds

HBB

I used to think I had a moral issue with this when I was young, no idea why I didn't like the thought of it. Maybe to much bird hunting as a kid

Anyway, I now realize it's probably the safest most humane way to take an animal. Takes out a lot of variables like moving during the shot, less likely to run and so much more.

J

People often say they'd like to go in their sleep.

Bb

I guess the arguments that I have heard, are somewhat linked to shooting ducks on the water and such, but the other point, and somewhat valid, is that the vitals are much harder to judge when bedded as stuff moves around a little bit. At 100-200, I can pretty much thread the needle. At 350+, I have not anchored one yet, all have got up and made it a few yards before expiring, this may also be a product of the bullet velocity not providing the energy to really "shock" the system but just lets out some blood.

One muley I shot in NM @ a little over 300 yds, was sound asleep and jumped to his feet making two bounds before cartwheeling over. I could see the furrows in his bed where his feet were churning before he got up.

Another buck got up and trotted away- I held too far back and only got one lung and some other parts and a second shot finished him. This was at about 375.

To me, it's the ultimate achievement in hunting as you have found them, stalked them and then had a chance to take them on your terms. To me, this is hunting.

Doing it at long range, just adds one more dimension.

Shootin' ducks on the water around here gives folks a case of the red azz, but everything else is fair game. We sneak on Snow's and Blue's (geese) while their feeding, man you can smoke'em on the ground. (Can easily kill 100+ with a couple of shooters) You wanna know if your in shape? Shoot into geese on the ground and chase the cripples across a knee deep flooded rice field. You'll find out in a hurry if you like goose hunting or not. BEFORE anybody freaks out, it's perfectly legal here b/c the population of these species of geese are way over-populated, as Canadians can attest.

Shooting them out of their beds, especially up close, means you did everything right. Good job on being so sneaky.

Add dove to that and make it a +1

Maybe they had problems with bullet penetration through heavy quilts.

JB

Naw, it's pretty nice weather here- they just sleep under the sheets

Actually, even just being shot with a deer rifle by a competant marksman would be a pretty dang quick way to go... could be a WHOLE lot worse...

Ironically, and this is pretty funny, if *I* were the intended target and I got to choose the bullet, it would probably be a different bullet than I'd use for deer! I'd choose something pretty much explosive.

Shudder to think. What the hell kind of post is this I'm writing, anyway?

-jeff