Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Shortest shot on a deer?

We have a thread titled, Longest shot on a Deer. How about shortest? I killed one years ago at about 15 feet.

IIRC, +/- 10 yds.



Axis doe



Marlin Guide Gun, 45-70, 400 gr. Speer SPFN

10', a little buck running down a tree line that I was standing in.

About 5 yards. I shot him with a twelve gauge with buckshot. All 9 of them when through just behind the shoulder in a circle of about 5 inches.

About 5 yds with a 270 Win. Doe popped out of the brush line at the edge of the field I was watching. Darn thing ran down over the bank and died in the creek.

Dale

My favorite bullet in my Guide Gun.

In response to the OP, I have shot several within 10 yards.

Whatever the width of one cornstalk to the next. 😀

I killed a 300" bull with a bow at 30 ft......

my first buck (spike) was about 5 feet and later an 8pt that was 10-12 feet.

About 10 feet.

I've shot two standing at the bottom of a 10 foot ladder stand. 1 on the ground at about 15 feet.

KC

Like many others I'd say 10-15 feet on a deer. Closest on elk was less than 3 steps with a muzzleloader on a big cow. She had singed hair from the burning powder on her side. I'd guess she was maybe 4 feet from the end of the muzzle.

A couple around 5 yards. One with a bow, another with a 350 Mag.

About 10 ft. from the base of my ladder stand. .308 Win. with 165gr. Fusion ammo.

25 yards...could have shot a few dumb young ones that wandered closer over the years.

But it seemed unsportsmanlike somehow to me in each instance so I let them walk.

Your own choices are up to you and I don't mean to judge your decisions based on mine, of course.

Probably 10 yards or so. Walked right up behind me in a climber. Stretched out the full potential of the .300 H&H Magnum 180gr Core-Lokt...

less than 10’. Had a knee surgery was not able to walk much.
Sat down over looking a small bowl. Hadn't been there 10 minutes and I here a noise behind me. Im staring at him he at me. First shot knocked him down. Second put him down. I was almost twisted like a pretzel trying to shoot him as he was behind me and I still seated. First shot hit his horn.

I would tell about the 183” mule deer I shot at 38 yards, but the story would be wimpy compared to the others already posted…. Cheers

Shot a buck at a too close range, I could see his eyes at the moment of impact of a 150gn SP from my .308. Killed many deer, that was the first time a kill bothered me. All my shots since then have been longer, thank goodness.

About 10 yards with a shotgun slug.

I shot a doe at . . . well, here's the thing. I'm not really sure how close. Opening Day, I'd gotten up to pay the rent on the coffee and realized there was a nice fat stump close by. I sat down. It was about 10 AM. I'd seen nothing, and somebody had sent me one of these new-fangled grunt calls to try. I took it out and gave it a blow. There was a line of cedars just to my right, uphill. Suddenly it erupted. Half-a-dozen deer swarmed out of the cedars and came down the hill straight at me. One was a 4-point buck. I brought my Rem 742 up and. . .

I saw a flash of brown in my scope just as I touched it off. It turned out a small doe had crossed in front of me just as I took the shot. The buck was about 20 yards out. I looked up and saw the bullet popping out from between the doe's shoulder blades in slow motion. She collapsed less than 10 yards from me. As I was collecting my gear I found a fresh deer track between my boot tracks where I'd been sitting on the stump.

I'd guess it was ~5 yards? Maybe a step closer, maybe a step farther. While still hunting going up the mountain just after daylight, I sat down on a rock to watch my backtrail down the mountain and eat a pack of crackers (blood sugar was dropping as I was easing up the mt). It was a cold, still morning...leaves were extremely loud. I'd sat down at the lower side of a patch of hill cane. To my right, left, and above I couldn't see but could see down the mountain well. As I started opening the crackers the plastic was really, really loud. I heard something to my right coming straight towards me and moving at a pretty good pace. I sat the crackers down, put a knee on the ground and turned so I could shoot to that side. He walked out of the cane with the hair on his neck standing up and he looked pissed. Probably 5 steps away, one shot and it was done.

4 or 5 yards with a long bow.

5 to 10 yards

Roughly 15 ft down from a stand with a bow

Probably not much farther in a heavy fog
the last morning of doe days with a shotgun

I'll take one of those rock-throwing-distance deer
over a dozen of the bob lee swagger way way
out there deer any day

It's funny, I've had more than a few come out from noise I made. As long as the wind is right, certain noises I believe only get their curiosity.

Was on the ground in the Corn in Ohio yrs ago as I put my good friend Jeff who's deceased in my favorite tree stand about 150 yards away and a small basket 8 point was walking towards me laterally as I was tucked just inside the corn off an oil lease rd. and everything was right with the wind etc............and about a 3 yard or maybe 8 foot shot nailed him with my bow. I was pleasantly shaking so hard I thought my Heart was gonna jump out of my chest! Had my Mid leg Indian Moccasins on that I call "sneakin slippers" and it's a memory I'll never forget. Bow hunting has really taught me patience in the woods.

HS 58

My very first buck, I was sitting on a board, in the crotch of an Oak tree that was right next to a fence...

Buck ran up beside the Oak tree, stopped at the fence and looked back behind him........

About 6-8 feet, 30-30..........

About 15 yards with a .444 marlin. [img]http://[img]https://i.postimg.cc/1gBMdM8D/IMG-1372.jpg[/img][/img]

I was stalking along a deer trail when something spooked an 8 pt over the next hill. He popped up over the hill loping along the same trail I was on toward me. I was standing between two trees with my rifle on him waiting for him to give me a side shot, but he never did. I finally shot him in the face to keep from getting run over. The bullet hit him under the left eye and when he hit the ground his head was about a foot from my boots. I don't think he ever realized I was there!

10 yards with a recurve bow in 1992. 15 yards with a shotgun in 2005ish.

Ron

Bought a 257 Weatherby mag to hunt a LONG field. Wouldn't you know a 10 pt came from behind me. Stood beside the ladder to my stand checking out the field. Had to let him go about 10 ft to be able get the gun on him. 257 Weatherby not ideal for such a short shot.

12 yards on a white tail, 11 yards on a mule deer.
Cat

Mid 90's I was in an old wooden treestand on a MN river bottom and this small buck came underneath me, not sure of the distance, maybe 8-10' from the muzzle tops. I was probably 16-17. Shot him through the heart with a round ball from my CVA hawken. He ran a semicircle in the field we were by and somersaulted when he hit the woods. I knew where he laid dead but I followed his tracks to see how long it took to find blood. 50 yards or so before I saw flecks and then larger drops. It was sprayed where he tumbled into the trees. Learned from that and switched to Conicals then moved up to saboted pistol bullets. With an arrow I've shot them directly below me as well. Rifle probably closest was 30'. With a pistol I've stalked to within 12' of a bedded doe and popped her.

About 10 yards out a tree stand with my muzzleloader.

I didn’t measure it. But it couldn’t have been more than 10-15 feet

8 feet. A nice 8 pt bedded under a tree. Let me walk right up to the tree. Shot him in his bed.

15 feet

friend of mine in PENN was still hunting several years ago and a 4 point took off at his feet from a brush pile probably 5 feet in front of him. He shot from the hip and killed it. At first he thought he had gut shot it, but the bullet stuck the deer in the back of the neck. I believe he was using a 30-30 WIN

Back in the 80's, I was hunting out of a strap on tree stand. It was only about six feet up the tree, I don't like heights. I was sitting. A buck walked directly under the stand. When the head and neck came out from under the stand, I pointed the rifle, like a handgun, down at base of the neck. The end of the barrel couldn't have been 4 feet from the deer. Just for the record, I had on a solid blaze orange coat and ball cap and gloves that were blaze on the top.
I've shot several at 10 or 15 feet when I was sitting on the ground.
Bfly

A small buck feeding in a side-hill gulley at about 10 feet. I was close enough to hear his teeth grinding. Nearly decapitated him when he lifted his head to look around.

Normally would have passed, but the rest of our party had tagged out and were anxious to leave.

Archery tree stand hunting, 10 feet nearly straight down a couple of times. Each time the deer was curiously tracking me in to my stand, much like a wary bird dog.

1st time may have been my first archery deer a decent 4x4 buck.

2nd time was a big doe that was really on to something being wrong.She had snorted down wind of me & I was sure the days hunt was over. Had a double doe tag. 5 minutes later I filled the 2nd doe tag with a 30 yard shot on another curious doe.

Does hitting one over the head with your rifle butt count?

A couple around 12-15 feet and one probably 3 feet give or take. All with rifles.

Sometimes they just do not see you. My buddy Mike 'n' I were coming off the mountain one day probably 30 years ago in his Ford Ranger. A doe crossed partway across the road in front of us and stopped. He pulled up behind her and started honking the horn. I don't recall .. he might have even turned the headlights on. She was fixated on looking down the road away from us absolutely ignoring the truck that was less than a foot from her. Weird stuff happens.

3’ , buck tangled in a barbed wire fence . 357 mag.

Pizzed on one accidentally from my dining room window when I'd had a few too many beers. Call it 15' or so.

I was hunting with a buddy of mine back in the late 70's When I was stationed at Ft. Benning Ga. I didn't see anything all morning. I told my buddy I would meet him back at the truck at 1030. I got down from my stand at 1000. I walked about 100yds in the direction of the truck. I decided to sit down at the base of a big oak tree and wait for my buddy. I had my 12ga 1100 across my lap and I dozed off for a few minutes. I heard a noise in front of me, I opened my eyes and saw a 4 point Buck about 20 yds away walking straight at me. I knew if I moved to put the gun up I would get busted. So I figured I would wait till he turned off the trail and I could get a broadside shot off. He never turned, he just kept coming straight at me. I froze and waited till he was about 10 feet in front of me. I threw the gun up in one quick snapshot like I had just jumped a quail and put a Brenneke slug in his chest. He fell about 8ft from my boots.

10 yards. Spike mule deer with my bow when I was 16.

A couple of inches from my gun barrel. The first was with a 280. I saw it coming up the ridge towards me and was hoping it would head straight up to my nephew as it was his first year hunting deer. The buck did not go the way I wanted and when it got closer, I could see it had been in a nasty fight and had a massive eye infection. I let it walk right up to my gun barrel and shot. In the autopsy, it had a fractured skull too.

The other as just a couple of years ago. A 243 from maybe 3 yards. The TSX shed its petals but all went into its heart. Not much of a blood trail but I found it.

I’ve killed two at less than 10 feet. Both 4 pointers. One was my first deer. I had been sitting for 10 minutes and thought it was going to be easy from there on out. I was wrong

This little guy just about walked over me. 15 feet or so with a slug. I left the scoped shotgun with sabots home for iron sights and smooth bore.

About 12 feet, maybe less. The only time I've ever cussed a scope on a hunting gun. Despite being pretty well hid in a brush blind I didn't want to even breath let alone fiddle around with a stiff power ring. I remember just looking down the side of the barrel and mashing the trigger. Blew his shoulders out with a 240 XTP and 100 grains of FFg as he turned just enough broadside to walk around me toward the doe feeding on the slope up behind me.

Shot a buck that was coming straight at me. He fell so close to me that I could reach out and touch his nose with the barrel of my rifle. Have killed several that were under 15 yards, and that’s not including a couple of bow kills that were close.

Maybe 12 feet? Heard it running towards me through the brush as I was taking a piss. I stopped, picked up my gun (14".358JDJ Contender), about that time it realized he screwed up and I gave him the bad news. Gotta shoot the dumb ones.

Whelenman, where did you shoot that deer? Wi banned buckshot in 1939. I don't care but I hope it was your own back forty?

Five feet from the end of the barrel to the deer. I walked up to the top of a draw. He was bedded down just below it. When I got to the edge he stood up and looked at me. I saw his antlers and looked down the side of the barrel and shot before he bolted out of there.

No really short ones on deer, but pronghorn at about 25 feet.

Self-defense.

I donno…pretty damn close. I shot. Doe that got powder burns. She damn near ran me over

10ft, last day of season, I was sitting on ground under a tree. Doe got curious, walked all the way up to me.

This year, I shot a fine 9 pointer at 7 feet. The muzzle of my. 35 Remington, Model 760 was closer... He got powder burns and I " got some on me". Got my bullet back too!
The LORD does provide!

Used to do a lot of hunting out climbing stands and lock ons in really thick cutovers. Shot a handful of bucks basically directly under me. Harder shot than I expected.

Like LSU a bunch directly under the stand right in the back of the noodle.

Closest shot ever was on a turkey. Had my back against a massive hemlock and he came in from behind that tree. The tree was so wide I was sitting and twisted 180* left and my barrel was just at the edge of the tree. Shot was no more than 6” and hit him like a roll of nickels.

About 5 feet and coming, on the ground.......

Recurve bow and a Hilbre head on a cedar shaft. Got about 6 or 7 inches of penetration into the base of the neck and had a 60-70 yard recovery.

The "OH $HIT !!!" look on that deer's face when I stepped from behind a tree at full draw was priceless.

I have a Hilbre broadhead that I inherited from my dad. He only bow hunted one season in 1961. Not sure what happened to any other broadheads.

Assuming we are not talking about a "finishing" shot
About 25'. I got out of the pick up, loaded the rifle and walked about 25 yards. A doe jumped up (doe season) and started trotting away. I punched the lungs with a 30 Newton 180 gr

And to update...shot 2 with my 6.5x55 this fall and the longest shot was maybe 35 yards lol

contact to the back of the head on a 4x5 whitetail. first shot him at 40 yards. he was dead but didn't read the memo. disappeared into some short cedars and busted out on the trail i was standing on. stepped back off the trail and shoved the muzzle against his head as he went past.
should have let him keep running. ended up hauling him out of a couple acres of blow down. had i not shot the second time he would have cleared them .

15 feet straight down ,he came up on my blind side and was under the stand 30/06 150power point right between the shoulder blades

Years ago, about 20 feet in the brisket. 358 win with the only factory ammo I could find, silvertip. The rifle was a BLR that I sold. I still look for it and a 600 Mohawk.

About 10 yards with a .50 flintlock

A six pointer in the north Maine woods at twelve steps with my 30-06 Encore. I was sitting on a boulder, looking like a pumpkin, just before the end of legal shooting time. I could hear him so I knew he must be close. I lost my hearing on the right side years earlier so I can't tell the direction of sound. After lots of slow head turning, I spotted him at about 25 yards walking right toward me. He went behind a clump of small maples; when he stepped out, I was ready.

Shot one at probably 15' with a shotgun and buckshot. Shot him with the second shot, missed him with the first one.

18 steps for me. Shotgun hunting back in 1990. I was standing motionless with a scoped 870 slug gun in the offhand position for so long that my arms were sore the next day. Buck and doe together with the doe bleating just like a "doe in heat" call. At first I had a blown down tree in the way of a clear shot, then they got into the clear and the doe was in the way and although I had a doe tag, I wanted that buck! Every time they moved I still had the doe between me & the buck. I was standing in blaze orange, in the open, and my only advantage was being downwind of them. Can't believe how long I stood there like a statue, as I lost track of time, but it was an eternity. Finally the doe moved enough to give me a clear shot at the buck, which ran off like he wasn't even hit as soon as I fired. Stood there in disbelief for a moment and then found he had gone less than 50 yards. The buck got a 12 ga. Winchester Foster slug through his heart. Except I had been aiming higher than that. Then I realized how far below the scopes line of sight the bore of that gun was. He was close enough that the slug hadn't even risen to the line of sight yet. One of my buddies beat that distance the following year with a 180 gr. XTP out of his .357 Magnum, a stainless 6" Colt Python when he got a nice buck literally at less than one foot. Sitting on the edge of his woods just at the end of legal hunting time, he was ready to head out when he spotted the buck in his field coming his way along the edge of the woods. He held the gun straight out in front of him in the opening in the brush where he was sitting and pulled the trigger when the buck's front shoulder got in front of the muzzle. He had a full shoulder mount done and the taxidermist was amazed at the powder burns on the hide.

I've shot several that were basically straight down from a tree stand, so less than 20' from muzzle to deer. Shot two with a bow at same distance.
I once shot two does at less than 5 yards from a short homemade ladder, about 20 seconds apart. They rolled, tumbled and flipped down the same path for about 20 yards and fell side by side. The 150 gr Solid Base made huge holes and they slung blood everywhere. It was gruesome. Blood dripping from the trees and vines..... like something from a movie.

I also shot a nice mature 8 point once, running straight at me while I was standing on the ground in the middle of his trail. I'm not sure to this day if I shouldered the rifle or shot from the hip, but when he landed, he was less than 10 ft from me......

3 feet with a bow.

My average on 65 bow kills is probably 30-35 yards.

My closest was my first bow kill, a Colorado mule deer doe at 8 steps. Man was she surprised when she stepped out from behind a spruce tree and I was standing there at full draw! I've shot multiple deer at around 10 yards with my bow.

Shot a doe in Maine at about 10 feet in thick hemlocks. One morning I was bow hunting and it started to rain pretty hard so I headed out. As I’m walking back I came over a rise and there was a spike feeding in a creek bottom about 5 feet away looking away from me. I grabbed a stick and poked him in the butt. He almost fell down trying to get out of there then stopped and looks back to see what happened. It didn’t feel so bad getting soaked after that!

8', I was still hunting near Hayward WI and came up on the edge of a bowl. I could see a buck coming my way across the bowl and settle down to wait. He came over the edge of the bowl and walked right past me, all I could see was brown in the scope, I just stuck out the rifle and shot.

I was in a tree stand and watched my adult son shoot a doe. She ran in a circle and came under my stand about ten feet below. Shot her with my 6" 629, 240 gr. Cast FP. I had to keep her from going into a deep creek ravine on my other side. There were others. RZ.

orphaned calf caribou at 15-20 feet in heavy fog. mom was a gut pile ( someone else) 30 yards to my right. we had 3 people and 6 permits, so i burned one. calf would almost surely not survived anyway - quicker this way. It was making funny little noises, searching for mom.

A friend was sitting on a ridgetop rock one year when he saw a cow caribou coming toward him, rifle across his lap. He sat real still and when she passed in front of the muzzle with about 3 feet separation he squeezed the trigger.

I have taken a moose, a deer. and a ram all within 20 yards as well.

I remember a few right under my tree stand, 10ft? Archery, I took my first at 30ft and my second buck at 21ft. I had one buck walk right up to me, 6ft, while I was standing very still (camoed up) and when I moved my bow, ever so slightly, he jumped 6ft in the air and turned inside out (it seemed)! ha Ran off blowing to beat the band.

Archery—about 10 yds. My very first big game critter. 45# Ben Pearson recurve, 1971.

Rifle—30 yds, second biggest buck I’ve ever killed.

In Arizona, my closest was my 2022 coues at 138 yards.

In Texas, I head shot some does inside of 50.

The closest was a doe at around 5 feet. I was a stander on a drive through the laurels. I had a little opening where 2 trails crossed about 10 yards from me. Well, I heard the deer coming and caught a few flashes of brown, I aimed the Model 19 at the opening, and she popped out about 5 feet away instead of on the trails. She looked at me and caught a 158-grain soft point between the eyes.

I killed a doe once with the bow at 3 yards from the base of a tree. I was only up maybe 10 feet in an old Baker climbing stand. Also, a 3-point back in the day at 5 yards from the same Baker.

Not quite sure but could have stuck her head in pop up shooting tent if she wanted too. 380 Matrix bulldog crossbow

15-20 feet at a flat out sideways run.
Been as close at 10 feet watching a couple of spike bucks that walked towards me and stopped when they realized I just didn't look like I belonged there.

my crossbow numbers.

Shortest - 5 yards
Longest - about 50 yards done with a 270fps Excal
Average - 15 yards

Several that were almost straight down under my tree stands. Probably 3-4 yards or so. One on the ground with a rifle at maybe 6-7 yards.

My closest kill was when I was 16 and I used a home made thrusting spear. I stabbed a mule deer and it died, but I got hurt. My dad was not sympathetic either and heaped some sarcasm on me and that made the whole thing hurt more.
My closest shot on a deer was with a 270 at about 8 feet. (a 270 works better then a spear and I didn't get hurt at all that time)

Closest kill was maybe one yard from me, but only about 12 to 18 inches off the muzzle of my rifle, a Ruger 77RL in .250-3000 shooting a handloaded 100gr TSX at about 2790 fps. Wildlife biologist acquaintance of mine had told me that at the beginning of or during the rut, if you could find some fresh scrapes, still being used and freshened by a buck, you could urinate in them and the buck would think that another buck was doing it and would come looking for you. But, only do this when stand hunting off the ground, from a tree stand or shooting house.

Getting a late start on opening morning, just at daylight, I was easing along quietly, walking to my ladder stand along a deer trail that followed the top of a creek bank. About 90 yards along the trail, I found a very fresh scrape, so I stopped and urinated in it a little. I was very familiar with that area and knew if there was one scrape, there would be two to four more before I got to my stand. I traveled about 40 more yards and found another, so I urinated in that one some. About 35 more yards and there was another one, and my stand was only about another 35 yards further on, so I was in the process of urinating in that one when I heard a buck grunting loudly to my right. I looked and coming at me on the trail was a good sized buck and he was pi$$ed off at my pi$$ing in his scrapes. He dropped his head and full-on charged me, antlers aimed right at my lower abdomen. I barely had time to get my rifle off my shoulder, pivot and try to jump to the right, and fire from the hip as I spun.

At the shot, the buck reared up, grazing my coat with its left antler, fell backwards and sideways, falling about 8 feet over the edge of the creek bank, then ran about 40 yards headlong into thick brush and died. I was left shaking like a dog pooping peach pits and it took me a bit to regain my composure. The buck was a young ten-point and weighed about 280 lbs. The bullet entered the buck's chest but there was no exit wound. There was about a 5 inch diameter spot on his chest where all of the hair was gone, with the entrance wound right in the middle, from the muzzle blast. There was no exit wound and I looked for the bullet, but couldn't find it when dressing the deer.

5’

I took a very nice 8 point buck about 6 years ago from approx. 10 yards. I was in a ground blind and he was hot on the trail of a doe...

I shot a black buck antelope at 50 yds, broadside with a .257WBY and Swift Accu-Bomb bullets. I call them Accu-Bomb, because it never exited and was found under the off-side hide. The hydrostatic shock must have been something, because the inside of that antelope was pure liquid mush from stem to stern. Worst animal I've ever cleaned. I think I gagged the whole time.

About 12 feet. whitetail doe in a mesquite thicket

I had a combination license and was elk hunting when a mule deer buck presented himself @ 30yds.. A 275gr. bullet from my .338WM behind his ear instantly lobotomized him, didn't even blink just went straight down. There was a fist sized hole in the opposite side of his skull and the cranium was completely devoid of brain tissue. Hit a whitetail doe just below the spine with a 12ga. slug, she acted as though she had been struck by lightning.

Three paces. So about eight to nine feet. An average eight point hot on a doe. I had to yell at him three times to get him to stop and look at me. Spun around in a circle and fell over dead. 6.5 manbun 143 gr Hornady ELDX factory ammunition.

Lots of up close shots with arrow and rifle/shotgun both. The one that still stands out to me was in Moran, MI in 1989 or so.He walked straight at me with head down.Stopped a just a few feet away and picked his head up, looked right at me and turned quartering away and just stood there.
Nice 8 point
Pre (rifle) treestand days
Man I loved those days

Lotsa close encounters with sleepy deer in corn on windy days too. Fennville,Zeeland,Coopersville,Ravenna Michigan.
Grand River Marsh as well.