Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters A Close-in Deer Rifle

When I was hunting in Minnesota during firearms season many years ago I had a 12 ga mossburg bolt action with a scope.

Minnesota firearms season is during the rut, so the bucks can behave rather brazen.

I was sneaking around and crept up on a beautiful small eight point or six point basket whitetail buck. We were both in thick brush. And we were both surprised , but the buck seemed curious.

It was point blank. I filled the scope with hair and shot. I am unsure what scope it was now that I think about it.

After the recoil it was still there.

I picked a slightly different spot and shot….after the recoil the deer was gone…..I saw it bouncing off.

No blood, no deer ……. It was early afternoon, so I searched for hours the neighbor and his dog even helped a little…….I must have missed?

The next day I went back and found two broken branches next to each other. These broken branches were between where I stood and the deer was when I shot. Shotgun cases are easy to spot.

I think if I would have picked identical aim points the second shot wouldn’t have been deflected.

And without a scope; perhaps I would have been able to pick a clearer aim point .