I find it hard to believe that Stick would ever admit to having to nail a critter 8 times... but I've reached an age where nothing really surprises me any more!
I have 3 multi-shot critters in my hunting history, although on 2 of them I was just backing up a partner. They were 6, 8, and 8 shots.
First one, back in the late 1970's, my buddy Norm and I were hunting moose. We spotted a decent bull feeding along the edge of a swamp, and we stalked to about 100 yards. The bull had his head down in a clump of willows when Norm put his first shot in. He was shooting a sporterized .303 Brit, with the ubiquitous Imperial 178 gr softpoint bullet. We heard the whack of the bullet hit, and the moose seemed to shudder, but then kept right on feeding with his head down in those willows. So Norm poked him again, and then again, and then again, and then again. Five shots. His magazine was empty, and as he dug in his pocket for more shells he suggested I give him a poke. So I did, aiming for the neck with my own .303 (same ammo). Moose just stood there. I had a better scope than norm, so I twisted it up to 9X and I could see what appeared to be a lot of blood on the side of the bull's chest, so we didnt' shoot any more. Eventually we decided to walk up to him and see what's what.. and found the bull dead on his feet, probably from the first shot. He was standing over a big log, and the log plus the tangle of willows around his horns were holding him up. Norm's first shot had nailed the spine, so he was likely dead for the 5 followup shots.
Second one was a nilgai cow I shot with Stxhunter down near the King Ranch. I hit her a tad far back with my .270 WSM (140 gr AB), but as it turned out the bullet took both lungs and the bottom of her heart. She took off running up the hill and then let out a long series of bellows like Chewbacca yelling at Han Solo, weirdest damn sound I ever heard. So I went up the hill and found her down in some low scrub. Her head was up but she couldn't get to her feet. I had 3 more rounds in my magazine, so I hit her in the chest because her neck was in a tangle of branches. She was still alive so I pulled my only remaining bullet out of my pocket (I left all my spare ammo in my pack with Roger) and hit her in the neck but missed her spine. So, out of ammo and 5 shots in, I moved around her and gave her a bullet from my .45 in the back of the neck. Didn't break her spine, although I hit bone. Gave her one more, same result. Finally I walked right up to her and put one in her brain to end it. 8 bullets, but only 5 from a rifle. Tough critter.
Third one was an aoudad that my friend Bob shot out here in west Texas 3 years ago. Bob had recently completed his Grand Slam of North American sheep, and he really wanted an aoudad. Bob's a damn good shot, and had killed 3 of his 4 big rams with a .300 Win Mag, and the last with a custom .308; I don't know what bullet he was using. The ram was across a canyon from us when he shot it at about 250 yards. The winds in those canyons can get real squirrelly, but at Bob's shot the Ram dropped off the rock he was standing on, but we couldn't see him where he fell due to dense brush. Bob decided to hike up to the head of the canyon and come down that side, while I stayed on the near side in case it was wounded and got up. When Bob was about 25 yards from it, the ram jumped up and started running down the canyon. Turned out that his first shot was in the guts and liver. He shot a couple times and managed to hit it in the haunches both times. I had one quick shot with my 270 WSM and 140 gr AB, and it went into his back above his spine. The canyon curved off to my left, so I ran to try to cut the corner as Bob pursued behind the aoudad and got several more shots in, including a "Texas heart shot". None of these shots stopped him. Finally the ram came around the corner and I was able to get a good bead on him at 280 yds and I shot him through the chest. He slowed to a walk at that point, and finally stopped. I gave him one more Accubond through the chest (my two shots were only about 2" apart) and that was all she wrote. We counted 8 bullet holes in him when we caped him out.
Nigai don't die easy. I had one bang flop and one that took 6 rounds. Tough animals.
