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.
Last edited by 22250rem; 02/27/24.
