Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Shot follow up

Wow, cool video.

I'm a believer in that you keep shooting 'til the deer is down. Once, years ago, I heard 5 shots from my son's direction. I then heard a cross between a rebel yell and a victory yell.

I texted my wife the boy must have gotten one 'cuz I heard 5 shots from his direction and could hear him yelling 600 yards away.

As I walked over to him she sent a text back asking how many of the 5 shots he hit the deer with. After looking at the deer, I replied back, "ALL 5!"

That buck henceforth became known in our household as the "Swiss Cheese Buck."

When I asked him why he kept shooting, his reply was simple enough, "Well, dad, it was still standing." Works for me.

Valuable info and anecdotes for those with ears to hear.

A young man on his first local bear hunt saw a bear as he and three friends drove around the bend in a logging road. He jumped out and shot the bear tight behind the shoulder with his .300 short magnum as it angled away at 50 yards. (First mistake: shot placement on an angled animal.) The bear went down as nearly every bear I've seen hit does, no matter where hit. The young man turned to face his friends (second mistake) and did an end zone dance in the middle of the road. The bear got up behind him and left while he danced.

Ingrain the habit to cycle fast and stay on target.

Like rost495, I have refrained from shooting a few times when I knew that the animal was dead on its feet and not going to go anywhere. A moose that I had hit twice in the vitals was one. After the second shot he braced his legs out and used all of his will to stand, as dying moose often do. You can shoot a box of ammo into one at that point and unless you sever spine or brain, he will stay on his feet. His head and neck were behind a bush so I held the rifle rested crosshairs on his ribs till he fell over 15-30 seconds later, and did not shoot any more. If he had started to take one step I'd have shot him through the lungs again due to brush and the way he was standing.

Elk are a different story. I knocked a bull down 50 yards across a swamp from me, and held the crosshairs on him for I'd guess two minutes. He never moved. I hated it but I had to lose sight of him to get around the swamp to him. He was gone when I got there. In hindsight I should have watched him longer. Fortunately I heard him walking and chased and shot, chased and shot etc. Bullets tumbled sideways when they hit him through brush, till finally I knocked him down again and charged close enough to shoot him point blank when he got up. Ugly, and lucky to get him. I had another “stone dead” bull get up about the time it took me to cover 125 yards of tough ground to reach him. Both of these elk were mortally wounded but unlike moose that use their last strength to stand, elk will use that last vitality to run into a canyon in the next county.

I can certainly see why outfitters tell clients to shoot until they stop moving as they don't know shooting ability of their hunter. I'm pretty picky about my shots. I have killed three deer this fall. Only one I reloaded my muzzle loader,but there was no need. Very few elk have I shot at an angle,waiting for a good double lung. A few have required a second shot as they lay their dieing, but those were mostly to end their life a tad quicker.

When I do drop the hammer, I am very confident of the sight picture and a kill, although I know things can happen.I can't see grinding up more meat if it isn't necessary as I am killing the elk,deer ,or antelope to eat

I went to a Deer Classic here and the speaker was touting taking the "withers shot" as being an instant dropper. Fast forward to that year's deer season and a nice 10 point was down in the creek bottom below me, but partially obscured by brush. His top half withers were showing though, which I figured was high lung or low spine. 7mm-08 140 grain Barnes TSX and don't use those for deer. Anyway, he ran at the shot up and out of the creek bottom and he wasn't supposed to do that. The bolt was cycled and I was on him again as he stopped for an instant at the top of the hill. If I shoot again, I'm going to wreck that far shoulder I remember thinking. Okay, he didn't drop right there either and he should be just over the hill like they always are. Nope, two days of looking and five drops of blood were all that I ever found. I rue the day for not pulling that trigger a second time. Too hard a bullet with that spot below the spine and at the top of the lungs that isn't worth a darn for putting down a deer. "Soft" SST Hornady's have worked way better ever since.

That video shows the guy saying the deer is still breathing and then he still approached it and from the wrong, hoof side too! Then clue #2 was that deer has it's eyes half closed. Dead ones don't do that.

Barnes not up to deer. ROTFLMAO.

Maybe the TTSX, but that TSX from that 7mm08 only punched a quarter size hole through both lungs on one the year before when I'm use to seeing lung soup that strains through your fingers from lead core bullets. I just use those left over TSX's now for fouling the barrel.

My PaPaw taught me when I was a kid, that you always walked up behind the deer, take your gun barrel and reach in and nuzzle his nuts (this was before we had a doe season and in my family you just didn't outlaw). PaPaw explained that if there was any life left in him, that would bring him back...lol. I've done that to every buck I have ever killed and have taught my son the same lesson. But now, I also approach a doe from behind and poke her somewhere in the rear to see if she moves any. I've watched people who walk in front of the deer and poke them from the front...and this video is a good reason to never do that!

Ain't nuzzling no nuts here!

I've never been a nut nuzzler either!

As a guide, I don't know how many times I've watched clients shoot, then lower their rifle to admire their shot.........even when the elk or deer is still on its feet...........

I preached and preached to my son to keep shooting until the elk is down. His fourth elk stopped at the shot, my son paused, and the cow took off and immediately disappeared into the timber . Luckily she only ran about 40 yds before piling up. The next year, when he missed an offhand shot and the cow instantly kicked it into high gear, he was already racking another round in, and nailed her the second shot.

We often learn more from our failures than our successes........

WOW ......such wisdom!

I have never regretted shooting too much.

I have regretted thinking I have.

Thank you.

Come from behind - touch their eyeball with the rifle barrel.

From the angle of those arrows it looks like he was attacktacking you. Nice pajamas, by the way.

I operate under the premise that anything worth shooting once is worth shooting two or three times.

Very important in my experience is being able to call the shot. Knowing where the crosshairs or front sight were the moment the trigger broke is very instructive and lets you have a pretty good idea of what's going on. I've had deer show little or no reaction to the shot but knew that I killed them because of that flash image in my mind. But knowing their reactions is important as well. I once aimed to shoot a buck in the heart at about 50 yds with a .30-30. He jumped and kicked the way then do when heart shot, but after that jump he stopped to look around. Recognizing something different I shot again and he took off into the brush. Come to find out an unnoticed branch deflected the first shot into a hoof and the second got him through the lungs.