Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game bs aside...lets hear about your "lucky" shot

I recall the day I met the "unluckiest jackrabbit in the State of Oklahoma.

I was stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma 'way back in 1959... and every weekend, I'd take my Marlin .22 rimfire Model 39A "Mountie" (a shorter Model 39A with a straight butt-stock... no pistol grip) lever-action rifle and a "brick" (500 rounds) of high-velocity hollow-points and go jackrabbit hunting out in the rolling grasslands southwest of Lawton, Oklahoma.

This one Saturday, I had taken a buddy from my Army unit with me... he was shooting a semi-auto .22 while I was using my straight stocked Marlin "Mountie".

A "jack" "took off" in front of us and we both fired a few shots at him until he ran out of sight down into a swale. By the time he came out of the swale on the other side, he was at least 150 yards away and still running wide open.

At about 300 yards, he slowed down going up a hill and stopped at the top of a hill... and just sat there with his back to us. I looked at my buddy and smiled... raised my rifle's front sight (iron sights) about 6 feet over the rabbit's head and fired a round. I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in heck of hitting the "jack", buttttttttttt...

About 2 or 3 seconds later, the rabbit did an "azz-over-appetite" and disappeared in the tall grass.

We hiked up to where we last saw the big ol' "jack"... and there in the grass laid the buck jackrabbit... stone dead, with a bullet hole perfectly centered in the back of his head.

He was, undoubtedly, the UNLUCKIEST jack rabbit in the State of Oklahoma that afternoon... or maybe that whole darned year!!!

And that's a true story... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

I wish it was me but I had taken my 14 year old son praire dog hunting, He had a Ruger 10-22 that he had shot so much I thought the barrel was burned out on. One was out of its hole at better than 150 yards, He started to take aim but I stop him because he only had iron sights. He insisted on trying so I bet him $100 he couldn't get that dog, you guest it one shot was all it took and I lost. 172 paces, He did it again at 146 paces that day with no money involved.

With a rock there are two:

I was 8 years old and at my grandfather's farm in Arkansas. I had been trying to kill a big bull frog I had been chasing all day with my Daisy BB rifle. I ran out of BBs and was leaving the pond when froggy pops up about 15 yards from me. From the top of the dam I pick up a PeeWee baseball sized rock and fire at the huge bullfrog. Hit dead center in the head and Grandpa helped me skin the critter and cooked his legs for me that night.

The second was my junior year in college. I was with 2 buddies on cold winter night and we stopped in a "rural" area to discharge a bit of beer we had comsumed that evening. As we stepped out of the car the headlights revealed 2 bunnies about 30 yards away. One of my buddies chunked a rock just as I was picking up a couple of good sized stones to try my luck. The bunnies took off and I threw and killed the first one one the run. As soon as I could reloaded I threw and killed the next one with a perfect head shot. My buddies were a impressed, but not nearly as much as I was, because they had seen me pick-off and throw out baserunners when I played catcher in high school and college. Yes I picked up the bunnies, skinned them later that night and had them for dinner a few days later. As a college kid I never wasted money, beer or food.

With an arrow there are two:

When I was 14 I killed a duck rising off a pond with my 40 lb Ben Person recurve and cedar shaft target arrow. Like the others, I knew when I released the arrow it was a kill shot.

The second shot was when I was in high schoool. I was shooing an old Bear Whitetail compound bow and a cheap K-mart fiberglass target arrow. With 3 witnesses, I hit a Starling sitting on a barbed wire fence at 75 yards. I told them I could kill it and then had to restain my astonishment upon doing so.

With a firearm there is only one that stands out. I drew and hip shot the head off a rattle snake that was poised to strike my 6 year old daughter. The range was less than 3 feet when I stepped in front of her, but I have never pulled off a luckier or more important shot. This was witnessed my my wife and parents, who maintain it was the fastest draw and shot they have ever seen. I still get hero points for that one.

Perry

Perry,

Amazing what a lit incentive can do for your reflexes and aim, isn't it?

BTW - remind me to NEVER piss you off and be within sight of you at the same time. I'm a might bigger than starlings, rabbits, or rattlers, and I move a darn sight slower.

30 yard sprint to a clearing. down on one knee. free hand 260 yard shot on my moose. uphill about 80 ft elevation.
350 rem mag. 225 noslers. just behind the shoulder, cut the vitale and spined him. he literally dropped where he stood. never even picked up a hoof.

the guys next to me hadn't even finished telling me to relax before i shoot when he hit the ground <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

proud i was


woofer

When I was in college I was roofing for my uncle down in Jackson on some condos. There was a grackle (blackbird) down in the lawn maybe 30-40 yards away. I pulled back the saftey bar on the staple gun and pulled the trigger eyeballing the flight path. I watched the 1 1/2" staple spinning towards the bird. It smacked him in the back of the head. He fell over and kicked twice.

I was lucky some Jackson Hole tree hugger didn't see it.

Three- all on cottontails, with the same rifle.

First cottontail was on Dec 26 - the day after I got my JC Higgins single shot, at age 13 (surprised the heck out of me that I actually got what I asked for!)

Saw it run into a patch of brown grass, maybe 18 inches in diameter, 30 yards away. The short hollow point, aimed at the center of the grass patch (the rabbit was invisible), pretty much took its head off.

Second - walking down an abandoned road, coming up on an old foundation site, a cottontail come boiling over the berm headed for the debris pile, going all out. I snapped off a shot to the edge of the concrete 10 feet in front of him. Another head shot.

Third - a chinook came thru, and the frozen bottom lands were flooded with 4 inches of snow-melt. Why I was walking thru them, I have no idea, but when a cottontail bailed out of a tree crotch about 6 feet off the water, I snap-shot it through the ribs in mid-air.

All with that cheap Sears single shot. Sure wish I still had it. Got several pheasants with it on the wing also, but that was start from behind and swing thru shooting, ala shotgunning. Not really "lucky".

I was about 6 years old. I don't know what made the grown-ups do it but the way it ended up, our orthodontist took off his brand-spanking-new Stetson and frisbeed it out into the 2-foot dry grass, and my dad put his SA Colt .45 into my hand - and this shrimp couldn't see it but drilled it. I heard that the hat went over his mantelpiece. For some reason, my teeth are not as straight as my brothers'.

When I was 15, hunting rabbits with a .22, a pheasant burst into flight right in front of me. I jerked the rifle in the general direction of the bird, fired a shot without aiming and the bird dropped to the ground. Luckiest shot I ever made.

'Bout ten years ago was hunting groundhogs with my Dad, we normally take out hunting rifles--.270, .280, 7x57 and shoot if we decide to. More to mess around than anything. This particular time I hadn't brought a rifle with me as it was a rather hurried trip due to my brother's unfortunate accident.

Went out this particular afternoon to kind of relieve the tension at home and Dad suggested I take his .280 Remington Mtn Rifle. Quite accurate, 139 gr. Hornady's and a 3x9 B&L. Never shot the rifle before. Just so happens we spotted a couple of hogs in a mowed hayfield. One decides to dart for his hole which was about 25 yds away. We're standing on the side of a hill approximately 175-200 yds away. Hog is bounding in about 6" of grass, I dropped to the sitting position, led the hog and let fly. Hog "vanished". Looked through our binocs and I caught a glimpse of his rear "legs". Hog was belly up, brain shot.

Other lucky one involved a wrist rocket, a marble and a blackbird. Friend and I used to "shoot" things with our sling shots quite often. He spotted the bird about 75 yds away on a telephone line. Picked a marble out of my pocket, loaded up and slung one it's way. POOF, nothing but feathers, wings and a beak-all flying off in different directions. Wish I had a pic of that one.................:)

First of all, my dad's luckiest shot, as the story was told to me. WWII-the battle of Kasserine Pass. His position was about to be overun by a German tank. His bazookaman had been killed by the advancing tank. Dad grabbed his bazooka, thew it up in front of himself and pulled the trigger. He said he never even aimed, or even had any idea if the thing was even loaded. He hit the tank in the tread, stopping it in it's tracks. The range: 30yards. Dad took shrapnel off the blast.
My lucky shot- the second Tuesday of Pennsylvania's buck season 1983. A spike buck wandered in front of my Mauser, and after 3 shots, I had my first deer. Lucky? You bet. It was the last time I ever hunted with my dad. He died from alcoholism the following spring.
Now for luck envolving "shooting." I was sitting straddling a log when a big buck came in off my right shoulder. My only chance was to quickly pivot on him while he passed behind a big birch tree on his way to a scrape. I snapped off one quick shot, hit him in the spine, and collected my best buck ever. The next day I sat in the same spot, looking over where the shot had been taken. To my astonishment, my 180 grain 300 Savage load had plowed through a sapling about the size of my thumb, traveled downrange for another 50 yards and managed to hit the deer. Truly a very lucky shot.

Neighbors had a very large dog that would come by our place and start trouble with our pets. I saw him coming up the road one day and centered his ribs at 40-45 yards with a hefty rock from a wrist-rocket style slingshot. He yelped and swapped ends in a hurry.

Was leaving the woods after a fruitless day looking for deer. A fox squirrel sitting on a tree branch starts to scold me. I pull my box-stock Colt Commander from its holster and send 4 rounds his way, offhand, and to no effect. He moved away a bit, and I cranked up the front sight blade for the last shot. At the "bang" he drops off the tree limb, stone dead. 35 long paces later, I picked up a squirrel with a neat .45 caliber hole through his head.

I had just gotten a RWS m24 .17 cal pellet rifle. It had open sights on it, and a lil knob on the back sight that you could raise it up and down. I was showing my buddy what my "new powerfull pellet gun" was capable of. We saw a woodpecker about a 100 yards off, bets were set, and then off hand I raised the rear sight and pulled up and let a shot loose. The bird fell from the tree with out a single move, and blood coming from his head.

The same pellet gun. About 75 yards off a couple of crows were circling in the air. Pulling up and firing a shot when the crow flew my way. He dropped out of the air like a rock. I have no clue where I hit him, nor do I have any clue how I hit him.

Have got a ground squirrel at about 75 yards with a m94 .22lr. My dad and I were racing to see who could get it. I let off a shot before I it was even shoulderd. The dang thing fell like a rock. I cant explain that one either

Once while driving deer in PA after most of us had tagged
our does. My dad, uncle and my cousin were standing at
the edge of a large field while the drivers pushed the woods
dad and I had already killed our deer and were more or less
tagging along. Suddenly several deer sprinted out of the
treeline and came straight at us. My dad and my uncle told
us to stand still and hopefully they would get alot closer.
I guess they were about 150 yards or more away and running full tilt. My cousin Paul couldnt wait and fired his single shot
20 gauge. To our surprise the largest doe in the herd dropped
and the other deer headed back the way they came. Upon
examination of the deer, the slug hit her below the jaw and
killed her instantly. We stepped it off to roughly 135 yards
it may have been more or less, but that was about 20 years
ago.

Enough shots over enough years and you see some strange ones, as stated. Seems like we yarned along this line awhile ago, but its always interesting. I've killed quite a number of grouse and ptarmigan with rocks, sometimes throwing till my arm got sore, other times connecting right away on a fool hen. My luckiest was when I got two with two consecutive thrown rocks, with a witness. Also on grouse, one frosty morning on a dawn patrol for moose with my wife, we came around a bend in the jeep trail and had three grouse scratching in the leaves ahead of us. I hopped out with my 10-22 and took my eyes off of the grouse as I snapped in the clip and bolted a round. When I looked up I could only see two grouse. I suspected that the third one was behind the one on the left as I squeezed off on its head. At the crack of the .22 two grouse started flopping, both head shots. The two grouse heads were in line when I shot. I took the head off of the other one, for three grouse with two rifle shots. My wife said that I was showing off for my girlfriend. Probably 40 feet.

Luckiest shot of my life was when I was about 15 or 16, herding cows when some friends came along hunting rabbits with an old single shot .22. An old dike had some trash by it and they started throwing cans and bottles and shooting them in the air. They talked me into trying, which I don't like to do with strange guns. I knew that my friend had filed the sear down to a hair trigger for some reason, but had never shot his .22. For an extra joke the kid throwing stuff up selected a little baby food jar with some mud in one end and he threw it as high and hard as he could, with the weight in one end making it wobble. I held the rifle muzzle up in front of my chest, and at the throw I started to mount the rifle and put my finger in the trigger guard in one motion. Before the rifle was to my shoulder, as I stuck my finger in the trigger guard the hair trigger fired and shatted the little jar. Everybody was looking up and no one knew that I hadn't even aimed. I handed the rifle back and didn't shoot anymore.

Ok I will bite but noone will believeit. Happened twice. In 1970 in S.Dakota I shot a mulie buck with a .270 and K3 weaver scope so fr away, I still can't believe it, neither could the guide ! there was a 3 pt mininum on the ranch and the deer was so far away he couldn't tell if it met the standard on the ranch so he said shoot. I did from a sit position ,held about 4 ' above the horns and the deer went down in it's tracks. It didn't meet the ranch standards, guide commented his dad was going to kill him , he said he wouldn't have told me to shoot except he didn't think I could hit it ! Range ?Who knows.
This past deer season in Mo I shot at a nice buck walking along the edge of a bean fields in brush at about 160 yds. No way I could have hit that deer but he came tumbeling down at the shot. I have since tried to dsuplicate the shot on a white five gallon bucket and 25 shots later still haven't hit the bucket. I guess GOD wanted me to get that deer as I hd just got out of the hospital with cancer surgery and I though it might be my last hunt.

Bear11,
Glad to hear about your buck after surgery. Hope your on the mend!

7' Black bear at 361 yards using a stick as a make shift rest as brush was waist high. Spotted the bear at 600 yds across a ravine on a powerline and thought about shooting. He was following a road that led to the bottom, so I ranged the closest spot I could see on the road before it disappeared from veiw. About 5 minutes later the bear arrived and stopped almost on Q. I squeezed and he ran. It took an hour to drive around to where he was and I found him 40 yds in. A perfect liver shot thru the top of the back. hahaha. I'll take it though.

I killed two auodad (barbary sheep) with one shot last year. They were standing broadside at 350 yards. I used my 300 win. mag. with a 168 grain TSX. After the shot, I looked in my scope and saw both animals upsidedown next to each other. The shot has severed the spines on both animals.

Both long ago, young and stupid, "don't try this at home" shots. Much too old and careful now for lucky shots. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

1) buzzard (yeah, I know) circling with some of his buds over a dead cow we'd just chased them off, probably 75 yards up. Laid on my back with a target sighted Rem 521T .22 and shot him in the head, stone dead, almost hit me on the fall..

2)After a typical colege afternoon of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, nearly full can of Coors, tossed as far as my compadre's semi-drunk arm could throw it, exploded in flight with Elmer's load in a Ruger Super Blackhawk.

Those were the days.