All,

It's time to fess up and (with pride and ability set aside) spill the beans! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

What was your luckiest shot...one that ended an argument, bagged a critter, or was "pulled off" that could never be repeated again in a million years?

I have it under good accord that this will never be used against you! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

best,
bhtr

Got a few.

Alabama, 1968, shot a dove at about 90 yards with a Model 1100 12 gauge on a snap shot � just threw the shotgun up and fired . Hit it with 1 pellet in the head, near as we could figure. Anyway, it folded up and went down at at almost 90 degree angle to it�s previous flight path like it had run into an invisible wall.

South Florida, about 1969. Used to wear a Buscadero (fast draw) rig to carry my Single Six .22. Cottontail jumped up about 25 yards ahead and starts running, ran behind a big palmetto. It ran through a small clearing between two palmetto bushes, maybe 6-8 feet between the two, some 35-40 yards out. As it emerged from behind the one palmetto, still at a full run, I drew and fanned one shot from the hip, hit it perfectly right behind the shoulder killing it immediately. P.S. Gave up on that rig when my friend tried a fast draw and shot himself in the leg.

Tweety bird in a tree at about 125 yards, at least it was 125 big steps to get to it. Used a Ruger 10-22 with a Williams peep sight, one shot, offhand. I hit it at some kind of angle as, at the shot, it was thrown sideways violently like it had been swatted with a baseball bat.

Not trying to get on a high horse but don�t have any good �lucky shot� stories on big game as I never took a shot at a large game animal that I wasn�t at least 99% sure was going to be a first shot kill.

Last Minute Muley

Based on a true story.

Rick

"Based"? Is that like the Hollywood interpretation of history? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

C'mon, the guy asked for "bs aside" which is what my stories were. I swear I did not embellish any fact in mine by more than 10 yards. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Jim I remeber one very lucky shot you did not mention, big spiraled horns (hint hint) Ok maybe not lucky in the sense we are talking about here.

Well, let's just say the yardage was conservatively recounted in the tale. If you want the truth, you'll need to talk to Mike. He's in Glendive, MT.

The rest of the story is pretty much factual, with some license taken for (hopefully) dramatic effect.

It was quite a hunt.

Rick

have had several with my ruger single six in 22 mag as I carried it for years.

best one was while my uncle was having a hard time sighting in his 22 rifle and scope. I was riding him hard about it and offered that I could do better with my pistol. He called me and I did, one shot perfect dead center from 50 yards, he never said a word and I didn't even think about firing another one.

First moose I ever shot was with a '06 in a JC Higgins model 52 (I think). I was 15 at the time. Open sights - the kind that you usually find on a handgun - real wide. Covered the whole moose until he turned broadside. I lifted the rifle up to where the moose disappeared, squeezed the shot of and the moose fell down. Range 400 long yards. Bullet - beats me, I grabbed a handful from several boxes of left overs -- 150 to 220 grainers - PSP to RN. Bullet struck that bull in the hump, and he dropped where he stood. Finishing shot required.

Lucky - sure. Happy - you betcha.

Two green wing teals at 35 yards - one in the creek - one shot in the back of the head at 30 yards - one on the third shot on the wing at 35 - 40 yards - with a Browning Challenger pistol in 22 LR. Tasty filled with orange pieces.

Shot a steel ram at 100 yards once with my model 10 S&W 4" service pistol - 38 spl - hollow base wadcutter - 2.3 grains of 231 powder. Held over the ram by about three feet, the bullet bounced off the ground about 10 feet in front of the ram, ricocheted and toppled the ram. The next shot - - - - - - never happened. I stuck my revolver back in the holster, and left the range. Skill ? ? ? ? ? Not on your life! Blind luck.

Had a friend that was a very good shot that told me once people kept accusing him of being a lucky shot. He told me the more he practiced, the luckier he got. Maybe there is some truth in that.

Flying woodpecker at 15 yrs shot from hip with pellet rifle. Long long long ago and very far away. Stupid stunt it was.

Brent

Since you asked . . . . .

Dragonfly at 75 steps off the top of a tall blade of grass w/ a 22 Hornet (Remington Rolling Block Action) with open sights. The durn thing epxloded and the grass stalk was unscathed (except for bug guts).

The other shot was on a Wild Boar offhand at 200 yards. I was shooting a 308 Savage 99e (economy) with open sights. The Boar was uphill from me with his head down, rooting and feeding.

I held a little high, on the chest/shoulder area and pulled the trigger.

The 150 grain Remington green Box Core-Lokt hit the critter where the spinal cord exits the Brain.

The pig was dead before it hit the ground.

Lucky, lucky shot. I would not try that shot today.

BMT

Shot a pigeon once with a .22LR while it was flying away from me at about 50 yards. Lucky snapshot. Also head shot a gopher at 100 yards with the same .22. I paced it off, and it was 100 yards. My jaw dropped when I saw the thing doing the "funky chicken" through my scope.

SS

A 400+ yard poke at a Virgina woodchuck with a British 303 and open sights. Couldn't see the chuck, but the mound he was sitting on was visible. Two of use fired simultaneously, the other with a 22 rim fire mag. Of course there was an argument as to who dispatched the unlucky whistle pig. We posted the poor critter and found my slightly mushroomed pill under the far side skin. Must not be much left in the 303 after it reaches out a bit. Probably couldn't duplicate that now using a whole box of 20 rounds.

Luckiest shot? Easy, and it wasn't even with a gun.

Had a rabbit that was raiding the veggies out of the garden before we could get 'em. Little bugger came out during the middle of the day while us kids were at school and in the dead middle of the night. Folks wouldn't let me stay up and stake him out with a flashlight and the .410...

Got off the bus and coming up the hill one day after school, early dismissal, and there sits "peter cottontail," right at the end of the row of peas and having himself a feast.

I stoop down, pick up a good throwin' rock about half the size of a baseball, and kinda egg shaped, and let fly. The rock is about half-way there when I think "dang, I might have him" - or something to that effect. WHACK! The rock, no lie, catches him right in the back of the head. Lights out, and dinner (for me <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> ) is served.

Stepped off later at a good 40 paces.

Luckiest shot I have, and probably will ever, make.

"V",

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I once set astride a log with a pocket full of rocks and the desire to "pop" a ptarmigan. After ten minutes and a sore arm, I remembered my geography lesson on Australia and the "throwing sticks" the aboriginal hunters used. I picked up a likely lookin' stick...hauled back...and...missed! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Got him with the second though! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Best tastin' bird I ever had! (A twelve year old is easily impressed, eh?)

best,
bhtr

This is a no-$hitter - luckiest shot I�ve ever made.

A Navy buddy and took our kids out for some rifle handling practice to McCain Valley east of San Diego. My daughter was 10 and his son was 8. We both had 10/22�s, I had slapped an M8 6X duplex on mine just for looks and to maybe sight it in during the trip.

All of us walked on the dirt roads and in the bush for about an hour watching the kids keep the muzzles in a safe direction. Then we spotted a ground squirrel sitting up on a boulder about 250 yards away. Bets were place between the buddy and I, a coin was flipped and I got first shot. He offered his shoulder as a rest and I used it because the sage was waist high. Elevation, way up, windage, way over, hold the breath and squeeze the trigger. I, and everyone else thought it was a miss then after about 4 seconds the squirrel tumbled down the rocks toward us. The kids ran to get the critter while I got a high five.

We walked back to the car and I set up a pop can so we could plink for a while. My 10/22 took 5 rounds with adjustments to the scope after each round just to hit a pop can at 15 yards! The shot on the squirrel was pure darn luck.

My luckiest shot was with a bow, not a gun. I was in 10th grade, and my buddy and I were out stump shooting with the 70lb longbows we made in wood shop. Anyways.....we're walking across this mowed hay field, and in the fence row, which is now about 75 yards away, sits a red-winged blackbird. I had a Judo head tipped cedar shaft on the string, and stop and say "watch this" to Paul. I drew back and let 'er fly. As soon as I released( and this is something I've experienced numereous times shooting "instinctively" ) I said to myself, " holy [bleep], I'm going to hit it! "
We watch the arrow arc perfectly to the target, and POOF! Center punched that sucker! Couldn't duplicate that shot in a million years, and it was witnessed to boot!

Jeff

Shoot at enough stuff and some goofy stuff will happen... Shooting signal shots with a 308Norma in an FN mauser with a nifty 3x Leupie. A string of cormorants were flying low across the water in the right direction to shoot and still get a signal across that I was ready to be picked up, and about to die of hypothermia! Swung out on the lead cormorant and dusted him at well over 200 yards...

Had a gray fox in a trap and a high school teacher and his son with me. Fox pulled out at the last second. On about the third bound I had freed up my Ruger 22 pistol, slapped in the clip and slammed the action closed. The shot was from the hip and caught the fox betwixt the atlas and the axis...

Jumped a flock of wood ducks from a creek under a railroad trestle. Tripled on drakes and while looking down for my empties saw a silver fox getting out of his bed, so I dusted him.

With a witness I shot a Booner Sitka deer going over a distant ridge... had missed him once at close range... had ONLY the head to shoot at and from offhand, at a later ranged 200+ yards I poked him right under the eye as he looked back over his back at me.

A friend shot at a gorgeous black bear across a beaver pond. I was sure the bear was mortally wounded. The bear proceeded to run up the mountain side, away from us. We kept shooting and the bear kept running. At ridiculous distance the bear turned broadside to cross a slide. At my shot he dropped and tumbled. Autopsy revealed a single bullet at the base of the skull.
art

I was muzzleloader hunting way back. we going to post for a drive and the walk up hill was straight up. I was a lot younger then most and I and my cousin reached the top first. just then, two doe broke over the hill full bore down. I don't know why, but I cocked the flintlock and aimed at the deer running down hill. I shot and she just crumpled and slid 15 yds down, pretty dramatic. The best was everone saw it, the worst is they all expected me to shot like that again.
joes

Made several over the years. As was said shoot at enough stuff and strange things happen.

One of the best was:

Mid fifties, two buds and I were duck hunting. We were in a boat in the middle of a beaver swamp. Lots of ducks coming in. We stayed out too late and dark caught us on the water. Started back to the bank. Now it is black dark, I'm telling you. Heard ducks coming in and landing right on top of us.

I told Jerry to hit the light. Right there not a paddle lenght away was a big fat greenhead drake. Of course when the light hit him he took off into the darkness. I shot somewhere up in the air.

You guessed it. Sploosh, dead as a hammer right there by the boat.


First and only time I ever jacklighted a duck.


BCR

I was dating a "tree hugging" anti-hunter (but she had other redeeming features!) and she had said she'd "accompany you" just to see what hunting is all about (thinking I'd never see anything) on a short afternoon outing.

While driving I spotted a big coyote way out in a cut field. I jumped out. She started screaming. I tugged my 25-06 Browning Bolt Action out and had to tug it away from her. By now, the coyote was sprinting for the horizon.

I took a pop while standing beside the truck. It folded. When I walked up to it...it was almost 400 paces away, and found I had split it's skull along the entire top. I carried this prime pelt back to the truck.

She said "Never again!" "If you care about me...you'll give up killing things!"

Sometimes, because of her talents, I still miss her...

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.

Steve, what's the statute of limitations on protected species?

BTW - what did you hit the Coors can with, .45 LC, right?

Maybe I'll retract the first question...

VA--Any claim on that buzzard is time-barred. I shot the Coors can with a .44 magnum Ruger and 22 gr. 2400 behind a 250 Keith SWC. An adequate round for any beer can.

That's what I thought on the first count (whew, got a few of those in the closet, too, as does anyone who was a kid with a BB gun). <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

As for the second, I guess that load is adequate for regular Coors cans, but for those mean, hard to put down, "keg cans," I think you might need something bigger. You wouldn't want that wounded can to charge, now would ya'? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

gives new meaning to the term "dead soldier"

I charged a keg once... well, maybe more than once...

Steve NO,

You had a lot more fun in college than I did!

"After a typical colege afternoon of alcohol, tobacco and firearms"

Talus, maybe it's why Randy Newman wrote that song:

"College men from LSU,
Went in dumb,
Come out dumb too"

But we did, by God, smoke, drink, and shoot some while we were there. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> And took the lives of many of His little creatures while we were at it.

Wow, makes me realize how dull I was in College. Typical Spring Afternoon involved Weightlifting, Running, and watching films.

All I got out of it was twisted fingers, scarred knees, a few broken bones, and some great football stories . . . . . .

Oh yeah, I did marry cute little blonde gymnast (maybe all that time in the weightroom wasn't wasted after all. . . . . . . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)

BMT

This just in...a contractor (building) just told me about a wasp that had been "buggin" his framing crew for a few minutes when, after taking all he could, his young brother hoisted the Senco nailer and, at 5 yards, bagged the pest with a 8 penny galvy siding nail! One shot, one kill! Then the contractor related that his same brother managed to put one through his own boot, yet remained unscathed. Contractor mentioned (with a smile) that the close call "killed" the cockyness of the previous shot and brought things back to normal! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

best,
bhtr

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />Set up the chant, "DVNV...DVNV...DVNV". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />
I was there, I was the one who lasered the distance. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> And I can guarantee that the shot is a prime example of the truism that practice and skill result in more "lucky" events.

!999 in the Appache National forest bow hunting for Elk. Had been hunting for 7 days all kinds of crap went wrong on the hunt , wind busted us , cows busted us , other hunters busted us, Fish and game hassled us , it was a bad omen. Day eight arrives , we head down to the Frisco and get out and start walking . Three bulls start going at it and we are below them and in the middle of the 3 of them . They are headed for Arizona I say , my buddy says not if I can help it . We haul butt half way up the hill and start cow calling and using the hyper hot and manage to turn 2 of the bulls and they are comming back down to see what the left behind slowly. All of a sudden we are bum rushed by 2 groups of cows and 2 spikes we are completly surrounded all the way arround in a 20 yard circle by elk. Last but not least hear comes the bull running in to beat the band and stops broadside at 10 yards broadside with a leaf covering his left eye when he looks dead ahead. He is looking at me right in the face screaming his head off as the cows keep talking and the other 2 bulls keep bugleing up the hill, I can't move till he turns his head agian and is covered by the leaf. Finaly he turns his head and I draw ......he turns and looks at me agian , I am on him and squeeze the release and POW>.......... Orange goes flying everywhere and I watch my arrow fall 3 yards in front of me with no knock on it . I'm thinking to myself this is not happening I have waited 7 years for a bull like this to step in front of me WTF happened.......I look at the elk and he did not move it was as if he was looking through me , like he thought that nothing could be that close without him knowing. One of the other bulls is making his way closer and is bugleing like a mad man and this bull in front of me turns his head up hill and starts to bugle back at him, with that I am able to knock another arrow while he looks away . Keep in mind I am still totaly surrounded by elk stil and not one of them has busted me yet, I'm talking 15-20 elk all within 10 - 20 yards of me in every direction. He turns his haed at me as I raised my bow and I am agian frozen waiting to roll my shoulder to full draw for what felt like minutes. His eye goes behind the leaf agian and I Draw and fire one right into the lungs , arrow goes in to the fletching and stops in the far side shoulder blade and he takes off running ...... Not to die but at the other bull comming down the mountain that is now in sight . he ran that bull over the Arizona fence and came back and stood in the same spot I shot him bugleing for 28 minutes before he fell over. We literally had to spook off the cows and spikes before we approached him . He is the 7x7 that hangs on my wall at this time.


I have a story about a certian booner antelope, but its nowere near the elk story . Something like 526 yards one shot one kill in Truth or Consiquence.....hope you guys have fun too.

Holy Smokes, WO!!!

Back before I knew how to hunt, I shot a running whitetail buck in the neck at 125 yards. Of course, he dropped like a rock and my buddy kept telling me what a great shot that was. Sad thing is that at the time I believed him!!!

Ever since I stopped taking those kinds of shots, my experience and success have both improved dramatically. Go figure.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

The best/luckiest shot I ever made was made with a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 mag. About 30 years ago, a life long hunting buddy and I was shooting milk jugs filled with water we had hung out of trees at various ranges from 50 to 500 yards. I was shooting a .243 Win and he was shooting a .300 Wby. We had a good string going we had shot something like 8 or 9 in a row without a miss and I shot and missed one at 300 yards, he had shot at the same one and missed as well. It was barrel cooling time, so we were looking around to see where the other had hung milk jugs and I spied one that was hanging out of the top of a small pine tree. I made an insulting comment about riding down a pine tree, just to hang a milk jug out of it. My hunting buddy made an equally insulting comment about the one I had placed a top fence post that was barely visible. At that I went to my car and took out my Super Blackhawk and begain trying to spy the one on the fence post. It looked like a white speck in the distance. Then I spoted the milk jug in the top of the small pine, the front sight of the Ruger covered up the whole tree. I set there for about a minute and decied to fire, I fired nothing happen! Then about 15 seconds later the top of the pine tree laid over and broke out and fell to the ground, taking the milk jug with it. My shooting buddy looked at me and said "You did that on purpose!". It was nothing but sheer luck, but I had to say "Yea!, I sure did!

So that is my once in a life time shot. I have made a few other lucky shots since then, but none so spectacular!
Marcus,

Stopped at my neighbor's when we noticed a coyote in his field. Cows were moving to the othe side of the field. Coyote was hunting a rabbit underneath the dam. I boasted I could kill him and my 70 year old neighbor said "yeah right". Got my .270 from my truck, and 1 shot later a coyote was spinning round and round. Paced at 450 steps. Witnessed, with a "called shot". "Bout the only good one I've made.