We've got a thread about your longest shot and one about your closest shot. This one is about your hardest shot.

What's the hardest shot you've ever made? What did you do to prepare for it? What were you thinking as you executed it?

Mine was offhand on a bull Roosevelt elk at 110 yards after my guide and I had jogged several hundred yards down a logging road to get in position for a shot before last light.

My preparation was months of practice making fast offhand shots from 50 to 100 yards. As we approached the place where I had planned to shoot from, I focused on breathing deeply to get more oxygenated blood moving and lowering my heart rate. From there, I focused on getting the safety off smoothly and getting a good trigger press.

How did it go for you?


Okie John

One of my running shots. I don't know which one as there has been a number. I've been in on a lot of deer drives.

running deer with long bow. 10 yards out and 12 yards down in a draw. cut the big art. running along spine. ran 50 to 60 yards and nose planted.

My first elk, running shot with a muzzleloader.

I also killed one on the run.....but with a compound. My cousin pushed 9 deer though the bush I happened to be sitting in that night. The big 8-point and 4 doe came through high about 75 or 80 yards away, then 4 doe came pretty much right at me but split up with 2 going high and 2 low. The first one heading low crossed a shooting lane and passed a tree that I knew was at 30 yards. I drew, aimed at that tree and when the second one hit the left side of the shooting lane, I fired the arrow down the right side toward that tree.

I heard a "crack" and thought I shot in front of her and hit the tree. A couple minutes later, my cousin gets there and we go look for the arrow.....No arrow in the tree. We head toward where they went and find blood. A lot of blood on both sides of the trail. She only made it about 75 yards and was down.

As It turned out, I had released a split second late and dead-centered her liver with a 4-blade Wasp Cam-Loc. Found the rear 7 inches of that 32 inch arrow still inside her....never found the rest.

This was nearly 30 years ago. It is the one and only time I have ever shot at a running deer with the bow. As we were standing over the deer, I told Dave the circumstances of the shot....ending with "That was stupid". He agreed.

Was trapping muskcrats in a one man made (me) duck boat, cold as he// very choppy with white caps, last day picking traps. I look over to another small bay, otter swimming back & forth playing around. Otter spelled $$$$$ about $120.00 back then, 90 yards, bobbing up & down in the white caps , dog spies the otter, wind at about 30 mph, (22 rim fire) right through the neck. About 51or 52 years ago, young stupid, would not even try the shot now!!!! Not because of better eyes, steadier nerves, not very responsible!??? Dad was happy till he heared the story. Took the wind out of my sails quickly. Live & learn.🐾👣🐾👣🐾👣

Whitetail buck off-hand @135 yards. Some pheasant hunters jumped him right toward me in some CRP. He put the brakes on when he saw me, I guess.

I had my Kimber Classic .243 up and ready but he wouldn't turn broadside or give me a better shot. All I could see was his white throat patch, head and antlers. For what seemed like an eternity, I swear, I was beginning to go to muscle failure, he just wouldn't move. Finally I just put the cross-hairs on the white patch and squeezed the trigger. I hit right where I was aiming, in the white patch just under his chin. DRT.

First deer.

16 years old, buck fever, 4 point 25 feet away- 16 gauge sweet sixteen, shaking like a leaf.

Got lucky and pulled off a heart shot - still not sure how I did it.

I called in a pair of wolves that had killed a large calf. The second wolf was about 100 yds behind the first. I let the first one come in to about 50 yds and shot it. The second wolf headed down hill from left to right as fast as he could go. I had previously ranged the bottom where the wolf was headed, at 200 yds. I led the wolf by an estimated 10 to 12 ft and fired. The bullet hit the wolf just in front of the last rib. He piled up at the shot, but hobbled up still trying to go. A second shot finished him. Having shot quite a few moving coyotes over the years had made me realize how much you had to lead em. And yes there was a bit of luck with that shot as well.

2013 Wyoming 6x6 bull. I was sitting on a rock outcropping and my guide was calling a hundred yards behind me.

The bull ran into a meadow and ran pretty much straight toward me, a little below and to my right. I got to my feet as he ran past me into some trees.

He apparently winded the guide and did an about face and ran back through the meadow, but stopped at 154 yards.

I made an off hand shot with a Kimber Montana in 300 WSM and he ran about 50 yards and folded up.

Lots of adrenaline used up on that one.

donsm70

Best one yet.

Shooting a crow as he was landing on a fence post...

Shot a couple flying crows with a .17 Ackley Hornet in an Anschutz I had built about 30 years ago. Called in my biggest blacktail, which took off when I stood up. He was hauling azz in spades and I piled him up as he entered the reprod at about 75 yards. I had spent all the prior winter shooting jackrabbits or I'm sure he would have gotten to cover. I was amazed how fast he was moving.

don't think to much about it, just make the shot, like fireball shoot lots of jacks real good practice

I was about 14 and on a mixed bag ( squirrel, rabbit, woodcock, deer, etc.) hunt with several uncles. Our little “mixed breed” terrier dog, treed a “cat” squirrel (grey squirrel), in a large, vine covered tree. My uncles were using shotguns, while I only carried my .308 Win. and my Browning Nomad 22 semi-auto pistol. As we circled the tree, attempting to get the hiding “cat” squirrel, to move. The squirrel got nervous, and made a sprint, up thru the vines, heading to the tree top. I saw it for a brief instant, and made a “snap” shot with the little Browning....hitting the running squirrel before anyone else got off a shot. Pure luck....you bet....but serious bragging rights! memtb

I wish we still had a “shootable population” of “jacks” here....they were great practice ( when running) with your big game rifle! I really miss those days! memtb

Now we need a topic of “greatest misses”....I could write a book! memtb

Running whitetail buck full speed at about 12feet.
The bugger ran through the scope so I had to re-scope him fast, a little ahead of the brisket and drove a 150gn Partition in behind the last rib at about 20 feet which came out center off shoulder.
Very fast shooting made it one of the toughest.

John

I’ve been thinking about this a couple of days now.

By far my hardest shotS have been while Rabbit hunting. For years I kept beagles and rabbit hunted before deer season and
after deer season. Our deer seasons are shorter than squirrel or rabbit seasons so running beagles and rabbit hunting gave me much
more FUN hunting.

That said, there have been TOO many hard shots while hunting Rabbits.
More than once I turned beagles loose in brush piles and had rabbits running in many directions at once.
Which one to shoot at first ? ? ? Lots of fun, some difficult shots.

Now we have many more deer and much fewer rabbits.


Jerry

Behind my back, over my shoulder, between my legs 1000 yards. Killed a fine sabor tooth tiger.

Using my Tikka T3 lite in a wind storm, it was very gusty about 50 to 60 mph blowing the lite rifle and me with it all around. Every once in a while the scope cross hairs would cross the bucks shoulder, but I had almost no control of it and I did a lucky quick trigger squeeze as they crossed his shoulder.

My hardest shot wsa was also my luckiest one. I hit an antelope in the neck holding about five feet above his back, not knowing the range. I would have never attempted this had not the buck already been wounded.

700 yards in a 30mph full value cross wind.

My early twenties, double on Ruff Grouse. Didn't know it at the time, but some 40 years later I do!

When I was younger my buddy and I were working through antelope season and it was looking like we would not have time to punch tags before general season started. We finally had an afternoon to get out and I had an opportunity on a running antelope about a couple hundred yards. He was trying to tell me something as I shot and a buck balled up at full speed. It came to a rest in a cloud of dust. Jon was ecstatic, back-patting and congratulating me on hitting the biggest buck like that. I hit it right under the ear. Turns out he was telling me to take the second antelope, the biggest buck--the one that I shot. He thought I was a genius; I didn't tell him for years that I was trying for the boiler room of the first buck.

Not necessarily my hardest shot, but the toughest shot was the first deer I ever killed. It was a down hill quartering toward me shot from about 85 yards. It was the toughest shot I ever made because I lots my father the following spring. I'd gladly give back every deer I've ever taken to have had more time with him. He died when I was 21 years old. I'm glad we at least got to share that first deer taken together. MIss you Dad. We'll hunt together again soon.

I've made some long (500-700yds) shots on stationary deer, but, they're really not very difficult. The wind hasn't really been a factor, nor has angle, temp, or elevation.

Those that stand out as "difficult" have all been 1-shot kill coyotes on the move past 300yds. Probably the most impressive was a loping coyote @ 380+ with my Kimber MT 7-08 and 6x42 Leupold. Mostly because it was pretty much a 90 degree left-to-right mover.

I got one @ 415ish with my 257Wby running pretty hard but he was going almost straight away and below me ~75-100 feet so I only had to cypher "vertical" lead and virtually no lateral lead.

Last was a coyote running away at a shallow quartering angle, 1st animal I pointed my then-newly re-barreled 1:8 22-250/75-gn A-max at. It was also the 1st time I'd used something with more horizontal reference than just a plain duplex, it's topped with a Leupold with TMR reticle. He was 350yds away and running hard, but, I was able to use the bottom tip of one of the horizontal hash marks as a reference for both estimated hold-over as well as lead.

Moose walking through pines at 200yds. I trace my hatred of lightweight rifles to that point. Made the shot and swapped my remington titanium to a standard M700 and shot a moose at 275yds on the same clearcut 3 years later with much greater ease.

My best shot may have been a running deer going through heavy timber and darting between an opening at about 80 yards from me while running as fast as he could go and that opening was only about 3 feet wide. I could see the flashes of the deer between the trunks and branches coming from right to left and as soon as I saw the chest clearly I fired, about even with it's leading "edge". Shot was right behind the crease of the shoulder and exited the same place on the other side. 180 grain Remington Core-Lokt from a 19" barreled 30-06 Scout Carbine I made on a VZ Mauser. Sight was a 2X Burris Scout Scope.

I have made some very long shots with various rifles on targets (some at over 1200 yards), and I have made some very precise shots at prairie dog heads at longer ranges, and done them quite a few times, but that deer was the one I think of as my "bragging shot".

As soon as I'd done it was stood in disbelief that I was able to pull it off. I was a very good shot in those days, but that one even amazed me. It all just fell together, and I knew as soon as I fired that I'd killed that deer, but 1 second later I was thinking how impossible it was.

I can't say it was hard. It just seemed so natural in that fraction of a second, but I am sure I could not do that again if I knew I had the shot coming.
If I had tried it just 5 seconds later on another deer I think "hard" would have been an understatement. "Impossible" may have been a more accurate word.

But that shot just seemed to fall together easily and perfectly. That's the reason I felt so amazed.

Not sure about the hardest shot, but this is the luckiest shot I ever had.

It was pouring rain and I had my trusty Rem 1100 with a slug barrel and open rifle sights. I was in my tree stand about 20 ft. off of the ground and I was standing up because I didn't have a rain suit and was trying to stay as dry as possible. I was a little hung over and didn't get much sleep the night before (I was about 25 at the time). I kind of was leaning against the tree and was dozing off a little and had my eyes shut. Someone shot down in the creek bottom a couple of hundred yards away, so I opened my eyes and grabbed the gun. I looked to my left, in the direction of the shot, and there was a doe about 30 yards away and running full tilt almost directly towards me. I pulled the gun up and shot her when she was about 10 yards away. Dropped her in her tracks. I hit her in the eye socket. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 seconds.

Probably luck, but I once shot a coyote running wide open quartering away from me at about 250 yards. He was running right to left and I had a 20+mph cross wind left to right. I held on his head as best I could and hit him perfectly behind the shoulder.

That's my friend, Bart....he IS the real deal....

Pheasant on the wing with a single-shot (Ithaca Model 49) .22 rifle.

Also, on different days, two sparrows on the wing with my Daisy BB gun. About 25 yards for one, 20 feet for the other.

As far as big game shot, probably an antelope at 558 yards with my .223 Rem. It wouldn't have been a real tough shot if my heart wasn't pounding and he wasn't moving since I missed him (didn't realize it at the time else I'd of let him go) at a touch over 300 yards a few seconds before.

I did call in a pup coyote one time, that simply wouldn't stop running towards me. At 20 or so feet I finally swung my rifle and literally fired from the hip as the coyote was on it's last bound before landing on me. Shot was maybe 3 feet and the coyote was in the air. That shot is way the hell harder than a guy thinks. I damn near missed him. My bullet gutted him and he took off. His guts fell out after 10 or so yards.

Mountain goat at 200yds with my 14" Contender in 309JDJ. I burned a lot of powder that summer getting ready. I lived in Kodiak at the time and we had a 500yd range. My limit was 200, and I could hit reliably hit at that distance. What made it difficult was that I needed a few more inches of elevation to take the shot. I ended up resting the gun on my clenched fist and steadying my shooting hand by extending my pinkie finger out to touch the rock I was shooting on. He dropped at the shot and it was one of the best moments of my life.

Hardest shot was a triple I made on teal with my Browning A5 Magnum 20 gauge. A small band came from behind my blind, I was pouring my dad a cup of thermos coffee when I heard the swoosh of fast wings. 8-9 buzzed over the deeks then cut a hard left on the outside of the decoys. I handed dad his coffee, snapped up the A5 and swung on the last and closest teal. It folded and the rest of the band went straight up Rocket Man on my shot. The next two I just focused on the forward edge (head) of each bird and snapped two shots off quickly folding both like the first...Dad handed me his coffee back and said you shoot better than you make coffee son. 😎

About 25 years ago I was hunting javelina with a recurve bow. I had a realistic range of about 25 yards. I wanted one bad. I saw a herd running down a mountain and generally heading my way. I got out my sling shot and an M-80 and when the pigs were about 80 yards away and looked like they weren't going to come in range, I shot the M-80 out in front of them. One of them peeled off and headed my way. He was in the thick stuff and there was one opening. I could see only glimpses of him as he ran through the brush. There was one gap about 3 feet wide. I drew back and when he was about 25 feet from the opening I loosed an arrow. I did a good follow through and still had time to stand there and watch my arrow in flight and the pig on a collision course. Danged if I didn't nail him good. That has to be my hardest shot!

I shot a little bird out of palo verde tree at 250 yards off-hand with a 22 LR. It was pure luck though!

Greatest miss...Thats an easy one. I ranged a nice young cow during a 3 month long cow hunt with my old Bushnell 1000 that didn’t have ARC technology. Reading came back 236 yards. The cow was at about a 45 degree downward angle from me. I was sitting on a cut stump that made a comfortable shooting platform when I placed my pack on top of it...No dialing back then. No cds, just straight up set and forget Leupold 3.5-10x40.

The cow is just feeding on the side hill unaware I’m above. Lots of time, no rush, dead elk for sure. I find her in my scope and start to settle the crosshairs on her lower rib cage. Then i start thinking, should I pull low for the angle or high? I think it’s pull low if the shot is low and pull high if shooting across and high. No, no...I’m supposed to pull high on a downward shot...Yes, that’s it. I put the crosshairs on the top of her back and sent one down at her. Nothing! But the cows Head came up looking for an exit. I pulled a little higher this time and touched off...Nothing. The cow became a ghost after the last shot.

The actual yardage was approximately 147 yards. The following season when I went back to the spot I had my pardner laze the spot with his new Leupold RF with TBR. My rifle at that time was zero 2.5” high at 100. Just a simple “Swing and a miss”. 😎

Not my shot, but one I'll never forget.

It was on some kind of holiday when our family and Uncle's were gathered at my grandparent's place for one of Grandma's holiday meals. Probably Thanksgiving, maybe Christmas. No snow on the ground and pretty warm so I tend to think the former. After the meal, Granddad, Dad and Uncle were out by the round grain bins shooting clay pigeons. Uncle was throwing, Granddad and Dad were missing and I was watching, hoping to get a chance to try (but never did).

Uncle said "I'll show you how it is done" and went in the hose to retrieve Granddad's Remington Model 24, a licensed version of J. M. Browning's semi-auto .22 design.. This was back in the late '50's or early '60's. Granddad had purchased the rifle new in the early '30's.for about $20. It only shoots .22 Shorts. (The rifle now sits in my safe and still shoots great.)

Uncle loaded the rifle, chambered a round, engaged the safety and leaned the rifle up against a wire fence. He then threw a pigeon, which Granddad and Dad both missed. As soon as he threw it, Uncle dropped the thrower and grabbed the rifle. He fired as the pigeon passed the third grain bin. Much to everyone's surprise, the pigeon broke up.

Uncle refused to attempt a repeat.

Granddad, Dad and Uncle all passed away in the last decade, but that rifle is the reason my first major purchase after leaving the service in '74 was a Browning SA-22. Didn't think I would ever inherit the Remington. Turns out the Browning was a good purchase - my girls grew up shooting it just a I did the Remington. Granddad passed at 100 in 2011 and I got the Remington after Dad passed about six years ago. I also ended up with Granddad's High Standard Model C, also a .22 Short shooter. Granddad bought it for $22 back in the late '40's. Like the Remington, I would shoot it every chance I got. It still shoots great, too.

This isn't a shot that I made but one I witnessed my younger brother make many many years ago. I had to have been 17 and my brother would have been 12. We were out roaming around the hills like we always did, .22s in tote. I had my trusty Ruger 10/22 and he was packing a Marlin tube feed bolt action. It was common for us to roam around and shoot jack rabbits, skunks, porcupines, whatever we could find...

That particular day we left the truck and had been walking for an hour or so when we walked right up on a pair of coyotes. I peppered it with the 10/22 at fairly close range and it eventually went down. The other coyote took off on a dead run, leaving the country. I had to reload my magazine, but my brother was blazing away with his Marlin. I finally got reloaded, but by that time the second coyote was so far away I didn't even attempt a shot at it. Had to have been 400 yards out or better...

My brother on the other hand decided to give it one last poke. He pulled the trigger and that coyote went tumbling head over heals. I couldn't believe it. I asked him where he aimed and he said he couldn't see the coyote in his scope when he pulled the trigger.

Took us a bit to walk all the way over to it. There was a perfect bullet hole right in the temple of that coyote. Didn't exit of course. I don't give my brother credit for anything. But I couldn't make that shot today with any rifle. Of course neither could he...

Turkey at 64 yards with my Ruger bisley Blackhawk 45 Colt. Hit in the neck almost took the head off. He was called in by my friends 13 year old son just using his voice.

Jackrabbit offhand, around 425 yards. I'd been doing a lot of offhand practice, mostly at jacks, and I was having an especially good day, but still I was surprised at that one.

Fork horn buck, way back when they were legal, with a pack of Walker hounds less than 60 seconds behind him. Picked a hole I knew he would run through and let the Marlin .35 Rem. speak the split second he hit that hole. He never checked up, but he piled up in less than 75 yards. Shot took him low in the ribs actually under his front leg. Left a blood trail Stevie Wonder could've followed. Dogs kept right on running the doe he was running with.

700 yards offhand with an iron-sighted Winchester 1906 pump .22.

Great-grandpa said "shoot the crow". I looked around and couldn't see any dang crow. "Shoot the crow" (a bit more insistent / hurried). Well, off skylined on the horizon was a dead fir tree, and near the top was one lone dead branch, and out on the tip of the branch was a slight bulge or bump. "SHOOT THE CROW". So I lined up on that bump, add a BUNCH of elevation, and yanked the trigger. The damnedest thing happened. After a moment, that "bump" dislodged from the branch, tumbled end over end, and fell 50 feet or more apparently hitting the ground. I don't actually know if it was a crow or not, but whatever it was, I hit it. .. and then grandpa said "ya missed" in disgust as the raven that'd been 40 feet away flew off. He never did understand what I DID hit. Some days ya just can't win.

Tom

Was in Kansas shooting Prairie Dogs back in the early 90's. As we were exited the farm we had been shooting on, we saw a Jack Rabbit run across in front of the truck and disappear. My two buddies and I jumped out and I un-case and load a rifle. I start walking to where we had last seen the Jack. I was about to the spot when he bolted. I threw the rifle to my shoulder only to find the scope still on 18 power. The Jack was covering ground fast and it took a bit to get him found. At the shot, the Jack went end over end and was just over 100 yards. I couldn't pull off that shot off again in a 100 tries, but on that day I cooling went and retrieved the Jack and acted like it was no big deal.

I can’t think of any of mine but, will give you two that I have witnessed.

My dad. Off hand shot down an abandoned rail road grade on a big (170 lb) doe on a fast trot angling away. Hammered her with his 280 Rem M700 Mountain Rifle with 145 grain Speers. She took one step after the shot and nose dived. My dad is 6’4” and it was a distance of 245 of his paces. My pace count is 76 to 100 yards at 6’2”. Thinking that was a pretty good shot with some luck ......or not.

My buddy loosened an arrow at a smallish buck in an overgrown apple orchard that was running away. He managed to pick a small hole in all the branches and drilled it in the back of the head. All with an American Archery Bobcat bow, no rest,no sights and mismatched arrows. Some luck involved? Yes but,that’s what they were trying to do.

running jack rabbit at over 50 yd with a sheridan blue streak.

Mule deer buck at 110 yards at the end of day six of a seven day hunt. We were putting the stalk on a very big buck and about 1400 yards away when a nice buck jumped up at thirty yards, ran up the hill and stopped. I shot off hand and he ended up at 28.5 inches and 184.75. The other buck got shot 6 days later and went 197”. Can’t wait to get back to Nevada.

The toughest hunt physically and mentally I’ve been on. The hardest decision I’ve made while hunting.

Had a couple that led to some serious contortions back during the time when I used tree stands. Both were of similar formats.....close range, one hand hold under the opposing arm with the shot almost directly behind me. One with the left hand, the other with the right. Win 94 Trapper versus a 6 pt buck and a bobcat, both about 30 yards out. Winchester won.

Doe at about 80 yards.
Squatting, twisted around a tree, shooting uphill.
Pants down.
Trying not to step in my leavings.
Was successful with the shooting.

Not so much with the stepping.

Yeah, but after ya stepped in it you came out smellin' like a rose!

Was the shot into my 1st wife that somehow got her sister pregnant.

It was in the early 70's, I was about 11 years old. There had been a big black and white feral tomcat hanging around our barn. He was elusive and fast, would jet at the first sign of a human. Waxing feral cats was my job and that cat had already beat me several times. My Dad was home that day watching The World Series, Vida Blue was on the mound for the A's. For some reason I peeked out the window at our back yard and there was the big tom stalking a rabbit within 10 feet of our house. They were moving towards the corner of the house so I ran to the living room and grabbed my Dads Ruger single six from the coat closet while explaining myself to Dad on the run.

I exited out the front door and worked my way around to the side of the house the rabbit had been headed towards. As I neared the corner the rabbit hopped into my view. I just stood there frozen as finally the rabbit continued his advance and the tomcat hove onto view.
As soon as the cat saw me he bolted towards the barn running at a diagonal from my left to my right. I lost sight of him immediately as he had to clear two vehicles before he would be back in view. I thought he would be headed for the barn so I raised the revolver and held it pointed towards the front of my Mom's Corvair about 20 yards away. Sure enough he cleared the car at a dead run and without much thought I just reflexively put the front sight on him and let rip. To my amazement he flipped into the air and hit the ground dead. It was some moment when the rush hit me and I could hear my Dad chuckling from the window having watched it all.

My daughter shot a moose in a meadow, at the shot it dropped down in the rear a bit and I thought it was gut shot. It spun and did a quarter horse sprint towards the timber about 60 yards away and by the time I got on it and got it's rhythm and my brain together it was a bout 250 yards away. I managed to put a 250 grain Barnes X bullet from my .338 Winny right next to it's butt hole, down it went.

All things considered, it was a lucky shot. She had creased it's back with her shot. Her 30-06 bullet took the hair off of the hide in a narrow 8" strip about the size of my finger.

Ricochet?

Running deer I guess. I've shot 3 running whitetail bucks in the brush,and this muley trotting at nearly 350. Of the four of them ill give the nod to the mule deer. More thinking involved. The whitetail were more instinct than intent. Close quarters. The open sage country made it necessary to consider distance as well as the movement.

Sure, we'll go with that..

389 yard shot on a pig running wide open. Swung on him like a big Goose & rolled him like a flat tire.