I went out yesterday morning. I made two sets. I decided to use my Ruger AR-556 mounted with a Meprolite M-21 ( triangle). The tip of that triangle is set for 100 yards.

First set I waited until I had enough light so I could see. I set up in a ditch 50 yards from the corner of some thick woods. the wind was at 9 o'clock, about 8mph and blowing my scent into an open field 800 yards long. I set the caller about 45 yards out in front of me. I howled, waited 5 minutes and howled again, high pitched female or young sound, nothing dominant. No response either time, that is not unusual. I ran the caller, coyote/fawn distress which gets response around here all times of the year. Nothing, bust on that stand.


So I moved about 5 miles to another sight. In this one we have a set of power lines and large trees about 40 yards wide. You can see most of the way through those trees. Then there is an old tramway down the center and another 40 yards to an open field. The one side is thicker than the other. I was about 25 yards in and set up on the field side of the tramway, so I could see into the woods and down the tramway. I had killed a number of coyotes there over the years. Some with a rifle and others with #4 buckshot.

I howled, no response. 5 or so minutes later I howled again and heard a single "yip" from the other side of the power lines. I turned on the caller, not too loud. coyote/fawn distress again. On for a minute, off for 3 minutes or so, then back off. After the second time I saw this coyote working through the woods looking for that sound. It stopped, it's body sticking out half way from behind a tree looking in my direction. By all reasoning it was a near perfect set up. I squeezed off that round with the tip of that triangle midway of his shoulder on the back edge. Should have punched a hole in his lungs.

But no, nothing, it got the hell out of Dodge. I'm in WTF mode so I walked that line from where I was to where it was. What I found about 10 yard from where it was, yeah, a stick up I didn't see. About the diameter of my index finger cut clean in half. No bullet likes that, especially a V-Max.

So I got a cold ass and an educated coyote out of the deal.

Happens. A vine about the size of my thumb saved a bucks life.

It's a real bummer when your dad and a couple of uncles are in camp for a week and someone needs to get some meat. Freaking oak sapling can perfectly blend in with the shoulder of a little spike buck that comes sneaking in on a young hunters backtrail in the late evening trying to find out exactly where he went.

Freaking 30 yard gimme shot you know you have him in the bag and can smell back straps frying turns into, "Oh, crap" when you cant find a blood trail and go back to where he stood and then see the white cut 5 yards back toward where you were sitting. Dayom.

I kicked up a buck once, only about 15 yards away. Perfect set up, perfect lead. The 5 inch diameter tree my sights went into just as I broke the trigger changed that equation. 58 caliber round ball dead center.

Last November, I missed a nice public land bull elk at 20 yards with a muzzleloader, due to a branch from a fallen, dead juniper tree 5 yards in front of me that I didn't see through the scope. Really sucks when that happens.

Shot a coyote sitting right behind a woven sheep fence. Most of the bullet caught the very front of the shoulder, the rest fragmented left into the gut. Dog died instantly and a vertical piece of wire was still spinning around the warp wire when I got to it.

I jumped a wolf when moose hunting,down in a black spruce swamp. It was running right to left about 75 yards out. I swung the .338WM from behind, and when the crosshairs went through its shoulder I fired.

The 250 grain bullet cut a dead 3 inch black spruce down just in front of the wolf's face. The wolf swapped ends and was about 8 inches high and 18 feet long leaving Dodge, as the spruce sloooowly toppled and fell behind it. That critter jumped about 5 gears in speed without using the clutch.

I was laughing so hard I didn't even chamber another round.

Hap

You should have cut that vine and hung it on your mantel.

"8 inches high and 18 feet long"

Great visual, las.

Thanks!

Jumped a fine buck in Rocksprings years ago. He ran broadside to me, put a 7 mag bullet in a tree as he was running past.

Unknowing punched about a 4 inch dia pine while swinging on a walking elk with my 7 Rem Mag. Noticed the exit hole in the bark when I walked over to the point of impact. Still though I also found good lung blood that held up for about 100 yds and was expecting to find a carcass anytime. Blood stopped, tracking became difficult, and then I heard a shot about 200 yds ahead. Buddy doming in from another direction to see what was going on punched a slowly walking 5 by. Don't know if my shot would have killed it or not, as it looked like the slug only had enough umph to take out one lung.

Took a shot at a jackrabbit with my 22-250. I noticed a strand or barbed wire in the way but assumed there would be no way that would be an issue. At the shot, the wire parted and the bunny ran away unscathed.

touched off my 45-70 on a trotting 5x5 elk only to have a 8 foot fir sapling step up. elk hit the afterburners and the fir slooooooooooooowly toppled over.
sitting on the porch one day and a pair of song dogs trotted out on the drive way. had my 250-3000 99 sitting just inside. grabbed it and poked a 85ger at each as fast as I could. had one section of chain link fence around the garden. after the blast died and the dogs left I could hear a high pitched hum. both rounds caught wire.

You boys are rookies...

Few years back I was in CO for the muzzle loading season with a few friends from work. We were out on the trail standing around on a gas well pad waiting while they were recovering a bull that a friend of mine shot. One of the kid's that helps the rancher who's property we were on pulls up in his lifted ford 4×4 so we walk over to his truck to see what the game plan is. I'm looking over his truck and almost immediately bust out laughing. There's a line of five bullet holes just under the top rail of the box, you can see they're exit holes. Everybody except the kid looks at me like I'm nuts (well that may be true..), they want to know what's so funny. So the kid owns up, explains the he was out driving the ridges when he spots a coyote running. He jumps out of the truck, rests his scoped AR on the box and fires at the running 'yote. He didn't see the box in his scope.

Cow elk still took the hit and died

Wounded a piece of lumber when an 8 pointer moved through. Broadhead hit underside of unseen offender and deflected hard.

Got down to retrieve arrow and promptly debranched the right side of that tree.

Wont do it twice LOL

I'll probably wait about a two weeks and give that spot another try. This time I'll have some traps with me. If I don't connect I'll lay out a couple dirt hole sets. That yote was either a small male or a female. Nice to kill the females between breeding and having pups.

Had two different situations . One time I was stalk hunting and had a spike stand up in front of me about 25-30 yds broad side , smiled done deal , BAM! , spike is standing there looking at me for just a second and bolted , I'm thinking , WTF?, then a sapling fell , walked up and looked , sapling was about 11/2" in diameter , now you would think a 180 gr 30-06 would have still connected , but no blood ,no deer , and looked hard .
Some years later was recovering from a stroke that had crossed my eyes up and had gotten to the point I no longer needed a patch on one eye ,but when looking down, still had some vision problems . Last day of the season , was setting along edge of white oak ridge that bordered a cedar thicket . Hadn't seen jacksquat all day and was hunting facing down hill , but didn't seem to be enough to be a problem , setting a couple yds behind a dead limb , about size of a fellows thigh , about two feet off the ground . Had a Valmet over under 12 gauge over 30-06 , a fox had been parading back and forth in front of me all day .
So finally at last light I leveled on him and squeezed , gun cracked and fox disapeared . Stood up , there he layed , figured that 06 had probally made a mess out of him , walked down and not a hole no wheres . Laughed and thought , must have scared him to death . Skinned him out and he was preforated with tiny holes , I mean small .
Went back up there figuring I had shot through the limb , but wanted to verify.
Sure enough that ole rotten limb had just enough core that the bullet had exploded when coming out and blowed about a 3-4 inch hole out the back side and the shrapnel had nailed him . But man they was some tiny holes , so small it was hard to believe.
Kenneth

I've had one branch, 'bout the size of your middle finger, that cost me 2 nice bucks, 2 years apart. When I realized that I hit that branch the first time, I thought "what are the odds I'll do it again?"

It now resides from the ceiling in my man cave. I wired paper tags in the notches that the bullet made, with the dates on them.

I was just starting to take a walk up a steady rise that had been selectively logged in the past just after sun up nice still late October morning. Decent site lines all over the place and a fair bit of white tail sign in the area from previous scouting. I didn't make it 100 yards from the truck and I hear hooves double timing it towards me on an old skid trail and around the corner appears a medium sized buck about 150 yards out. I take a couple steps off the trail and kneel in a clump of chest high scrub. The buck slows to a pace and stops about 50 yards away, he's looking over his shoulder.

I draw a bead through a clear spot of bushes, leaves 90% fallen I can see the fold behind his shoulder perfectly. Boom.. goes the 308. The buck doesn't hunch up, doesn't jump, just runs straight up the hill through the tall Christmas trees. WTF? I decide to stay put for a bit and try to decipher just what the hell just happened Its probably a minute since I quietly closed the truck door.

10 minutes later I walk up and find his tracks where he stood. Not a drop of blood anywhere. I follow his tracks uphill very slowly eagle eyed for any sign of blood. I'm still on his sign 2 or 300 yards later, he's pacing perfectly no sign of distress, no blood. Then I come on a spot where there's slip marks like he's sprung off. No sign of blood or anything else. I figure he had stopped and he saw or smelled me as I got near. He made a loop back down hill. 3 effn hours later I get to a half dry swamp and loose his sign.

I'd been thinking a miss for a while so I go right back to the scene of the crime. Yep, there's my 308 case, yep knelt here he was standing right over there. I knelt down and I look about 10 feet in front of me and a pencil sized willow has a fresh wound, the top laying on the ground. Well, schiiiiiiit !!

Killed a rag horn bull in 2011. When I got to the dead bull there was as much blood as I’ve ever seen from a game animal. Started studying the wound and something was off. Wasn’t where the cross hairs were and was at an angle that should have produced an exit but didn’t. Got to looking around and found a 1.5” diameter tree limb a few yards in front of the bull with a perfect 30 caliber hole. Bullet had penetrated the branch, deflected some but not enough to save the bull, and hit the bull clearly severing a major artery in the bulls lower neck/sternum. Dead critter. I cut the branch and still have it sitting in the wall plaque with the antlers from the bull

It can be sooo tempting sometimes. 'I know the 180 gr. bullet can get through that grass/leaves/willows/whatever'. A lot of animals have been wounded by wrong guesses.

Shot a huge eastern turkey straight out in front of me. Another huge tom about 30 degrees left and 35 yards away drops at the same time. A small sapling with a clipped side showed what happened. A single flier pellet hit the bird right in the forehead. He died faster than the target bird.

Oh yes, the scope thingy.

I was up on a bald ridge out of Pt Hope when I saw a band of caribou coming my way. (There were about 15,000 in sight at the time No, that is not a typo.). On the top of the ridge there were these little natural pyramids of rocks, 3 or 4 feet high, 15-20 feet in diameter. I used one for cover, and there was another about 20 yards out front. When the caribou got to about 70 yards, I edged up until the rock pile 20 yards out was just out of scope field, waited until two caribou were lined up, and blew the crap out of a fist sized rock on the top of that pile ahead of me, ruining a 2 for 1 shot. The only one I've ever had. (No limit on caribou at the time)

I did get one as they raced by, with my second shot.