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I have made exactly two fluke shots in my 72 years on this earth. One, back in the mid-60s in Alaska while caribou hunting off the Richardson Hwy with a couple of friends.....spotted a fair bull that walked out onto a frozen snow covered pond, we were on a hillside perhaps 200 feet in elevation from the drainage area that held the pond.....fellas were busting my chops with some comment like 'let's see you hit that'..........truth be told 'that' was somewhere between an honest 1200 and 1500 yards distant. I, just for the hell of it, took a sitting position and held probably 15 feet over the animal, dropped like a rock!.....had enough time to lower the rifle following the shot and saw it at the moment of impact......the bull had turned and was looking away from our position, that 180 hit the thing squarely at the base of it's skull......instant kill, actually split the skull and you could move both antlers side to side!.............Still have that rifle, a 1948 transition model 70 in '06..........the scope was the old Weaver V-8 variable that the crosshairs increased in size as you upped the power..........had that thing on it's top end and that caribou was sure a tiny target, just held over the mid section as best I could because the reticle covered most of his body.
The other shot was an absolute BS, throw away shot on what I believe was an egret...........I know, I know........it was just as illegal 50 odd years ago as it would be now. I was shooting tin cans with a little Colt .22 single action....just about finished up when a flock of those birds flew by at what I'd guess had to be about 200 yards and at about 45 degrees...........I just snapped a shot and damn if one of 'em just folded up.....wings straight up and spiraling down........dumb, I know, but you tend to do dumb things when you are a kid.......one things for sure, it and the caribou made for indelible memories.
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