Buckshot/Furthest Shot

HunterGuy · October 15, 2010, 03:33 PM

Now under any other circumstance I would never have taken this shot. I was hunting with a club, driving deer in burnt grounds (we had a wild fire go through that spring). So it was pretty open, and we had JUST started the drive.

I was 3rd to last man in the drive, the other 2 were another club member and lastly my aging ( 58yrs old) dad who isn't nearly as nimble as he used to be.

My brother on the other side of me closest to the beginning of the drive, yells over, "deer ahead! One's a buck! Heading to you (me) ". Now I know my 2 older guys to the end of the drive were not going to be able to cut these deer off in time before they shot out the end so I took off running (mind you I can see the deer shooting across the drive). When my brother saw them they were around 150 yards+ ahead.

So i'm trying to close the gap between myself and the deer, hopefully trying to get them to turn back into the drive to our standers or back to the road where we would have them boxed in.

So I close about 40 yards or so and the deer turn towards me! So I freeze hoping they would continue their way to me. Now I can see the buck in the back of the herd, a decent size 8.

They either saw me, heard me or smelled me but they turned again to go out the end of the drive. By this time I had no way of cutting them off in time before they went out the end and were lost, so I decided to take the shot.

Missed the first, dropped him on the 2nd shot. My brother who saw the whole thing was astounded at the shot. Now me, I didn't think it was that far of a shot at the time, but we paced it out and it was roughly 80 paces from where I took the shot to where I dropped the deer. Through years of "pacing" out shot's I have learned that my paces are just shy of 1 yard each, so we estimated it at 75 yards.

A 75 yard shot with buckshot is not something I would ever do knowingly, but I guess I got the "tunnel" vision in where distance seemed to be less than what it was.

Anyone else ever taken a spur of the moment shot that at the time of taking it you didn't realize how far it was until after you took it? If so, looking back on it, would you knowingly take it again regardless of outcome?

I know, looking back on it now and knowing how far it really was, I would not have taken the shot even though I harvested the buck from it.

.284 · October 16, 2010, 08:45 PM

I've never really had the spur of the moment shot that was way farther than I originally thought it to be. However, I don't think you should be apoligetic here. 75 yards is most likely the maximum effective killing range of buck shot and after all you did make the shot. Nicely done sir.

October 15, 2010, 03:33 PM	#1
HunterGuy Senior Member Join Date: September 24, 2010 Location: South Jersey Posts: 263	Buckshot/Furthest Shot Now under any other circumstance I would never have taken this shot. I was hunting with a club, driving deer in burnt grounds (we had a wild fire go through that spring). So it was pretty open, and we had JUST started the drive. I was 3rd to last man in the drive, the other 2 were another club member and lastly my aging ( 58yrs old) dad who isn't nearly as nimble as he used to be. My brother on the other side of me closest to the beginning of the drive, yells over, "deer ahead! One's a buck! Heading to you (me) ". Now I know my 2 older guys to the end of the drive were not going to be able to cut these deer off in time before they shot out the end so I took off running (mind you I can see the deer shooting across the drive). When my brother saw them they were around 150 yards+ ahead. So i'm trying to close the gap between myself and the deer, hopefully trying to get them to turn back into the drive to our standers or back to the road where we would have them boxed in. So I close about 40 yards or so and the deer turn towards me! So I freeze hoping they would continue their way to me. Now I can see the buck in the back of the herd, a decent size 8. They either saw me, heard me or smelled me but they turned again to go out the end of the drive. By this time I had no way of cutting them off in time before they went out the end and were lost, so I decided to take the shot. Missed the first, dropped him on the 2nd shot. My brother who saw the whole thing was astounded at the shot. Now me, I didn't think it was that far of a shot at the time, but we paced it out and it was roughly 80 paces from where I took the shot to where I dropped the deer. Through years of "pacing" out shot's I have learned that my paces are just shy of 1 yard each, so we estimated it at 75 yards. A 75 yard shot with buckshot is not something I would ever do knowingly, but I guess I got the "tunnel" vision in where distance seemed to be less than what it was. Anyone else ever taken a spur of the moment shot that at the time of taking it you didn't realize how far it was until after you took it? If so, looking back on it, would you knowingly take it again regardless of outcome? I know, looking back on it now and knowing how far it really was, I would not have taken the shot even though I harvested the buck from it.

October 16, 2010, 08:45 PM	#2
.284 Senior Member Join Date: July 8, 2009 Location: davison, michigan Posts: 665	I've never really had the spur of the moment shot that was way farther than I originally thought it to be. However, I don't think you should be apoligetic here. 75 yards is most likely the maximum effective killing range of buck shot and after all you did make the shot. Nicely done sir. __________________ Guns have only two enemies, rust and politicians! Deer are amazing creatures....so please don't burn the sauteed onions and I'll pass on the steak sauce, thank you.