What's the most incredible shots you've made/seen while hunting?

[Rangefinder]

Just like the title says, what's the most incredible shot you've witnessed or made while hunting?

I have several, as I'm sure everyone does. So lets hear the stories!

Of mine, I think the one I like the most was hunting with my dad in Cardwell, MT. His boss at the time had a ranch there and the area is thick with whitetail. The only stipulation was that the caretaker had to go with us. Fun area--lots of coolies thick with willows. It bothered the hell out of me when the caretaker brought his rifle to "back us up". My though--so you think you're gonna shoot my deer for me? I'm gonna kick your A## if you do. Well, sure enough, a nice 4-pt buck jumped out of a willow thicket not 10 yards from up and went bounding away across the field dead-away from us. Mr caretaker started pounding rounds at it with his semi-auto 30-06 and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. By the time the buck was almost to the far edge of the clearing (about 300 yards, maybe a little more) I decided I better take the shot since there wouldn't be another whitetail for 10 miles after such a racket. So I shouldered my 7mm, timed the bounce hoping not to hit him in the hind quarters, and squeezed once--the buck crumpled like a wet towel. As I looked left, my dad was lowering his rifle too. I said "did you shoot too?" Yup, he had the same idea and we shot simultaniously. Well, one of us got him---WRONG. When we got to the buck there wasn't much holding his head on--we BOTH hit him an just over an inch apart right below the skull. The caretaker promptly took his rifle back to the house and stayed there.

[Rich Lucibella]

Asley Emerson
Fall 2003, Texas
4" 500 Linebaugh in crossdraw

He drew and centerpunched a running hog at 30 yards before I could raise my rifle to shoulder. Truly amazing.

Rich

[Snowshoe]

Measured 181yd Head Shot on a prairie dog.
4" stainless GP100

Yes, I had two witnesses

[impact]

Shot a rabbit at night with a Ruger mark2 government target model and a scope at 98 paces. We had a Q-beam for light. I have a witness as well.

[impact]

One other thing I saw not while hunting. A guy I know shot skeet with a hand gun. He used a 1911 and could hit the birds about 20% of the time. I tried about 50 times and just gave up. Could never even hit one bird.

[Hello123]

Two stories, both true. My grandfather when was a kid, so the story goes, had a .22 rifle and a bird flew over. Jokingly, he said this is how you hit em. He popped the bird out of the sky. Sheer luck, but true.

Secondly, my best friend shot a opossum in the head at 400 yards with a 300 win mag. Teeth everywhere.

[siotwo]

I haven't seen anything spectacular, but I am proud of one shot in particular.

Shirley Mountains, Wyoming. Camp at 6500 ft.

I shot a Pronghorn at 479yds with my Ruger No.1 7mm mag and hand loaded Barnes-X. We lasered it after is was all said and done. For the shot, I used the range estimating feature on my Leupold scope. That and knowing my trajectory....dropped him in his tracks with a shot that hit a bit high, but was effective. We cooked some a few weeks ago, out in the country, and it was delicious!

[Rangefinder]

I got a gopher at about 400-something yards with my 7mm--half joking. After a day of plinking 'em, a couple friends decided to pop a few across the hood at one way out at the edge of the field against a hill with .22's just to see if he'd stay there long enough to lob one in on him--a patheticly small blond spot with open sights. After about 10 minutes I decided he needed to "go away"--7mm in the rack, box of shells under the seat, oh yah! Not sure WHERE I hit him, because he was more or less just a big patch of sticky fur afterwards. LOL

[chemist308]

About 14 years ago, I used a 308 to take a buzzard in mid flight. My guess on distance is between 200 and 250 yards, but having recently been to a 200 yrd firing range I think it might have been farther than that...

Now after too many years of not practicing I'm having trouble hitting the broad side of a barn door.

[N.H. Yankee]

Best for first, I shot a running whitetail in the thick N.H. woods in the head at 75 yards on a flatout run with my vanguard 30-06. All I had was a headshot and I took it offhand and when he hit the ground he slid another 5-8 feet from momentum. I had to wait for the shot due to so many trees and saw a window in the woods and waited for his arrival. This deer is in the N.H. Fish And Game record books as well as the N.H. skull and antler trophy book, dressed out at 214 and a massive 10pt rack. I practice shooting offhand for a month before open season because in N.H. about the only shot you get sometimes is running and with a deer population of less than 1 per square mile in some parts you dont want to miss. Luckily I had a witness to this shot, my lifelong hunting partner who was about 120 or so yards to my left waiting for the deer to come to him, he never made it lol.

#2: I shot a walking buck at 120 yards offhand with a Mossberg trophy slugster using a sabot slug. I aimed just below his right ear as I knew the slug was going to drop and he would get a step on me. I hit him just behind the heart and he went about 150 yards before expiring. He dressed out at 175lbs and has a thick heavy 8 pt rack. This one is also in the N.H. Skull and antler trophy book.

#3: Shot a 140lb dressed doe at 90 yards offhand on a flatout run through the heart with the same 30-06 vanguard. This was in a semi logged out area so trees were not an issue. The shot was at 4:30 and I was 2 miles deep in thick mountainous woods alone, I got out at 8:30 that night.

#4: Had 3 deer at 150 or so yards trotting down a hillside in a semi clearcut, it was bucks only. I finally found antlers ( a spike horn with about 8 inches ) I shot him in the head offhand with my remington model 7 308 . I only had a headshot because he was in a deep skidder rut and he was uphill from me. I got to him and found he landed in a huge mudhole made by a skidder and in his last death kick he slimed me with mud, defiant little spike! He dressed out at 118lbs. I have to say it was the most gross mess I ever saw as the bullet was a ballistic tip and exploded his face and half his skull.

I shot a 8pt many years ago jumping out of a swamp, with a 41 magnum handgun. The shot was at about 60yds angled and I hit him in the backside of the shoulder. The deer had been wounded by a friend day before and I tracked him to the swamp. After the shot he stumbled but kept going. I yelled to my buddy he's coming right at you. The deer broke out of the brush so close all he had was a shot from the hip, he missed. I found the buck next day alive but hurting, he jumped when I crested a hill and put him down with a well placed neckshot. The first shot made by my friend with my borrowed 30-06 Vanguard was at 325 yards in a gravel pit. The poor SOB had no scrotum, my buddy made the shot with the deers back too him and held the scope on the base of his tail. DONT ASK WHY!!!!!! The Vanguard was disgraced for eternity after that. My 41 magnum shot failed to penetrate the shoulder and slid along the bone and out the front.

I have shot about 30 deer in N.H., about 50% were moving in the woods and about 30% were running. Most shots are 50yds average, N.H. has some pretty thick woods and the deer know you are there usually before you see them. All you usually get is one shot and some guys hunt for the whole season almost 30days and never even see a deer. The deer are few and far between in most parts except on the Mass. border where a high percentage of land is posted.

Out of the 30 deer I have shot in N.H., I have only had to shoot 1 deer more than once, shot him twice on the run. First shot was a lung shot, I knew exactly where i was aiming and the second clipped his heart, that was a quick unsure one but it found its mark. practice practice practice and Hit them where it counts and use the right bullet. I take running shots but not running directly away where only the flag is a target. This usually makes for a wounded deer and a mess of the internals. I am no camp Perry champ, but I do fine tune my loads and I practice shooting offhand at deer targets a month before open season. I use paper deer targets so I get used to instinctively aiming for the zone. Shooting is like any sport, an athlete's have to practice to get to the peak of their game and so do shooters.

[Long Path]

I've made two that I were proud of, but they were attenuated by bad shots to begin with. Both were follow-up shots on high-speed running deer:

One I had just missed with my pistol, and I made the head shot with an iron-sighted Springfield at about ~80 yards.

The other was in the rain, while standing unsupported, after having just fired on the buck as it jumped the fence. Afraid that I'd hit him poorly (I had missed him clean), I made the fastest rack, aim and fire I've ever made, and put a fatal bullet into him at 150 yards.

Neither of these were at all incredible, but were personal bests in recovering what I feared was wounded game.


Most of the shots with the people that I hunt with are the result of good hunting techniques, so I don't have many "incredible" shots to report.

[12-34hom]

Pheasant hunting with my dad, watched him take a triple with a 28 guage.

Duck hunting with two of my buddies, one takes a Canada goose at @ 90 yards with a 12 guage.

Me, shot a crow out of a swaying small tree at @ 335 yards in about a 40mph crosswind with a 243.

12-34hom.

[butch50]

In the summer of my 18th year I was squirrel hunting with 22 bolt action (Remington 522), by walking up a creek bed. The creek had a small amount of running water and I was wading in places, and walking in places.

It was hot, and I came to a small waterfall about 12 foot high. In front of the waterfall was a shallow pool about the size of half a tennis court, gravel bottom, clear water - very nice area. I laid my rifle on a dry log on a gravel bar, and stripped down.

I waded across the pool - a little over ankle deep, and stood under the waterfall, letting that cool water run over me. A rather large water moccasin was making his way down stream at that time and came over the waterfall.

First it landed on my shoulder for a brief second then slid on down my body falling off into the pool when it reached about my knees. It happened so fast that there wasn't much time to do anything except to realize what had happened, which is a good thing otherwise I probably would have grabbed at it and gotten bit.

As soon as it was off of me I tore off running across that pool (to this day I think I was moving so fast that I didn't touch the gravel bottom) grabbed my .22, worked the bolt while spinning around and fired from the hip before even coming to a complete stop, hitting the snake dead between the eyes from about 30 feet while it was swimming rapidly.

Total elapsed time from snake hitting the water to snake dead was less than 5 seconds. Lucky shot? Maybe, but maybe when we are in total instinctive mode like I was then we can do amazing things.

[IronBalls]

with a .50 cal i shot the moon- dead center, open sights.

[impact]

You must be the one that left all them marks on the moon

[Long Path]

I watched out own Rich Lucibella punch a moving ground squirrel, partially hidden from view, at about 70 yards (not paced) with an iron-sighted Winchester lever-action .22. Doesn't sound too impressive, until you think that the visible target was about golfball sized, and was light tan against dirt and dead weeds-- very low contrast.

[Art Eatman]

I was riding along with my Uncle Joe in the old family Jeep, when he suddenly locked the brakes and grabbed the rifle from the rack across the front of the dashboard. I hadn't seen anything.

He'd spotted a buck trotting down a sendero about 125 yards to our left front. As the buck jumped the fence, Joe shot and broke the buck's neck in mid-jump. He did sorta smile a little bit after that shot...

Three witnesses all agreed on one story about my father: Out in west Texas with a norther blowing, and they were trying to figure on how to hunt. They happened to see a big buck, a little buck and three or four does "way over yonder". Johnny Gault sat down, aimed, and passed the shot, saying there was just too much wind.

My father's braggadocio was, "I'll break his neck, from here." Offhand, you realize. The first shot was a miss, but gave him the windage. The second shot broke the buck's neck.

A .30-'06. He was holding about five feet high.

As far as my personal best shot on a game critter, one time when deer hunting I'd just climbed over a fence. I looked around as I picked up my rifle and saw three gobblers off about 125 yards. One of those deals where there's no time to do anything but quick-figure and shoot. So, I snap-shot the biggest, crosswise, behind the legs. Gutted him on the spot, as it were. Didn't hurt any meat.

Art

[HOKIEHUNTER]

this isn't hunting but still impressive:

my buddies and i shot skeet all the time. one january i had a lot of buck shot and turkey shot leftover from the previous hunting season and decided to shoot skeet with my 3" 00 buckshot loads. i went 10 for 10 with buckshot (pretty painful after a while) and one of my buddies decided to try. he couldn't hit the skeet to save his life with the buckshot. for ****s and giggles he asks me to hand him a slug, and damn if he didn't break the skeet with a slug at about 25 yards. he laid the gun down and said, "top that!" i tried but had to hang my head in shame....

edit: I missed the languade note, and i apologize. i'll not use that phrase anymore i guess...

[Rangefinder]

This one is more of a funny story than an incredible shot story, but it qualifies....

When I was younger I went hunting with a couple of friends a lot. We were walking up a draw and the bottom was thick with willows and a spring ran right through the middle--great watering hole. So myself and one friend (CJ) sat just above on one edge, and the other (Mike) walked down into the willows a little to have a look, or something. Just about then a little mule buck came wandering down from above, walked up and was heading straight towards where Mike had gone, maybe 20 yds dead-left. CJ (the friend with me) shouldered his 30-30 and shot, the buck bolted and disappeared into the thick of the willows. Not a second later we heard Mike yell "$#**! He hit me!" I thought for sure CJ had just shot Mike somehow, and we both ran down into the willows to see Mike sprawled out under the dead buck with his pants down. As it turned out, he walked down into the willows to "take care of some paperwork" and got run over by the buck after CJ hit it clean.

So not really an "incredible" shot, but an event well worth remembering...

[buzz_knox]

There was a squirrel about 40-50 yards away standing up on a branch watching my father and I approach his position. I raised the scope sighted BLR .22 to my shoulder and fired. The squirrel dropped right out of the tree.

Of course, I'd shot the branch he was standing on, and he caught the trunk during the fall and took off. So it was a great shot, only about 2 inches low.

[artsmom]

Most impressive shot I have seen was on a bounding buck in tall reeds along the river. Only the top of his head was visible, and then only at the top of the buck's bound. My brother caught it square in the back of the head at 30 yards with a scoped Ruger #1 in .300 Win. Mag. He took the shot because we had been following it on the assumption it might have been wounded from a shot I had taken earlier.

My brother would sit in his easy chair watching TV, and practice throwing a scoped rifle up and on target for hours. I guess it paid off.

[VirgilCaine]

I was walking with my wife in the woods during small game season with my iron sighted ruger 96 22lr. A grouse flushed just a few feet from me and flew a straight line up a small ridge. I hit it square in the back with the .22. I couldn't believe my luck..er...skill

[zeisloft]

dove at 30yds, with a bow.
~z

[Clayfish]

My best friend and I were sitting on the dam plinking turtles and I spotted 2 about 5 feet from one another. I told my buddy to "watch this" and pulled the trigger twice as fast as I could. There was two blood patches in the water meaning I decapitated both. I thought I was going to have to pick his jaw up from the ground.(to be honest it suprised the heck out of me too) He still tells that story whenever we're talking shooting to other people. i just stand there and smile.

[zeisloft]

Good friend and I were hunting varmits in west Tx. He shot a jack rabbit w/a .22. Not a big deal. Walked over and picked it up (transfered rifle to left hand) and spooked another rabbit. Heres the crazy part. Instead of shooting the other jack, he threw the dead rabbit at it...and killed it. So two rabbits one bullet.
~z