A shot to far.

[kc]

It never fails me to be reminded of the shot that was to far, I was young and dumb, and had no reason for doing it, I thought I was a real great shot at long range. It was a doe,
she was well over 300 yards and I was using a .35 MARLIN any other time they would just fold from one shot, but on this day I was up hill and with open sights. I had my rifle resting on a big limb from an apple tree she was the bigest one in the herd, when I fired the Deer bent upwords and ran off, gut shot! there was no damned good reason for me taking that shot With that rifle. All the guys said I made a bad decision for trying it. That day I was about to give up hunting for good. but the old man set me down with all the guys and we had a talk, you have the right to make a decision right now! you can be a hunter because we have all made mistakes, or you can grow up to be a anti-hunter/gun-grabin SOB, wich
we dont have an ounce of respect for,its your decision. So I wiped my nose and dried my tears and went back out that evening, I went back to where the deer was with my dad and jake we found her, about two miles in the Cedar swamp. it was luck for me. I had one of Michigans best trackers with me. Ya I did gut shoot her but I hit someting and she bled some along with the green you see when you make a dumb shot(decision) like that.
How far is to far for you?

 

[Rupe]

Good story! Makes you think.

 

[dogdinger]

put it in perspective KC......

Dont get me wrong, i am certainly not advocating anything with this post i simply want to put into perspective a few things. we as hunters strive to give our quarry a quick painless death, after all it is NOT about killing that we are out here. the act of killing a beautiful animal has given me many a thoughtful, tearful time. I remember walking up to a full curl bighorn ram that i had just made a perfect 500 + yd shot on....(after 21 days of hunting with a 45lb backpack on my back), and sitting down and balling my eyes out. to see the destruction that i have caused by sqeezing the trigger is sometimes enough to make an anti hunter out of the best of us......but....then i think about the death that nature would have given this same beautiful creature....think about the natural way....old, blind, rheumatic, hurtful joints, no teeth left to chew food, and more than likely eaten while still alive by a couple of coyotes.....the worst gut shot death is better than the best natural one....that episode should strengthen your resolve to be a better shot/make better judgements, but certainly not to stop being a hunter. we as hunters serve a needed role in the ecosystem......we have taken the place of predators in keeping game populations in balance.....we are in fact THE top predators....without us doing our job , all the animals out there would suffer the "natural' deaths i described above and would go through cycles of feast and famine every few years....dont beat yourself up over that one bad episode....use it as a learning experience and a teaching tool for when you have kids...AJ

 

[D B Cooper]

AJ,

Congratulations! You have ethics and you respect your quarry. You are a true hunter. While reading I began wondering if I had posted this.

My wife isn't anti by any means. We are both animal people, both country raised, and never without a couple of dogs, cats, birds or other assorted critters. She does offer a mild protest at times about my hunting addiction. I told her that it's in my blood, but if I ever shoot an animal and don't feel remorse about taking it's life, I'll quit.

Great post...

Keith,

The first deer that I killed was also with a .35 Marlin. I got excited and tried to shoot a big Blacktail doe in thick brush. When it walked out of the brush, I didn't even stop to look, I fired. It tumbled down the hill for quite a ways. When I got to it, I saw that it wasn't the doe but her yearling, not much bigger than a dog. The doe ran down and stood about 20 feet away bleating for the yearling. It nearly ended any desire I had for hunting ever again.

 

[britz]

DB Cooper, Where is the money???

 

[cva54]

I my self shoot at a deer out there 350 or more (missed toatly luck for me didnt have to track it) with a 30.06 i dont think that is to for a .06 just like every one that miss's i thought about that shot HARD was it me or the rifle cant be me right after thinking it wasnt the rifle or me i proved it to my self went to the range i could put the bullet were i aimed up to 175 then it was all kentucky windeg I f#&% up when I set up the rifle a 2-7x32 scope with only a cross hair ret. since then ive learned alot out here in the past 3 months since then have put new scope a good one 3-9x40 ballistc plx ret. bipod,trigger job now hitting 1" moa or better at a 100 didnt have tape with me 3 times hit the same hole was it luck or not dont konw time will tell going back to range 200y then I will know. Yes it is up to us to be responable hunters hone your skills know your limits MAKE clean kills. About killing there was one time out on the west side of MN muzzel loader seasonI spent 4 days finding were they when were they were moving came back to a lone tree in the midle of a field 50 y off a sanurary(a place U cant go in to)got there at 3:00 pm to wait just like I planed 1 or 2 min. left for shooting time here thay came about 8 or 10 of them they broke on to the field dead run I was under cover couldnt see me wen they were about 10:00 to me I yelled allredy sighted in on the one I wanted thay all slamed the brakes on boom that 54 cal long gun patch and ball 120 gr powder shot was only about 50 feet hit it in the left front sholder ball came outright side rib cage it turned around heading back to the cover left leg in the air I new I had to beat it there allready had my knife stuck it the tree jumped up from that frosen ground grabed my knife and took off running tackeled it 10 feet before the sanurary then i slit its throut that is a sound I WILL NEVER FOR GET and never do again

 

[jwp475]

DB Cooper, Where is the money???

Where is D B Cooper???

 

[yobuck]

well kc we were all once young. and many of us dumb. i also had a 35 rem. when young. im now 73. the thing that surprises me most about your story, is how you even hit the thing at 300 yds. with that gun. sounds like a barroom story to me. anyway it was a good read, and im glad it all worked out well.