Upon reading some of these, a couple of new one's come to my mind.
This my be my best shooting ever. I was only about 14 yo, using my grandfather's single shot, breakdown 410. I was hunting Woodcock in fairly dense timber/brush, by stalking through (no dog) and jumping them. They usually flushed from only 10 to 15 feet away, generally going nearly straight up, then making many quick turns while going through the trees. I left home with 6 shells….came home with 5 birds and knocked feathers off of a 6th. By far my best morning Woodcock hunt!
I (about 14 or 15) was doing a mixed bag hunt (pretty much anything that moves….squirrel, rabbit, ducks, deer) with several uncles and a little cur-dog for treeing squirrels. Everyone had shotguns but me….I had a rifle for deer and my little Browning Nomad 22 semi-auto pistol. The dog treed in a tree covered thickly by vines. We circled the tree hoping that the squirrel would make a run. The squirrel started a fast sprint up the tree, I got a shot off with my Nomad before anyone with shotguns fired a shot. The squirrel folded and tumbled from the tree. I'm not certain who was more surprised….me, my uncles, or the squirrel!
If you hunt/shoot a lot for 65 years and counting…..there will be a lot of those moments! memtb