Whats your best shot?

[Tikkamike]

I know this has been done before but I like reading the stories. I want to know what is your best or (luckiest) hunting shot. Include pics if you have them.

Mine is a toss up. A few years ago I shot a coyote that was on a dead run at about 250 yards off hand with my m70 270wsmwhich I felt was pretty impressive at the time.

Then this year I made my first 1k+ shot attempt. It was on a buck antelope. He was very patient while I got set up and as I was getting ready he bedded in tall grass and would not stand up. so I decided I would dope my wind and spin drift and go for a neck shot. Then when I inevitably missed and he stood up I would put one in the body. I shot and he jumped up and ran into a draw. Assuming I had missed we packed up and drove up there. and found them all bedded. They all jumped up except him, he just laid there and his head slowly dropped and I figured he must have been gut shot or something. so I walked over there and my 300 SMK had whizzed right through his neck without expanding and he just laid there and bled to death through the artery I had severed. He is the antelope in my signature pic.

Now I want to hear some good stories from you guys!

 

[TimeOnTarget]

My best 2 shots to date happened back to back.

2 Doe whitetail standing @ 420yds. 25-06 pushing 100grn x bullet.

I went prone and sent it.....

First shot was right on money, she ran bout 20yds and tipped over. The 2nd does just stood there. didnt even move at the shot. 2nd shot was right on the money also but this one made it about 75yds before tipping.

These are my 2 longest shots also.

I was happy that i proved to myself that i could do it by repeating it moments later.

My practice had paid off. Now for that 500yd one......

Some day TM, ill tip one at 1k or better..... but not today

 

[Outlaw6.0]

Would you believe the best/luckiest shot I made on an animal was with a handgun? lol

October, deer hunting on the Duck Creek Ranch IIRC (buddies place). We were on the way back to the truck, lazily walking down a draw at midday, well we flush a coyote out of the sagebrush. Being half asleep & three quarters not paying attention, the only thing offering offense to the 'yote would be the size of our eyes. On this particular day I decided not to carry my rifle, just my trusty Desert Eagle chambered in .50AE . Who needs a rifle with a Mastadon stomper right? So my partner & I both offer unkind words as the offending party hits the edge of the draw at full tilt.

Well now that we are almost paying attention, I decide to draw my trusty cannon and we ever so slowly creep towards the last known position of our sworn enemy. Nothing, as usual...$%*! coyotes anyhow... for whatever reason I decide to not holster the ~6lb monster slayer & creep forward in my best dangerous game stalk ala Peter Capstick....

Movement! At 15yds out of a brush the size of a VW the coyote bolts full speed at a 45 degree angle from left to right, ears pinned back, tail tucked in and shaped like a rocket (moving about the same speed). Instinctively, the Desert Eagle comes up from the low ready position as an extention of my arms (you need both with that cannon), as soon as the dog hits my sight picture the pistol moves to the right to lead the dog like a gigantic fuzzy sporting clay as the recoil suprises even me! The fawn killer acts as if he hits a tripwire doing a full summersault skidding to a stop on it's back in an almost Shakespearian conclusion..

I'd caught the critter in the area of his last rib with a 300grn Speer Gold Dot hollow point at ~35yds, which to date, remains one of the messiest coyote kills i've ever seen....


Hey... you wanted a story! My luckiest by far, but good read anywho...

 

[isaaccarlson]

Don't laugh...my best shot was a grackle at 200 yards with my CZ 455 in 22LR. I lasered the bird and dialed in the elevation. Took the shot and the bird slammed into the dirt like it was hit with a hammer.

 

[SavageShtr]

My best shot to date was a ground hog through the neck at 840 yards. I was using a savage 300wsm. I had to shoot it off a wood pile do to the corn being to tall for a prone shot. I lost sight of it after the trigger broke and when I got back on him he was giving the surrender sign with his tail. When I got up to it there was a nice hole through the neck. I also would like to add that this was done while hunting without a spotter. I hit him on the third try, after each the first two shots that I missed he ran back into the fence row he lived in. I didn't miss him by much on the first two shots either. Each time he kept comming out a little further away and was keeping a very low profile in the grass. I held the Nikon w/a target dot reticle on the front shoulder area and touched it off. I was very happy that I was able to finally get a kill like that after so many attempts. The only thing that would have made it better is if liltank was there to see it.

 

[WildRose]

Both of min are one shot kills on bobcats and both within the last few months.

One was with the 7mm STW at just shy of 900yds.

The other with the 300 rum and just over 1080yds.

Five years ago I shot a deer at right at 1230yds with the same STW but it was a two shot kill having missed the first.

 

[7mmRemMag]

Not my longest kill, but certainly one of my favorites has to be New Mexico last year. Most of my Long range kills have been from my shooting table, but not the New Mexico deer. I was humping it up one of the mountains one morning and spotted and ranged some animals on the adjacent mountain that were at 650yards. I knew they had to be bucks because they were very dark in color and large bodies. Since 500 yards was my max effective range.... I circled around the mountain to get within 500 and never got my eyes off of them so I wouldnt loose them. I sat down got my shooting sticks, ranged to double check, and adjusted my scope for the shot. Two of the bucks had moved on but I found one bedded down and waited like 30min for him to get up. When He did I put the cross hairs on His shoulder and Sent that 140Gr Accubond out of my Remington 7 270wsm Away to it's new Home! Wham! He dropped like a rock! You can see I was dead on, and with out the best rest (or without my shooting bench rest) and with shooting sticks... I was impressed how dead on it was! But hey I guess thats why we practice right? Lol If you look closely youll see my Dope taped to my scope. My little cheat sheet!

 

[liltank]

I have 2. The first is with a Howa 25-06 my dad built when I was a kid. I was probably around 15yrs old. I had gotten pretty good with that rifle. Before I developed a load for it, my dad put together a load using 110 NBT's. This big ole doe comes walking up to my spot. She couldn't have been more than 30yds away. She just looked at me straight on and I put the cross hairs right between the lookers. I was leaning on a tree as a rest for my rifle. I squeezed the trigger. As I recover from recoil, she is just standing there looking at me like, "HAHA, you missed me!" She took off running around the point to my right. I swung the gun around and already had a fresh shell in. I saw hair and pulled the trigger. This was my first time swinging on a deer and shooting one running. When I hit her it was only about 25yds away. She slowed very quickly and walked into some mountain laurel. I heard her flop over. Clean shot right between the ribs and took her heart out. Couldn't have been more perfect.

The second was my second long range kill ever in groundhog season here in PA. I had just skipped a 208 A-max off the ground right into the shoulders of one groundhog at 628yds. So I guess that one was pretty lucky shot in itself. But the second was great by comparison. We saw another one at 620yds. I set up and took a bead between the head and shoulder. Savageshtr was calling the wind. It was a little tricky that day, but we did our best. I squeezed the shot off. I recovered from the recoil to see the round impact just in front of his nose. He ran from left to right into a brushy area under a tree in a fence row. I kept my scope on the general area to see if he would come back out to the field. Well he ended up popping up right under the tree. I had to guide Savageshtr in because it was difficult to see him. The groundhog stood there like a statue and stared at up. I lazed him at 605.

Savageshtr started calling the wind in again. He said, "put a 1/2 minute in.... wait take it out.... nope put it back in." I said, "you on him?" he said yes. Then he says, "send it......boom!" I recovered to see him flop straight back over. I saw his little legs twitch really fast. I put the cross hairs on his nose to allow for any drop. I wasn't very sure of my load at this point. I knew it was somewhat accurate, but I was having consistency problems with it (turned out to be fire cracking in the barrel). We drove up to the groundhog. Sure enough I put the bullet right through his right eye and out the left ear. Needless to say it was a good day.

The skip shot at 628

The head shot at 605 and me

Total package Stock Savage 300WSM, 208A-max

 

[elkaholic]

I have a couple that are not at all the longest shots but felt they were the best (or luckiest) at the time.
The first was on a Nice 5 point whitetail the last day of season several years ago. I was driving down a power line 2 rut when the buck bolted and ran full tilt accross the R-O-W. My 6.5 was on the seat next to me and I knew I had to be quick. I bailed out, jacked in a round, and thru the rifle to my shoulder just as the buck jumped a large downfall ready to disappear into the timber. He must have been 6-8 feet in the air and luckily I had a 3x scope. I caught the front of the deer in the crosshair just at the instant the rifle hit my shoulder and I squeezed the trigger. He was approx. 100 yards at the time. Everything instantly disappeared and went quiet. I walked over to the downfall and the buck lay dead right where he landed shot thru the heart.
My second was more recently on the last day of deer season and I was watching a brush field accross a ravine where the road we were on had looped around. I had taken my snowmobile as the snow was too deep for a 4x4. I noticed the buck heading down toward the road thru the brush field and told my buddy to range him when he hit the road. I thought he would stop and it would be a fairly easy shot at about 700 yards. The problem was, when he hit the road, he went into a trot. He continued on down for 200-300 yards and it was clear he wasn't going to stop before he went out of site. I told my buddy to range the last small opening between the brush before he would have gone into heavy timber. I leaned over the seat of my snowmobile with my 300 Sherman just when my buddy hollered "680" I dialed in the turret and pulled on the 8-10' open spot just as the buck entered. He was quartering away and I pulled in front of him a couple of feet and let fly. He disappeared at the same instant and my buddy said "oooooooooooh Rich!! What a hail Mary that was"! I said, I don't know, the shot felt pretty good! We rode back around the switchback about a mile until we hit the tracks and followed them down some 300 yards to where I had shot. The buck lay stone dead about two steps past where I shot him. He was hit ahead of the last rib and the bullet ended up under the skin in the off shoulder.
I have had some 1000 yard plus shots on elk and bear that weren't nearly that difficult............Rich

 

[WildRose]

I have 2. The first is with a Howa 25-06 my dad built when I was a kid. I was probably around 15yrs old. I had gotten pretty good with that rifle. Before I developed a load for it, my dad put together a load using 110 NBT's. This big ole doe comes walking up to my spot. She couldn't have been more than 30yds away. She just looked at me straight on and I put the cross hairs right between the lookers. I was leaning on a tree as a rest for my rifle. I squeezed the trigger. As I recover from recoil, she is just standing there looking at me like, "HAHA, you missed me!" She took off running around the point to my right. I swung the gun around and already had a fresh shell in. I saw hair and pulled the trigger. This was my first time swinging on a deer and shooting one running. When I hit her it was only about 25yds away. She slowed very quickly and walked into some mountain laurel. I heard her flop over. Clean shot right between the ribs and took her heart out. Couldn't have been more perfect.

The second was my second long range kill ever in groundhog season here in PA. I had just skipped a 208 A-max off the ground right into the shoulders of one groundhog at 628yds. So I guess that one was pretty lucky shot in itself. But the second was great by comparison. We saw another one at 620yds. I set up and took a bead between the head and shoulder. Savageshtr was calling the wind. It was a little tricky that day, but we did our best. I squeezed the shot off. I recovered from the recoil to see the round impact just in front of his nose. He ran from left to right into a brushy area under a tree in a fence row. I kept my scope on the general area to see if he would come back out to the field. Well he ended up popping up right under the tree. I had to guide Savageshtr in because it was difficult to see him. The groundhog stood there like a statue and stared at up. I lazed him at 605.

Savageshtr started calling the wind in again. He said, "put a 1/2 minute in.... wait take it out.... nope put it back in." I said, "you on him?" he said yes. Then he says, "send it......boom!" I recovered to see him flop straight back over. I saw his little legs twitch really fast. I put the cross hairs on his nose to allow for any drop. I wasn't very sure of my load at this point. I knew it was somewhat accurate, but I was having consistency problems with it (turned out to be fire cracking in the barrel). We drove up to the groundhog. Sure enough I put the bullet right through his right eye and out the left ear. Needless to say it was a good day.

The skip shot at 628

The head shot at 605 and me

Total package Stock Savage 300WSM, 208A-max

A hit on anything that small at over 500yds is impressive as hell.gun)

 

[isaaccarlson]

I put my label right on the turret.

 

[royinidaho]

What's my best shot?

That's easy. Many years ago several of us were riding down the canyon (horses) 3 deer are spotted on top look down at us. Dismount, sit, look, one fork horn, two doe.

Two of us sat to attempt the shot. Third fella counted down, quite doubtfully, counted down for the shot.

Shooting 270 Win, 130 Sierra Boat tails. Other fella shooting an '06.

The forky was quartering towards us only head, neck and part of front shoulder visible. I head the Leuy VX-II @ 9X with only the neck and head visible in the field of view. Rifle zero'd @ 200 yds.

At "Shoot" both rifles went off simultaneously. Ron walked up the hill. I took the horses for a 30 min round about ride to get there. As I got close I saw blood on his hands. Sweet!!!

That night when he was skinned out the bullet found that had entered the front left shoulder and was under the skin ahead of the right ham was a boat tail. Whooo Hoooo. Ron was shooting flat bases.

Still have the well formed bullet remains.

What will be my next best shot?

Most certainly the next one!!

 

[AJ Peacock]

I'd say this was my luckiest shot.

I was hunting Mule deer / elk with my Dad in Colorado. I was probably 19-20 years old. We'd been walking a 2 track and came across 5 Texans having a smoke. We stopped to visit. They had doe tags, we only had buck tags. While we were visiting with 4 of them, the 5th kept looking at the hills above us with his bino's. After 5 minutes or so, the 5th guys said "Hey Theres Some Deer.". Sure enough, there were half dozen does walking up a steep hill about 550yds or so away from us. They were walking straight away from us, and the hill was so steep, we were looking right at their backs.

Since my dad and I only had buck tags, we stepped aside and watched the does continue walking up the hill undisturbed as 3 of the Texans emptied their bolt action rifles at them. Once they were empty and decided "They're too far away." Another deer came out of the brush from below and it happened to be a medium size 4x5 buck (ended up being something like 24" inside spread). The buck was following the does straight up the same trail. I asked them if any of them had a buck tag, they said something to the effect of "No, but he's too far away anyway." I looked over at my dad and he said "I'll spot for you." I sat down and took a solid rest on my knees (I wish I could get that solid now a days!). My 7mm Rem Mag was always sighted in 2 1/2" (the length of an empty 7mm Rem Mag cartridge) high at 100yds. I held my crosshairs even with the main beam split and touch off a round. A second or so later and the deer stumbled and stepped off the trail to the right and disappeared into the brush.

The Texans certainly had some fine "complimentary" words to say about the shot, I can tell you that. Anyway, when we got the deer home and skinned, I found out just how lucky the shot was. The bullet had NEVER ENTERED THE DEERS BODY!! It had sliced along a rib about half way back its body. It hadn't done anything more than burn a spot of hair off the hide. BUT, it did splinter the rib and a toothpick size sliver cut the heck out of the liver. He had bled out internally by the time we got up to him. (actually, he wasn't quite dead and need a 22lr between the eyes, he couldn't stand up).

So I shot a one shot kill on a fair muley at 550+ yards without drawing blood! And with an audience!

AJ

 

[DanielLudwig]

I have two what I will tell. First one was a long time ago, still hunting with a .243 700 ADL, a big doe came out at what I later found out was 375 yards. She stood and looked right at me, and after I thought about it I decided that with no wind this gave me plenty of room for vertical error, so I would try it. I laid out on a bipod and held the duplex of the crosshair right on the deer's head, thinking the bullet would drop much farther and impact in the deer's chest. I squeezed off a shot and the deer fell instantly, much to my surprise. Upon a closer look I found an exit hole in the back of the deer's head of all things! I didnt find the entrance hole until I pulled the deer's lip back and found it's teeth all busted and part of its tongue missing!
Second one is also a head shot, but I actually did this on purpose. Was sitting with a neighbor on a high point on their farm looking back over at our farm when a deer came out into the field, we talked about it for a bit and the deer laid down in the field. I told him "I ought to try and head shoot her", to which he responded "If you hit her I will take her". I figured that meant freebie so I ranged her, 303yds. I got behind the gun, asked him if he could see her, and dialed up for the shot. The doe turned her head sideways and I decided to shoot. Before I could get back on her I heard him say"Got her".
I've got some others but I will keep them under my hat.
Daniel