Have you ever had a what the h--l shots?

It wasn't actually a shot...but was game! It occurred to me, when returning home to Kemmerer, Wy. well after dark, after a February day spent in Jackson, Wy. My future wife and I were headed south through Hoback Canyon, in a fairly heavy, falling snow in her 1988 Honda Accord. When two moose, came from the timber, running right to left! I attempted to go behind them, driving between them and the piled snow on the right shoulder. I clipped the snow bank, turning the Honda hard right! It was then, I got my second Shiras Moose. You just haven't lived until, you've had a moose *** enter your window. With the driver's door, the windshield side pillar, and driver's side roof pretty much destroyed and a rather large deposit of moose scat in my lap....I had my "What the h-ll moment"! memtb
 
...It was then, I got my second Shiras Moose. You just haven't lived until, you've had a moose *** enter your window. With the driver's door, the windshield side pillar, and driver's side roof pretty much destroyed and a rather large deposit of moose scat in my lap....I had my "What the h-ll moment"! memtb

That was hilarious!

Adolescent me and my teenage brother. BB gun in the woods behind the house. He lines up on a Mallard, aiming 10' in front "just to scare it". Of course, it skips and breaks the duck's neck. Learned the hard way that water reflects many things, not just photons.

Years later, this time with the now-adult younger brother. He lines up on a doe and plugs it through the base of the neck, breaking the neck and shoulder with his 12ga. Didn't see the yearling doe that was perfectly behind it (legs matching legs as they were standing and all), and got a two-fer. Had I not been videoing it, the warden never would have believed that we didn't exceed our tag limit. Thank Heaven I had a view of his shoulder and sights in the camera.

I've never been so "lucky" as to have anything to share here myself.
 
As a competitive shooter I've had more than my share of *** moments. I've even came away with 2 separate match victories directly because of exotic rifle setups and match conditions leading to *** shots.
 
Had an easy shot at a 6x6 bull elk, facing away @ 100 yards and 50 feet below me. Out the crosshairs on its back on a line to go above the heart. .338WM with a 225g AccuBond @ 2742fps.

The gun boomed and the bull just stood there, unfazed, then slowly walked away.

Discovered the last minute change from my .280 Rem to the .338WM had been a bit incomplete - I forgot to change the ammo in my pocket and didn't notice the difference when I loaded up the rifle in the dark.

Took the bull a few minutes later at 411 yards with my hunting buddy's 7mm RM and a 160g Speer Grand Slam.
 
On a prairie dog shoot with a buddy in SD when I took a chip shot at one at 80 yards. What I didn't see was the one old strand of barbed wire crossing me at about 40 yards. At the shot I hit the wire (naturally) and 10 yards further you could see the bullet hit the dirt and then right after that the dog fell over dead. Sometimes luck smiles on you...not usually, but sometimes.
 
1982 in Manitoba Canada. We were hunting whitetail with a couple young guys who hadn't hunted much. Working a river bottom and a doe came running past up about 30 yards away. Young guy up and shot and the doe ran straight into a tree. He cut her throat to bleed out and I helped him field dress her. I couldn't see any bullet holes so when we skinned her down back at the farm we checked very carefully. He never touched her.........she just ran straight into the tree and knocked herself out. One of the drawbacks I guess of having eyes on the side of your head :)
 
Was out hunting,brother inlaw had just shot a bull opening archery.Had been raining and I was in t shirt,cold.I went down to follow up on direction his bull went.Real nice 330 type 6 by rubbing a tree, I was already froze so I went for it ninja tree to tree.In moments Im 25 yrds.My brother in law comes down ridge whistling,that bull looks up.I know thing going wrong fast I draw and release,hear a crack.Center punch the tiny sapling the bull was rubbing.
 
Three reader digest versions....
Mule deer hunt...brothers greatest shot...no holes in buck...but internals shot up from the rear....literally...must have enter straight thru the rear end......
Grew up in flood country in coos county Oregon..flood days were spent wirh 22 watching for moles, mice rats or whatever else may come by...well a long necked white goose was about 700 yards away....one shot...one dead goose.....three pastures away.....man did that farmer get mad i shot that goose.......lol...
This year..whitetail hunting up north....on top of mountain..look down and there's the buck I been looking at from the bottom of the canyon...30 yards...just before head started into the tree i decided to shoot down thru his ribs and out the front of him....
26 nosler..3200fps...i pulled tbe trigger as the buck was walking....
He took it the hard way.....after I squeezed the trigger he jumped and was coming down over a limb......blew straight thru his nuts..split his stomachs open and 140 acc went right thru right lung and lodged at back edge of right shoulder......then the hide and seek game began...thru
the repro...a little fat with blood on it...just on the rocks above the gravel road..a full **** bag..(no idea)...on other edge of road half if not all of his small intestines....over the road and down the hill...very little blood...jumped him twice in the reprod patches but no shot opportunities...and he was being very sneaky on backtracking as he was heading down hill...then I caught him as he circled back into the reprod from the edge of a unit...fell down....i walked over..stood on his antler and slit his throat....probably not even a cup of blood left in him....
That was a full hour of tracking as fast as i could with many circles searching....shot at 1..found at 2....heading down frozen hillside as darkness was coming...hit catroad at 445...still 3 miles to the gate...left one pack and got out of there...back in morning for second pack and head...with my mtn bike to carry it out....pretty nice...but the frost turned rhe roads to mud.....it was a mess.... 1122191422.jpg1122191418.jpg1122191511.jpg1123191058.jpg
 
Not a rifle, but... Many years ago while on a hike with a girlfriend, I spotted a squirrel sunning itself on a big rock 70ish yard below us over a cliff. I was tossing small rocks to see if I could scare it off and couldn't get close. (She was not impressed) As we were leaving I picked up a baseball sized rock with my left hand and gave it the most awkward wrong handed throw imaginable. Bullseye!! Needless to say, buddy's are more impressed with that kind of tallent than a potential mate.


But it does help weed them out. Lol.

Thanks
Buck
 
I use to bowhunt with one of the best archers I have ever seen. He always seemed to kill nice buck and ALWAYS gave us grief when we killed a doe with bow. That's another discussion but one of the last times I hunted with him before I had to relocate, he did the unthinkable....yup, he killed a doe. Now mind you he was shooting at a nice buck he claims. He even went to the point of dragging us back to the scene of the "crime" to prove he was shooting at a buck. He proved he was not infallible. When he shot, he did not perceive the small branch between him and buck. His broadhead just barely hit the branch (he repeatedly showed us the slice in the branch) and diverted his arrow just enough his arrow went just enough left to kill a doe 12 ring behind the front leg that was facing the buck nose to nose but just close enough to receive the arrow. Now understand this was our opportunity to "get even" and trust me we didn't let this one go at all. We seriously congratulated on a very fine shot at a tasty doe which he valiantly tried to claim it was a "mistake kill". We pointed out (quite a bit) a mistake kill is not a 12 ring shot behind the front leg which seemed to infuriate him even more. Which caused more gas to be tossed on the fire! I still ask him if he killed any more does...:eek:
 
Wow does that bring back a memory....
Archery antelope...stocked a nice Billie in middle of huge pasture..300 yards out a nasty little creek bed...got to spot to look for Billie...30 yards....i poke up to shoot thru tall grass...herd of does saw me....as I released i saw the doe running towards the Billie...sliced right thru her throat..out the other side and still hit the Billie....she ran 10 feet...down to front legs...and bleed out stuck in that position....did not fall over....billie stood there 10 yards away waiting for that last doe........only antelope I have taken....not quite what i wanted..but tasted good too.....
 
Older friend of mine shot a whitetail at a steep downhill angle roughly 80 yards away. Just brushed the brisket. Knocked the hair off but never went through the skin. Died in seven steps. I'm still perplexed....
My dad did the same thing on a blacktail. He made an awful shot at about 120 yards. Just barely grazed the bottom of the ribs. The buck stumbled forward about three steps and died.

My wife shot a desert hare, dropped dead right when she pulled the trigger. Nothing hit it. It just died. We skinned it, nothing.
 
All -

Howdy !

Groundhog shooting in NE Indiana, some decades ago.....

Over 4th of July weekend, was concentrating on a crafty " Soybeanus Digestus ", that was only showing me the top of his flat head; and an eyeball ..... appearing slightly above the rim of his hole.

Waited for a better shot, for hours.... long enough to see a fox try to dig him out of his hole; and a hawk sit
just off the rim..... also trying to wait the groundhog out.

When the wait became ridiculous, I moved towards the hole; some 200yd out. This was enough to show me that the crafty groundhog had exited his den via another hole; and was busily eating soybeans. I returned to my rifle's position @ my car. The groundhog finally became too comfy in his security, and showed me about 1/4 of his body height just above the rim of his one hole.

I launched the 55SX from my 24" barreled varmint rifle, chambered in my .22-35 Remington wildcat.
Saw dust fly, and was certain I missed. Sat there just watching and waiting for some more time, then
decided to walk up and at least check-out the layout of the groundhog's hole.

I was surprised to find the animal dead, flattened out to a lower profile during his demise.
Closer examination revealed that the hyper frangible 55SX had shed its core upon impacting the rim of the hole, bullet cup and it's expanded jacket petals apparently flying into contact w/ the critter like a
" throwing star ".

One tip of one petal was just ever so slightly still clinging to the groundhog's skin; in the rib cage area.
No blood was evident anywhere, and the animal showed no other wounds... or exit holes.

All the lethal energy was imparted to the animal by the single slight contact made by the one jacket petal tip !


With regards,
357Mag
 

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