Story of a poor shot

I use to track down wounded animals with a hound in Vt. I've had to dispatch more than I care to with a knife as you are not allow to carry/use a firearm via the permit you need to do this. After the first season of doing this I made the client dispatch the animal. If the blatting deer didn't move you my hound balling after it died would.
To me personally this is something I'm very conscious to avoid. Coyotes not so much. Bears I hunted were over hounds and the shot taken is close. I made sure the hunter was putting it in the best possible place if they were to take a shot. Most were left to hunt another day due to size/sex

At 752 yds you will make that same mistake again as will I, its impossible to get that one right 100% of the time to many variables with weather and a target with a mind of its own, IMO if your skill set under known conditions allows you to consistently make the shot from lots of practice, I'd put my money on you to make a humane kill as opposed to the guy who picks up a box of shells for his gun that shot fine last year on his way out of town ...

Ya no doubt. I have a set of wind flags I put out in the yard sometimes. Even though they are 20 feet apart they can be traveling opposite directions, then go straight up and twist around, ext. Wind is crazy and very hard to read in field conditions. I highly recommend leaving some flags out in the yard just to see how much wind there really is when you think there is none. Mirage is my preferred way to "see" what the wind is doing but often times there is no mirage, then your truely shooting blind.

can't walk em' in from the edge of the steel, first shot cold bore is the only one you get sometimes without someone there to see a splash, that practice thing tends to matter

Alex Wheeler said:

As a side note, calling wind and LR go hand in hand. I have a pretty good amount of experience reading mirage from my competition days and its something that is just not talked about enough IMO. No wind at the shooter, wet frozen grass, not much to go on other than mirage.

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No mirage with sub zero temperatures and snow covered ground leaves only the wind on your position to read, but to me in the dead of winter the wind seems much more consistent than with the season change in fall and spring. Consequently because of my winter hunting my mirage reading needs work

Really a good thread and something I have been thinking a lot about lately. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of the high shoulder, but I never hesitated shooting elk through the shoulder. By "through the shoulder" I mean the back third of the shoulder, tight to the pocket about halfway up the animal. When shooting the Berger 215 out of my .300 Win Mag, I never ONCE saw a failure and every animal I shot was DRT. When I started hunting elk with my 6.5 and 6 (cow elk) I recognized the limitations of that caliber and bullet, and concentrate on placing the bullet comfortably behind the shoulder and into the lungs. The results have been nothing short of deadly. I think now I am just strictly a "behind the shoulder" guy, regardless of cartridge or caliber. It seems like the percentages of a clean kill go up that way, there is more room for error, and there is much less meat damage.

Good post Alex !
Its good to see people that Have a high standard and hold themselves to it. It was not a bad shot, just one that you did not like. It is a good lesson about never being satisfied with a shot just because it put the animal down.

Most have done the same thing if they would admit it. I am always happy if I get the animal but bragging rites only come from a shot that hit exactly where it was intended to hit.

As you stated, wind is always the culprit in our sport and we need to address and except it.

It's good that you got the animal, but don't beat your self up to bad because like every outcome, if we learn something it has been a success.

Just my opinion

J E CUSTOM

Alex Wheeler said:

I dont watch TV and have no jealousy of anyone involved in hollywood.

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You're the one that said it would "look good on TV"...so obviously you know that the majority of LR hunting shows make high shoulder shots.

And again with a snide remark about the shows...they aren't in Hollywood and you know that.

adam32 said:

You're the one that said it would "look good on TV"...so obviously you know that the majority of LR hunting shows make high shoulder shots.

And again with a snide remark about the shows...they aren't in Hollywood and you know that.

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The business of film on TV or the movies is all Hollywood to me. And it all revolves around money. In the little I have seen of these shows, mostly online, never do they show errors, reality, talk about the skill needed to place a bullet at long range, its about selling a product and telling people that a if they buy a product it will make them capable of those long shots. My only real issue with the shows is that they are not portraying reality. I make 100% of my living building long range rifles and it would benefit me to BS people into believing a rifle built by me would make them into a long range shooter. But Im not motivated by money or advertiser dollars. The day one of these shows shows the gut shots that dont make the edit, thats when I'll support them.

J E Custom said:

Good post Alex !
Its good to see people that Have a high standard and hold themselves to it. It was not a bad shot, just one that you did not like. It is a good lesson about never being satisfied with a shot just because it put the animal down.

Most have done the same thing if they would admit it. I am always happy if I get the animal but bragging rites only come from a shot that hit exactly where it was intended to hit.

As you stated, wind is always the culprit in our sport and we need to address and except it.

It's good that you got the animal, but don't beat your self up to bad because like every outcome, if we learn something it has been a success.

Just my opinion
J E CUSTOM

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Not beating myself up at all, it was still in the kill zone and I have made worse shots unfortunately. I just think a dose of reality is needed in long range. Theres a lot going on between us and the target and I think its portrayed as being "easy" too often.

Alex Wheeler said:

The business of film on TV or the movies is all Hollywood to me. And it all revolves around money. In the little I have seen of these shows, mostly online, never do they show errors, reality, talk about the skill needed to place a bullet at long range, its about selling a product and telling people that a if they buy a product it will make them capable of those long shots. My only real issue with the shows is that they are not portraying reality. I make 100% of my living building long range rifles and it would benefit me to BS people into believing a rifle built by me would make them into a long range shooter. But Im not motivated by money or advertiser dollars. The day one of these shows shows the gut shots that dont make the edit, thats when I'll support them.

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When's the last time you saw a poster on this website post about a gutshot?

It's all a business, even this website uses advertising to promote itself.

I for one, don't believe gutshots and wounded critters happen anymore often at long range than they do at short range.

Thats why I made this post. Reality. I agree with your last statement as well. But with all the hype and advertising involved with long range hunting, some of the most important topics are overlooked and rarely talked about. Mostly because you cant sell skill. So maybe, hopefully, if we see more posts like this, we will start to see more emphasis put on wind reading, rifle tuning, and shot placement. At least thats my hope. The idea that a $12k dollar rifle/scope/range finder combo makes you capable of hitting a target at long range without years of practice is the idea Im against.

I believe what Alex is saying has lots of truth when it comes to shows. Living in Michigan with the average shot less than 100 yards. And the highest concentration of hunters who say it was in last year and never pull the trigger before season. I can't tell you how many times guys have said they could make the shots on tv if they had a 338.
Perfect example is last year after my Texas hunt i had a young guy contact me about the hunt. I gave him the details and he asked how he could get a .375 AM I told him cut a big check and wait 3 years. He said oh man the money is easy but I don't have that time. I am going hunting out west this winter and I'm gonna shoot one over 1000 yards. I laughed a bit. Then he told me he is really into the long range shows. So after an afternoon with different calibers and ranges he decide that was a bad idea. He had a hard time hitting vitals at 300 yards. So he now has a 6.5 creed nice scope and is practicing.
It's just hard to see everyone in my state now thinking it's ok to launch the old 30-06 or 300 win at deer at 500 yards using strelok and the fps off the box of ammo.

You must be honest with your capabilities as a shooter and equipment.
We owe it to the animal were shooting at.