My buddy Magnus and I hunted together religiously in the late 90s. One season, every outing we made, it did not matter the intended quarry, he killed a rabbit. Several times a season, we would have a game dinner and the rabbits became the source of much story telling. At the dove opener, he sits down at his peg and who busts out of the brush, but Peter Rabbit. Later, out for grouse, my GSP/DK pointed fur - Magnus took the lead, shot the cottontail in the grouse woods - retrieved to hand. Walking out from the duck blind with a limit apiece, he spies a rabbit 10 yards from the car, bang and his lab retrieves it. So, it's right at the end of legal light... December and I've just shot a fat doe, she's dressed and I'm dragging her to my truck and I hear a shot from Magnus's stand. Figuring he's also got one on the ground, I secure the doe and walk toward his stand (not cel phone texting yet) and I see him on the edge of the field. "Got one down?" "Yeah, Papi, it's right here" - proudly holding up a completely eviscerated fat rabbit. "I successfully missed every major muscle AND field dressed it. Later in January, we had about 10 people coming for dinner of roast venison, duck hams, broiled doves and rabbit confit empanadas, etc... When Maggi arrived, he produced a freshly killed rabbit that he's stunned w/his car on my driveway. "Too late to add this one to the menu?" Quite a topper to our season.
Have you ever had a what the h--l shots?
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Groundhog at 410 yards with 204 Ruger. Not a difficult shot, but wind was blowing 20-25. With my buddy spotting, it took 6 shots to walk it in, but I got it done. Glad had a witness.
Muddyboots
Well-Known Member
Great stuff and if you are old as dirt you will have a few of these. Deer hunting in Catskill Mtns many years ago with buddy. Eating lunch back at truck which was deep in woods off 2 track. We were sitting on ground against couple big Hemlocks chowing down when my pal says "Mind if I kill that 8 pt by your truck?". Of course I said and he grabbed his shotgun (I am thinking he is really pulling my leg now) and shoots. I dropped my Coke on ground yelled WTH are you doing!! He replied "you said it was ok!" I stand up look around back of truck and there was a 8 pt laying right next to it!!! No drag! Are you kidding me! I bet it was 10' from my tailgate! WTH was that buck thinking?
About 15 minutes until shooting time was over a big doe came out into the field around 100 yards away . I put my encore on my shooting stixs Put the cross hairs right behind her shoulder pulled the trigger After the smoked cleared I saw her run about twenty yards and then ran back I was trying to reload when I saw my grandson walking down to me I yelled for to come finish her I turned to watch her and she was gone Thinking she fell we walked up looking for her No sign of any king We called some friends to help Looking for 3 hours no deer Went and found her bedded down ten feet of the trail still alive It being sunday I had to call a game warden .We walked up toward her She takes off Trys to jump a fence and crashes through it She runs over to the next farm She running funny Went back to the place she was lying No blood or fluids of any kind Went to the farm found her bedded down again Before the warden can shoot she is up and down the hill Still not acting right We looked for awhile still no sign of where I hit her Two days later I got the ok to look on a private farm ten minutes in I kicked her up again Checked her bed nothing Still running wierd Ran in to a small housing development and lost her Never limped Ran sideways Any idea where she may have been hit Three beds and no sign in any of them
My guess would be in the guts and some intestine clogged the hole. That's definitely a strange scenario. The other thought would be you hit the back and damaged some nervous, but didn't break it.
But running as many times we kicked her up would have opened any wound hitting her back would have left some blood
Ok this happened two days in a row and the only two times I tried it. Dad and I were working for the same company and the boss invited the whole family up to his ranch to dove hunt. One of the bosses daughters and I were walking to get set up around the tank for the hunt. Here I am walking with a lawn chair and ice chest in my left hand and carrying my 12 gauge in the right all of a sudden a dove flies up and I did a one handed hip shot and down went the bird. The bosses daughter looked at me and said that was lucky and I agreed with her but the next day it happened again this time she just looked at me with her mouth half open and didn't say a word.
Reminded me of the time I got stupid and agreed to help my banker learn to hunt deer. I could write volumes of his endless screw ups, but he did finally get a huge deer. He had the worst case of buck fever I've ever seen. Missed more than one deer by jerking the trigger and shooting two feet high, but that day, he had a 40 yard shot at a standing 12 pointer, big bodied deer. And the deer just dropped too. When I approached the buck, I kept looking for blood, but nothing. Then I saw it's left antler laying a dozen feet away. The slug hit the antler near the skull and somehow broke his neck.......I wasn't taking him hunting anything ever again....
A week later he was whining that every time he shared his hunting story, he was getting glared at.....go figure....
I told him to claim it was the only lethal shot he had
A week later he was whining that every time he shared his hunting story, he was getting glared at.....go figure....
I told him to claim it was the only lethal shot he had
It's strange, weird things happen at times. I've seen a cow hit with a 338-378 bee and go feet up and quit moving, than when we got to her found good blood in the snow where she fell and than had gotten up and took off. Had some blood for awhile, then it stopped and lost her tracks in with the others. Sometimes weird stuff happens.
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Critter Picker
Well-Known Member
Got one that didn't happen to me,but my step dad and mother told me about. Way back in the 70's I would bowhunt their farm when I had time off. They had a neighbor kid (about 15 years old) that had asked to hunt there. Since I worked 2 jobs I said I didn't mind and being a bowhunter education instructor, I was happy to see a kid getting into bowhunting.
So one evening he was walking to his treestand and he sees a doe on the horizon (probably 40 yards) that had no idea he was there. He pulls back and shoots right over her back. So he goes looking for the arrow and just over the hill finds fresh blood. Follows the blood and there's a 10 point buck double lunged that he had no idea was even there.
So one evening he was walking to his treestand and he sees a doe on the horizon (probably 40 yards) that had no idea he was there. He pulls back and shoots right over her back. So he goes looking for the arrow and just over the hill finds fresh blood. Follows the blood and there's a 10 point buck double lunged that he had no idea was even there.
Got a story for that.
Coupla years ago I decided to take my wife to fill a deer tag. Had 2 little kids at the time and that day we had a baby sitter so we were going to take advantage of it and blast the first decent deer we saw to fill her tag. Sure enough we found a 3pt mule deer.
We had my 338 rum that I had put alot of time into that year prepping and getting dialed for longer shots. Well there she was getting layed down and all dialed up ready to blast this buck at 450 or so when I looked acrost at a ridge and saw 5 coyotes cruising along. I thought to myself "huh", so I held up my rangefinder, and again, "huh". I told her hang on so I whirled the spotter their direction and sure enuff they was 5 woofs.
Out of my selfish nature, that hunt turned into a wolf hunt for me. They were 600 or so when I first saw them and they were headed quartering away just loping along but at a fairly good pace. By the time I was able to scramble and get set up on the rifle all of them were all over the hill top aside from the last one. I ranged it at 848 as it was loping away just about over the top. I dialed for 900 and got settled in. I watched it in my crosshairs as it got to the top of the hill and crested over. I thought to myself that was it, he's gone, when he stopped. He was actually over the precipist of the hill and I could only see the top 2/3 of its back when i let er rip with nothing but a hope and a prayer. BTW there was a further hillside behind it, so it was not technically a skylined shot, either way still probably not the best scenario. My wife was watching through the spotter and before I was able to regain my sight picture I heard her hollar "you got him!" I could see bits and pieces of fur and tail over the hilltop spinning around and just couldnt believe my eyes.
Believe it or not there was a perfect 300 grain berger shaped hole in the crease right behind the right shoulder and ive got pics to prove it...somewhere. I will say it was intentional but there was a significant amount of divine intervention involved to make a shot that I will never again be able to duplicate.
My brother shot at a buck. It fell on it's side, but its legs were moving as if it was trotting along. When we walked up he freaked out and started moving his legs faster as if he was running away.
After dispatching him`we never found a bullet hole on the body. We found a little hole in the thick part of the ear towards the base of the head. Our best guess was the shockwave knocked the buck's sense of balance off.
Poor kid was made fun of for years over that buck.
After dispatching him`we never found a bullet hole on the body. We found a little hole in the thick part of the ear towards the base of the head. Our best guess was the shockwave knocked the buck's sense of balance off.
Poor kid was made fun of for years over that buck.
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Keith Warren missed the doe with. A 50BMG and it still died…
