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

When I was still a youngster to young to hunt...we(two older brothers and myself) were driving on our way home and just up in front of us pops out a nice three point Blacktail...we guesstimate 60 yards...brother with a new warthog bow didn't feel comfortable shooting that far(with pins) but the other brother said "hell..I will shoot"....having not shot that bow before..that buck standing there perfect head on...he shot and drilled that buck perfectly at 60 yards...we watched it fall to the ground, thump around a bit then lay still....so we parked the rig..hiked up the hill...no deer...but the arrow was lying there....the entire front half of the broadhead had curled over when it hit the bucks sternum....one speck of blood and a couple pieces of hair.....no blood on the ground anywhere...that buck was running up the hill about 100 yards away.......
There wasn't a skip, bounce or dead deer......just a truly crappy broadhead........
 
I personally havent that I can remember, but my dad did. We were out in the desert plinking. We were driving out in the middle of no where when a rabbit stepped out in the road probably 250 yards away and stopped. We were in the truck when it popped out. My dad had a snub nosed 357 revolver in his gun bag on the floor. He pulled it out and stepped out of the truck. He let one fly not thinking at all that he had a chance. About 50 yards in front of the rabbit there was a big poof of dust and a split second later the rabbit dropped right where it stood.
 
When I was a kid my cousin had one of those 10-pump Crossman air rifles. In the midst of using it the front sight fell off. There was a house sparrow we'd been trying to kill for days that preferred a certain tree but we'd been missing it or scaring it off. So it's there in the top of the tree a good 80 yards away and I have this airgun with a pellet and rear sight only. I let one fly, and drop this sparrow in a puff of feathers...last thing ever hit with that compromised rifle.
 
My grandpa was born in 1908. He told me as a kid he hunted squirrels for dinner. His dad would hand out .22 shells for his single shot .22 and expect a squirrel for every bullet. One day he was hunting and his last bullet was a dud. He found out it was a dud when it misfired as he shot at a squirrel. He was sitting under a tree later in the day absent mindlessly cocking the hammer and dropping it on the dud. Then BANG it went off. He jumps as it scared the chit out of him. Then out of the tree tumbles a very dead squirrel.
 
Several years ago we were riding around my deer lease in my open VW hunting "jeep". I had a friend and nephew in the vechile. The friend had been trying to shoot a rabbit all weekend but always missed. He doesn' hunt much but came along to help out with pre-season work detail.

Any way I was driving and spotted a rabbit sitting on the side of the road about 10 yards away. I stopped, showed my friend the rabbit. He was upset because we had no gun in the vechile.

I just happened to have a steel loop style oil filter wrench, looped over the shifter. With nothing else handy I picked up the oil filter wrench and thew it like a throwing a hatchet!

Hit the poor rabbit in the side of the head and killed hint stone dead...with all four feet in the air, my friend was in disbelief.

Maybe nephew of course was giving him hell because he had missed so many rabbits that weekend we had lost count, but his uncle killed one with an oil filter wrench!
 
I have 2 incidents to share.
First one was when I was a kid, we were out bunny busting at night, my second cousin was in the 'chair' we had welded to the front of the ute, as we were bouncing along the dirt track, a rabbit ran across in front of us, plainly visible in the headlights, he swung and fired and there was a puff of dust in front of it and the rabbit rolled and tumbled, dead as a Dodo. We were doing around 15mph as this happened on a very rough track. From that day forth, Mick was known as Tin Arse, which is an Aussie slang term for fluke.

Second one was me using my 25-06 and 75gr Sierra HP. Had set myself up about 450mtr from the furthest side of a rabbit warren that was over 150mtr wide, was getting my range estimation squared away when there was 4 rabbits in a bunch about 1-1.5mtrs apart almost directly behind each other. I thought I had the perfect chance to get a quadruple hit, aimed at the first one and let rip, through the scope, I saw a huge puff of dirt just in front of the first rabbit, then as it settled, I counted 5 rabbits wriggling and squirming on the ground. There was an additional very small pup behind one of the adults, all had been hit by shrapnel, 2 of which were not hit fatally, but had taken out CS ebnough for me to dispatch by hand.
I never did this again to date, but have had many doubles and a few triples. Always makes me giggle when I think of this incident.

Cheers.
;)
 
I hunted with my father and uncle as a young lad and would usually shoot Pop's .300wm when we were hunting together. I had drawn a doe tag that year and as we were driving back to camp for lunch we rounded a corner on a skid road to find a doe posing for me about 30' away. I grabbed Pop's gun, hopped out of the truck, loaded a round, and figured I'd shoot her in the head since it was only 30'. I squeezed the round off and the deer's head whips to the side. I can still picture the dew flying off her fur in slow motion, 30 years on... The doe then took off like the devil himself was after her, never to be seen by us again. My dad and uncle we laughing themselves to tears in the truck because they'd seen what I didn't - I'd pierced both of the doe's ears. Pop later confided in me he fell off a log and landed on his rifle the day before, we went out after lunch to check it and he couldn't hit paper at 100 yds. The following year at hunting camp my uncle read a story he wrote about me being on the run from Deaf Deer Ear Protection Society, and I haven't lived it down since.
 
When I was shooting kangaroos professionally years ago I had a few 2 for 1 kills where the bullet (.223 or 22/250) would bounce of 'roo no.1's head and hit another standing behind it. I've had guys tell me they've got a 3 for 1 but I've never seen it myself.
 
I've had a few. One was when a friend and I were shooting our BPCR rifles at my range. I was working on loads while plinking at the full sized bison target I have at 650. The left-overs and rejects got shot off-hand at a gong I have at 220, partly because I need that practice and partly because they aren't good for anything else. Pulling cast bullet loads on compressed black powder just isnt going to happen. On different steel painting trips I found a dead shrew and 13 stripe gopher that were killed by the splatter. Just bad luck for them I guess.

A friend and I were deer hunting years back and were pretty much weathered out for the day. It turned ugly and was snowing hard. We were already driving out when I saw a little buck at about 400, quartering toward. He dropped at the shot, and though there may have been a little more kicking and snow flying than normal he was very dead in the time it took to get to him. He was hit just above the hock, had fallen and bled out before he could get his feet back under him. STWs were comparatively new and I bugged him that all you needed to do was break their leg and they were doomed. It was better than listening to him tell me what lousy shot it was.

Fast forward a few years and we were hunting separately but on the same military base. By then STWs were standard fare around home but cell phones weren't yet. A call came that I had to get my butt over there and see something. He had shot a running buck and broke its front leg below the knee. There wasn't a drop of blood anywhere in the fresh snow for the 50 yards it ran before dropping dead. I don't know why it was even dead, but I just about wore the deer out looking for another hole. The irony was that by then he was shooting an STW too. I'd loaded the shells myself, 154 gr Interlocks. Magic? Maybe. Weird, yep.
 
I have 2 stories actually ....

First one,

First time hunting, we went for grouse. My dad brought our little viper 22. The grouse we're only 15 feet away but I couldn't hold the gun very still. When I finally shot, my dad mid sentence saying something along the lines of, "now when you line the bird up sque..."

I had shot the top bill and up completely off...

Now second story

We were grouse hunting once again, this time I think I was 16 or 17.

The limit is 4 mind you.

We drove up this trail and seen one on the side of the road, all of a sudden I seen 3 more right behind the first one. I shot in the middle thinking "at least get 2" with me being far away enough I killed all 4 lol
 
Was popping off pellets from a 177 air rifle with the kids outside. Put some plastic cups of water on top of the fence posts 25 yards away. Couldn't hit one to save my life. A blue jay lands on the fence post and I aim for it thinking I'd miss it anyway. Kids watching... I line it up in the scope, and bam. Dead bird falls to the ground. Visitors pull up at the the same time that the kids are screaming that I'm a blue bird killer. Still won't let me live it down.
 
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.
 
I have pulled off a couple shots by accident that were fun.

First was during dove season when I was about 12. We were done hunting so we grabbed a couple long rifles and started plinking. We were in a big horseshoe shaped cattle tank shooting at rocks on the other side. About 70 yards. We had just got my mom's savage 99 in 243 back from the gunsmith. I was about to line up a shot and a starling darts past so I pulled up on it and catch a glimpse in the scope and squeeze. A wing flew off and the bird dropped.

2nd & 3rd time were at the same waterhole years later. We were plinking with 22lr for fun. A lizard ran out about 40 yards out and I drew down and fired. I drilled it in the head. Many years later with the same buddy at the same waterhole with the same rifle another lizard ran out, and my buddy said I couldn't do it again. He was partially right. I drilled it through the shoulder then into the head. That old Winchester has made me look good more than a few times over the years. Thanks Grandpa for the super sniper 22lr.
 
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