Most memorable shot

[Jimm]

I didn't say longest shot , just most memorable . Of course , they may be the same.


OK , since I started it I get to go first

My brother and I were boating along in a flooded backwater looking for a place to hunt whitetails that had been pushed up on the dry ground left ( we're talking hundreds of square miles here ) just off the main channel in the White river bottoms. If you want to locate this area do a search south of Duvalls Bluff .

The day was still and we were enjoying the mild temps ( 35 or so ) as we eased along in our flat bottom boat. I didn't have my rifle as we had decided tha t one was enough for our " sight see " .

Sun on my face , I can still see that day as if I were still there . We were gliding along in a flooded beanfield when I spotted a crow walking back and forth on a spit of dry ground that couldn't have been more than a half inch out of the water( at this point it may be best to suspend all belief , cause Roy thinks I'm a big old liar anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif )

My brother is running the boat ..............I look back at him ...............he shakes his head , so I pick up his remmy .243 that has been laying in a soft case between us and push around in the chamber .

The crow is walking back and forth and I don't have a clue what the distance is and am not even thinking about it .

The boat is going about 5 mph left , the crow is standing still at about 150yds. I raise the rifle and track back to the crow .............and touch the rifle off.

It exploded !! I waited a bit , then looked back at my brother , he only shook his head !! We have never spoken of it since .

Okie doke , I told my big old lie , so ,, why should you not tell yours ?

BTW, after you do tell all I have a good one to tell at the finish .

Jim B.

 

[abinok]

Ill share mine...
We had been having trouble feeding calves hay from the barn. Some unwelcome guests had taken residence in there someplace, and afterward had taken to running out anybody who came inside. Those guests had a most unplesant smell, and a characteristic white stripe running down their black body. The solution came to me one day, and i told my family that whoever was up at the barn around dark to leave all the lights on, and the door open. Sitting on the porch was my parents, and my sister, myself, and my mossberg144 rifle.
Sure enough, about 20 minutes after sunset, "big momma" the largest of the skunks came swaggering out of the hay stack. Once it became apparent what I was about to do, there were a lot of protests... most of them included something about having to wear gas masks to feed for the next month.

Ignoring all complaints, I traded my glass of tea for a single round of Scoremaster 22LR ammo, hollowpointed on a swaging die, weight sorted, and rim thickness sorted.

My best ammo.

My dad followed suit, swapping tea for binoculars.
The skunk paused less than a foot outside the door, and, standing broadside, raised his nose as if to sniff a far distant flower.
The bullet crossed the intervening 68yds in short order, and the shot was still echoing across the valley as I ejected the brass, and leaned back into my chair.
My dad, peering throught the binoculars, cried "YOU MISSED!!!! HURRY!!!!" All I said was, "nope".
The skunk stood there another 3 or 4 seconds, in the same pose, and as everyone watched, slowly toppled and fell like a tall tree, cut down by a skillful woodsman. Legs out straight, stiff as a board.

 

[Desert Fox]

A few years back a friend and I were hunting in an area that was new to us. We haven't seen deer after three days of hard hunting. Worst yet, my friend's Redfield Accu-trac mounted on his super accurate Remington Sendero got fogged-up due to rain the night before. That put him out of commission. I was carrying my first truely LRH rifle, a 1909 Argentine Mauser Douglas barreled 280 Remington loaded with 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, chronographed at 2890 fps. My scope was the super-precised Simmon Pro-50 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif equipped with bullet drop compensator. I paid for a whopping $110.00 for this Korean made scope /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif from a now defunct Gander Mountain, if I remembered correctly.
The light was fading fast as me and my friend were walking back to our camp when all of the sudden I spotted the muley rising from his bedding spot, accross two canyon directly from us. My friend and I immediately assumed the prone position readying ourselves for a shot of a lifetime. I cranked the dial on my Simmon and at the same time, bracketing the deer to figure out what the distance would be. Well, I run out of turn before I could fully bracket the deer's body. Turns out my Simmon maxed out to 500 yards on a deersized target. I knew the deer was still farther away so I asked my friend to see if he can at least utilized his accu-trac even in such condition, to see if he might be able to get distance. He said he still could and the deer was 600 yards away according to the Redfield Accu-trac. With that data in mind, I dialed 500 in my Simmon BDC plus raised the horizontal crosshair of the Simmon, 12 inches high above the deer's back and move the vertical, 3/4 towards the small of the deer's back, to compensate for the wind, that my friend warned me about, and let the Nosler fly. The slapped of the bullet was very pronounced and the deer went down as if it was hit by a bolt of lightning. Turned out, the deer was hit in the neck just forward of the shoulder. We didn't get back to our camp until 12 midnight that night but we got our deer. To this day, I never told my friend that it was a hail Mary shot. He still believed that I know exactly what I was doing, knows precisely where to dialed my scope with certainty and hit the target. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[royinidaho]

jimm, I believe ya!

I was 12 years old. First day of small game season. First time carrying a shot gun in the field, if you can call it a shot gun. 2 1/2 inch 410 bore, single shot w/hammer. Dad and I were headed to one of his friends to chase some cotton tails. A bunch of pheasants crossed the road in front of us. We pulled over. There were others there waiting for starting time. The time came, we hit the field.

Pheasants flew every where. One went up in front of me and turned back over my head. I shot straigh up. Pheasant fell nearby and I retrieved my first bird. The sad thing is that I blew about a box of shells that day at pheasants and bunnies and got nothing more than that first rooster.

When we cleaned it we found no BBs in it. I finally skined the head. Yep! One 7 1/2 shot had entered the bottom of the head and exited the top. Guess I was a lucky kid. The great thing is as old and decreped as I am, I'm playing that video in my head as I type. Its in color too!


jimm, some time I'll tell you about my first coon dog. That's a story to top all stories /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[grit]

Tough call. Every shot I've made with a bow.

I'll go with a skunk one. We were hunting skunks by spotlight one night. We pulled up on a skunk, and I jumped out with my bow. Stripes put his tail up in warning and shuffled off at a cool trot. Stipes didn't shoot a bow, and so didn't realize how his presented organ made for a fine target. I got on him at about thirty yards, and tracked him for a few feet. The arrow seemed to let itself go, and stripes dropped in place as if shut off.

I cautiously aproached, and nuzzled the short circuited critter. No response, no smell. Hmm. I looked for my arrow. Upon findin it, I eyed it suspiciously. Sniff, sniff. Still no smell. I happily recovered my arrow, wiped it off with a rag, and continued on my merry way. Grit one, skunks zero.

Haachoo, achoo. Says I. Bless you, says the fellow behind the spotlight. Pretty soon my eyes start to itch. Rub rub. Now my nose starts to run. Now my lips are burning....

Holy fire! Next texas heart shot on a skunk will be with a gun!

Most memorable shot at big game, was the first succesful one. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced. I dry fired in various positions for months. I burned pounds of powder. Opening morning I spotted a buck at 250. He was trotting uphill. My knee hit the ground, the rifle came up by itself, tracked the deers shoulder by itself. The rain wet barrel belched a cloud of vapor. I couldn't see. Did I hit 'im? Whop! A slow smile spreads, and my hands start to shake a bit.

There's more. But you only asked for one, and I've already given two.... Lookin through the scope at 1k for the first time. The trigger breaks, the gun hops. I reach and lift an ear muff. A week passes on tiny feet.... Biing! A slow grin sneaks up the corners of my mouth, and keeps them there.

 

[royinidaho]

[ QUOTE ]
Tough A week passes on tiny feet.... Biing! A slow grin sneaks up the corners of my mouth, and keeps them there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Biing........I tho't is was Bonk!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[41mag]

The wife's nephew and I had just taken his first whitetail, at the distant range of about 30 yds. We were sitting behind a weedline and beside a yopon bush. We waited the few manditory minutes before heading out to check it out. AS we stood, we noticed several other bucks off to our left crossing the pasture about 60 yds from us. They just looked as they walked unalarmed, as we walked out to his deer.

After the initial inspection I headed off to the 4 wheeler and returned with it as well as the camera. Several pics were taken of his buck as we curiously watched 4 more bucks walk across the pasture to the right of us, and another 6-8 just a bit further down, in the same manner as the first bunch. None were much better than the outside of their ears so we weren't in any way interested in shooting, but it was neat for them to all be just out there with us standing in the middle of the pasture.

About the time we got the deer up on the scooter, I noticed one at the far end of the pasture. It had a VERY wide and tall rack. THe range was a little over 400 yds, and it as well was just standing there eating along with several others. So since condiditons were about as perfect as you would ever get for a mid day shot, I pulled up the 25/06, and sat down to prepare for the shot. Running the 115gr PArtition at 3150 I knew the drop, so I cranked up my Leupold to 14 and set about getting a steady rest on the Harris. Due to the grass being about 18" tall I had to extend the legs on out and was shooting almost from a Creedmore position to keep those fine hairs on that deer. WEll during all of this time, unknown to us, a smaller buck had walked up to a position in front of the big one. With their heads down, and with getting ready for the shot we hadn't noticed this, as they looked to be all in the same positions. So at the crack of the shot there was a slap at the other end of the pasture. THe deer dropped and was still.

WE high fived as this was my longest shot ever on a deer, and it sinply dropped with no other movement. As we drove up to it on the scooter, I started getting pretty sick feeling in my stomach. We should be seeing horns by now I told Jon, he agreed. AS we got closer still no signs of horns. WEll we had to walk right up to it before the two little protursions which spouted 6 total points were visable from behind it's ears. The deer however was an old one, so at least I didn't feel bad about shooting bambi. LOL I had aimed for the shot to hit just in front of the shoulder where the neck joined the chest, and had hit right where I wanted to. The PT went in and took out the lower drop of the spine as well as both lungs and exited just in front of the paunch on the right hand side of the deer. This was one of the most memerable shots I have made for several reasons. First was the boy's experience with me and second, was the rubbing in I got from him and my daughter for getting the smallest deer of the season.

I also got a skunk in the head at 300yds with the same load, but figured that was just varmint shooting. LOL

 

[nighthunter264wm]

Having watched the Earth revolve around the Sun for the last 50 years, I have a lot of memorable shots, but the first one that comes to mind is my first solo deer hunt at age 13 in South Louisiana. I had recently received a 35 caliber Marlin lever gun from my Grandfather on my 13th. birthday and had been shooting it regularly just down the road at a La. State Trooper rifle range. I had several shotguns, but this was my first rifle!
I got up early one Saturday morning, a couple of weeks into the 1968 Deer season, and started my 4 mile walk down the winding dirt road into the pastures and woods to a creek bluff that stood about 30 feet above the water. I had seen Deer tracks in the white sand near the water's edge on many occasions while squirrel hunting in this area and just knew I would get a Deer.
I didn't see any Deer on this day, but about 3PM I had chills run over me as I saw a huge Bobcat approaching as he walked in the sand. His nose was in the air and his head was moving slowly from side to side as he cautiously and silently crept in the sand. I already had my rifle half cocked and when he got within 50 yards, I pulled the hammer back to full cock and watched the huge cat freeze when he heard the click of the hammer lock into position. I slowly and carefully took aim through the familiar iron sights and squeezed off the trigger! The bullet went exactly where I wanted it to; as I had aimed for his left eye. The bullet made a suprisingly small exit behind his right ear and he dropped like his legs went out from beneath him.
I was so excited I could hardly catch my breath, and I can assure you that by the time I had dragged the big cat back home, I was out of breath! I skinned him and tanned the hide which made a fine looking rug for my bedroom. I also seemed to get a renewed sense of excitement and achievement for many years, when I would walk in, see the rug, and remember the hunt.

 

[Buffalobob]

Twice shot jack rabbit.

Me and a friend were out past Promontory, Utah one summer day shooting jack rabbits. I was carrying my 17 Rem with a 8X Lyman scope and we were walking through a strip of sage brush on the side of a rolling hill. Everything else was 6 inch tall cheat grass. A jack gets up and runs out into the cheat grass about 100 yds and stops and sits up. He has no where to go to get a way except to cross another 400 yds of open space. So I ask my friend if he believes I can shoot the rabbit through the ear and then kill it running. He knows better than to bet any money but obliges by saying I can't make either shot.

I get down in a kneeling position and settle the cross hairs on one ear and ease back on the trigger. The little 17 cracks and dust flies and the rabbit gets into high gear. For about 200 yds the rabbit is at full speed and I calmly work another round into the chamber and wait. The rabbit will have to make it out to 500 yds to get over the next rise and I got nothing but time. At about 300 yds the rabbit slows a little and hits a rabbit trail through the grass. The trail shows up in the scope as a dark line not quite straight away but maybe 15 degrees from straight away. I start timing the rabbit's speed and making mental calculations on lead and elevation. The rabbit gets put to about 400 yds and is slowed to a gentle lope so I pick a spot on the trail at what I believe to be 450 yds and and get the crosshairs elevated over the trail and wait for the rabbit to get to the correct point one the trail. I take up slack in the factory trigger and wait. When the rabbit gets about 18 inches from where I believe the bullet will land, I finish the squeeze. The 17 goes CRACK! Rabbit makes one flip and is DRT.

We walk over to inspect the rabbit and sure enough, there is a little 17 caliber hole in one ear.

All parts of this story are true except for the parts that are not true

 

[DB Bill]

I'm new to the forum but thought you might get a kick out of my most memorable shot. It happened on my 2nd trip to Africa but a little background is needed. I first read Robert Ruark when I was 10 or 11 and after reading Horn of the Hunter I wanted to shoot a leopard but unfortunately there weren't many in Pennsylvania so I practiced on squirrels and over the years I must have shot 100's of squirrels with my .22lr and using my imagination they each became a leopard. Years go by and I managed to hunt big-game in Alaska, Canada and many areas of the U.S. Finally I decided that with the kids thru college it was time for me to fulfill my dream and travel to Zimbabwe to hunt leopard. The trip was a hugh sucess for everything but leopard.....16 long afternoons and evenings in a leopard blind but the leopards were a no-show....plenty of sign but no cats. Two years later I went back with a PH known for his ability to get a leopard for his clients.

We started the 2nd hunt by shooting a variety of baits...impala, warthog and even a hugh Zebra stallion to the point that after 3 days we had bait in 7 or 8 trees waiting for a hit. During this time I shot a big kudu, a Rowland & Ward class sable, a 40" buffalo and a variety of other animals. Each morning we checked the baits and each morning nothing. This went on for 6 or 7 days and even though there were leopard tracks on nearby roads nothing hit the baits. We even saw leopards twice crossing roads while driving back to camp each night. This all changed as on the 8th day we had 6 leopards on 5 of the baits...one bait actually had a male & female dining together. We picked the tree with the biggest set of tracks and hastily built a blind about 50 yards away so the setting sun would be at out backs. We left planning to be back in the blind by 3PM. At this poinit to say I was a basket case was putting it mildly...almost 40 years of anticipation was doing a job on me.

I tried to each lunch and I couldn't. I tried to relax and take a nap and I couldn't so we went to the range to sight my rifle in to be "dead-on" at 50 yards. As an aside to this point I had been shooting great with 1-shot kills on kudu, buffalo, a running zebra, warthog and a variety of othr animals. The only animal that took a 2nd shot was my sable and that was only an insurance shot as the first shot was solid. Anyway, the 1st shot from a solid rest missed the paper so I reloaded, tried to relax and the 2nd shot just nicked the edge. No one said anything or made eye contact and I felt like an idiot. The next 2 shots were touching right where they should be so I adjusted the scope and the next 3 shots were dead-on...I was ready.

The 1st night in the blind was uneventful (I couldn't sit still I was so pumped) so we left about 6:45 which was about 20 minutes after dark.

The next morning we found the leopard had hit the bait after we left so we planned to go back to the same tree that afternoon. We were in the blind and had no action until about 5:30 when we heard the leopard clawing and marking the base of the tree but at that moment a pair of young elephants walked down a nearby road scaring the cat away. No action until it was too dark to shoot so another day goes by.

We checked the bait again the next day and it was mostly gone so I shot another impala and we refreshed the bait planning on being in the blind by 3:00 again.

We were in the blind about an hour when the PH suddenly grabs my arm and literally drags me out of the blind. An elephant had smelled us and charged the blind. We quickly got cross-wind of him and watched as he demolished the blind scattering it over the small clearing we were in. He lost interest after awhile and left. I was going nuts thinking what else could happen. We left the blind as it was and came back the next morning to rebuild it....the cat had hit the bait again....eating almost all of it. We put another impala in the tree and decided not to sit that night hoping things would calm down.

At this point I was getting apprehensive and it was difficult not to get discouraged but the next afternoon came quickly and we were back in the blind about 3:00. The time past slowly until about 5:30 when all of a sudden the cat was in the tree slowly looking things over as he approached the limb the bait was on. He started to feed and the PH gave me the signal to shoot. I watched him thru my scope waiting for him to stop feeding and when he paused I shot. At the shot he dropped limply from the branch but just before he hit the ground his body turned, he landed on his feet and was gone. The PH told me to stay put while he and tracker quickly went to where the cat landed and followed the tracks for a few minutes. I quickly put my shoes on and reloaded dreading what the PH would say when he came back....had I blown a shot I had "practiced" for years?

When they got back he told that the leopard had crouched just as I shot and while my shot was a little high the hit was probably fatal and that we had two choices. The 1st was to come back in the morning and follow the trail as he ws sure the leopard would bleed-out over night....the only problem was their were a lot of hyaena in the area and they might find him and they wouldn't leave much of a trophy. The 2nd option was an immediate follow-up to finish things. My choice! I taped my SureFire to the barrel and said let's go. We had followed the trail about 60 or 70 yards thru mostly low cover interspersed with some scrubby bushes when the tracker noticed what I first thought was a little bird in a bush about 20 yards in front of us. The little bird turned out to be the white tip of the leopard's tail. The tracker picked up a baseball-sized rock and when we were ready he tossed it toward the bush. It hit a bit in front of and to the right of the bush and the leopard came out of hiding in that direction. He quickly realized his mistake and turned toward us and at that point I shot hitting him just below his chin with my .375. The cat literally was turned in mid-stride and was dead when he landed. The 300gr Nosler traveled all the way thru his body and exited just to the side of the base of his tail. I was amazed at how fast it happened and that even wounded as he was, he made it half way to us before the shot stopped him ...easily my "most memorable shot".

It's exciting to come thru something like this all in one piece but I would have been just as happy if he had fallen dead at the bottom of the tree ..... making that my most memorable shot.

That's me with my 9.53 Lazzeroni Hellcat.

 

[firstcoueswas80]

my most memorable is every big game animal i have killed but three stick out in my mind:
the first was my first big game animal. it is a spike bull elk that my dad and i stock to within 250 yards. i get on my knees and put my savage 99e .308 on his chest. i squeeze one off and i miss the elk start running. i quickly jack another round in and get on the bull. he is running fill speed at about 250 yards up hill from me. i put the cross haits on his knows and as soon as i squeeze the trigger, he falls! i hit him right below the jaw bone and he fell dead as a door knob!

second elk: cow elk at about 75 yards. same rifle, i shoot her right through the heart and she does an backflip up off the ground.

my first deer, 17 yeard old 30-06 125 nosler ballistic tips. he was standing at 400 yards about to die because he alread had 2 wholes in him. i put the cross hairs above his shoulder because i do not want him to go anywhere. i squeeze the trigger and hear the loudest WHAP i have ever heard in my life! that shot broke both shoulders, destroyed the heart and both lungs.

i also shot a fleeing quail in the air with one hand on my shotgun.

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

My most memorable will always be my first bull elk. I was 15 years old. Had been hunting spike bulls for 3 years before I even got a shot off at one. Dont ever let anyone tell you hunting elk is easy, cuz it aint. My uncle, dad, and I were all going down the opposite ridge that we knew had a spike in the bunch. We put them to bed the night before and got up early morning and started down the ridge. We made it halfway down the ridge when my uncle spotted them coming out from the trees on the opposite side of the canyon some 500 yards away. This was to be my first truly LR shot and it was the greatest for me, and my dad and uncle to witness it. My uncle told me he would give me first shot and that was it. Thats all it took. I had my Ruger mk2 S/S in 300 Win mag with 180g Nosler Partitions that I handloaded myself at 3100fps. The scope was nothing fancy, just a Leupold vx2 3-9x40. No target knobs at the time. Did not even have a rangefinder at the time. We estimated the distance to be about 500 yards. I knew with my 300 yards zero that If I put the bottom part of the thick duplex on top of his back, he would be mine. Well the time finally came for the shot, he was moseying around, some cows would get in the way, etc.. I put the harris bipod in the sitting position becuz we were sitting on a hill, no prone available there. I finally got a chance to squeeze off the trigger and by the time I got back on him from the recoil, he was tumbling down the canyon. No shot for my uncle /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. The bullet struck him right on the shoulder, dropping and killing him instantly. The 180g NP broke both shoulders and exited. I was so estatic I jumped up and shouted with glee. Later turns out, it was actually a 525 yard shot according to my rangefinder the next year. Sure I've made longer shots, but to me, my first bull elk is a great one.

 

[Jimm]

WOW !! ,

What great stories all, but there are a ton more out there (out here? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif ) Some of these might earn some new nicknames , We can call Roy " Rooster " /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif and buffalobob " Roy " ( as in crazy Cora's Roy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif ) , Abinok gets Stinky one and so on.

I said I had one more I would share but perhaps some others will tell theirs first ( whatsa matter Dick?you already get that other paw fixed ? I bet you've got a whopper to tell [image]

[/image] )

Maybe Roy will tell his coon dog story for dessert if we get some more to cough up their tales .

 

[Waffen]

I've seen some nice stories so far, I fear mine will not even hold a candle to them.

Mine took place about 3 years ago, I was out on our ranch shooting varmits out of our Pecan trees before the harvest. I was in my truck with a spotlight trying to catch raccoons eatting pecans, I had shot about 50 that night with a Ruger Mini-14 ranch rifle, it had a Simmons Whitetail Expedition 4-12x42AO scope. Obviously not a real serious rig. I was getting ready to head back to the house and was crusing back across an orchard when I noticed another set of orange eyes in a tree. I scoped the animal to find out what he was, I thought it was a raccoon and was about to take him, about that time the animal tears out of the tree and starts tearing *** out of there. Once he hit the ground I realized it was a mature red fox. At that point the chase was on. I floored my truck and headed after him. He soon made it to a large creek bottom that was about 15 feet deep and I had lost him. I just took a wild guess and drove down about 1000 yards to an area where I could cross the creek. All the while I'm driving about 45mph in pecan orchards. I came up on the other side of the creek to see him in a feild trotting along. He knows i'm after him when I shine the light on him. He was headed for a neibhoors fence about 250 yards away and I knew I had only one chance. I turned the spotlight sideways and rested by gun between my thumb and the spotlight handle, and took a deep breath. I took one shot and he tumbled headfirst while in a dead sprint. I was amazed. I know in 1000 years I could never redo that shot, It had to be blind luck knowing the accuracy of that Mini-14, but hey it was still my most memorable.