Story of a poor shot

[ShtrRdy]

I also had a less desirable shot occur this season. I was hunting cow Elk in NW Colorado when a group of 5 Elk crossed a valley my partner and I were walking down about 500 yds out. We dropped down to our knees and when the group got behind a rock outcropping between us my partner and I moved up quickly. The Elk were still moving up the side hill. I got into position with some shooting sticks in a lopsided kneeling position. The Elk continued to move picking their way through some brush. I thought the distance was about 300 yds at this point. (as it turned out the Elk were 200+ yds) I was putting my crosshairs on the Elk that had a clear shot, moving to a different Elk as a shot was available or not. I intended to put the bullet in the boiler room but with my aiming a little high and leading a little because of the movement, the 200 grain Accubond ended up as a high shoulder shot. The shot caused the Elk to fall and roll downhill slightly. She didn't get up. Approaching her I could see she was still alive. I had to finish her off.

Upon dressing her out, the bullet didn't sever the spinal cord but it must have passed close enough to cause nerve damage. The bullet also must have clipped some sort of a blood carrying vessel since there was some amount of blood in the chest cavity. The lungs were untouched.

I've hunted Elk unsuccessfully for a number of years, first with a bow in the late 90's and early 2000's and then starting back up with a rifle in 2016. This is the first Elk I have ever gotten.

Lessons learned:
- My rifle was sighted in at 200 yds so I probably should have just aimed where I wanted the bullet to impact. At the time I was thinking "300 yds" and not thinking about the shooting uphill implications.
- The scope was set at 3.5x magnification, (the lowest setting). I didn't think to increase the magnification to get a more accurate aiming point.
- I got overly excited - more than I thought I would. Need to work on visualizing this sort of outcome and others like it to try and deal with it more naturally.
- please all other suggestions for improvement.

 

[NDF]

Sounds like you did fine, hunting is very seldom perfect circumstances only thing that stands out to me is no mention of a range finder and a cow call will usually have the desired affect of stopping elk for the shot especially if there unaware of you which it's sounds like they were if you closed the distance from 5 to 200 for the shot, my congrats on some good meat and closing the distance if the bullet was off a little at 200, think about the results at 500

 

[Tracker12]

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.

Really. Now I can go along with more are gut shot at close range since that is where the most shots are taken. But add in range and I would bet a bunch that the percentage of gut shots go way up not the opposite.

 

[WildRose]

Great post, and congratulations on your LR buck! I agree that understanding the aftermath of the shot is critical to the LRH success and learning experience.
As much as I focus on building the expertise at wind doping and precise shot placement, there is the likelihood that when shooting game at long range, in-determinates(particularly wind) can, and usually will introduce unforeseen errors with the intended shot placement. As much as I would like to place all my shots precisely into the vessals above the heart, for long range, I shoot center mass into the heart/lung area, accounting for about a 1MOA variation, depending on range. If I think the variation is greater, I wait, change position, or forfeit the shot.
Some other considerations:
-a good brake and a scope powder setting that enables me to spot the hit.
-after the shot, immediately chamber a second round while maintaining acquisition of the game for an amount of time sufficient to determine status. I do this even if low growth obscures the animal.
-unless "certain" that the game is dead, using bowhunting rationale, I'll "generally" wait at least 30 minutes, or longer depending on the shot.
While not always possible, having a good spotter is invaluable!

At long range I just look for the elbow and a horizontal line above it running through the midline of the body.

Put the bullet between the two. IF you do so, you have a dead animal every time and usually assuming good terminal performance whether it's a coyote or the largest moose ever seen it'll be dead within a hundred yards of where it was hit.

The "anchor shot" through the shoulders should be limited to shots where there's a high probability of losing them off a cliff or something should they not fall DRT.

Inside of 400yds though I prefer that horizontal line to be in the upper third of the body where you have a high probability of the double lung/spine hit.

A whole lot of this is going to vary with the circumstances and we all have to use our own best judgement in the field. Unless you're starving to death and pulling the trigger on your only opportunity for a meal none of us has to pull the trigger so it's just not worth taking a questionable or bad shot.

 

[WildRose]

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.

While those shows are great marketing unfortunately they convince a lot of people with no skill, no trigger time, and no real understanding of what we're doing the idea that if they spend enough on the same custom setup being shot on the show they too can kill anything they put their mind to with one shot every time.

I get not showing wounded and suffering animals but too many of these shows are marketing to lazy morons who if they manage a hit at all are just going to wound a lot of game.

 

[KyCarl]

If you watch those shows closely you can see they are presented out of sequence!
Shadows and other tips..I think they are mostly canned hunts? Shoot it first and then make up hunting for it? Then with some editing you have the perfect hunt...?
If something goes wrong just cut it out and act like it never happened...

 

[hunter67wa]

Great post Alex. My wife made the same shot at 530 yards on a whitetail buck in Idaho a couple years ago. I could tell when he was hit that it was high shoulder. I told her to grab the stuff and follow me best you can and hustled down the canyon and up to finish him. I didn't want her to feel bad and to finish the animal as quick as possible. It happens.
I also teach shooters for a school. I am the lead PR rifle instructor. I can tell you that everyone shows up on Friday morning with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gear thinking it will make them great shots. I always have a less than desirable rifle that I teach with now and this year was a mauser in 6.5x55 nothing fancy sporterized stock and 2.5x8 leupy. This is a beginning class so we really work fundamentals and start shooting out to 400yrds sounds easy but we require MOA. Now most of you are laughing and have figured out my reasoning behind my rifle. We also shoot positions and moving targets. I have had the big egos not show up the second day due to not being able to shoot better than 3 moa the first day all in prone. We always demo what we want shooters to do and after checking targets they all ask what rifle/caliber/bullet are you shooting. lol I tell them it is not the arrow its the indian. My wifes buck and a 400yrd demo group with the swede.

 

[WildRose]

I also had a less desirable shot occur this season. I was hunting cow Elk in NW Colorado when a group of 5 Elk crossed a valley my partner and I were walking down about 500 yds out. We dropped down to our knees and when the group got behind a rock outcropping between us my partner and I moved up quickly. The Elk were still moving up the side hill. I got into position with some shooting sticks in a lopsided kneeling position. The Elk continued to move picking their way through some brush. I thought the distance was about 300 yds at this point. (as it turned out the Elk were 200+ yds) I was putting my crosshairs on the Elk that had a clear shot, moving to a different Elk as a shot was available or not. I intended to put the bullet in the boiler room but with my aiming a little high and leading a little because of the movement, the 200 grain Accubond ended up as a high shoulder shot. The shot caused the Elk to fall and roll downhill slightly. She didn't get up. Approaching her I could see she was still alive. I had to finish her off.

Upon dressing her out, the bullet didn't sever the spinal cord but it must have passed close enough to cause nerve damage. The bullet also must have clipped some sort of a blood carrying vessel since there was some amount of blood in the chest cavity. The lungs were untouched.

I've hunted Elk unsuccessfully for a number of years, first with a bow in the late 90's and early 2000's and then starting back up with a rifle in 2016. This is the first Elk I have ever gotten.

Lessons learned:
- My rifle was sighted in at 200 yds so I probably should have just aimed where I wanted the bullet to impact. At the time I was thinking "300 yds" and not thinking about the shooting uphill implications.
- The scope was set at 3.5x magnification, (the lowest setting). I didn't think to increase the magnification to get a more accurate aiming point.
- I got overly excited - more than I thought I would. Need to work on visualizing this sort of outcome and others like it to try and deal with it more naturally.
- please all other suggestions for improvement.

View attachment 111195

If I ever get to the point I no longer get that excited I'll quit.

You made a good shot with the desired outcome so don't beat yourself up too bad.

In the future though, especially since you're a bow hunter just imagine a long shaft going through on a straight line through the target and where the vitals are and adjust your aimpoint accordingly.

The relative position of the organs changes with the angle of the shot and that takes some thought and practice but not a whole lot.

 

[adam32]

If you watch those shows closely you can see they are presented out of sequence!
Shadows and other tips..I think they are mostly canned hunts? Shoot it first and then make up hunting for it? Then with some editing you have the perfect hunt...?
If something goes wrong just cut it out and act like it never happened...

Jealously showing it's face again...

Go tell John Porter that he does "canned hunts"...he puts more time on foot and horseback in one sheep season then you will in a lifetime of hunting.

 

[Capt RB]

I also had a less desirable shot occur this season. I was hunting cow Elk in NW Colorado when a group of 5 Elk crossed a valley my partner and I were walking down about 500 yds out. We dropped down to our knees and when the group got behind a rock outcropping between us my partner and I moved up quickly. The Elk were still moving up the side hill. I got into position with some shooting sticks in a lopsided kneeling position. The Elk continued to move picking their way through some brush. I thought the distance was about 300 yds at this point. (as it turned out the Elk were 200+ yds) I was putting my crosshairs on the Elk that had a clear shot, moving to a different Elk as a shot was available or not. I intended to put the bullet in the boiler room but with my aiming a little high and leading a little because of the movement, the 200 grain Accubond ended up as a high shoulder shot. The shot caused the Elk to fall and roll downhill slightly. She didn't get up. Approaching her I could see she was still alive. I had to finish her off.

Upon dressing her out, the bullet didn't sever the spinal cord but it must have passed close enough to cause nerve damage. The bullet also must have clipped some sort of a blood carrying vessel since there was some amount of blood in the chest cavity. The lungs were untouched.

I've hunted Elk unsuccessfully for a number of years, first with a bow in the late 90's and early 2000's and then starting back up with a rifle in 2016. This is the first Elk I have ever gotten.

Lessons learned:
- My rifle was sighted in at 200 yds so I probably should have just aimed where I wanted the bullet to impact. At the time I was thinking "300 yds" and not thinking about the shooting uphill implications.
- The scope was set at 3.5x magnification, (the lowest setting). I didn't think to increase the magnification to get a more accurate aiming point.
- I got overly excited - more than I thought I would. Need to work on visualizing this sort of outcome and others like it to try and deal with it more naturally.
- please all other suggestions for improvement.

View attachment 111195

Range your target would be about the only thing you missed doing. You had a partner so one shooter one spotter spotter calls out range and you hold/shoot to that range. As far as changing magnification goes. Practice at all powers at the range. I shoot to 700 (max at the club I shoot) on 3 and 4 or whatever the lowest setting is every trip. I know I can hit piece of steel that far so a buck at half that distance would be fairly easy.