Your best shot.....

[Big Muddy]

I was talking to my grandson, after church this morning, about the deer he killed, yesterday....just like talking to an adult, but he's only 11 years old....he said, "Pappy, that was the best kill-shot I ever made"....130 yards with his .243....he wasn't being boastful, just observant of his own ability....since he started hunting, he's killed 8 or 10 deer, so I gave his statement some thought and credence.

So, I started trying to remember MY best kill-shot....I guess it was about five years ago....actually, it was a coyote at the opposite end of a long narrow 20 acre wheat field....the coyote was running broadside, right to left, at full-speed at about 350yards....one shot from my Rem. 700 30.06....I didn't think that coyote would ever stop rolling, head-over-heels.

Prolly couldn't make that shot again, if my life depended on it, but I did it-----ONCE!!! ;)

How 'bout ya'll???....do you have a kill-shot that really sticks out in your mind???

[Arty]

That's a great shot for a lil tyke!!! Hell for anyone!

I have 2 great shots that come to mind but the one when I was 14 was the best.
It was right at dark- not dusk...and I was setup in a stand on the corner of an alfalfa field. My brother had gotten out of his stand and was walking to mine. I saw him coming in from behind me. I didn't get down from the stand (normally I would have). For some reason I thought that maybe he would jump something on his walk to me. A minute or so after I saw my brother, who was prolly 100 yard behind me, I look up and see movement all the way across the other side of the field. I had no clue what it was and threw up my rem700 bdl in 30-06 to draw light from the scope to get a better look.

Could barely make out brown skin and antlers.
A 9 point buck was 357 yards away and I hit him in the heart while he was walking. I could barely see him (in the almost dark) jump about 6 feet in the air when I pulled the trigger. His heart looked like hamburger when we field dressed him with the help of truck headlights.
My brother later told me that he nearly shit himself when I shot...cuz at the time I shot he was only about 30 yards behind me, but couldn't see that I had pulled the rifle up.

That was my first buck. And it's hanging in my office right now.
Not huge. But a great story.
And bonus - the bullet didn't go all the way through and I have that in my office as well.

[BarryBobPosthole]

My best shot was my first deer, I was 14. 270 steps with a commemorative model 94 Winchester 30/30. Was over iron sights and I remember putting the bead about a foot over her back and squeezing the trigger like Captain always says and I was taught, so that it kind of surprises you when it goes off. My Dad was standing right beside me and started calling me Israel. I asked him why and he said 'i'm Daniel, you're Israel'. I've never forgot that moment and never will even though it was just an 80 pound doe.
BKB

[Trav]

Mine would have to be my first deer with a bow, it was a small 6 pt that Posthole jumped and ran to me. I only had 2 arrows because my brother took some of my broad heads without asking, I had no idea until I was leaving the truck. so i had 2 usable arrows and 3 with field tips. He was swimming down a creek at about 50 yards, the fist arrow went right over his back the second caught him in the neck. You would be surprised how little of a deer is visible when hey are swimming. You would also be surprised how fast they can swim.

[Big Skyz]

Can't say there is any "one" great shot that stands out, but there are a few that I remember. One day when I was a teenager I was out hunting pheasants. At the time I was a pretty fair wing shot. (not anymore, can't hit anything with a shotgun). Anyway I had killed a pheasant or two and so had my best friend. We were both very competitive and if one did not shoot fast one didn't get a chance to shoot. We jump a rooster. "I remember thinking dang it's awful close. If I shoot now I'll blow it to bits." I put the bead on it's head and shot. When I walked over to the pheasant I'd blown his head clean off and not a single BB was below his upper neck. About as clean of a shot as you can make and not destroy any meat.

I've also killed a couple coyotes running full out at 300+ yards. Missed countless coyotes running as well, but sooner or later one will run into my bullets. I've also killed quite a few deer between 300 to 400+ yards. Most were standing still but some were running. I've even impressed myself a time or two by killing running jack rabbits at over a 100 yards with a 22 rimfire. Longest shot I've ever made on a game animal was killing a cow elk at 552 yards. Longest best shooting I've ever done was a 3 shot group that was just under 1.5" at 802 yards.

Come to think of it one of the toughest shots I ever made was on a wounded bear. A bowhunter had wounded it and we were tracking it in thick timber. (IVery intense btw.) The bear suddenly exploded out of timber close to us and was running hard up hill. I could only get little glimpses of it as it flashed through the trees. I saw a small opening up ahead of it that was only about 5 feet wide. It was about 130 yards or so away. However I had to shoot completely off hand. I timed it just right and hit that bear right in the heart as he raced through the opening. Killed him deader than dead. Probably couldn't pull that shot off twice in a row if I had to. When we skinned him out we discovered that the arrow would not have killed him. The bowhunter was pretty happy to have his bear.

Bottom line I'm not a real good shot at running targets but I do get lucky often enough that I still have to try. However, if a critter is standing still and I got time to lay down and shoot, there is a pretty good chance I'll connect most of the time.

[Buckrub]

Over half my antelope shots.

[Big Muddy]

Over half my antelope shots.

Billy goats don't count.....;););)

[Buckrub]

More of 'em on my wall than deer. Big Sky mentioned pheasants and bears! Do they count? Lots of 'em I hit running, last one hit at 375 yards verified. I am on video shooting at a running goat at 800 yards, and missing it by inches, hitting the ground behind him, till I ran out of bullets. Two more and I'd have had him.

The buck this year wasn't bad. Running through a cutover, three shots, hit him all three.

Have had a lot of 'thick woods shots', I guess. That's about all we ever get. I'd guess most of 'em were that way. I can remember a very few standing in the open, but not many. But I ain't a great shot.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Like Larke says, they're all government goats anywho.

BKB

[Thumper]

I have two and can't figure which was the best ... I think it's a tie. Both shots were does btw.

One, someone had spooked a doe and she was running balls-out ... (ummm, can a doe do that?) along a small ridgeline. I was at the top of the ridge looking down into a deep draw .. I could hear her running but couldn't see her. All of a sudden she busted out of the brush and ran smack over me knocking me backwards and on my ass ... right in the middle of a big mud puddle! I rolled over in the mud and took a wild-assed hail-Mary try at an Oklahoma brain-shot, but she kept running and disappeared into another draw behind me. Seems she had been running parallel to the ridge but was in a small ditch-like depression and I couldn't see her until she busted up out'ta there .... about 10 feet in front of me. I was standing in the middle of the trail she was running.

Of course the rest of the party had to come over and laugh their asses off at me as I was a total, wet, freezing mess. After they had their laugh, we peeked over the edge of the ridge she disappeared over and there she was ... stone-cold dead. A perfect shot right up the poop-chute! :D

The next one was also a doe and had also been spooked by another hunter. I saw her running waaaaay off to my left, but as she approached me, she disappeared behind a row of VERY thick brush and trees running at about mach 3.2! I looked across and spotted a small opening about the size of a pie plate and aimed straight through it .... the second I saw brown, I pulled the trigger. My partner (manager of the Orlando Bass Pro Shops at the time) came over and joined me. I told him there was no way I hit her as I only had a small hole to shoot through and by time I saw her, I only had a nano-second to pull the trigger. I walked back to get my back pack that I'd dropped off previously and my buddy took a walk down the hill. He hollered for me and when I got down to him, I saw the doe was piled up in a heap ... deader than Bucky's pecker! Both her lungs were mush!

The very next year, I had a MONSTER (one of the nicest I've ever taken a shot at) buck in my sites and he was standing still, broadside to me at about 70-80 yards. I had a clear shot as he was standing on the side of a hill and there was nothing but air between us. I popped off a round and he just stood there. HUH??? I jacked another round and fired again ... he never flinched. WTF??? I took a third shot and saw dust fly behind him ... then he hauled ass for parts unknown ... never to be seen again. That was before I'd mounted the scope on my 870 and the rear site had worked loose and slid over to one side on the ramp. :(

After that, everyone would rib me and say if I ever spot a deer, I need to throw a rock at it to spook it first or I'll never be able to hit it. ;)

[Gunther]

Bucky, Hell if you had rpg's you coulda had the half mile goat! Pretty bad when your BEST SHOT MISSED!

[Buckrub]

That was the best miss. The others I mentioned were the best shot.

I have RPG's. Don't tell the government.

[Bwana]

Two that come to mind occurred within the last few years and both involve whitetail does, the only difference being one time I was all by myself and the other time I had several witnesses. In each case I was walking a cattail slough when I flushed a doe only to have it run dead, straight away from me. I can remember thinking, "Crap, no shot here" only to realize that a headshot wouldn't ruin any meat. One shot each time and no meat wrecked. The first time I did it I thought I got pretty lucky and would never be able to pull off such a shot again but a few years later I learned that lightning can strike twice.

A similar thing took place on a coyote while hunting with my cousin. We surprised the pup while walking into a location we were going to call and both of us proceeded to snap off a shot just as the coyote was disappearing into a tree filled drainage. A followup showed a bit of blood so the tracking began. That bugger took us through a good half mile long heavy, snowfilled draw before the tracks turned uphill and out of the trees. Just as we exited the trees I saw the coyote about 180 yards away making quick work of trying to disappear over a hilltop. I threw up my gun, tracked it for a split second, and pulled the trigger. I told my cousin before we ever started up the hill that I might have missed but that I was shooting for his head. He was the first one to the critter and was laughing when I got there as I had hit it just as I said.

Lord knows I have missed plenty of shots but as I always say, when it comes to hunting "It is better to be lucky then good," and so far my luck has been holding out. Or at least it usually does.