Greatest Shot Ever--A Thread--Post Your's

[BlacktailMaster]

Hey guys, I have been active on the Elk Forum but historically have been a Blacktail hunter in Western Washington. I put up this thread to say tell us your best shot on a deer...ONLY TRUE STORIES!!!

I will go first. In 1998 I was hunting Blacktails with a Savage Model 99E Lever Action .243. I had been scouting a clear cut near the coast and knew there was a good gene pool for Blacktails in this particular area. The clearcut was fairly flat with some swampy areas in it. Perfect for Blacktails. I got up on opening morning...may have overslept just a smidge...got out to the gate and hiked in about half a mile to the clearcut. Walked into the clearcut about 20 yards, looked up and saw a deer at about 125 yards. Quickly brought my gun up freehand, saw it in the scope, saw it was a buck looking straight at me and Boom...I shot. That whole process took about 4 seconds. I looked up and saw 2 does bounce to my right. I began telling myself that wow, I can say I missed a pretty big one...probably a big 2 or 3 point...everything just happened so fast I was certain I missed. So, I went up to where the deer was to check and sure enough, there was a massive buck laying in a bush exactly where I shot it. I couldn't believe it as I raised its head out of the bush and saw this big rack. I thought, where the heck did I hit it? I looked all over the deer but there was no sign of entry and no sign of exit. No blood anywhere. Not even in the mouth. So, I gutted it and still no sign of entry and no sign of exit. I took it home and we hung it in the shed. Skinned it...no sign of entry and no sign of exit. We were perplexed...it was like I had scared it to death.

Because it was a big Blacktail I called a friend who was a retired taxidermist and asked him if he would cape the head for us as I wanted to make sure the cape was perfect. So, he came over and caped the head in our garage. About halfway through caping it he popped into the house and said, "Well I know what happened!". I said, what!!?! He said: "Well, the deer was standing straight towards you and had its mouth open and you shot it through the mouth...missing all of the teeth and the tongue. The bullet then went into the deer's brain and because you shoot a .243 the bullet blew up in it's brain and didn't exit the brain cavity...no sign of entry and no sign of exit!". I couldn't believe it. I am not really that good of a shot, however, I think this one might be in the running for one of the best free hand shots EVER!! He green scored it at 118.5 which is pretty good for a Blacktail. One of the eye guards was broken off and thus a deduction at 3/4 of an inch but a true trophy for me!

Let's hear you best shots ever and prove me wrong! Looking forward to these responses!

 

[BackofBeyond]

Best shot I ever took was the one where I took a controlled shot an the bullet went exactly where my crosshairs were - no surprises.

 

[np307]

I heard about a guy that took a 700 yard shot on a big mule deer without ranging and blew its leg off. Slowed the deer down enough for him to catch up and finish it off. Some other stuff may have happened in-between but who cares. What a shot.

 

[antlerradar]

I knocked a starling out of a cottenwood tree at close to 100 yards with a open sighted Benjamin pellet rifle when I was a kid. More of a shit ass luck shot than a great shot though.

 

[Dave N]

Illinois shotgun season many moons ago I was walking to a different spot and spotted a doe at the treeline. I had a scope on my gun but no rifled barrel yet. Made a ballpark guesstimate on distance, knelt down and used my knee for a rest for my elbow, held the crosshairs WAY over her back and let a slug go. Walked over that direction and she was dead in her tracks. Cool! The next day I brought my rangefinder and got a distance of just over 300 yards.

 

[RyGuy]

@antlerradar you reminded me of my best shot ever:
I was a little Kid and visiting my grandparents for a week or so. My grandpa was having a feud with a woodpecker that was hitting all of the trees in his yard and causing quite a bit of damage. He had a slingshot and would be out there chasing that thing around every day. In hindsight, he probably never intended to hurt that bird, he just wanted to scare it off…. Well, I wanted to get in on the bird hunt so we went to Walmart and they got me my very own slingshot!
The next day I saw that woodpecker up about 25’ in a big pine tree. I grabbed a stone from their gravel driveway, pulled back as far as I could and let er fly. I hit that bird right between the wings and dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
My little sister cried, my grandpa tried to hold back a smile, it was great.

 

[Carl]

I’ve made some decent shots on big game but try not to play hero with them.

In my youth, on ground hogs and birds around the farm, different story. It didn’t hurt that there was a bounty

Lots of miracle shots, including more than a couple wing shots on birds with a Crosman 2100. This ground hog stands out, in part because I have a picture to keep the memory fresh.

REM 700 VLS in 22-250, Winchester white box 45 gr loads (cheapest that Gander Mountain had), Tasco 3-9 that was a hand-me-down from dad, no rangefinder, out the second floor bedroom window. I was guessing - everything; range, bullet drop, what that drop looked like in a fat duplex, wind, etc. Knew I’d only have one shot, as our ground hog population had become well educated. Was borderline amazed when it connected. I borrowed my uncle’s rangefinder to get the distance after the fact.

Lots of luck involved, but it definitely furthered my interest in long range shooting, I think I had a Leupold 6.5-20 and a reloading setup by that Christmas.

 

[TheTone]

Trotting coyote at about 250 yards is high on my list; I’m not sure who was more surprised me or my friend that was with me. He thought I was a great shot

I’ll agree with @Carl, tons of great shots with a 22 or pellet gun in my youth with stuff around the house

 

[rogerthat]

No offense meant to anyone but should we be calling these our “best” shots? Luckiest shot? Or shot I probably shouldn’t have taken but turned out great?

Edit: maybe I’m being too uptight but the amount of wounding that I’m aware of since the beginning of Montana rifle has been intense this year.

 

[Carl]

“Best” shots and best judgment need not ever meet…

Trotting coyote at about 250 yards is high on my list; I’m not sure who was more surprised me or my friend that was with me. He thought I was a great shot

I’ve had a few situations where I had to think afterwards “I should probably never let them see me shoot again.”

 

[LuketheDog]

Best shot I ever took was the one where I took a controlled shot an the bullet went exactly where my crosshairs were - no surprises.

Ditto, I like it when the bullet goes through the vitals right where I'm aiming and the critter dies quick right there. That's always my best shot.

 

[gouch]

I damn sure have gotten lucky on a couple of shots I never should have taken but my best shot, luckiest, was one day when I was bow hunting elk when a grouse suddenly appeared to my left. I nocked my grouse arrow and let it fly. I missed. Hit less than an inch high. The stupid grouse just stood there. I only carry one arrow dedicated for grouse, so I pick up a rock about the size of a strawberry and lobbed it towards him, as I told him to get the hell outa here. I didn't throw it hard, just kind of lobbed it in his direction. I hit him square on the noggin knocking him silly, giving me enough time to walk over and ring his neck. If anyone had been watching, I would have insisted that that was exactly my plan all along.

Doubt I will ever make another shot like that again.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I've mentioned it before on here, but I blew the right front leg completely off of a fawn WT while it was careening toward me. Deer lays dead, some yards away lays it's leg. My greatest shot ever when I was probably 17, nowhere to go but down.
'Merica Magnum!

 

[OntarioHunter]

Hey guys, I have been active on the Elk Forum but historically have been a Blacktail hunter in Western Washington. I put up this thread to say tell us your best shot on a deer...ONLY TRUE STORIES!!!

I will go first. In 1998 I was hunting Blacktails with a Savage Model 99E Lever Action .243. I had been scouting a clear cut near the coast and knew there was a good gene pool for Blacktails in this particular area. The clearcut was fairly flat with some swampy areas in it. Perfect for Blacktails. I got up on opening morning...may have overslept just a smidge...got out to the gate and hiked in about half a mile to the clearcut. Walked into the clearcut about 20 yards, looked up and saw a deer at about 125 yards. Quickly brought my gun up freehand, saw it in the scope, saw it was a buck looking straight at me and Boom...I shot. That whole process took about 4 seconds. I looked up and saw 2 does bounce to my right. I began telling myself that wow, I can say I missed a pretty big one...probably a big 2 or 3 point...everything just happened so fast I was certain I missed. So, I went up to where the deer was to check and sure enough, there was a massive buck laying in a bush exactly where I shot it. I couldn't believe it as I raised its head out of the bush and saw this big rack. I thought, where the heck did I hit it? I looked all over the deer but there was no sign of entry and no sign of exit. No blood anywhere. Not even in the mouth. So, I gutted it and still no sign of entry and no sign of exit. I took it home and we hung it in the shed. Skinned it...no sign of entry and no sign of exit. We were perplexed...it was like I had scared it to death.

Because it was a big Blacktail I called a friend who was a retired taxidermist and asked him if he would cape the head for us as I wanted to make sure the cape was perfect. So, he came over and caped the head in our garage. About halfway through caping it he popped into the house and said, "Well I know what happened!". I said, what!!?! He said: "Well, the deer was standing straight towards you and had its mouth open and you shot it through the mouth...missing all of the teeth and the tongue. The bullet then went into the deer's brain and because you shoot a .243 the bullet blew up in it's brain and didn't exit the brain cavity...no sign of entry and no sign of exit!". I couldn't believe it. I am not really that good of a shot, however, I think this one might be in the running for one of the best free hand shots EVER!! He green scored it at 118.5 which is pretty good for a Blacktail. One of the eye guards was broken off and thus a deduction at 3/4 of an inch but a true trophy for me!
View attachment 300465
Let's hear you best shots ever and prove me wrong! Looking forward to these responses!

Dad thought maybe I scared this bull to death. Not a hole in till skinning up to ears. Then I saw a bit of bloodshot. Went a little further and found entrance wound. The bullet went as far as the spine. He was moving straight away uphill through thick stuff when I saw two white things above its head. I touched off a quick shot trying to hit him in the back and he disappeared. I was certain I had been following a young elk by the size of the track in snow so expected a spike. Almost wet my pants when I saw the size of this monster on the ground. For whatever reason he had very small feet.

 

[rogerthat]

My “best” shots have all been on coyotes. That’s the only time I have taken really stupid shots. Honestly I don’t really do that anymore either. 570 yards right in the head, 420 yards in a 30 mph crosswind, 350 yards running as fast as possible broadside almost had to lead him out of the scope and still hit him square in the ass.

 

[nrpate05]

I've always had fairly easy shots on deer. Inside 200 yards and mostly broadside. The best shot I made was on a buck we bumped at about 100 yards. He trotted off and I made a beeline for some tall brush for cover. Worked up the brushline and saw him on the other side quartering to me at probably 175. I got setup but had brush in the way so I ripped down some branches quickly and he took notice but just quartered harder. I got setup again and found him in the crosshairs. Touched off a second later and couldn't tell what happened as he ran off. It was so quick I couldn't really tell where the crosshairs were but was sure it looked good. Tracked him probably 25 yards to the steep timber where he took a nosedive downhill. Shot just missed the front quarter and exited just in front of the guts mid body. Couldn't have asked for better placement on such a hard quarter. No meat damage at all. Not a far shot by any means, but a tight window to thread through.

I made a hail mary shot on a going away pheasant once with my Grandpa's old H&R single shot 12 gauge. It was probably 70+ yards away and my buddy had already missed it. Can't really say it was skill, but it was pretty cool. Everyone thought I was silly for bringing a single shot pheasant hunting.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I have made a couple of great running shots over the years but two animals in Africa probably top the list. I shot this gemsbuck incoming (charging?) at very close range in the chest and then again in the shoulder as it ran by twelve yards away. Both bullets through the heart. They can be dangerous which accounts for double tap. Next trip I drilled this buffalo on the run through both lungs at sixty yards. We followed him about a hundred yards till he turned and faced us. Then I shot him in the chest, but probably not necessary. The first shot was killing him fast.

 

[steveshuntn1]

We were in a 91 Ford Taurus parked on a hill top I use to dove hunt on as a kid…my girlfriend (now wife) and I had been dating for 6 months. I took my shot…by far the best one I ever took!!!

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I am generally not one to take a shot I have any question about, but the thread made me think of this story.

I think it was probably summer of 2006 or 2007 and one of my sergeant first classes and I were training a unit of Croatian Soldiers to get them ready to go to Afghanistan. One of the things we were training them on was calling in artillery fire, and one day after they got the classroom training we had some 105mm guns allocated to us to give the Croatians a chance to call in some live artillery. Out in the impact area were some old deuce-and-a-halfs and some old M113 armored personnel carriers for targets. We had everyone up on the observation post, and I told them I would call in a fire mission as an example as I have a lot of experience doing it in training and deployed, and then they could try. So I looked at the map, estimated the grid on a loan M113 about 1200m out in front of us, talked them all through how I came up with the mission, and called the mission over the radio for everyone to hear. Maybe a minute passes and we hear the gun go off 5-6 miles away.....next thing we see the M113 disappears in a cloud.

Now mind you this was dumb luck. I mean I knew I would be close to it, but I expected to have to make adjustments before I would get effects on the target. But in an effort to bolster the mystique of the US Army's Officer Corps. I contained my child-like glee, and stonefaced called "steel on steel, end of mission" over the radio, and turned to the awestruck crowd watching and told them "if they listen carefully to the instruction, and got some practice, they might be able to do that too." I don't think I have ever seen an NCO roll his eyes as hard and have such a difficult time trying to control himself from death by laughter as in that moment....

I also dumped a coyote at 475. That was pretty neat....

 

[Sask hunter]

All right I’ll bite. This story takes place about 15 years ago. 1st was running coyote I had missed a few times already. Threw one last bullet in the gun gave him more lead and more height shot and he rolled. 475 yards. Bullets were a lot cheaper back then. Just the other day I missed a trotting coyote he took off running down a draw. Could only see his head swung on him and shot lost him in the recoil but swear I heard a hit. Go up there and he was laying dead. Apparently trotting is too slow for me lol. I have shot a lot of running coyotes and usually shoot a few runners over 300 yards each winter.