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

[Shangobango]

The one that comes to mind for me was on a WT doe at about 5 yards from the ground. I was tucked into some palmetto on my knees. I saw her coming down the trail at about 50 yards, drew when she got to 30 yards and then proceeded to have to stay at full draw for what seemed like 5 minutes when she left the trail to munch on green briar and then hit the trail again almost right on top of me. I was pretty young and still using a Bear Nova that wasn't exactly packed with let off and I was right on the verge of having to let down when she popped back out on that trail. I would rather shoot one at 30 yards than 5 regardless of up in a tree or on the ground.

 

[nicktown97]

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!

 

[Marshian]

I had a detached retina which will lead to blindness in that eye three months before deer season and underwent urgent surgery. My eye was prone to drying out so I had to hunt in ski goggles with prescription inserts. The shot itself wasn’t too bad, prone on a good rest at a hair over 300 yards but it was at the deer of my life and I pieced the heart. The backstory for me is why i will likely never top this shot.

 

[OntarioHunter]

View attachment 332992View attachment 332993View attachment 332995

I had a detached retina which will lead to blindness in that eye three months before deer season and underwent urgent surgery. My eye was prone to drying out so I had to hunt in ski goggles with prescription inserts. The shot itself wasn’t too bad, prone on a good rest at a hair over 300 yards but it was at the deer of my life and I pieced the heart. The backstory for me is why i will likely never top this shot.

I had that surgery ... three times. Fortunately, left eye. But also multiple laser patch jobs to both eyes. Last time was maybe 2012. At one time my eyes were falling apart so fast they expected me to go blind. But I'm good to go now. Left eye gives me depth perception but not much else.

So did you do something to mitigate recoil so soon after surgery? Suppressors not legal up here so I simply had to lay off shooting for a couple years. Eventually switched from 870 to a very heavy 3" mag semiauto A5 for bird hunting. I'm okay now to shoot 404 Jeffery elephant gun.

 

[Marshian]

I don’t shoot heavy magnums so that didn’t really apply. I usually use a 270 or 7mm08 and the biggest kicker is 12 gauge turkey loads. The eye surgeon cleared me for exercise at like the two month mark and told me everyone’s eyes dart around tremendously during REM sleep which mentally helped me be at peace with jumping and running etc. that was 4 years ago so I don’t really think about any of that anymore luckily.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I don’t shoot heavy magnums so that didn’t really apply. I usually use a 270 or 7mm08 and the biggest kicker is 12 gauge turkey loads. The eye surgeon cleared me for exercise at like the two month mark and told me everyone’s eyes dart around tremendously during REM sleep which mentally helped me be at peace with jumping and running etc. that was 4 years ago so I don’t really think about any of that anymore luckily.

Spontaneous detachment or injury related?

 

[Marshian]

Spontaneous detachment or injury related?

Spontaneous. Bad luck and age combined with being by very near sighted.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Spontaneous. Bad luck and age combined with being by very near sighted.

Mine were spontaneous, all three detachments within six months at age 54, and I am not near sighted. Just thin retinas. I'm 71 now and both eyes have been "settled" for more than ten years. "Traction" in left eye was formerly at least a weekly affair. Very unnerving. Now maybe biannual occurrence.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Enough about personal opthomology, what about your greatest shot ever?

 

[OntarioHunter]

Enough about personal opthomology, what about your greatest shot ever?

Maybe you learned something that someday may save your eyesight? Google the symptoms. Know what's happening (I didn't!). It's not necessary to get hit in the head with a baseball. Lesson over.