[DropOut]

Well, I went out for some more small game today...

Everything was going great. I had some time to admire the beauty of nature, pray a while, and even discovered an amazing brook area that I didn't know existed deep in the heart of the woods. It was overall a successful nature walk - but if I don't shoot anything I don't have any meat for the day to eat. Now, I consider myself to be a pretty decent shot, but I feel terrible after what happened today.

I'm using my new shotgun (Winchester 1300 12 gauge - the one everyone here is probably tired of hearing about) and I hear this chatter about forty yards ahead. I see two gray squirrels frolicking about so I pull up my gun and disengage the safety.

Well, they're chasing each other! And the best part is, they're headed straight towards me! They would have run right into me if I hadn't started shooting! So I popped out two shots at these animals that are literally two yards away and I THOUGHT i hit one. A third shot soon followed after the other critter.

After thoroughly combing the area - it turns out I missed :cuss::cuss::cuss::banghead::banghead::banghead:


So a great hunting trip was pretty much ruined because I am a much worse shot than I thought I was - plus I have no meat. Maybe I just missed in the excitement of the moment. Does anyone else have crazy stories like this?

[Kimber1911_06238]

lol

if hunting was easy, it wouldn't be fun. limit your shots on running animals, but with a shotgun those shouldn't be a problem. sometimes the two yard shots are harder than the far ones ;) don't forget at that distance your pattern is going to be super small

[41magsnub]

A squirrel shot at 2 yards with a 12 ga regardless of the load might be a little messy.. it could be a good thing you missed! :)

[Kimber1911_06238]

hahaha+1 to having a bloody mess. you probably wouldn't have much left

[cmidkiff]

Tree rats... at two yards... with a 12 gauge... while meat hunting?

Can't imagine how that could have been successful :)

Save that 12g for the birds, and pick up a .22 for the tree rats. You'll find they are much easier to clean while relatively intact :)

[DropOut]

Heh, well thanks for the sympathy - but judging by the laughs I don't think anyone has botched something like that this badly :o.

Tree rats... at two yards... with a 12 gauge... while meat hunting?

Can't imagine how that could have been successful

Save that 12g for the birds, and pick up a .22 for the tree rats. You'll find they are much easier to clean while relatively intact

I used to use ONLY a .22 while hunting squirrel and could usually get consecutive head shots (Lol, believe it or not). However, I kept getting put in situations where i couldn't take a lot of otherwise good shots because they were up in the air. That's why the shotgun comes in handy.

[41magsnub]

Don't feel bad, we all have days like that. Someday I'll tell you about the pheasant at about 2' I blew up with a 12 ga.

[Kimber1911_06238]

i also managed to hit a woodcock with a 12 gauge at around 15'. didn't turn out so well for me....or him

[Bitmap]

As mentioned, at 2 yards the shot hasn't spread much. Not a lot different from shooting at them with a rifle.

Also, shotguns are typically set up so that when your eye is aligned properly on the rib the shot will hit above where you are pointing. Most of the time you are shooting at birds, right? And most of the time birds are flying up and away from you so a little built in elevation is a good thing. Otherwise, you would have to cover the bird with the muzzle end of the barrel and then you couldn't see when it changed speed or direction.

When critters are coming straight at you there are a number of things that make it difficult to hit them well.

One more thing just to make you nervous in that situation - while squirrels usually aren't considered dangerous, what do you think would happen if one ran up the inside of your pants leg?

[41magsnub]

One more thing just to make you nervous in that situation - while squirrels usually aren't considered dangerous, what do you think would happen if one ran up the inside of your pants leg?

They would find some nuts?












I keep peanuts in my pocket in a bag out hunting and I'm sure they could chew threw my pocket and the bag!

[Geno]

Lesson #1: Slow down, and let the pheasants put some distance between them and me, before pulling the trigger. :D

Lesson #2: Lead the pheasant; don't fire through it. :neener:

Lesson #3: Pheasant do not require 2 ounces of #4-shot, in a 3" Nitro Mag 12 gauges. :banghead:

Lesson #4: The best choke is Imp Cyl, not full. :confused:

I learned these lesson years ago.

[Kingcreek]

I remember hunting with a fella that blasted a rooster with a 12 payload at about 8 ft. The dog retrieved to me and I plucked the wad out of it as I handed it to the guy.
It was, at that point, only suitable food for the barn cats.

[BullsEye10x]

I'm so optimistic, some people just can't stand it... What's the good side to this story, you ask? The squirrels are most likely deaf now, so they won't hear you coming next time :D

[DropOut]

I'm so optimistic, some people just can't stand it... What's the good side to this story, you ask? The squirrels are most likely deaf now, so they won't hear you coming next time

Ha! Thanks for the laugh!

But your darn right, I'm going to check out the same spot tomorrow morning - bright and early!

[CSA 357]

LOOK ON THE BRITE SIDE! it could have been two bears!:neener:

[41magsnub]

When the dog has already gone off point, I relax, and the pheasant jumps in my face, flys directly in front of my gun, and scares the crap out of me I am not responsible for the condition of the bird after I "defend" myself!

[Jaenak]

You have no idea how many "When Squirrels Attack" news stories I've read online. I've come to the opinion that squirrels are as much of a nuisance critter than pigeons and more dangerous than a rabid dog. I've gotten into the habit of going squirrel hunting as an act of vengance against those little caffeine sucking, hell spawned rats.

[frogomatic]

while squirrels usually aren't considered dangerous, what do you think would happen if one ran up the inside of your pants leg?

Ray Steven's 'Mississippi Squirrel Revival'

[30-06 lover]

I went out this passed weekend for ducks and had a group of 8 Sprig come in at 30 yard in my face...3 shots later and I didn't even hit one!? Sometimes you have to know how wrong things can go so you can appreciate the times when things go right.

[CajunBass]

I missed a squirrel at about oh...let's says ten feet earlier this year. He was up on his back legs, almost in the surrender position. The crosshairs were dead on his chest. I really felt bad about shooting him that close.

Until I missed. :D

I'm not sure who was more surprised. Him or me. Me I guess. He got away.

[scbair]

My uncle once shot a squirrel at approx. 10 ft. range with a 12 gauge; it was not a pretty sight. A bushy tail with a small scrap of meat attached . . .

I usually hunt small game with a .22 rimfire 'cause I HATE to bite down on a lead shot left in the meat!! I'll never own up to missing an easy shot, of course . . .:o

[koja48]

Sure we have . . . I missed a red fox one time standing still with its head between 2 hay bales at 3-feet. I was using a bow, but was shooting all the time in those days, so it was a chip shot. It happens. Maybe you did hit one & it vaporized at that range. :eek:

[pernicus]

once i was out squirrel hunting and i was using steel shot that my dad had left over...apparently #4 steel doesn't have enough penetration to kill a squirrel, i hit the same squirrel rolling him up in the leaves 3 times from less than 20' each time and he continued to get up, after the third shot i threw away the rest of the steel shot shells i had left and went to the store and bought some lead

[hopkin]

I once shot squirrel in the head with a .22 air rifle and watched the pellet bounce off. The squirrel started running, slipped, fell onto concrete and then lay on the ground bleeding out its mouth and backside. :(

I almost burst into tears at the poor pathetic thing and it took me a minute to remember to shoot it and put it out of its misery. Man, I feel guilty about that.

[Thylacine]

Arrrg!

[kmrcstintn]

years ago...shortly after coming into the world...my father was hunting rabbits with a buddy from the service; his buddy's dog was a freshly trained beagle to point & retrieve the furry critters; at the time my dad didn't have much time with a shotty and accidentally bought some high brass loads (this comes into play later on in the story); dad's bud allows him to take the first rabbit;

the dog flushes it and dad missed since he didn't lead; a bit of laughing and technique correction was administered; dad gets another chance at another rabbit; this time he is focused and determined not to miss; the dog flushes and dad quickly swings onto the furball and shoots again...

the poor beagle goes to retrieve the rabbit and has a cunundrum...which half to pick up and take back...dad's high brass load blew the rabbit clean in half at 10 yards...to this day the story is told of the sad beagle that was denied the chance to proudly retrieve his first rabbit...we all get a chuckle

[K3]

I liquified a quail last year in Mississippi. Little fella flushed right in front of me, and I blasted him 2 feet of the end of the barrel. The guide said I should at least let them step off the end of the shotgun before I shoot. :D Everybody got a good laugh out of that one.

[Nevertoomanyguns]

It is probably a good thing that you missed last season I was hunting snow shoe hares and the beagles pushed this one suicidal hare almost between my legs I shot him at about 4 yards with my Remington 100 in .410 with number 6shot. luckily it was a head shot. The mess was horrible head totally gone and most of the front shoulders, my favorite part, were gone too. If you had hit those squirrels with that 12ga. at 2 yards you still would of gone home hungry :neener:

[EatBugs]

I had some interesting squirrel hunts this year. I hunt with a .22 and while eating a squirrel I bit into someone else's lead shot. # 4 I think.

Also, I've started to notice that shot squirrels behave differently then missed squirrels if they don't fall DRT. So, I shot a big ol fox squirrel and the thing does the old western style fall from the tree. I didn't see it hit the ground but I could hear it do the little bouncy dance and run a few feet. I go looking for it and find nothing. I look and look and look but still nothing of going in circles around the tree. And then.... I see a bushy tail sticking out from a hollow log. But it was a squirrel I shot and lost last week.(shot out of same tree too.) ugh how frustrating. so I go back and hunt some more but I still can't get over that fox squirrel, I was sure I got it, and I was encouraged by finding last weeks lost squirrel. So I pinpoint the tree it fell out of ( very productive tree, I wound up shooting alot of squirrels out of it) and search the ground untill I find itty bitty drops of blood and some fur. I eventually blood trailed that squirrel and found it. holy cow, do you know how hard it is to blood trail a squirrel!

A few weeks later I become a more bold shooter(first year with .22) and start aiming for the head. I never seen squirrels run so far with no brains.

[sammoh]

Hey don't feel bad. I had a couple of horrible shots my first time out deer hunting. It was with a bow but this gives you an idea how bad it was. My dad and I were sitting in a bush blind and a 2x2 walks past us. Its quartered away from us so we're looking at its right rear quarter with a clear shot into the chest cavity. My dad nods to me and I slowly stand, draw and loose, only to have the arrow sail way over its head. The thing didn't move. I nocked and drew again, this time the arrow hit the ground by its front feet. That set it running and it ran into my dad's arrow that he'd loosed after my second shot. That blew through the deer's chest cavity and dropped it where it hit the ground.

Now, let's talk distance. The bloody thing wasn't all that far from us, in fact, it was only 15 or so ft from us. That was when I was 14. Now I'm 31 and regularly put all my arrows in the yellow (bull's eye) from 30 yds with my long bow. My father still brings up that hunt now and then especially when I'm out shooting him.

Sam

[tinygnat219]

:D My advice, switch to ammo and leave the blanks at home. :D

[Pigspitter]

A bad moment in my hunting career happend while squirrel hunting. I had my mosin nagant m44 bayo extended when a squirrel pops out and hits the surrender position about five feet away. I'm out of ammo so I take my rifle and throw it javelin style right between its legs. Then it shames me by running up the stock of the rifle and sitting on my butt plate.

[theCZ]

Like Bitmap said, your shotgun is probably set to shoot high, I know all of mine except my O/U pattern high. Still, it's easy to think you can be sloppy because it's a shotgun...