shortest shot

It would have to be a pointed pheasant at about 20 feet when it flushed. They can be less than five yards, if you want to take them that close. On a nice, balmy, windless day, Prairie Chickens get up right under your feet, I once got a limit and I don't think one of them was shot farther than 10 yards away.

Last year, I shot a turkey at 7-10 yards. So much for searching around for Federal Heavyweight shot with Flitecontrol wads, but you just never know.

I guess i have shot jackrabbits and cottontails that were within 20 feet.

The closest shot on deer that sticks out in my mind was when my brother accidentally called in a rutting buck. He was down in a canyon, looking around, and scared up a bedded doe. He then found a convenient Ponderosa Pine to sit down by, and as he was clearing off the pine cones and needles with his foot to make it comfy, a buck came flying in to see who was pawing a scrape and stealing his doe. He shot it at 7 yards as it came in stiff legged, looking for a fight.

I had to stop my car just this week when a turkey crossed the road. The kids and I rolled down the windows and we gobbled at him, he gobbled at us. Wouldn't even need a gun at that range! Turkeys, and many other animals, have discovered that the suburbs are the safest places with the most amount of food on the planet.

8 paces on a spike buck, used a 30-06 with remington 180 gr bronzepoints over a healthy charge of 4064. Hit him right in front of the shoulder and penetrated all the way through and out the opposite side hind quarter. Didn't look like it expanded at all, which still surprises me.

I had just lit a cigarette...

As I left the trail of what was once a logging skidder road here in the great north wet. A drizzely day, but at this time the clouds had broken after lunch back at camp with my good buddy.

OK, hang on. I've got to start from the beginning. Tom and I had hunted a lower section of the swamp and old mill/orchard area in the morning. We still hunt. No blinds, except natural folliage. No tree stands.. on a yucky fall day. We met up and decided to split. Each of us circling the swamp in opposite directions back to camp on the opposite side of water -up on the hill.

It was Tom's last day to hunt. So, after lunch we decided to go back over each other's tracks for the afternoon hunt. Now, since I nearly take the gun safe and it's contents with me to camp, he asked, "What are you going to carry"? I answered back with "My Marlin". "And my Taurus". .... "Oh, you're taking 'Mr. Lucky'? I offered Mr. Lucky, as he'd named my 336 years ago. He declined.

So, Not 200yds from camp, I decided to stand in this clump of young Alders after having a smoke on the trail. The wind was moving upslope. So, I put my nose to the wind and just stepped down/off the trail to listen. To smell. Even after smoking, you'd be surprised at what you can smell in the breeze if you take time to. I smelled something, ... Cross between Skunk Cabbage and a sweaty Black Bear. Then, I listened. Ducks playing in the water down at the swamp. There might have been an Otter or Beaver there too. I heard a tree fall in the woods to the south. I hoped Tom wasn't right there... Back to that smell- I hoped it wasn't me! I took a quiet moment to make sure it was not I. Ok, so, then I heard something ruffling the foliage down slope from me. Now, being that this is the great north wet, the brush is green and tall. The ground was quite soggy. Visibility ranged from two feet to ten feet depending on where I looked. Being wet, green and lush, it doesn't take much to be quiet, and it takes effort to be noisy.

Whatever was coming up the hill below was climbing then stopping. Foraging, then climbing again. But there was no trail that I could see. A human would have been much more noisy. And probably would have slipped more than once on this climb. I was sure this was an animal of some sort. So, I was keeping my eyes and ears posted to the sounds. Then nothing.

Even the little Chickadees that were fluttering through the Alders were quiet.

Out of the corner of my eye over my right shoulder I spotted what I thought was antler.

Ten feet away through the branches.

I could not count points. I saw a tip of an ear, and his nose once. That's all I needed. He was a legal buck this day. And late in the season. He's mine.

I couldn't see any "body". Well, except his right rump.

I tried to lift the carbine to my right. Of course, the muzzle was pointed to my left and there was no way to clear the branches of the young alders at my face. So.... I reached with my right hand to remove my Taurus Model 66 .357mag from my inside the jacket shoulder holster and shot him in the right rump from eight feet. Yes, he jumped. I dropped the pistol and wheeled around with the Marlin and finished him off as he had just crossed the old skidder road.

He was not the source of what I smelled. But I have a feeling he was 'moved' by what ever that smell was.

Just a 2x3 Blacktail. Young and tender on the grill.

I have taken other Blacktail within twenty feet with .44mag and 30-30 over the years.

Tom reached out and nearly touched a mother doe one day. She never even knew he was there.

A good pair of boots that you know well. No scent block. Just wool clothing and an extreem amount of patience and self awareness.

Last season a spike Whitetail was only five feet from me on a wet afternoon in Eastern Washington. He finally figured out that I was not a tree stump, but did not spook until another deer came up behind me. Then he coughed, snorted and stomped, letting the whole friggin woods know that something wasn't quite right in his neighborhood. Do you have any idea how loud that is at ten feet?

I've taken Grouse at five feet. But Grouse have nearly given me a heart attack at less than that.

-Steve

California Quail will stick in the grass and bushes till your nearly step on them. They are fast however and if you are startled a short shot quickly becomes a long one.

i shot a pheasant so close once the head was severed clean, not a pellet in the body. i joked with the guys saying i thought everybody used slugs. i've had opportunities to point-blank young does when deer hunting too - a couple years back one actually took a squat directly underneath me - but never have.

+1 to bowfin too, i pattern best with those flitecontrol shells but i can just never find a box around unless i stock up outside of season! hence remington for me in the field most times.

I gave an 8 point whitetail buck with a full broadside of No4 buck from a CBC 12 ga, the range was about 20 feet That turned out to be the hardest to find deer I've ever shot I'll NEVER use buckshot again

About 10 yrds at a whitetailed doe. One shot through the brain pan with a 223. She dropped so fast that for a long time I couldn't find her in the brush.

The first coyote I ever shot with my .17 Remington at <6' . . . came in quickly & popped out of the brush right in front of me & directly in front of the muzzle. Sighted right along the barrel, as the scope was obviously useless.

White tailed doe. Distance 2 feet. She never winded me and almost stepped on me. 1 44 mag 240gr xtp right between the eyes. It was the easiest deer to track Ive ever shot. The same day my little brother tried to give the coupe de grace to a small buck with my 9mm. 10 rounds not a single one tounched the deer. To this day I give him a hard time about that piece of ground not wanting to mess with him anymore. Oh did I mention the deer was DRT after my cousin put a 45/70 300 hollow point through the shoulder blade at 20 yards. Was the last time little bro got to go hunting with me he thought he was gonna show off but all he did was show his @$$.

whitetail buck (145" b&c) at 3 feet - 25-06.
whitetail buck (96" b&c) at 7 feet - archery.
prairie dog at 2, maybe 3 inches - 22-250.

those are my closest 3.

griz said:

....Excluding finishing shots, what is the shortest shot you have ever made on game?

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Have taken a number of deer directly below my tree stand....10'-20'.

...but the craziest one was an Antelope in hand to hand combat with a 4" hunting knife. Youngest son took a shot at a nice Antelope and dropped it (so we thought). Got up to the critter and the bullet had only grazed his back, stunning him. I grabbed one horn to take a look and the dang thing jumped up from the dead. Too nice an Antelope to let loose, so I wrestled it to the ground and cut it's throat with my knife. Guide said that in his 60 years of hunting he'd never seen anything like that....couldn't wait to tell the guys at the local coffee shop.

Koja48, you remind me of a Coyote I got with 12ga...

Grouse hunting! I must have woke a lone doggie. No den there. Not calling him in. He was just, There.

Dead Coyote at ten yards with a 12ga with #7. First shot was right in his face. It took a couple to put him down.

OK, here's another. Black Bear walking toward me at 25yds. 30-06 to the lungs. Missed the heart. He ran into the brush and howled and thrashed. I wish I had taken him with my .44mag. I finished him off at pistol distance with the .44.

Now a rug.

-Steve

Dakotasin, For crying out loud, Give the wild game a fighting chance!

Steve

About 2 feet on a ground hog. I was standing on a wee hill with a hole. Looked in the hole and saw the chuck. Pointed the .22 at him, pulled the trigger and got a very loud click when the hammer fell on an empty chamber. No last shot hold open on Cooey .22's and I'd been missing all day. Laughed so hard I nearly fell off the wee hill.

I shot a garter snake in the neck from 2 or 3 feet with a T/C Contender in 22 LR. It was living in a crack in the wall of our house and my wife was sure it was going to come through the brick wall, search her out and do who knows what. I like snakes and ordinarily don't molest them but I prize marital bliss even more. The snake's death made me a hero for a time.

Then there was the groundhog living under my porch. I took a shot at her with a 44 Magnum handgun from about 3 feet and missed!!!?##!!%%. This made clear to me a lesson I must have forgotten...one must know where a gun hits up close as well as further away. The brush with death made that groundhog smart but the next time I saw it, I was ready.

The rodent had decide to collect decorative items from our porch for winter bedding materials. I shot it with the same T/C Contender I shot the snake with from about 5 feet as it was crossing my porch. Unfortunately, the bullet went through the groundhog and into the porch. Despite the hole in the porch, my wife was very glad to have the groundhog dead and I was a hero again.

Mole at point blank with a bb gun as a kid. I was looking at the hole, holding the bb gun barrel down at my side, which put the muzzle just an inch or 2 above the hole when this mole comes out of the hole, and sticks his nose right up to the muzzle and starts sniffing.....
just squeezed the trigger and pop-no more mole (or at least no more mole's head anyway )

prairie dog at 2, maybe 3 inches - 22-250.

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So....did it take a finishing shot???

well, it was a mistake to take that shot... pretty funny though! the prairie dog popped up on us... we were on a dog town, and shooting prone from beach blankets. we had just taken a few minutes to let barrels cool and were getting ready to start again when this dog pops up out of the hole just off the end of the barrel. again, entertaining, but not a reccomended shot.

jack- believe it or not, the closer deer shot was almost defensive. i had confused the buck, and he thought i was on the other side of him. so he was trying to sneak away from me, and actually snuck up on the end of my gun barrel. now that i have more experience w/ this sort of thing, i'm pretty sure i would not try to find him in the scope again! lol!

...but the craziest one was an Antelope in hand to hand combat with a 4" hunting knife. Youngest son took a shot at a nice Antelope and dropped it (so we thought). Got up to the critter and the bullet had only grazed his back, stunning him. I grabbed one horn to take a look and the dang thing jumped up from the dead. Too nice an Antelope to let loose, so I wrestled it to the ground and cut it's throat with my knife. Guide said that in his 60 years of hunting he'd never seen anything like that....couldn't wait to tell the guys at the local coffee shop.

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Antelope wrasslin'. Now I've heard it all.

How long was the wrasslin' match?

I had a buck walk right under me when I was in my stand. It was maybe an 8 foot shot.

Guyon said:

....Antelope wrasslin'. Now I've heard it all.....How long was the wrasslin' match?

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Pinned him in less than 2 minutes....(heehee)

It's not my proudest moment, I try to be as safe a shooter as possible, but it was a complete surprise so I took it kind of as a well gauged reflex.

I was hunting rabbit late in the season, I think February 26th of this year, and the dogs had just hit on a rabbit on the other side of the field. So, I figured, "Hey, they're way over there, I'll just drop the muzzle down and hold in a relaxed position and wait until the dogs sound closer, if they even run this way".

By the time this complete thought had crossed my mind, around 15/100 of a second, Bugs jumps out no more than 18 inches from the muzzle of my Winchester 1300 loaded with #6 heavy upland game (I'm trying to sound hardcore here but when you're hunting rabbits, it just isn't so). I manage to shoulder the shotgun before the rabbit takes notice, he's just sitting there. As soon as the idea to shoot crosses my mind he bolts right for me. By some unconcious spark of intelligence, I managed to make sure that I aimed at the very front of the rabbit's face as I shot, I managed to save all of the rabbit. Shocking, since a rabbit doesn't stand much chance at that distance.

The true indication of how close to this rabbit I was when I shot it was the fact that when cleaning it, I pulled the wad out of it's intestines. Everyone else I was hunting with got a kick out of it but I was personally disappointed in my lack of judgment on that shot. I had the chance to take a very similar shot the next day, that time I had the presence of mind to give the rabbit some space before shooting it.

This other instance was hilarious to me. My stepdad and I were standing in a field hunting dove. He was whining about how he can't shoot a shotgun but if he had a rifle he'd be able to hit even the fastest flying bird, I just laughed, thinking "no one can be that bad with a shotgun and good with a rifle".

I was wrong about how bad a person can be with a shotgun. He was just standing there with his gun facing straight up leaning on his shoulder. I'll be damned if a dove doesn't land on the muzzle. When he finally notices, he twitches and the bird just lofts up three inches away from where it had been sitting. He shoulders the gun and shoots, no more than two feet away from his muzzle, and misses. It was made even more hilarious by the fact that when it was flying away, over his head the bird dropped a little fare well on his arm. Classic moment.

Seven yards or so on a 500lb wild boar, with a 7.62x39 AR-15. Took four shots (I was hoping to not have to shoot at all).