What is your most memorable shot?

My first elk.

That first year, I scouted and searched all summer long in an attempt to find elk. I never laid eyes on a single one. So, come elk season I was not really expecting to see any. I just wanted to enjoy a hunt with my dad and bother, but I still wanted to find 'em. I wanted to be the first ones in the backcountry so I told Dad that we had to get up EARLY. We did. We drove all the way to the trailhead and geared up, when Dad told me that he forgot his hunting license back at the camper. I already saw hunters filing up the trail and I knew this would just kill our chances, if we ever had any to begin with.

We drove all the way back, got the license and returned to the trailhead. We hiked in and I tried to just let it all go. I just wanted to enjoy the season. We hiked until we thought that we were in a good place to split up. Dad stayed on the trail and I went off into the woods. A few steps later, a herd spooks up right in front of me, and thunders out of there. A number of stragglers didn't know what the older elk were running from, so they walked right out in a perfect lane for me. I knelt down, pulled up the Win '94, and sent one right into the shoulder of the first cow that walked across that lane.

I was instantly hooked and I couldn't contain my excitement one bit. Had my Dad not forgotten his license, we would have been in that spot before there was enough light for me to shoot through those iron sights. Everything happens for a reason.

CoRoMo that sounds amazingly familiar to MY first Elk hunt MANY years ago. Except it was me that had the retard moment forgetting my HL in the tent :banghead:

Them Elk Cows sure are tasty aren't they!

Two years ago first time deer hunting. Shot at what I thought was a large doe, turned out to be a spike. Animal was walking directly at me. Took the shot at 170 yards with a borrowed rifle that I had never shot. Deer flipped over backwards with a shot to the neck. I did not know how far the shot was until we paced it off.

I was hooked.

I was hunting in a zone with unlimited tags for Whitetail doe and I had my grandfathers old Savage 30-06 rifle from 1936 with a 4 power Weaver scope and flip mounts.

I climbed up into my tree stand and waited for the deer to come my way.
I was sitting on a old milk crate when I saw the deer headed my way.
There was 9 doe's in the herd.

The rifle only held 4 shells and I aimed at the second doe and she fell, so I aimed in the same place at the 4th doe and she ran down the hill bawling.
So I aimed at the 6th doe and she fell next to the first.
So I aimed at the last doe while she bounded up over the hill - out of sight.

I field dressed and tagged the first doe, then the second and then I dragged both deer down the side of the hill to the third doe.
I then tagged and field dressed the 3rd doe and when my brothers came to help me drag them back to camp - I told my one brother that I think that there is another doe laying at the top of the hill.

Well it looked a lot like bragging - but my brother relented and walked up over the hill and low and behold there laid the 4th doe.
He tagged it with his doe tag because he said that he was shooting at the same deer herd as I was and that he knows that he hit that doe.

It was the only time in my whole life that I got 4 does in one sitting in one morning of hunting.
I believe they changed the law the next year so you had to tag and drag them one at a time before you were allowed to shoot a second animal.

My first deer i was 11. it was only 5 yards off of a logging road and I got out and shot it in the head with my grandfathers .303brit. It went in under it's ear and out it's nose.

I have hunted most of my life and have had several memorable shots.
The Phesant that I hip shot just behind the head, the triple I was able to make on jump shooting Ducks,A 250 to 300 yd shot on a Rock Chuck with my contender pistol,A 60 to 70 yd shot on a nice Muley Doe with a bow,my first deer taken with a pistol,the Dove that i missed and to this day I dont know how,to the deer that I was able to take just the other day. To me they are all verry memorable.

The lead doe in a mule deer herd that was walking down a coulee that did not see me.. point blank shot with a .357 in the eye. It was rather messy and loud.

In the mid 80's when I was in high school my dad and I went duck hunting twice each fall in North Dakota. We jumped a pond and I dropped one with my Mossberg 500 as they were taking off. Dad rapid fired all three rounds from his 1100 without hitting a thing, and for some reason I racked the slide, shot and dropped a second duck at a stupid distance. He yelled "Great shot!" and I couldn't believe what had just happened. I can only say it felt good!

I can't decide between these two:

Last month, on the last evening of archery season at about 10 minutes before sunset I finally took the shot on a cull buck I had been watching for about 20 minutes. He stood perfectly broadside at 35 yards chewing on some alfalfa. As I drew back, I saw a doe come into my peripheral vision on my right. Too late - I was committed to the shot. She couldn't spook before I released. I hoped.

Twang! The doe ran off and the buck never knew what hit him. He jumped up and spun around, then walked about 25 yards where I lost him in the trees. I thought I heard a crash, but wasn't sure.

About 30 minutes after dark I started looking for a blood trail, because the arrow was covered in orange lung blood, and the broadhead tip was bent. My dad and I followed the trail for 30 yards and lost it. Couldn't see another drop anywhere in another 5 foot radius after following blood spots that were never more than a foot apart.

My dad looked off to the right and there he lay - like he was bedding down, but stone dead. The arrow had gone through both lungs and never touched a rib. That's why my Montec G5 blade was bent!!

I had never shot a deer with a bow at a distance of more than 20 yards before that, so I was pretty impressed with myself.

Now, if you want a plain old goofy shot, two nights before I was hunting and saw nothing at all. Right after sunset a big racoon came by my stand, and I knew something was wrong with him, because they never come out that early around here.

I missed him at 10 yards shooting about 60 degrees down, so I waited for him to meander off a little, then got down out of the tripod, pulled the arrow out of the dirt and reloaded. Followed the little bugger until I got within 10 yards again (it is about 5 minutes until legal shooting hours are over) and sighted my pin on the moving blob. Twang! Rolled him right there, deader than if he'd been hit by a car.

That was pretty memorable, hitting something that small and moving (albeit VERY slowly) at last light. And I've only been bow hunting for 4 years, so I still have a lot of skill to develop.

My first turkey at 14, a hen during fall season. I'd spent at least 45 minutes "sneaking" up on a flock of feeding turkeys. I had been in a pine thicket approaching them and one of them spotted me. All of them took off running over the crest of a knoll and I run right after them. I run slightly down the other side and they were all running straight away from me down through the woods. I threw up my sako 22-250 when one was in the scope I pulled the trigger. I shot the top of the turkeys head right off at 80 or 90 yards.

Amazing shots for me always seem to involve lots of luck and not much skill.

After a day of deer hunting and not seeing anything, I met up with Rex at the blind he built for his father to use. He couldn't take the cold anymore so he hunted rarely. Rex wanted me to try head shooting a squirrel for his dad. He liked it more than venison and hadn't had any in a couple years. To make a long story short, the first guy ran off when we opened the window. The next one was at a bait pile about 65 yds out. I had my Winchester model 88 in .308. The squirrel back flipped about 6 feet in the air and landed about 20 ft. the other side of the pile. His dad said that was some of the best squirrel he had in a long time.

I don't remember how many years ago that was. I retold the story a couple times this week. Once out of the blue at a local Moose Lodge, then a couple more times a few days later. Rexs' dad, Leon died last week after Thanksgiving dinner with the family surrounded by loved ones. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He is, and will be greatly missed. It was a pleasure to know him and share that story with friends and family paying tribute to a very good man.

this year, opening day dove.

we were at R A Kykers opening day dove hunt that we attened once a year. two

weeks prior, i remeber over paying for a browning a500g at a pawn shop and thinking

im never going to get my money's worth out of this thing. 3 days prior we were at the

skeet range polishing up for opening day and and for the first time in my life i broke

over 20.
opening day, the birds are flying, my brother was there for the first time, and

a long time friend don ward sat foot on the field for the first time in 22 years! 2:45 rolled

around and the birds kick it into high gear, by 4pm i had 12 on hand and i remebered

that i had never shot that many before on opening day. well at 5:45 ish i had i string of

birds fly over my 12'ock, idenical to a high house on the final stage. i shot at three and

all three. my first tripple, and my first time limiting out with a gun that is known to be a

real pos to some, and yes im never going to sell it!

I would consider this my best shot this year and it was done with my Thompson/Center Contender chambered in 204 Ruger.

There have been more crows around this year than I can remember and they are bullies. In the spring the fly around my field eating the eggs of various birds that nest on the ground, etc. so I've decided to take them out at every opportunity.

In Ohio, the days you're allowed to shoot crows are Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I was out on my front porch a few days around 10 AM which is the usual time crows show up in front of my house but today that didn't happen. I heard them and they were on the property across the road from my place but they didn't come on to my property so eventually I gave up and went back inside the house.

After lunch I looked out and lo there were a couple of crows out in front of my place. I had placed a chair on the front porch near the porch railing so I could use the railing as a rest. My forethought now brought its rewards as with as much stealth as possible I went out the front door, sat in the chair, got a good rest on the railing and fired.

I knew the crows were quite a ways away; I figured about 300 yards and I know that with my 2-7X Leupold scope I would have to hold 10 to 11 inches high at 300 yards. Knowing about how tall crows are, I held over it what I estimated to be the correct amount and fired and to my delight hit the crow quite upsetting its partner.

I got my GPS out and got 311 yards from where I shot to where the crow met its demise.

There are other shots I remember as well. When I was around 14 or 15 I lived in Mexico. There was a brick wall around the back yard and over one corner was an avocado tree. I would sit on the wall with my model 1994 Daisy BB gun and shoot at the rats that were in the field. Well, a rat came close enough and I fired. The rat jumped a few times and then died. Being the curious type, I wanted to see where it had hit it. I had a very hard time finding the wound; it turned out the BB had gone straight down an ear.

Then there was way back when I finally had guns that burned powder but I still hadn't wised up. I was with a friend hunting ground squirrels. While waiting for a ride back home, we were sitting by a lake and out on the lake probably 300 yards away were mud hens; a.k.a. coots. My buddy didn't think I could hit one so I held over probably a couple of feet with my Western Auto semi-auto 22 LR of Marlin manufacture, fired and hit the little bugger.

Mine would have to be the buck I took a while back. It was the first deer harvested off my newly aquired property and it was with my 1st reloads. 30-06 Barnes 168 TSX over 56gns of I4350. Nothing special about the shot. Or, the first deer I shot as a kid waaaaaay back. A big doe with my dad's 12 ga.

From ritepath: "Amazing shots for me always seem to involve lots of luck and not much skill." Well, yeah, but skill tends to help create luck.

I had just climbed over a fence to hunt a different pasture when, as I picked up my '06, I saw three turkey gobblers about 125 yards away. I very hurriedly snapshot the largest gobbler right behind his legs. Killed and field-dressed in one swell foop. Didn't hurt the breast or drumsticks.

Then there was the "Prickly-pear Buck". A nice buck at about 40 or so yards. One prickly-pear leaf in line with his heart, very close to him. "Okay, I'll just shoot through the pear leaf." I shot. Bucky fell right there in his tracks.

Walking to him, I discover there were quite a few pear leaves. I saw a curving bullet path through five leaves, bearing upward and to the right.

Bucky looked unmarked, although quite dead. It took a while to find the hole just under his ear, where the remnants of the bullet had entered his little brain.

I didn't feel all that smart, either. He ate real good, though. "I'll take luck over skill, any day."

Probably about 1980, Ky State shoot in Berea, Ky.
My parents and girlfriend(now wife) witnessed me miss the 100th target in the Ky State Hdcp. Someone broke a 99 to win the event. I ended up with a 98 and high non-resident trophy, after a shootoff with a woman who also broke 98.
You can imagine my dissappointment to see the last bird sail away.
I learned that "it ain't over...till it's over"

Well, you asked about “the most memorable” shot.


My “most memorable shot” was somewhat of a failure.


It was my first dove hunting outing with my father. We didn’t have much money to spare back then. Instead of those nice game chairs that people use, we used 5 gallon buckets. We were waiting for some doves to come along when suddenly a few flew into range. I followed a bird a little too high with my single shot stephens and savage 12 gauge and proceeded to knock myself off of my bucket with the recoil. To this day, I still remember looking up at my father from the ground.



Lesson learned.


I did get the bird, though.

It would have to have been last wknd with my almost new rem700 .243 VTR,, gun had just barely seen 100-rounds thru it at the range all fall but it felt like an extension of my arm so i went to some private property complete with abandoned house /sheds around the property so i set-up leaning my back against the house and started e-caller for about 1/2 hour,, got bored and stood -up to take a leak,finished and was zipping up when i looked across this valley in front of me and on the other side was a big female yote watching me thru the thick buck-thorn i got a good side-profile shot for about 2-seconds and then the shape disappeared into the thicket. i could still see her body-shape in the brush so i figured screw it,it's early enough in the year i'll take a shot,, so laying on the ground using an old kids-tri-cycle handlebar as my bi-pod i let a hornady 95-gr SST fly into the thicket and it looked like she just stood still when in fact she had dropped straight to the ground without even a twitch,, when i went to re-cover her i range-find from edge of brush to my position was 240yds and she was 3-4 yds in the brush !! found 3-twigs that got skinned on the way thru the brush to her,,, the last branch it hit before it hit the yote was about 1" diameter and was right about her head level,it deflected it just enough to send it downward a smidge and entered directly between the shoulders,just below neck-line,i was almost sure when i squeezed it off it would have whizzed past her and she would have engaged after-burners and took off, I've shot 3" groups at 400-yds with thisgun(from a bench) but this was clearly the best in-the-field shot i had ever had !!

(with all that brush in between us,i know it was a lucky shot) maybe i should go buy lottery ticket ??

It was the first shot at a deer with my, then, new .45 caliber muzzle loader that I had put together from a kit. It was made in Spain by Jukar. It was just a cheap, traditional side-lock gun, but for some reason it shot the Thompson Maxi-balls very well. I had practiced quite q bit but hadn't hunted with it. I got to my stand late that morning (because of work) and scared deer going in and was down--thinking I wouldn't see anything. About 10 a.m. I saw a huge buck coming out of the timber, and would cross through an opening before entering more timber. I wouldn't have long for a shot. The deer was in an unexpected location, so I had to shoot left handed and in a hurry. The smoke just boiled and I couldn't see whether I had hit him or not. Got down and walk to where he was standing, but found no blood, but I could see his tracks in the sand. I went in the direction of the tracks and found him. The shoot had been 97 steps. When I cleaned the deer I found a .45 caliber hole in his heart. A left handed, 100 yd, open sight, muzzle loader shot. I'll never forget it.

Mine was the first hunting shot I took after not doing so for over 20 years. It was at a small buck at 180 yards using a .308 Browning Lever Rifle. I took the shot as light was fading. The deer vanished from sight. Later after I walked out to the spot in the dark, I found the buck shot through the heart. It had fallen back into a shallow depression, but deep enough that I could not see it from my shooting position.

Those 20 years flashed by in an eye blink.

as far as game, last winter I took out a #300 plus boar at over 400 yards with my 7mm-08, rested my rifle on a flat fence post, set my cross hair about 3" high and he never moved again, I was impressed, scope was a Nikon 3x9x50, rifle cheap Stevens 200 (and I got some nice rifles in my safe) as far as 2 legged vermin, 38 years ago with our designated rifle a remington 700 in .308....could just see an outline, he never moved again either, over 500 yards shot.

Two Come to Mind.

THe first would be a measured shot at a whitetail after our host/guide was telling me that it was too far to shoot. We measured the distance with the odometer in the Scout and counted fencepost. He said that it was a quarter mile (440 yards.) After taking into account the terrain and the amount of bullet drop I put it at between 375 and 400 yards.

Another was a cropping mission on a private ranch. The owner ask if I could hit a deer on the far hillside. I dropped one in it's tracks and killed the other as it ran at a range of over 200 yards. To be honest, I couldn't do it again with a case of shells, but rancher will never know the truth.