"mystery black scope sight picture ruins shot"

[GRAYRID3R]

A friend of mine and I share a lease on a small (80 acre) area surounded by 400 more acres and a marsh. Access between the marsh and the 400 acres goes right through 2 areas he cleared and planted with clover and grass, creating a nice shooting area for deer to stop and graze. Well one field is about 2 acres and another about 5. I just bought a new blind from Bass Pro shop on sale. It's a nice blind and is tall enough to stand up in ,with shooting ports at the corners and the usual windows all around. I've had it set up on the corner of the 2 acre field for about a week now and deceided to try it out while he went to the other field. We got there shortly after zeroing in my Leopold VXII and I see a LARGE doe come out from the woods into the meadow just standing there 35 yds. away, and grazing. So........... after I stopped shaking and pointed my Marlin .308 MXLR through the shooting hole I couldn't see anything but black. I checked my new just sighted in Leolpold and it was at 3x. The doe by this time was joined by another smaller, but still decent sized doe. I raise my gun again and looking through the scope with both eyes open, all I see is black through the scope and 2 deer through my other eye. Well after a few seconds of me pannicking , both deer calmly walk back into the woods and out of sight. I'm furious at this point! This season is my first hunting season ever and my 7th trip to the woods. That large doe would have been my first one. After checking my scope about 6 times and finding nothing wrong, I finally realized, that standing in this blind with the rifle through the unzipped shot hole, my scope was just high enough to be pointed directly at the corner seam of the blind which is made out of some sort of black plastic material. Next time I'm taking out all the damned velcro camo screen windows!!!! I have seen these 2 deer in my head everytime I close my eyes for a day now. I admit to being a hunting noob, but didn't realize I was also an idiot until yesterday.:banghead:

 

[MCgunner]

I once shot at a bobcat. Was right below me so I had to back up and aim down, didn't realize my muzzle was right behind the friggin' gun rest rail. Blew the hell outta the gun rest, cat ran off. I know how it feels. But, didn't wanna kill a kitty cat anyway, I guess.

 

[41magsnub]

Had the scope on 9x after sighting in and forgot to set back to 3 or 4. As I was walking to my spot a deer jumped out about 15 feet in front of me out of a coulee. All I could see in the scope was brown hair.

 

[Fremmer]

It could have been worse, dude. I've seen a guy put a hole though the front part of his hood. Gotta be careful where that muzzle is pointing..... :banghead:

 

[ColeK]

Grayrider, I almost strangled on my Bourbon laughing at your post.
I can assure you, you are not the first nor will you be the last to do something dumb while hunting.
I been doing this for over 45 years and I assure you stuff happens and stuff will happen again.
So, get use to it.

 

[dakotasin]

well, maybe next time you'll forget to open your scope covers, or forget the safety on the rifle, etc. stuff happens - it will be ok.

the good news is that you didn't scare the deer, so they'll be back. when they come back you'll have everything sorted out and you'll be fine.

 

[Art Eatman]

A buddy of mine used the passenger seat of his car as his deer blind. He took a "gimme" shot at a little buck some 50 yards off. No hit. Well, not on the buck. Did horrible things to the radio antenna, though...

 

[Fremmer]

LOL. Same thing happend when the guy I saw tried to use his hood as a rifle rest....But an antenna is less expensive to replace than a hood....

 

[ArmedBear]

Had the scope on 9x after sighting in and forgot to set back to 3 or 4. As I was walking to my spot a deer jumped out about 15 feet in front of me out of a coulee. All I could see in the scope was brown hair.

You're not me, are you? I don't think so.

Happened to me a few weeks ago, but I was at 9X because I was going to take a long shot off a peak. Since it was really windy and I also didn't know if I could retrieve the deer, I chose to hike down and around the deer instead. It popped up right in front of me as I walked into the canyon from the bottom. 9X doesn't work so well when you jump a deer, especially when you're side-hilling and your footing isn't all that stable.

My new rule: leave it on 3. If I need 9X, I'll have plenty of time to crank it up, but the reverse isn't true.

 

[rcmodel]

I had a friend who not only shot his hood, he also shot the roof of his car another time, and took the radio antenna off another time after that.

Some folks are just slow learners I guess.

rc

 

[ArmedBear]

A buddy of mine used the passenger seat of his car as his deer blind.

That's perfectly legal as long as the engine is off and you're rowing the car, right?

 

[desidog]

Buddy of mine used the edge/rim of the truck bed as a rest, he thought he'd clear the other side, since he couldn't see it in the scope..... new tie-down point!

We still josh him about wounding 300+ horses with one shot.

 

[kmrcstintn]

dad shared a story of having a doe within 12 yards of him; he put the crosshairs on her vitals and ended up skyving her on the back just above the spine; culprit: crappy extruded aluminum see through mounts that came loose; human factor: he didn't use the iron sights... especially with the deer that close; aftermath: a story that all hunters can learn from

solution...give his rifle a tune-up: weaver base rail 'lock-tite' the mounting screws; heavy duty weaver 'clamp-on' see through mounts; upgrades: Limbsaver recoil pad, new Bushnell Trophy 3 - 9 x 40 scope with thicker crosshairs
enhancements: switch to managed recoil ammo (he couldn't handle recoil well as he got older...swithcing ammo and adding a recoil pad turned a hard hit into a gentle push)