What is the closest shot you ever made with a rifle?

[27hand]

Just like the longest shot thread, give some particulars. The title should have read "closest hunting shot". sorry.

I sat under a small pine tree in Avella Pa. after not having seen a deer all morning. There were quite a few shots around me and some were pretty close.

Anyhow, I sat under this pine overlooking a field & had maybe 100 yds of open area in front of me. I was tucked back about 3 or 4 yds away from the edge of the field and noticed the brush/branches in front of me might be a problem.
I got up, took my snips out of the daypack in which I carry the kitchen sink and trimmed some brush/ branches. I turned back to the pine tree, dropped the snips and turned to sit.

There were 3 doe looking at me from about 7 to 9 yds away. My pump .06 was barrel down while we stared at each other. This exact scenario happened at the same tree a year earlier and 2 doe that time laughed all the way to cover.

This year I figured the 2 at the rear would bolt back from where they came. The lead doe was far enough into the clearing that I thought she would run either straight or angle away.

As quickly as I could level the rifle while pressing off the safety and taking the shot, she was in front of me at maybe 8 or 9 yards and had just started to bolt. I hit her right behind the shoulder and momentum maybe carried her another 10 yds. The Nosler ballistic tip, downloaded to 57.5 gr of IMR 4350 did it's job and this, my 3rd deer became a nice round of jerky.

This was the closest shot I ever had.

 

[taliv]

some stupid stages at Mammoth Sniper Challenge involved a small dot at maybe 5-7 feet from the muzzle. basically just far enough away that the muzzle blast wouldn't tear the target up.

 

[floorit76]

I wasn't "hunting" per say. But one morning I heard my dog going nuts down by the grain bins, so I grabbed my bolt 223 (since it was near the door) and ran down to see what was up. I was very close, 10 yards on the outside when I saw that he had a large angry coon treed on top of one of our goose neck trailers. The coon was getting happy feet, and the dog wouldn't break off and come to me. I was already about 10-15 feet into a sandbur patch, barefooted, so I decided to take the shot before she dove off on his head. The scope was useless, so I looked down the side of the barrel. It was a good hit, but there was still quite a bit of fight left in her. I ordered several boxes of vmax that afternoon.

 

[wgaynor]

Wasn't my shot, but it was my Mom's.

Growing up in the woods of Kentucky, we had 72 acres of woods to play in. These woods came right up to the backside of the house. One evening, we heard our dog squealing out back like it was hurt. We went out and saw she was half in an old stump and fighting a groundhog. That thing had her good.

Mom went inside and grabbed her 20 gauge. She shoved the barrel in the stump and we watched the ground hog bite it. you can guess what happened after that.

 

[silicosys4]

I shot a smaller buck a while ago that was facing me at probably 15 yards in heavy cover, right in the center chest with a .270. I was barely able to use the 4x scope and he dropped right where he was standing.

 

[artpotts]

Black powder doe

Washington, late muzzleloader season. I was working my way up a ridge, as I came up on a bush a doe stood up on the other side of it, all of 10 feet away. She didn't even take a step.

 

[303tom]

4 or 5 yards, a Doe from one side to the other of a one lane dirt road, .50 cal BP.............

 

[Dthunter]

I have shot a few bears as they walked underneath one of my bear bait tree stands that is in heavy cover 8 feet off the ground. So that would be about 5 feet.

One boar I shot with my muzzleloader and he just fell on the spot and the bullet entry wound was smoking! Only 5-6 feet away and the powder must have been still burning at the base of the lead bullet!

After three or four bears like this,(my friends and I combined), I decided to switch to archery gear. I tried a long bow, and recurve bow with similar results. It was a great location! Only bad thing about that particular bait station was the bears were always smaller. 200-250lbs. Not worth shooting anymore.

 

[chaser_2332]

We also had a small 1/4" dot to shoot at down in louisiana at 5 yards, didnt we Tom?

 

[Storm27m]

I was hunting in a natural ground blind I had built in a brush row that ran along a barbed wire fence. I was set up to cover a field crossing that ran from a corn field, across the fence and over the empty field and into a cedar thicket. A buck came out into the field and walked up the brush row towards me but the blind prevented a shot in that direction. I expected him to eventually cut out across the field and into the thicket but instead, he went back into the brush row when he was about 25yds away. He got to the barbed wire fence, turned, and started walking my way again. He stopped behind a small tree at the back of my blind and allowed me time to lift my rifle. He eventually stepped out from behind the tree and when his neck filled my scope, I pulled the trigger. Distance from muzzle to neck was about 7ft. He dropped to his knees, sat there for a second, and just fell over. Even though he was nothing to look at, it was one of my most memorable hunts ever. Ridiculous adrenaline rush.

I almost had a bow shot at about the same distance last year, maybe 7-10ft. A doe heard me walking in to my stand, blew at me, and ran away to about 80 yards. I jumped behind a big oak tree and fumbled to get my call out. She must have been really curious about what I was because she walked back in on a string before I ever found my call. I tried to draw when she was walking in front of the tree I was tucked up behind but she must have caught scent or movement because she bolted about mid-draw. Still a pretty exciting way to start an afternoon hunt.

 

[swampcrawler]

About 5 yards for me. I was headin out of the swamp or the evening as it was nearly dark. I stepped up ony little log to walk across a slough and caught a glempse of a hog about 50 yards down it. So I sat and waited. This ole girl walked down to my log and proceeds to cross this little slough right beside it. Finally I decided i needed to quit hoping for a perfect shot and take what I had before she was in my lap. My contender carbine in 45-70 loaded with a leverevolution dropped her like a rock.

 

[taliv]

chase i think you're right. i hate those stages!

 

[yzguy87]

Shot a squirrel at about 10 yards with my Remington 597!
Call me crazy but I think pics from wgaynor's story in post 4 would be awesome lol!

 

[The Bushmaster]

210 lb Blacktail in the Cascades east of Seattle at 12 feet. Head shot. 170 Core-Loct from a Winchester M94 .30WCF

 

[HOOfan_1]

squirrel hunting...I am sure 5 or 6 yards. Deer hunting, about 60 yards. Groundhog hunting, 15 yards...but I have turned up some 6 yard shots because it just wasn't a challenge.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Less than 10 yds. It came out on my right, so I had to shoot left handed. I forgot I had sighted my scope in the day before and left it on 9x so I couldn't even see it. It stayed there until I adjusted it to the lowest setting and stared at me until I shot her. Not a very smart deer.

 

[montanaoffroader]

A whitetail 4x4 buck at 25 feet. Using a Parker Hale 7mm Rem Mag.

Was hunting next to a river, saw him approaching from the other side. Laid down on the grass and waited. He swam the river, came up off of the bank and stopped broadside 25 feet away.

One shot through the heart. The 7mm was barely enough gun to get the job done. Maybe next time I'll take a .50 BMG or something.........

 

[rbernie]

Deer hunting, came on a pretty big hog that wouldn't just walk away. The first shot was at maybe ten yards, but the last two were at contact distance, down between the shoulders.

 

[straitnate14]

I chased a possum down in deep snow a few years back and blasted him with my AK, he couldn't get through the fresh fluffy snow fast and I caught him about 5 feet away.

 

[PJSprog]

Opossum at about 6 or 7 feet with a 20 ga #4 shot handload ... nearly cut him in half.

 

[27hand]

close.

Cool stuff.
Although I didn't anticipate archery / handgun stories, it's cool to read those as well.

I put an arrow through a doe that was 5 feet away from my stand. Almost straight down. At that time I used a tracker string and followed the white and red one about 25 or 30 yds to dead doe. I was probably between 20 to 25 feet up.

Thanks for your responses. good reads.

 

[wgaynor]

Shot a squirrel at about 10 yards with my Remington 597!
Call me crazy but I think pics from wgaynor's story in post 4 would be awesome lol!

I wish I had pics, but that was around 1983 or 1984. Only time we took pictures back then was on birthdays, holidays, or vacations. Didn't even get a pic of my first deer!

If I remember, we fed that groundhog to the dog.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

had a possum in a trap near my chicken pen. stuck the barrel of a 10/22 in there and he bit the muzzle. made a bit of a mess.

 

[critter]

Contender super 14" in 30-30: big ole doe at 5 yards
TC Renegade .54 cal ML: big ole doe at 3 yards
M98 custom in 25-06: 7 point at 5 yards-neck shot
M70 Win in .300 Mag: 8 point at 8 yards
870 12 ga slug: spike at 8 yards

 

[Ranger Roberts]

When I was a teenager we would shoot down the edge of a hay field into a ravine. We typically would shoot around 150 yds and every so often we would walk down and take a look at our targets. There wasn't a bench or anything, so when you walked down to check out your targets you would carry your rifle with you. I looked up and about 15 yds in front of me I saw the hay moving like something was running towards us. I slid a 30.06 round into the chamber and the second this thing came out of the hay field onto the path I pulled the trigger. Care to guess who won, a 30.06 or a groundhog at about 10 yds?