What's your best hit, and your worst miss?

[Tim the student]

So, what are they?

My worst miss was this last weekend. There was was a button buck ambling towards me that I saw about 50 yards away. He went behind some trees, and I brought my shotgun up when he was behind them. He was still coming towards me, and just stopped, still facing me. He wasn't totally spooked, but he knew something was up. Then, he just did a quick 180, and I shot when he was just barely quartering away from me. By this time, he was around 35 yards, and I just flat out blew the shot. On the upside, my brother-in-law was about 100 yards away on another hilltop, and heard me shoot, and was then able to see the deer make a beeline to the bottom of the gully, and then present a safe broadside shot for him. He was small, only field dressed out at around 70-80 pounds by our estimate, but we hunt for meat. I'll get some for helping him drag it out, and I still have until this Sunday to fill my tag.

It's frustrating for me because I practice with my slug gun from field positions, and have made better shots than this before. It wasn't even really cold out that day. I'm hoping that my slug hit a branch that I didn't see because I was concentrating on the deer, but I didn't take the time to look after he killed it. I guess it's obvious I need to get some more range time in tomorrow before I head back out.

For my best hit, I don't really feel like I have one. I've never dropped a deer that was running a hundred yards away or anything. I've only hunted (deer) with shotguns, and don't take crazy long shots with it. Not like we really get many here anyways.

So what are your best hits and worst misses?

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Best hit was with a .22 rifle. A crow took off from a small pine. I had both of my boy's with me and thought I'd show off. First shot was behind, but the second connected solid and he fell like a rock. My oldest looked at me in disbelief and said "how'd you do that Dad". I told him "you just need to know how far to lead em". My oldest is a pretty good "trick" shot with a .22 now. He can hit hand tossed pennies, golf balls, etc. just like his old man. It sounds hard, but it's pretty easy once you get the "rythm". It's easier if the shooter tosses the object, follows it up and shoots just before it stops. Golf balls are the easiest by far as they are larger and have a predictable flight path for lack of better words. I use extreme caution as I only shoot as close to 90 degrees as possible.

Worst shot was probably on a smallish hog. Shot was too far back, pig went into brush hurting. I felt so bad as I hate to not make a clean kill. I shot at a little buck one morning. He was standing broadside in a small ditch when I drove by. I backed my truck up and he was still there. I got my scope on him and pulled the trigger when the crosshairs looked right. He took off like a bat out of heck. I knew he was hit, but after several hours of searching for blood I took my rifle to the range and low and behold my redfield scope had lost it's zero again. I went home and got my old marlin with an older weaver k3 post & crosshair scope and sent the scope back to redfield. I used to buy redfields as in the 70's everyone said they were very good scopes. I think I had 5 of em and every single one of them went back to redfield at least once for not holding zero. I've had others tell me that their older redfields were great. Maybe I was just too hard on them. Sadly my old weaver gave up the ghost too and I had to retire it. I came close several times of sending it back to El Paso, but never got around to it. I'd rather have a clean miss than a wounded animal anyday.

About 5 years ago we had a rat in our house. He was huge. My wife had her friends over and they all started sceaming. At first they thought it was our mini Dachung, Copper, but soon they realized it was a rat. I got my single shot .22 and zeroed it for the aguila powderless ctgs. I stayed up late that nite and he finally came out and stopped in the middle of our kitchen. I nailed him in the head like no tomorrow. We were all releived that he was gone.

 

[Kernel]

The list of misses would be long and distinguished. Worse “miss” wasn’t really a miss, because I never got off a shot. Was still-hunting Iowa’s early muzzleloader season when I jumped an enormous buck. I should of took the shot immediately. Instead, I decided to increase the magnification on my variable power scope. Big mistake. In the four seconds it took to adjust the power ring, the buck took off at a gallop. Lesson learned: take the shot quickly, monkey with your equipment later. All these years later it still chapps my hide thinking about it.

Best shot was a big buck, the biggest I’ve ever harvested, taken at about 140 yards with a .44 Mag handgun, in a raging snow storm during Iowa's late ML sesaon (handguns allowed). Second best was hitting a sparrow in midair with a .22 revolver. Pure luck, but my cousin thought I was the greatest shot ever.

 

[wyohome]

We were elk hunting near Dixie Idaho during the late season. It was very cold and my friend, his dad and I had taken up residence in an old miner's cabin. When the fire got hot enough, the pack-rats in the attic would wake up an scurry about, as the fire died down, so would they. One night after bedtime, I turned on my Mini-Mag light, grabbed my K-22 and shot a rat on a purlin with birdshot. It fell on my friend's head, the combination of noise, scratching rat and a little after hunting toddy made for a spectacular display.

 

[countertop]

You hit a buck with a handgun at 140 yards??

I assume it was scoped.

Wow

worst miss was yesterday. 175 yard shot uphill broadside on a doe. Rifle zeroed at 200 yards. Shot high and totally missed.

That, or the pheasant that my buddy flushed and that didn't see me and simply glided right toward me, like the auto shot on the next to last stattion in skeet. 5 shots and none hit.

Best shot? The last shot that connected.

 

[Kernel]

I assume it was scoped.

A 30mm 3x Tasco Pro Class.

Point Blank Range was sighted in for 125 yards, so I only had to hold over a bit.

 

[WTBguns10kOK]

Second day of elk hunting in my life, I shot too quickly and missed a bull.

Best ever was hitting a running whitetail buck in the heart with iron sights, 20 g. slug.

 

[dakotasin]

my favorite hit, though not the most spectacular or difficult, but favorite nonetheless: partner and i were working some river breaks and a buck appeared at the bottom of the break. we both went prone, i hit the deer w/ the laser (a little over 400 yards), and my partner said he wanted the deer. without coordinating the effort, we both lined up and fired. my shot (300 win mag) broke just a hair before his (308 win). the rifles cracked (boom-boom), and then we heard the hit (whack-pause-whack). both bullets had impacted the deer within 2 inches of each other, either bullet was a fatal hit. that buck sucked 'em both up and went straight down. i can still see the sequence to this day, and enjoy the memory of it... boom-boom....whack- - - -whack.

worst miss... same partner and i were hunting for does, and we found 2 does standing broadside, in line w/ us. the bigger doe was standing slightly uphill from the smaller one, thus creating a pretty narrow window to thread a bullet. i wasn't sure i could get enough penetration out of the 8mm mauser to take them both, wasn't sure about the bullet deflecting, etc., so i opted to try to thread the needle and just take the bigger doe. i held just a little high on the shoulder to make sure i'd clear the smaller doe, and fired. clean miss. we spent 2 hours looking for blood, hair, or other sign of a hit w/o finding any. back at the range, i discovered my zeiss had shifted to +13" at 200 yards, thus ensuring a clean miss at the 80-some yard deer...

 

[hardluk1]

Best shoot , made a left handed shoot at 240 yards on a couple does walking across the dirt trail for one of the group that just said ,shoot me a some does someone. I am a rightly but do practice left hand shots ,just not nearly that far. First deer fell in place and maybe 15 seconds later a second doe walked up and sniffed the first one and layed her down next to the first.
Worst shot , Missing a nice 8 point at 40 yards in a clear open field that just stepped out of the trees with 3 other bucks and i was so sure of my shot i watched him run off. Waited for him to fall over and he just ran away. Darn, I was so sure i did not even rack another round .

 

[Legionnaire]

Let's see. Best shot was a measured 140 yard shot on a nice six-point buck with a scoped Mossberg 500 slug gun. I was in the middle of a 10-yard-wide hedgerow watching the fields on either side. The buck came into the field to my south, which sloped up from my location. I went prone and crawled to the edge of the row. He could hear me moving, but couldn't figure out what I was. He was facing directly toward me. When he finally put his head down to browse, I put the shot between his shoulders and he went down like he was poleaxed. I had guesstimated the range at 100 yards, and was surprised to pace it off at 140. The slope really messed up my estimate.

Worst "miss" was a quartering away buck at 20 yards or so early in the day during bow season a few years ago. Looked like a good hit to me, I recovered the arrow, and it looked like a pretty good blood trail. But I spent the next seven hours tracking that buck over a mile and a half as the trail got sparse and required a lot of circling to find and mark blood drops. Late in the day I jumped him from a bed, and he took off like a shot. I checked out the bed, and while there was some blood there, not a lot. Lost the trail completely shortly thereafter; blood must have coagulated and sealed the wound. All I can figure is that I shot too far forward and the arrow passed through the shoulder without hitting the lung. To this day I feel sick about that shot. One of only two deer I know I've hit and not recovered.

I consider a less-than-killing hit the worst kind of miss.

 

[cfendley]

Ricochet shot

My best hit and worse miss was all the same shot. Had a doe only about 30 yards away and I was using my muzzle loader, her head and neck were behind a huge oak tree but had what should have been a clean heart shot by squeezing one between the oak and a little maple tree. I took the shot, accidentally clipped the maple and hit her with a perfect neck shot.

 

[hub]

When I was 16 I was determined to kill a nice buck had been bow hunting all season and never got a shot on a good buck even though I had seen a bunch of nice ones. Gun season opening day as I walked out to my stand I got about 5 flashlight clicks at me as I walked to my spot at my older cousin's property and sure enough exactly where I was going to set up another hunter was right in my spot. His stand was less than 10 yds from mine.

I was disgusted, this was my cousin's place and I thought I was going to be the only one in the area besides my buddy who I had been coming with me the whole time. I had to set up in a place I had not yet scouted much or seen much traffic and I sat on the ground in between some felled trees.

BANG,BANG,BANG all morning all around me. I could hear people laughing and cheering dragging out nice bucks, driving there trucks right out into the middle of the fields and thought my day was over for sure.

Around noon just as I was about to get up and leave I heard a crunch RIGHT behind me, it was a big eight pointer less than fifteen yards away. I guess with all my pissing and moaning I wasn't paying very good attention. As I slowly turned to shoulder my 870 my coveralls limited my range of motion and I couldn't even shoulder the shotgun. Just about that time the buck stopped and snorted at me, I knew I was now or never. I jumped up as fast as I could spun around and he tuned bolted 180 degrees just as fast. As the adrenaline pumped out of control I took the finest bead I could on the back of his neck and squeezed one off. I hit him right in the spine at the base of his neck and he dropped like a sack of bricks.

As I was dragging him out I seen by buddy carrying not dragging a small doe in his arms like a dog and I couldn't stop laughing the whole time we crossed the field. He said I know, I know, laugh if you want but we were lucky to kill anything and not get shot out here there must have been ten people over here by me.

I thanked my cousin for letting us hunt there but never went back as it's too easy for anyone to get to and he will let anyone hunt if they ask. It's understandable though they are grain farmers that don't hunt and deer are just a nuisance to them.

 

[hub]

And the worst I was bow hunting behind my dad's house when I came home on leave from the Marines. I didn't have a nice bow to use, in fact it was my dad's old PSE that he had not uses for years. It didn't have anything, including a peep sight, just a 10, 20, and 30 yard pin and a good 15% let off that I had cranked down to the max of 65lbs.

I seen a nice big eight pointer the first night and he was 40-50 yards away right out in the middle of a cut corn field. With a little Kentucky windage I let one fly. It was way short, the arrow skipped right under him and the deer did a little bunny hop but didn't run. I knocked up another and flung it. Woosh, right over his back, he startled again but didn't run. I couldn't believe it. He knew something was up and started walking but not running. I knocked another and as soon as he stopped I let it fly. It hit just under him and he took off. That's when I decided if I'm going to bow hunt, I'm going to need a better bow and a lot more practice.

 

[Kurt S.]

Best shot: My first Rio Grande turkey. Neck shot at just over 80 yards, .243 Remington model 7.

Worst shot: at a whitetail doe, about 100 yards, .25-06 Ruger M77. I thought I had aimed for the neck, which is a good stopper on TX whitetails. The doe fell as though hit good. I got out of the stand (without rifle and no handgun, not allowed on the lease), started walking toward her, and she just gets up and strolls away without any sign of being hit. Disappears into a mesquite/cedar thicket. No sign, not a drop of blood anywhere, no fur, no nothing. The ranchhands and the other hunters thought I might have just creased her neck and knocked her out for a few seconds.

 

[Eagle103]

Best:
I was about 16 when I dropped a doe with my 30-30 that was running all out about 150 yards away. It was getting dark so I had to bring the gun up to line up the sights in the sky before bringing it down on the deer. Due to the muzzle flash I never saw her drop so I was rather surprised to find her down. Right through the heart.
Worst:
Missed more deer than I care to recall but clean misses don't bother me nearly as much as a wounded deer I don't recover. That's happened to me (or should I say a deer) twice now. The last one was a gut shot at just under 200 yards.

 

[627PCFan]

Best hit: Ground hog, 3 1/2 00 Buck, full choke, 20 yards/ or 17 Hmr vs fat MD groundhog -268 yards of shooting sticks x 3 shots consecuitively

Cant think of my worse hit-

 

[lukepriebe]

Worst miss: four standing/walking shots at a buck at 50 yards.

Best shot: same year, dropped a buck on a dead run at 50 yards.

 

[RDA 226sig]

Worst miss...or should I say misses...were my introduction to using a peep sight about 25 years ago. Hours of practice using the peep at the range and I was spot on but when several deer came in late in the day the little peephole made for a very blurry target. One tree and two clear misses in under a minute and a half. Could have taken a fourth shot but I had to concede defeat. Drilled the peep out that night; lesson learned.

 

[blackops]

With a little Kentucky windage I let one fly. It was way short, the arrow skipped right under him and the deer did a little bunny hop but didn't run. I knocked up another and flung it. Woosh, right over his back, he startled again but didn't run.

I wish the bucks were that forgiving in Cal.

 

[tactikel]

Best hit was a Canada Goose, a single was flying straight at me ahead of a strong tailwind as I was walking back to the boat from a marsh-He was high and fast,a single shot and he hit the field 145 paces from where I was standing (about 120 yards)
Worst miss a Grouse while walking a logging road, came around a bend and he flushed at my feet, straight down the road 60 yards in a straight line, yes, I missed both shots.

 

[RE-15]

best hit: shot a doe that was mounted and breeding right out from under the buck. Went through both elbows and pump station since she was leaning forward she dropped under his wieght. He seemd disapointed.
Worst: spined a doe and went to finish off with pistol. First pistol shot only broke and unhinged lower jaw. Imagine a deer with a crazy surprised expression, mouth wide open and it's head up looking around. Next shot did the job. It was one of those laugh out loud but feel like crap moments.

 

[lgbloader]

best shot was a cotton tail at about 40 yards off hand using a 22 hornet pistol (my uncle Louie's) a head shot that somehow flipped the bugga' and field dressed him cleanly. I literally picked the rabbit up by the neck and and shook it once hard and all the innards fell out on the floor. Freaked me a bit since I was only 15 or so.

I will never forget that shot.

Worst shot was probably a cement mixer... in a shot glass, fill half way with Rose's lime juice and float Baileys Irish creme on top till full.
now shoot as normal shooter but swish in your mouth for 5 seconds... turns to thick wet cement type consistancy in your mouth.

* I assume no responsibility for messing with this drink as it could be hazardous to your health. I have heard that a woman died from drinking too many of these. evidently, she choked on it when she had to vomit but couldn't due to it's thick consistancy.

I told you... it was my worst shot.

LGB