When I was a kid, 3 of the first 4 whitetails I killed were running shots, the first at about 180 yards. Thought I was Deadeye Dick. I'd never take shots like those now, older and wiser.

I have been hunting long (46 years) and hard enough that I was bound to make a few good, spell that "lucky" shots. But the one I will relate here has little to do with hunting. I was visiting the grand mother of my latest girl friend who lived near Thompson Falls Montana. There was a local turkey shoot going on and my girl friend talked me into entering it. I hadn't brought a rifle with me so grandma pulled out her deceased husbands prewar Mod 70 in 30-06. It wore a 3X Weaver scope. The target was the flat center broken out of a clay bird set at 100 yds. Pay a dollar, hit the clay target off hand and earn a big frozen turkey. The club was making big bucks on this game. I payed my dollar and loaded up with grandad's old factory ammo. I was on the U of Montana ROTC rifle team and was doing a lot off off hand shooting so I held the rifle in a lose hold like I would my 22 target rifle. I could see the scope was set too far back for me but squeezed the round off anyway. Next thing I knew I was seeing stars and I could feel blood running down my face. The scope wacked me between my eyes and layed a 2 inch gash in my head. The range officer yelled hit and through the pain and blood I could see only half the target left. After some emergeny first aid one of the match officials came over and wanted me to try again. Obviously they neded to get some more money out of me to make the turkey pay. Also I figured they felt that after taking the beating I had I would surely flinch on the next shot. After the stars disappeared and at the urging of my gf I agreed, so payed my dollar and set up again. This time I held my head well back. After the shot the range officer yelled miss with a smile on his face. I could see the target still in one piece. One of the other club guys yelled hold on and ran to the target. He came back with the clay bird and there in the center of the little target center was a perfect 30 caliber hole. Needless to say they wouldn't let me shoot again.

465H&H

I guess one of the shots I remember best is from last years hunt in Namibia. I was looking for a Klipspringer, and after a couple of days of hunting and stalking others without sucess, we found a group of four. They were on the other side of a big vide valley and almost on top of the mountain. My Ph could see that the group had a great male. We figured out we couldn`t stalk closer, and sat down a while to se them out. I`m glad we did because soon they were on the move down the hillside. We had picked a point on the other side were the group would be closest to us. We estimated the distance at appr. 250 yards. After 30 minutes or so, the animals came to the point we wanted. We were very lucky indeed. My ph told me to put the crosshairs 10cm high and on the middle of the animal. I remember thinking this might be a little to high, but maybe he thought it was further away than first estimated. The first shot went right over the little fellow, so I moved the crosshairs down a bit and squeezed the trigger again. He fell right over and didn`t move..
For me this was a long shot, even if I managed to get into a pretty sturdy sitting position with rest towards a little tree and time to prepare. Theese shots were special not only because of long distance, but the total situation.. I had practiced a long time to be able to take advantage of more different shots, and it did pay out.. Long shots are on the other hand to be avoided if possible..

There are a few fishy stories in this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by 500grains:
There are a few fishy stories in this thread.

Dan, very droll.

come on 500 grains and notro x...play the game...what is your "shot of a lifetime" dont be ashamed to share...

My first "hunt alone without my dad" overseeing my actions was way back in 1958. Before that day in June my biggest animal was a rock hyrax. I was set in a corner of a very large Karoo sprinbok camp by the land owner to keep the animals from hiding there, while the adults were spread out at other points to shoot at sprinbok slowly driven towards the hunters by horsemen. Hiding behind a termite mound a very excited youngster watched the single springbok get closer and closer. Eventually it stopped some way off. I set my adjustable iron sights of my .22lr Ansuchtz at 75 yards and at the shot it dropped DRT (dead right there) with a CCI bullet behind the ear. It still remains one of my proudest moments ever when dad eventually showed up in the company of all the other adults to pick me up and I proudly asked someone to help me load my springbok.

Today, much older and many hunderds of sprinbok and other plains game later, I still advise my clients to "leave the headshots for beginners and experts" with nice memories of that first one!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
this should be good, in a sentance or a paragraph describe your "shot of a lifetime"

In a bright moon night i shot a boar with my 8x68S

at 229yards. It just uiiiiiked and got down with a perfect lungshot. :-))))

I've been reluctant to join in because I can't decide which shot it was......was it the time I dropped the pheasant out of the air with a shot from a .22 revolver?????....or the time I drilled the rabbit from the hip with the 39-A Marlin as it ran across the road at 35 yards?????....or the time I hit a fox in full tilt at about 80 yards with the .270 ...and then hit it twice in two shots taken????

No...it had to be a 60 yard shot over sticks at a Duiker in RSA....it was what might be the last shot at big game with my Dad's .25-20 ....well at least in my lifetime. I can't think of a more fitting way to retire a faithful servant that has been in the family for 88 years. It just has to be the shot of a lifetime.

I have two for you!
The first is a speckeled belly goose at a witnessed 75 yards by my guide who has done this for two decades. Chriss and I were goose hunting in south Texas. We were hidden in the brush with our decoys out. I loooked up and saw three coming from right to left. As i jumped up to shoot, my hat fell over my eyes, I pushed it back, rushed the shot, and missed. Now. they had the afterburners on, flying away and a little to the left. I fired with a 12g, 3 inch, Hevi-Shot, number 4 shot, IC choke. I fired, recovered from recoil, brought the gun down, looked at the birds, and the one I was aiming at, fell to earth. I was very lucky!!! I remember the dog did not move until she saw the goose fall and that was several seconds after recoil. Normally, I see the bird just hit ground or on the water after the shot and recoil. This is the only time I shot, recovered, and waited for the bird to fall. I have only done this once.
My other great shot was at a black bear. It was the last 30 minutes of daylight, on my last day when it happened. My guide, Brad Lister, saw a dandy of a black bear. He saw us and ran into cover. We held tight and several minutes later, he came out onto the logging road. We did about a 100 pace stalk, including having to cross the road, climb up a 12 foot embankment, to get to a place to make the shot. I lasered him at 182 yards and my 338 Win Mag blew his heart out. He never took another step!!! He was the biggest bear taken to date. I had a few beers on the 90 minute boat ride to camp and celebrated by waking everyone up by blowing the horn as we arrived well after dark!!!
Jeff

quote:

500grains: There are a few fishy stories in this thread.

Truth is often stranger than fiction.

We were walking through the pasture at our ranch and saw some hogs in the oats field. I crawled on hands/knees up to the edge of the brush to get a shot. With my H&K-P7 9mm FMJ I dropped a hog on the spot at a little over 60 yards. My husband said he wouldn't have believed if he hadn't witnessed it all. Backstrap - yum! It was a lucky shot.

Melody
http://www.long-grass.com

Two years ago when my daughter was 12 on her first whitetail hunt. Dad thought he knew best and the deer did not come from where they were supposed too. They got by us and were in some brush, she saw an opening and said Dad I can see it's shoulder can I shoot. I agve her the green light not thinking there was any chance. POW, 70 yds offhand dead on the spot!!
One year alter did the very same thing on her first African animal, an Impala at 80yds. PH said Kate saw the opening and told him she could make the shot. POW dead on the spot!!!


Dulcinea

I was temporarily stationed in Ft. Hood in '68 and with my army pay bought a new 22 magnum pistol.

Anxious to try it out, I rounded a corner on a trail and with the very first shot out of the previously unfired pistol I connected with a large bird perched on a limb at about 50 yards.

I rushed up and found that it was a beautiful owl. I immediately wished I hadn't shot it but there was no way of changing the situation.

It may have been one of my best shots but it was also one of my worst.

I was hunting deer with a couple of friends many years ago, and one of knocked a buck down and as we walked towards to within about 40 yards of it it jumped and ran and was just disapearing in the brush when I whipped out my trusty 4" 38 special and fired a shot from the hip, and turned him a summersault, I blew on the barrel and twirled the pistol and stuck it back in my holster, just like it was an every day occurance on my part and started walking towards the deer who had a neat hole dead center in his ear....I heard the following comments in the background..."Can you believe that shit, were gonna have to live with that for years to come" then in response "That dumb bastard couldn't do that in another 1000 years, but your right we havn't heard the last of it...

BTW, I just talked to one of them on the phone and reminded him of that shot, called him to run it in for about the millioneth time!

Gentlemen,

One morning, not far out of camp in Chete, Zimbabwe, we saw a herd of sable, and good bull was with them. The wind was right, so we got out oif the truck and stalked them.

They were feeding in thick bush, so we can see them moving from our left to right slowly, and we started looking for the bull.

We were about 200 yards away. My PH was loking at them with his binoculars, and I was looking through my rifle scope. It was a matter of now you see him, and now you don't. The shade did not make matters any better either, as even the cows looked black.

They also criss-crossed each other. As usually happens in this sort of situation, we try to find a gap they are walking through, and hope the bull walks through it too.

Eventually, we could see a small gap I could shoot through, so I aimed at the gap, hoping the bulls would come.

My PH said to get ready, as the bull is walking in that direction. So I aimed there, with my finger on the trigger.

"He will be the next one through the gap!" said my PH, so I started exerting some pressure on the trigger, ready to shoot, keeping an eye on the side of the gap where the sabel is coming from, as when he passes, I would only see part of his body.

I saw movement coming into my small field, and started to put more pressure on the trigger. Suddenly, I noticed the brown skin! It is NOT the bull. It is a cow!

Too late, as I know most of you mwould know, once you reach a point on your trigger pull, there is no return. So I yank the rifle upwards just as the shot went!

"OH SHIT! THAT WAS A COW!" said my PH.
"I KNOW! But I think I missed it!"
"Knowing my luck, you probably did not miss it"

We went to look for blood, and as we got there and found where the cow was standing where I shot, we started following its tracks with sinking hearts!

A few yards further and we still have not seen any blood, so our spirits began to improve. A 100 yards further and I was sure I missed.

"I have never dreamt this day would come!" I said.
"What do you mean?" said my PH.

"That you would be sooo happy because I have missed a sable!" I said.

I do not know if this is a 'shot of a lifetime' or not, but I once shot an impala ram on a dead run at close to 300 yards free hand with my .378 and hit it right where the neck meets the chest. We were watching the animals run and the PH asked me if I wanted to take a running shot (my first thought was that he wanted me to run after the animals and shoot at them!)...Anyway, I said why not... The shot was on purpose and took some time to find the proper opening the animals were running through---I was actually trying to kill the animal, but I didn't think I could actually hit it and neigther did anyone else. I hit it with a 300 grain Hornady RNSP with my .378 and when I hit it the poor animal hit the ground like it hit a wall...I was stunned that I hit it and so was the PH. He told me to shoot that ram and I did. There was a string of maybe 8 impala running in a line through small openings and behind chapparel. I aimed for an opening well ahead of the ram, who was the last animal in line, and when his nose poked through the opening I shot and and hit the poor bastard. We could hear the bullet strike. All my other poor shots evaporated. This took place in Feb/March 2001, about 50 mile NE of Port Elizabeth, RSA.

I saw another fellow make a post on bird hunting so I'll chime in with that as the rest of my hunting is rather unexciting and I have not been to Africa yet.

One cold morning, I was duck hunting my Dad and watching the rest of the hunters around us slaughter the ducks long before they got a chance to fly over us. This had made for a long morning of bird watching and I'd convinced myself I'd try any shot I could get - if I ever got to take a shot. Well, around 10:30 in the morning I saw a duck out of the corner of my eye that was headed into the sun. What the hell? I raised up, took a SWAG on the location, altitude, and heading and fired one shot right into the sun. I can't tell you how far up he was other than it seemed like he fell for 5 minutes. I had time to set my gun down and explain to Dad that Yes, I'd seen something worth shooting and No, I don't see it anywhere now. It must have gotten away...about that time we heard a big splash and a very dead shoveler crash landed not 10 yards from the boat. That is possibly the longest shot I've ever made with a shotgun and I may never make another like that again.

Just thought I'd share. One of these days I hope to have a few exciting big game stories to share.

Tex

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Boy, thats a tough call, but I think it has to be the Black Wildebeest that PH and friend Phillip Price insisted that I try for..800 yards and moving pretty fast, and I hit him 3 out of 5 shots and its all on film.....

Thats nothing...

I once shot a left and right at charging bull elephants carrying 140 lbs of ivory. The ivory was pretty heavy, cut my shoulders to ribbons, so I dropped one tusk before taking the shot.

They were a way off and I let them close from 900 to 700 yards to be sure...

Lucky for me I had my long throated Daisy BB gun!

I just aimed at the sweet spot behind the eye, allowing 120 feet for drop and drift and the little Northfork BB did the rest.

Took me best part of a day to drag those critters to the nearest track.

Lucky for me it is all on film. Or was it a cartoon...?

Three days after my Dad died the neighbors took me out hunting with them. It was filthy rainy weather and the cover quite heavy so I was carrying my 20ga. pump with #3 buck. All of a sudden a quite nice buck is running right at me. Boom! He just piles up and I gave him one more for good measure. That was my first big game animal. I sort of felt like old Dad was looking after me that day.

Mark

250 yds on a Springbok with my Weatherby .270 shooting Barnes X in 150 gr. He dropped like a rock. Followed the leg up for an aiming point. Rifle was sighted in for 2" high at 100 yds.

Keith

BTW, the Weatherby was in .270 Winchester.

Early 1980's flying an F4-D, dropping practice bombs at Hardwood range in central Wisconsin. The range officers had gotten bored so they had gotten some jeeps that were about to be hauled away for surplus and hooked a steel cable on a pivot between the front seats that ran a hundred yards to a pivot pole in the ground (just one jeep at a time). The steering wheel was bolted in place so the jeep would turn in a nice circle without pulling too hard away from the center pole. You couldn't bomb on it from a low angle pass, that wouldn't have been too hard. You had to drop from a 30 degree dive pattern and release at a slant range of about 10,000 feet. From the time you released the bomb the jeep would traverse about 85-87 degrees around the circle. Most guys couldn't force themselves to lead it nearly enough. Plus you had to lead in multiple directions, and the F-4 was most definitely not a precision bomber from that altitude. And, if you asked the range officers how fast the jeep was going they would lie to you (as well they should). On my first pass I hit behind it, but I paid close attention to the degrees traveled and put my second pass bomb through the front passenger seat (I found that out later). the range asshole called up on the radio "nice try, but its still moving". On the next pass I shaded things one nano-RCH (one billionth of a red cunt hair) to the right and destroyed the motor. End of jeep bombing for the day. That was just a good day at the range. The best shot part was that when I landed I briefed all of the good bomb droppers in the squadron on the proper technique. Some guys had engineering backgrounds so I had to diagram it out and show them the math. Other guys were like me and bombed by the Obi-Wan-Kenobi "if-I-were-a-little-blue-(BDU-33 practice)-bomb-I-would-come-off-the-ejector-rack----now" method. I used a more metaphysical approach with them. The upshot was that the next four times our squadron went up there one of the guys killed the jeep. The next morning we got the word, "no one from the 170TFS may drop on the jeep". I was Shari Lewis, and four of my squadron mates were Lamchop.
lawndart

My 30" Waterbuck at 30 yards (perfect shoulder shot with a bow). Had to watch him tease me for over an hour. Talk about being out of adrenaline when I made the shot!

Dugga-Boy @ 6 yards in high grass, full downhill charge, head down, heading for my PH & trackers.

Split second view of head, I fired with .470 DR, hit him between eys, he turned, got hit 3 times more (2 by my PH) and dropped dead!

My first buffalo!

I'm hooked!!!

That's my best shot ever (or at least my luckiest!)...

JW

My first shot at a bull elk (European moose), a ten pointer. Offhand at 190 meters.

Hardly believed it when he toppled!

My most remembered shot(s) were hunting Pheasants not too long ago.

I was walking in a line with 4 other guys, whom I barely knew.

Soon a rooster was running right in front of me, and the kid on the end shoots it.


"Hey you", that's once....

Soon I all but stepped on another rooster, and he is going straight up right in front of me.

The kid now shoots the bird over my head, and it drops at my feet.

"HEY, that's twice"....

Now he says to me, "Hey old man, if you are too slow to shoot 'em, then I'll do it for you".

Little did he know that I was crrrying my O/U Skeet gun, and happen to be one of the best Skeet shots around.

I killed the next five birds we flushed before he ever got his safety off.

As I picked up the 5th one, I turned and excused myself, as I was old and tired, and had now had enough fun for the day.

The kid just stood there not believing his eyes as I walked away.

quote:

Originally posted by Deerdogs:

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Boy, thats a tough call, but I think it has to be the Black Wildebeest that PH and friend Phillip Price insisted that I try for..800 yards and moving pretty fast, and I hit him 3 out of 5 shots and its all on film.....

Thats nothing...

I once shot a left and right at charging bull elephants carrying 140 lbs of ivory. The ivory was pretty heavy, cut my shoulders to ribbons, so I dropped one tusk before taking the shot.

They were a way off and I let them close from 900 to 700 yards to be sure...

Lucky for me I had my long throated Daisy BB gun!

I just aimed at the sweet spot behind the eye, allowing 120 feet for drop and drift and the little Northfork BB did the rest.

Took me best part of a day to drag those critters to the nearest track.

Lucky for me it is all on film. Or was it a cartoon...?

lol! the north fork bb killed me

1983. I was in the U.S. Border Patrol with a trainee who was just out of the academy. We were hiking up a canyon just northwest of Otay Mountain in the San Diego, CA area. I was in front and walking fast. I unknowingly passed a rattle snake that coiled up about ten feet to my left. The trainee, without breaking stride, drew, fired from the hip, and blew the snake's head off with one shot from a 158 grain .357 magnum. I pretended like it was nothing and he didn't say anything. Later that week we were at the rang and from his targets I could tell it was a LUCKY shot! Still, I'd rather be lucky than good! Harry C.

I was on my first hog hunt in Texas 2 years ago and on the 2nd afternoon I was in some brush off a trail when a group of abou 12 hogs came out to root around about 60 yards from me. It was my first hunt with my new 375 H&H and I was shooting Barnes X bullets.

A very large boar can out and gave me a great broadside shot - I squeezed the trigger and got the "CLICK" of a dud shell. The Hogs heard it and got real spooky, not sure if they should run or not. I jacked in another round and surprisingly the big boar gave me another shot. He was quartering to me and I let go at the heart. He dropped like sack of spuds! The bullet cut the top of the heart out and when completely through the hog almost length wise.

My first Boar was over 300# and what made it the shot of a lifetime was laying about 12-15 yards behind my boar - another hog! I had taken 2 hogs with the same shot! One big boar and another 80# meat hog perfect for the spit that was standing behind him and taken the bullet directly through both lungs. Two perfect shots with one bullet. They were both delicious.

The Best Part - there were 2 other hunting buddies with me to enjoy the moment.

If I had to pick just one animal I guess it would be the 57 1/2 inch Kudu that I took last year. But after shooting 9 animals and 8 of them going well into the gold I was very happy with all of the hunts and animals taken in Namibia. The second trip was wery good also.

The Palace saloon, Prescott, Az. mid December 1976. Too many shots of "101 turkey." The girl, as I remember could palm my back. She sure had pretty eyes.

One evening my wife let our cat in the house, not noticing it had a live mouse in it's mouth. When my wife noticed (and shrieked), the cat dropped it in the kitchen. The mouse ran underneath the refrigerator, right to the back. I got my Crosman bb gun and a flashlight, and lay on the cellar stairs directly across from the refrigerator. I waited for an opportunity. As the shrieking continued, any opportunity seemed pretty good. The shot was across the kitchen floor and under the refrigerator, it hit the critter just behind the shoulder. The mouse ran out from under the frige, and flopped briefly in the middle of the kitchen floor before expiring. I was pretty proud of myself. I had made a tough shot in front of a witness, eliminated the pest, avoided any damage to the refrigerator or the kitchen wall, and I didn't have to move the refrigerator to dispose of the mouse's carcass. My wife was not impressed. I got blood on her floor.

I've got a few. One day when I was about 11, I was hunting birds with my BB gun. I was bragging how good a shot I was, and my uncle said if you're so good hit that sparrow. The bird was about 100 yds. away on the wire fence. I took careful aim and dropped him. I once shot a Bob White Quail with my recurve. But maybe my best shot was with a Mod 39 S&W 9MM. I had been practicing a quick presentation from the holster and point shooting. One of my fellow shooters challenged me to hit a bird that landed on a range post at about 25 yards. I quick drew and shot him in the head. A few minutes later, I tossed a nickel in the air and shot it. I still have that nickel.