Seeing another post about being lucky got me to thinking about a buck my nephew killed in 2006. First off let me say I know that this was extremely LUCKY and I don't condone shooting through brush. That being said feel free to bash away if it makes you happy! We were on a friends place in north Texas and had hit the chasing phase of the rut perfectly. Working our way back to the truck mid morning we jumped a doe that had this buck hot on her heels. A quick coyote bark stopped her at about 60-70 yards and of course he stopped too. I had a clear shooting lane but since it was Mason's first Texas deer hunt I told him the shot was his. Since I had a clear shot I assumed he did too. Mason was 10' left of me and the brush was thick but he thought he could make the shot. At the shot the buck dropped with a spine shot at the base of the neck. A mesquite tree 10 yards this side of the deer looked like it was hit with a dust devil with branches whipping around all over. As we walked up to the buck we stopped at the tree and not only had he hit one branch but 2. From what I could tell the bullet hit the first branch and deflected up where it went on to hit the 2nd branch and deflect back to the buck 10 yards away. An absolutely 1 in a million lucky shot that resulted in a stone dead deer. Ended up being a great trip where myself,my dad,and my nephew all shot nice bucks. Yes I know it could have resulted in a wounded deer but we have all gotten excited at one time or another and taken a questionable shot. If you look in the picture of the shot limbs you can see the buck laying in the background. Its tough to tell in the picture but the upper limb is probably 4"-5" closer to the buck to give you an idea of the angles. Not that it matters any on a shot like this but is was shot with a 7mm 150 grain. Anybody else seen a 1 in a million lucky shot that worked out when there's no way in hell it should have?

Welcome to the forum.
Great story, great deer. No one got hurt, a lesson was most likely learned. Everyone went home safe. What's not to like.
Good on ya'

Best

GWB

Welcome to AR. Just goes to prove that if you hunt long enough and hard enough, things do happen. Congratulations on the buck.

Great story! Thanks for sharing. Kind of dispels the myth of deflection, especially close range and with magnum rounds.

I shot a grizzly in B.C. years ago, he was laying on top of a moose carcass that I had shot the previous day. We had rode in to collect the rest of the moose when I glassed and seen the bear sleeping on top of the covered carcass. I crept to with-in 90 yds, the bear rolled over and was laying on his back. My guide told me to not stop shooting until he was dead, beacuse we were so close. My first shot caught him through the ribs, he sat up looking at his chest and swipping at the bullet wound, my second hit him square in the chest, but the third, final, and interesting one was one as he was running away, I shot through a five foot tall spruce as I was swinging on the shot. A limb was blasted off the spruce and into the air. THe bear skidded to a halt, dead, and the limb fell at his side. The third shot hit him in the kneck. Luck? Yup! But the limb was close to over an inch thick and was clipped off and the bullet still whacked the bear.

I have made several unbelievable shots over the years but none of it was due to luck. Superior skill did it all!

465H&H

I killed 2 whitetail bucks with one shot in Eastern Colorado. The shot itself wasn't that lucky. But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Kudu56 that most have been something to see. Grizzly is on my wish list but it's going to be a few years.

quote:

Kudu56 that most have been something to see. Grizzly is on my wish list but it's going to be a few years.

I shot it for the trophy fee only. It was on a booked moose hunt and was $2500. We will probably never see those prices again.

Luck & good are not always mutually exclusive, and that's a fantastic deer! And as a you pointed out, sometimes you just can't see every twig & stick.

The only shots I've ever regretted taking are those where someone could have gotten hurt. That gives me a lot of pause now that I'm a bit older. Hunter safety was always stressed in our home growing up, but being young & dumb is a dangerous combination, and thinking back I'm certainly glad at least to have been lucky.

Now, I strive to be lucky AND good!

Welcome to AR

friar

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

Despite the fact that in Colorado, that's totally illegal???

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

Despite the fact that in Colorado, that's totally illegal???

Didn't say it was legal now did I??????????

I wasn't the one that stated they had done that was I????????????????????

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

Despite the fact that in Colorado, that's totally illegal???

Didn't say it was legal now did I??????????

I wasn't the one that stated they had done that was I????????????????????

Nope! I was simply pointing out it is illegal in Colorado. My comment had nothing to do with you CHC.

My mistake. I mis-interpreted your intentions, since you did not quote what Pirate's Life posted and I was the one that made the remark about situational ethics.

Silly me, I am used to the person being quoted, being the person being taken to task.

Sorry for the confusion.

Not exactly in line with the topic but I thought I'd post the other bucks from that week. Both taken with clean one shot kills no tricks involved! Thankful to have good friends that have given an open invite to hunt their ground anytime.

Just like now you are wrong Lazy Crazy.You allways come off blasting someone.Do you need
AR to take up a collection to pay for your meds?
Bad as you want it we are going to defete YOUR Obama care wishes.I do hope though that you get some help.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
My mistake. I mis-interpreted your intentions, since you did not quote what Pirate's Life posted and I was the one that made the remark about situational ethics.

Silly me, I am used to the person being quoted, being the person being taken to task.

Sorry for the confusion.

quote:

Originally posted by Southwesthunter:
Not exactly in line with the topic but I thought I'd post the other bucks from that week. Both taken with clean one shot kills no tricks involved! Thankful to have good friends that have given an open invite to hunt their ground anytime.

Nice bucks!!

Yeah, what Aaron said!!!

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
Yeah, what Aaron said!!!

+2

GWB

Southwesthunter, Congratulations, two really good looking bucks.

Thanks guys. North Texas has been good to us but that week was the best.

quote:

Originally posted by Southwesthunter:
Thanks guys. North Texas has been good to us but that week was the best.

Those are some of the biggest bodied bucks I have seen from Texas.Congrats

quote:

Originally posted by Pirate's Life:
I killed 2 whitetail bucks with one shot in Eastern Colorado. The shot itself wasn't that lucky. But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

This is a good example of what we like to call in the church "the difference between the 'letter' of the law and the 'spirit' of the law.

Like PL said, sometimes we all just need a helping hand!

friar

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

Despite the fact that in Colorado, that's totally illegal???

I admit that it was an illegal act in Colorado. But, it was many, many years ago, I was on private property and the guy with the unfilled tag was my father and he was standing beside me when the shot was fired. We only saw 1 buck because the other was lying down in the sage behind him. The bullet went through the first buck's shoulder and hit the second in the top of the head. So a shot at one buck ended up killing a second one that we were unaware of.

Was it illegal? Yeah, by the letter of the law it was. Was it unethical? Not really. We didn't even know both bucks were there so there was no way to intentionally pull it off. We had tags to cover the extra buck and if we had known he was there, Dad would have shot him anyways because this was strictly a meat hunt.

I'm willing to bet that 99.99% of hunters would have done just what we did, punch the tag and take the accidental buck home. Maybe you wouldn't, but then, you also weren't there.

Well, how big were the bucks?? Were you with an outfitter

quote:

Originally posted by drummondlindsey:
Well, how big were the bucks?? Were you with an outfitter

I have never hired an outfitter. This was on a big piece of land a family friend owned in Yuma County. This was just me and my father out to put venison in the freezer.

One of the bucks was a fair sized 8 pt. That was the one standing up. The other was a 5 pt. The sage came up to the belly on the one standing broadside. We never saw the 5 pt until we walked up on them. And there he lay. We weren't about to leave him for the coyotes and since another tag was handy, we used it.

quote:

I'm willing to bet that 99.99% of hunters would have done just what we did, punch the tag and take the accidental buck home. Maybe you wouldn't, but then, you also weren't there.

And you would win that bet. Been there, seen it done. No one is saying it is legal, but it happens. Having hunted Colorado and other states, I have seen all sorts of neat stuff happen or try to happen. What does any of this have to do with Lucky Shots????? How many of you have done something that was not 100% legal, but everything worked out and NO ONE got hurt??????

How many of you have been the victim of circumstance and been wrongly accused of something that you did not do??????

quote:

Originally posted by Pirate's Life:

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

But having someone else around with an unpunched tag sure was!

Situational ethics do come in handy some times.

Despite the fact that in Colorado, that's totally illegal???

I admit that it was an illegal act in Colorado. But, it was many, many years ago, I was on private property and the guy with the unfilled tag was my father and he was standing beside me when the shot was fired. We only saw 1 buck because the other was lying down in the sage behind him. The bullet went through the first buck's shoulder and hit the second in the top of the head. So a shot at one buck ended up killing a second one that we were unaware of.

Was it illegal? Yeah, by the letter of the law it was. Was it unethical? Not really. We didn't even know both bucks were there so there was no way to intentionally pull it off. We had tags to cover the extra buck and if we had known he was there, Dad would have shot him anyways because this was strictly a meat hunt.

I'm willing to bet that 99.99% of hunters would have done just what we did, punch the tag and take the accidental buck home. Maybe you wouldn't, but then, you also weren't there.

Pirate - More to my point was, yes I understand things can happen in the field. No I wouldn't do it, just too much to risk with my job. But maybe its a good idea to keep in mind that this is a public website, and what you say here can be viewed by ANYONE. Most reasonable people would understand the circumstance, but sometimes law enforcement doesn't see it that way.

Mr. Neilson,

I understand that you would have too much to lose considering that you're an outfitter. But, and this is a big but, this was a meat hunt on private land and there was absolutely nobody else around. No clients, no cameras, no videos, no camera crews. Just me and my father.

I was 19 when this happened. I'm 49 now. That's an awful lot of seasons gone by. Times were different back then and attitudes were as well. The eastern plains of Colorado were not being touted as a major trophy whitetail spot then. To tell the truth, back then nobody really cared about whitetails in Colorado. Mulies were the rage.

I understand this is a public site. But I also understand, as does anyone that has hunted much, things happen in the field that nobody can avoid. It is what it is. To deny such is to try and fool yourself.

Also, back then the game warden in that area was a personal friend. Even if we had called him and explained what happened he simply would have told us to tag the buck with the unused tag. As I stated, this was in a different time. I don't know how many years you've been hunting but if you were chasing deer and elk in Colorodo 30 years ago then you would understand the difference in attitudes towards this type of thing back then.

To tell the truth, if I was faced with the exact same circumstances today, I'd still tag the buck before I left it to rot.

As a past wildlife LE, I can say that the proper way to handle a situation where two animals are shot with one shot, is to dress the animal so it doesn't spoil and then contact a F&G officer to tell him what happened and ask him how he wants to handle it. With every other hunter having a cell phone, that is much easier to do now.

Seldom if ever would a citation be issued under these circumstances unless he saw evidence that the hunters were not being truthful. What ever you do, don't put another tag on it. In almost every state, tagging someone else's deer is a separate violation.

Depending on Dept. policy, the CO might allow another in the party to tag the extra animal, confiscate it and give it to charity or find another tag holder in the field that would want it.

465H&H

quote:

Originally posted by Pirate's Life:
Mr. Neilson,

I understand that you would have too much to lose considering that you're an outfitter. But, and this is a big but, this was a meat hunt on private land and there was absolutely nobody else around. No clients, no cameras, no videos, no camera crews. Just me and my father.

I was 19 when this happened. I'm 49 now. That's an awful lot of seasons gone by. Times were different back then and attitudes were as well. The eastern plains of Colorado were not being touted as a major trophy whitetail spot then. To tell the truth, back then nobody really cared about whitetails in Colorado. Mulies were the rage.

I understand this is a public site. But I also understand, as does anyone that has hunted much, things happen in the field that nobody can avoid. It is what it is. To deny such is to try and fool yourself.

Also, back then the game warden in that area was a personal friend. Even if we had called him and explained what happened he simply would have told us to tag the buck with the unused tag. As I stated, this was in a different time. I don't know how many years you've been hunting but if you were chasing deer and elk in Colorodo 30 years ago then you would understand the difference in attitudes towards this type of thing back then.

To tell the truth, if I was faced with the exact same circumstances today, I'd still tag the buck before I left it to rot.

Well, I'm not an outfitter here anymore - haven't been for several years now. I still guide/book for, and manage for the outfitter who was previously one of my guides.

I too know how things happen in the field, I've seen it all with clients. 465H&H says above, what I've done a bad job of trying to say regarding the issue. I just hate seeing guys who are trying to do the right thing, get in trouble for doing the wrong thing. It drives me crazy!

Good luck, and if you get back to CO - post some pics. Its always cool to see whitetails, taken in Colorado.