There have been numbers of threads through the years with postings touting exiting bullets creating blood trails,deep penatrating raking (going away) bullets, bullets doing tremendous hydralic shock tissue damge, fast premium bullets taking out shoulders and knicking lungs, and on and on.

Personally I would like to see a compilation of our QUIK KILL stories whatever bullets or techniques were used. Perhaps we could do this one story at a time to eliminate thread domination and lengthy posting by one individual that could become boreing. I'll
start.

Rifle, 22- Varminter later to become the 22-250

70 gr. Barnes original

Velocity 3300 fps.

Date: October "66"

Place: between Avon and Edwards Colorado

Cold, no wind and snow a foot deep at least

The buck was a loooong distance away, facing up hill in the opposite direction. Some old farm equipment yielded a great steady rest. The cross hairs were held perhaps 3" over his head between his two raised ears.The bullet struck at the base of his neck and he dropped like a rock. The neck bone was shattered, the jugular ruptured and there was an apple size exit wound. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

Whitetail doe about 115 lbs., 15 feet, 243 Winchester, 100 grain Sierra spitzer, 3-4" diameter exit in chest, early December, 1981, warm, afternoon on Hawk Mountain in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Two cow elk running across ranch truck trail ca. Mitchell, OR. Each one shot, where base of neck meets chest. H-mantle bullets from Ruger No. 1 7x65-R. Twin wounds, w/exit holes size of coffee cup. Each died in mid-stride.

Reaching way back, literally decades ago. Hunting with a friend of my Dad's who was in the process of recovering from a heart attack. I pushed a nice 8 pt by him about 8:30 AM "Biggest Buck I ever saw" he said when I got up to him. Told me where the deer was and I went to look for him. decent blood trail and snow, so I told him to wait where he was. That buck stayed with the other deer he was traveling with and I jumped him twice with no shot available. Blood in his beds wasn't very plentiful, and it was dark, but not gutshot dark. Anyway, come late afternoon and I am returning up the mountain and around a few bumps when a nice fat doe appears directly above where the truck will be. Bang flop, .308 Sako mannlicher 165 Nosler partition and 44 grains of IMR 4064 have done it again. Bend down to pick up my brass and start towards the meat pile... There she is standing and looking at me... Bang Flop!! Shake head and pick up brass once again... walk over to the two dead deer... SH_T, Thank God Dad's friend had a tag too! Br in laws brother killed the eight point three days later, creased shoulder meat only hit with a .243 Husky and 95 grain Partitions... That was a long cold day from which I slept like a baby.

There you go, my secrets bared.

Damn, you are jogging the old memory banks: Same moutain just higher elevation, different year during a snow fall. Slowly still hunting and deer screaming through the alders catches my eye and I swing the Sako and snap off a round which went throught the neck (I was aiming for shoulder) about 6 inches behind the head... it was in mid bound, the long full distance jumps that they rarely make... and a total crah at the other end. Bub, a local poacher was watching this and said it was the best shot he had ever seen! Prick had scared the deer and was following it across the property lines... Said I didn't think anyone would be out in this. Same load and large exit because of the bone blown out through the exit. The 2 mile drag was a bit much but did keep me warm.

An average doe yearling whitetail running to me from downhill stopped at 80 yards, caught a Speer 100 grain flat base SP where the top ribs from each side join below the throat. The bullet exited the centerline a little rearward of the muscle wall seperating the paunch from the chest cavity. DRT, simply slammed to the ground. Shoot under chin next time. Velocity 200 under a max figure. 788s rule.

2006 hunting antelope outside of Medicine Bow, Wyoming using my 6.5x284. I had stalked a buck tending a herd of about 20 does for about an hour when he started following a hot doe toward me. The doe was walking along the backside of a low ridge and stopped in a gap in the sagebrush. I lasered her at 268 yards when she started walking forward again and I sighted in on the gap.

The buck entered the gap with just the very top line of his shoulders, head and neck showing above the ridge and I put the crosshairs in the middle of his neck.

The 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip (3400 fps MV) entered midway up the spine and blew two vertebrae out of the back side of his neck.

My friend was watching through a spotting scope and said that the buck just disapeared and he wasn't sure what happened. (He must have blinked)

Gidday Guys,

As we are going back a ways one that springs to mind is as follows:

Rifle: Midland 308 win

Ammo: Factory CAC 150gr HP

Date: 22 August 1979

Locale: Piakanui Road Te Puke

Species: Fallow spiker

Range: 130 metre guesstimate

While having dinner one evening with a friend and discussing my need to put a bit of meat in the freezer he said "Why don't you put that one in the freezer" pointing out the dining roon window.

I grabbed the rifle put on my gumboots (Wellingtons) walked quietly to the end of the drive and using the fence post as a rest lined him up on the bush edge . I aimed behind the shoulder through the pump and bellows and let him have it.

I thought at the time that I had missed as he had disappeared by the time I recovered from the recoil. He had fallen into some dead ground.

It was one of my easier carry outs.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Barsche, I think you are looking for an odd story or two, as opposed to a long synopsis from any of us on a lot of our one shot quick kills--and I suppose a 22-250 qualifies as a small caliber....

Quickly, I've dumped a bunch of coyotes from 100ish out to 300ish yards, instant drop on the spot kills, over 50 at last count. All were with the lowly Nosler Ballistic Tip, none exploded in any way, my favorite was in Alabama, about 200 yards across a food plot, he was on a light trot, put the crosshairs on his nose, followed along, and at the break of the shot, he just went straight down. Never a twitch, flawless coat, one I should have done something with, reddish fellow, but ended up throwing it out after it resided in the freezer for a few years......This old Sako really does the job on smallish critters.

Gidday Guys,

Sorry Roger this was supposed to be small calibre and the 308 ain't small.

I did have a memorable shot on a pig a couple of years back. The shot itself was not that remarkable but it was the animal itself.

While out for a walk with a mate in a pine plantantion in the Malvern hills I heard a bit of snuffling and grunting as a wee 30lb sow came waddling down the track and she was so absorbed in whatever was going through her head that she didn't notice us in the middle of the track. She got to within about 10metres before she saw us and froze. The look on her face was something to behold.

You could see she was thinking "Oh crap I'm in big trouble here. How am I going to get out of this."

A 120 Ballistic tip from the 260 between the eyes was her way out.

I guess you had to be there but I always smile when I think of her.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Second verse not like the first!

Rifle, 6.5 X .284 Really fast twist, 30" barrel.

Bullet, 156 gr. Barnes' original psp.

Compressed load of 4831 unknown velocity.

About 10 miles out of Debeque, Colorado; back country.

Nov. "68" last day of normal season.

Distance no more than 50 ft.

The doe came running out of a hay field near dusk. She filled the scope so I moved it forward till I just saw light. When the light disappeared I PULLED the triger. She slammed into the hill side she had been making for. When she was opened up all of what was in her chest cavity came out as one lump of red jello. I do not remember an exit wound and do not believe there was one. Kinda like a grenade went off inside of her. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

quote:

Originally posted by Hamish:
Gidday Guys,

Sorry Roger this was supposed to be small calibre and the 308 ain't small.Hamish

Nothing sacred about small bore Have at it. roger

Rifle: Remington M7MS - .257 Roberts
Load: 117 gr. Hornady SST over H4350.
When: 2007, Opening Week, Texas Whitetail Season.
Time: Around 8pm, fully 45 minutes after dark on a full moon cloudless night.
Range: 125 yards, confirmed.
Results: 250# of Pig insta-kiled in the road. The bullet did not exit.



I hit him just a tad high...but it was dark.



Here's the daytime pic. Truly a nice sized porker.

And the story: I'm in Texas at my friends ranch doing some deer hunting. After selecting a nice doe for the freezer, I sat back, picked up a book and read a few chapters. As night fell I put the book down, glassed as long as I could, and then with the remaining light I emptied my .257's magazine and dumped the cartridges into a pocket.

So it's sometime around 30-40 minutes after dark and I'm kicking back in the elevated blind. Everything's packed up and I'm just waiting to see the trucks lights from a distance, indicating my ride pick up.

And then I see a shadow moving on the road. Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot? I picked up my bino's (Nikon Monarch's 8x42) and followed the road out. I could see the tracks in the road, and I could see the dark between the tracks from a bit of overgrowth. In the left path I saw something moving, around 175 yards out or so. 200 yards out is the left turn...and the shadow was just a tad closer than that - hence 175 yards.

Anyway, I glassed this shadow for about 45 seconds and it hit me: It's walk. It walked like a pig! As it rose up a slight noll it silouhetted itself perfectly. No doubt about it: HOG.

I grabbed my rifle and steadied it for a shot...only to realize that it was empty! I fumbled around with shaking hands scrambling for cartridges and found two. I jammed them in the magazine, turned the scope to the VX-III to 8x and settled down.

I could see the ears painted clearly, but the hog was facing me. I wanted a broadside shot - or at least something other than a straight shot into the skull.

Piglett turned to his left and I settled the scope about 4" below the tip of the ear and squeezed the trigger.

I watched that pig drop straight down and saw it's ears twitch twice in the scope.

Not less than 5 minutes later I saw the headlights of my friend stop in front of the blind.

It was a helluva shot with the luck of a full moon shining that made it possible. My first hog kill ever - and damned if I'm still not hugely proud of it!

Many moons ago I was sitting on a stump in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls and a small doe came down the trail right toward me....it had no clue I was there and actually came right up to me and sniffed my gun barrel muzzle.....

We needed a camp meet doe and I decided this was it. As the doe sniffed the muzzle at about two inches I squeezed the Timney trigger of the .375 H&H I was hunting with. Needless to say I had an exit wound and camp meat in a nano-second.

This is not really anything but obvious...

St Louis County, northern Minnesota... north of Hibbing, south of International Falls...
November 1984, about 20 below...

Took a 8 point buck at about 125 yds, biggest deer I ever shot.. field cleaned at 265 lbs...

Was kicked up in a drive out of a Swamp with a batch of deer, circled my perch... run behind a pile of brush and did not exit.. brush pile was about the length of the deer..

I calculated where the front of him would be and fired.. cut two sapplings in half as the bullet went thru the brush at him...

Rifle; 444 Marlin
Load: factory 240 grain Remington
Weight on Hoof.. estimated at 340lbs by MN DNR..at check in station..

My 2007 moose was a long awaited one shot kill. Having shot 4 moose previously with 12 shots it was about time. The thing about moose is they show no reaction to shot and I can't see the bullet hit through the recoil of the 9.3x62. Seeing as I've come a long way I keep on shooting....

This one was slightly different. My host had explained that if the dog barked in the next 10 minutes I should run up the clearcut to the logging road and then run 100m up the road and get ready. Remember he reminded me there are two dogs to make sure are safely to one side before shooting.

About 8 minutes after setting off the dog started barking. I chambered a round and ran back, getting to the road I ran 50yards, stopped for a quick listen and then ran the remainder slowing to a trot. 150yards on a big black shape eased onto the logging road. Shit. Panting good and trembling I realised it was a cow - no shot but wait here comes a smaller black shape - a calf.

Track the calf in the scope - can't see the second dog - no shot bugger. But wait the dog (one of the best in the county) bays them on the logging road. Too far so every time they look away I creep a bit closer. Get to 100yards. Standing can't get steady enough. Go down onto one knee, nearly get a shot but dog not accounted for. Calf goes into ditch and stands still with both dogs off to one side. Safe but is front on shot need to be very steady. Shit it's about to go. Wrench off pack lie down and rest on top of it. Calf looks off the road and makes to leave but hesitates for a moment. Boom - come down from recoil to see calf staggering onto road blood pouring from nose and fall over on the crown of the road.

Clean the moose and drive the car and trailor up to it.

250gr swift a frame, max load IMR 3031, lapua brass, custom 9.3x62 on 09argentine action.

Shot average now 13 shots for 5 moose....

pussycrat
backyard
1928 thompson
1 burst
dead crat
dead garden hose
dead weber kettle
angry wife

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
pussycrat
backyard
1928 thompson
1 burst
dead crat
dead garden hose
dead weber kettle
angry wife

I rate this story as the best so far...

cat + Thompson SubMachine Gun = &

quote:

Originally posted by seafire2:
I rate this story as the best so far...

Ab-so-lute-ly!

We want to hear more details! Did you get complete penetration on the cat? And on the kettle?

This is perhaps a story hard to swallow if you weren't there !. I swear it's absolutely true !.

Come mid Oct. 27 years ago , I along with two other hunting buddies were Elk hunting in New Mexico . Out side of Gila national Forest Area with an Out fitter who is now deceased .He was part Indian and a real decent guy which everybody had Huge respect for !. Seems maybe 25 years before he had a run in with "Claws "( He called Bears by that name ) .

One real seasoned hunting Guide 4 horses two mules and two green horn hunters and another one with limited hunting experiences ( Me ) .

Snappy Crisp mornings semi chilly evenings pleasant day temps . ( Remember I'm a Calif. boy ) However I had lived in Idaho so I knew cold and snow !.)

One morning I'm taking the morning constitutional out of respect and embarrassment out of ear shout from camp .

I always carried my S&W 29 4" with 240 JHP ( Speer I think ) and 296 23.2 grains .

So literally minding my business out of the bushes comes a Javelina full bore !. I unsnap my holster draw point fire !. It nose dives rolls and tumbles off left of me stopping short enough , I can't reach out and touch it !!.
I now proceed to WIPE !. After I got my hand to quit shaking !!.

So I'm pulling up my drawers covering in the hole , I hear voices yelling are you dead or what the F ing is going on . I call back No and none of you gets my tag either .

I hear David the guide laughing the loudest , he shows up first as he pretty well knew where I was off to . Looks over and says " Ah Breakfast " your a good man Ken !. Grabs that Javelina and starts back to camp . ? Are you OK did it hurt you nice shot not another word , NOTHING !.

So my two buddies are still running around looking to see what's happened finally show up , David gives Richard the pig and says he killed it You carry it and I'll gut and cut . Then we'll decide who cooks it later . He starts laughing .

Later that same day as we were making our way up a narrow pass in a rocky area , the horses and mules were upset nervous . David says Ken you come up and lead , I want a Short good shooter ( I'm 6-4" ) he meant short gun .

So I moved up front unsnap my holster , I don't see anything but we're moving slowly . So after about 15-20 minutes I hear what I can't describe my horse bolts forward almost loosing me in the process !. David is saying something , Richard is now off his horse holding the reins , John is all twisted around dam near off the side of the trail . Next thing I see is a Flying Cougar !.

Holly Shit I yell !! As I draw fire mid air twice three times before I'm off the horse on my ass up against a boulder !.

Cougar is dead on the ground !! . David is back applying something to one of the mules hind quarters ( It got raked ) My Buddy's are jumping up and down Dead Eye Ken 44 King or something like that .

I walk over to the Cougar , as I'd never seen one close up dead or alive . Bloods coming out it's ear and mouth , I don't see any bullet holes ??.

David walks up ties it's legs after kicking it a few times it's DEAD !. Ken no holes your a good shot but not that good !. My Mule kicked it in the head , he rides up front now !. Starts laughing and says he's just kidding . That night we had ham Steaks beer laughed and told stories until I couldn't laugh any more .
David didn't do a lot of excessive talking , but that night he told some DANDY TALES as he had been guiding for near 30 years by then !.

He said we had to come back , as it had been several years since he'd had this much fun !.

He also told us stories are memories for those who were there , because others never believe it any way .

We all got our Elk , Rookie John got an exceptional one just short of Book !.

I hunted with David twice more over the years before his passing .


Shoot Straight Know your Target . ...

The last bull elk I shot was at about 40 yards quarting toward me. (High in the White River National Forest, about 40 miles S of Meeker.)

I hit him on the neck where it joins the body, just above the point of the shoulder, with a 7mm Rem. Mag. firing the Nosler 175-grain Partition bullet using 70 grains of IMR 7828. V of this load is 3050 FPS @ 10 feet from the muzzle.

He immediately disappeared from view, and I later discovered he had merely dropped out of sight behind a big downed tree trunk. The fellow who was hunting with me said the old boy had hit the ground so hard be actually bounced! Elk was a 5-pointer (western count), and weighed around 700 pounds.

On another hunt in Wisconsin....this time around Pigeon Falls we were chasing a one horned buck and it had run into a fairly large thicket.

Two guys went to the other side to chase it out and two of us stood on a nearby hillside to watch it when it emerged.

Emerge it did and went hi-tailing to the next county. I had been following it a bit in the scope with my .270 and held over about three feet and ahead of it about six feet and threw a 130 grain interlock at him. All I saw after that was hoofs pointing in the air as it run over a hill.

When I made the (roughly) 400 paces to the deer it was piled up nicely and the bullet had hit the spinal cord in the center of the back.....an instant kill. There was some loss to the loins but most of it was still salvageable. The part of the story I never tell is that the deer came out of the thicket and give me a standing 100 yard shot......and I missed it!!!!!

Story three "Big Devil"

6.5 sporterized ,peep sighted Carcano,

16.5" barrel gain twist.

140 grain Speer BT at 2200 fps.

Range 30 ft.

Area, near Deer Park above the Book Cliffs not far from Grand Junction Co.all Pinions and Cedars.

When? Oct. "68", Earley morning.

Weather hot and dry.

Was on a stand on the end of a finger overlooking two draws. My cohort who had been having a haed time getting his first deer came to me to see what was going on. I told him to take my stand and I'd work up the ridge and graudually drop down into the wash. I walked up about 100 yards and started to drift down to the left. In front of me stood a genuine typical western 6 point if there is such a thing. I slowly raised the Carcano, and put the sights on his chest just left of his left shoulder.

The bullet enterd a little high near the shoulder angleing down through the chest cavity. The bullet was retreived just under the hide on the far side as it clipped a rib.

The shot knocked the buck flat on his ass with the front legs still supporting him. He looked at me and than slowly toppled over. No mass tissue damage or exit wound. There was 2" of fat on his rumb and when opened up no red visible at all only a lot of tallow. A full chest mount hung on the wall in the Beef Eaters Bar and Restaurant on display for many years. this really was "big Devil". Two of us had a duce of a time poleing him out.

I think Ray's Grand Pa's 25-35 could have done the same think that day. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

No smallbore miracle stories for me either, but I've never had anything shot with my 45-70 take a step, although I haven't shot a ton of animals with it. 56.1 grains H4198 under a Remington 300 grain HP.

1997 Northern MO
Factory Ruger MK II 270
150 Speer spitzer flatbase handloads
130 yards
10 minutes after getting into stand

I once nailed a raven in the air on the second shot with my Ruger MKII pistol. Dropped him right into the Eel River about 35yds out. The guy I was with looked quite surprised, he finally said nice shot. I said thanks like it was no big deal. Don't ask me to do it again.

Fox ran out of a brush patch into the open. Sat up on his butt approx 400 yds away. Set the horizontal crosshair of the 22-250 right on top of his head. Bang-flop! DRT. Bullet hit fox right in the weiner........ Pain must have been fantastic.......Fresh snow showed fox never moved. Grant.

I was out one evening looking over the "back 40" with a 22-250 hoping to take a deer. A group of 6 to 8 deer came on the property but a long way away (later found to be a measured 360 yards). After hearing all the stories of how a .224 caliber centerfire wasn't enough for deer, I had some misgivings about taking the shot. I didn't believe the thing about a 22-250 not being enough gun but thought the range for taking a deer was a bit much.

Anyway, I assumed the prone position and let fly. The deer I shot died right there with a high lung shot. The bullet went clear through it. The funny thing is, that when I went to retrieve it, the other deer just stayed there until I was probably 80 to 100 yards away. If I had had more nuisance tags, I probably could have gotten a couple more at a minimum.

I suspect that the sound of a 22-250 doesn't seem like much to a deer at 360 yards and they they just thought their buddy had died of sudden cardiac death or from lightening or perhaps just wanted to take a nap.

Huge bodied 8 pt buck. Hit the hay field running 250 yds in front of me then turned and ran almost right straight at me. Coming full tilt, flat out gallop, no bouncing at all. I let him come to about 50 feet and put one in at the base of the left antler with a .308 and out behind the right ear. He'd have been dead right there, but at a good 40 MPH it took him a while to stop skidding. Came to a rest on his back balanced on the rack and in a perfect position for gutting. Had to back the truck up maybe 100 feet from where it was parked to load him up. 260 dressed. About the only thing he could have been more helpful with was hoisting himself up for the skinning part.

First deer I ever shot! Medium sized 8 point. I was using a Marlin 30-30 with 150 grain Remington CoreLokt bullets. The buck walked to within 40 yds of my stand and stopped--quartering towards me. The 30-30 had open sights. I thought for sure the deer could hear my heart beating. I shot the deer and it never moved--just crumpled up in a heap. Then I started shaking so hard I could hardly get down out of my stand. Seems like I shook for 30 minutes. It was the most thrilling thing I'd ever experienced. Though the shaking after the shot is long gone, I still get excited. I suppose the day I don't, I'll quit hunting.

The quickest one shot kill I had was with a pellet gun. I looked out the door one night to check on my coon and spied a possum under his cage. I grabbed my crossman pellet pistol and loaded a beeman pointed pellet in it. After six pumps and from about 30' away I put one right between his eyes. He never so much as twitched.

Shot an Oregon Blacktail, once with a 22.250 at about 150 to 175 yds..

it came out of a clearing, saw me and took off in the exact opposite direction that he had seen me..

I had a 22.250 with a 70 grain Speer, with an Mv of 3300 fps at the time...

I took the shot right over its back tail aiming at the neck..

it hit him square in the back of the neck and he took a double summersault before he hit the ground...

wasn't really anything spectacular about the deer.. but that 70 grain SPeer SMP hiting its spinal column... it went out the front of his throat and the wound was opened up about the size of a dinner plate...that backbone created almost a grenade like scenario upon exiting..

needless to say, that was not one you wanted to mount the head...

meat loss was at a minimum tho...

Hmm... done this one quite a few different times.

Last year had a mature doe drop in her tracks from a heart shot with a 7mm rem mag from about 300 yards. By the time the gun came out of recoil, all I could see was a white belly. Also shot a running doe in the neck with a 12 gauge slug. She did a cartwheel and ended up facing the direction she came from. The last small caliber DRT was with a 6mm PPC. 100 yards, shoulder spine shot. Poof, gone. Disappeared upon impact.

gd

When we get to the two shot kills PLEASE remind me about my second Dugga Boy...

Number four-Two Bucks more

Evening drive up hunt

6mm .270 IMP

Barnes 110 or 115 grain original design.

Compressed load of 4831.

Velocity=?

Oct. 69

Gobo Ranch out of Glade Park above Grand Junction.

With Mike Brach( young local butcher )& The Wonder Bread driver.

Jumped these two young Mule deer bucks in some sparse quakies. They made a brake for a rise but one broke right and I took him at perhaps no more than 60 yds low and behind the shoulder. He immediately crashed into a tree. Mike with knife in hand bolted toward the deer like a Comanche.

While Mike started to run I ejected and reloaded. The cross hairs found the other buck in mid stride. He was about 80 yds. out and 30 feet above us just going over the ridge. The rifle barked and the Bread Man shouted "You Missed." It sounded like he found some joy in that exclamation.

We found that buck about 30 feet over the rise. It looked like he just piled up on the sage brush side of the hill. The bullet had entered the vital side of the diaphragm angled up through the chest and exited out the neck leaving a golf ball size hole.

We had just rolled him over when iron man Mike was there with his fast knife.The humble Wonder Bread guy and I carried the second one out after we loaded the first one on Mike's shoulders and he did the 200 yds. or so with that one.

Didn't see it but Mike said the first deer's vitals were as jellied as the second and the hide did have a sizeable exit wound. We left both hides on a fence and drove back down the MT. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

I shot a wild boar last December during one of the few evenings we had snow. Since this happened on a bait site, I decided to wait a little to see if maybe the rest of the group returned or another pig showed up.

Instead a fox showed up, went straight to the pig and dissappeared behind it, probably to start with dinner right away, not even caring to introduce herself.

I got ready, whistled, head popped up, bang! I used a .338 WM powered with Blue Dot (Seafire, do you hear!?).

OK one more ;

Utah Iron Mountain area Deer hunting several friends .

Opening morning We break up into small groups and begin the days hunt . Ice Cold mornings Hot midday I'm in shorts

I and my partner hike up down up down near 15 miles that day . With no luck !. Twilight is upon us , back to camp two hours after dark ( We're the LAST in ).

Couple of guys have shot some decent Muly's .

I'm eating an listening to stories friends kids are all excited as one of them had shot his first deer .

Next morning I partner up with a good friend who's a little less ambitious .

We decide on stealth an ambush so as to give my legs a break .

We're on an out crop over looking three trails sitting in between large boulders, with a near 240-270 degree view up 200 yards above the canyon floor.

Off in the distance 2-4 miles away we see part of our extended hunting party moving down off a ridge deer are moving in front of them toward us .

As time passes another hunting crew of ours is moving down another trail from an opposite direction . We are NOW EXCITED !. We know some one is going to push a nice buck to us from one or the other direction . And Were on top of it all !.

Wrong ! ,as they get closer we see the deer about 8-11 as near as we could count , push up a far side hill and sneak out through a draw between them !. Dam smart deer !.

I turn around to look back as to see if there is any way we could get to them . NO !.

However I do see a 4 point buck two doe and a fawn moving away going up a small draw . My partner can't see them . Until I point them out to him . Their over in the direction of where we came from !. Our camp is a mile on the other side of a large hill that's between the deer and us .

Their to far , that's got to be over 500 Yd. forget it he says . I tell him I think it about 450 just a guess but . Just then the Buck is above the others and quarters his head and stops .

He hears the other hunters ( kids are talking ) as we can to now . Their below us well out of any possible danger of my taking a shot .

I chamber a 7mm RM Nickel plated 154 grain with H4831 cup my hand under the stock tighten into the sling . I scope hold over an squeeze the trigger , DAM Buck moves as I BANG let it go !.
Buck crumples slides down the incline about 20 ft. and stops .

My partner can't believe I hit it , let alone folded it with a single shot !. I turn to him and say that's why we use these 7 mm RM , as he uses one to , a BAR 7mmRm !. Mine at the time was is still a 3000L Commercial Mauser .

Bullet hit just behind the shoulders in the spine which it broke killing him instantly .
I was 4-6" low of where I thought it should have hit !.
443 yd. My previous partner and his Buddy upon hearing about it that afternoon went out and measured it with a 200 yd. string measure and a tape measure .

No one had range finders or compensator sights then . I had an still do use the Leupold VarX111 which was Brand new then . Hell of a scope !!!.


Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

quote:

used a .338 WM powered with Blue Dot (Seafire, do you hear!?).

Dirk,

338 on a fox, ya sure you were using enough gun? 416 Rigby in the shop?

Here's an odd one;

Late November, 1986 Howe, Idaho.
Remington 788 (LH)
165 grain Hornady BTSP and IMR 4064, 2700 fps

At 5:00 PM I walk over the edge of a hill and see a group of about 8-10 does and a little spike buck feeding along an open slope. My eye catches movement on the uphill, far side of the clearing and see a 4 point (about 24" high) buck standing broadside with its head under the edge of a sage bush.

I drop to a sitting position and place the cross hairs low on its chest, I figure it's about 220 yards on a 30 degree uphill shot. At the shot I see blood exit the top of the buck's back and it is DRT.

I slog my way through the 6" deep snow up the mountain until I get to it. My bullet had hit the elbow joint and deflected up slightly and exited through the spine between the shoulder blades.

Here's where it gets interesting:

The left antler sticking up out of the snow is still in velvet (late November) WTF?

The right antler is buried in the snow and when I lift the head, I see a 10" clubbed spike, also still in velvet! Double WTF!!

Now I'm pissed. I roll the deer on its back to start field dressing and all it has is an udder! Triple WTF!!!

I had shot an antlered doe. I field dressed it being careful to cut around the udder to leave it intact.

When I checked the animal at the DFG check-in station. The game wardens all commented on the velvet until I rolled it over and showed them the udder. Then they were really interested.

The next afternoon I received a phone call from the Idaho DFG asking me for the head so they could examine it and I gave it to them.

BTW Idaho's regulations are written for "antlered and anterless" seasons, not "buck and doe" seasons.

quote:

Originally posted by seafire2:

quote:

used a .338 WM powered with Blue Dot (Seafire, do you hear!?).

Dirk,

338 on a fox, ya sure you were using enough gun? 416 Rigby in the shop?

Well John,

what can I say? One hunts foxes not with the gun one wishes to have but with the one that's on your lap on the tree stand...

Best regards!