Thread: I wasn't seriously expecting to hit it.........Fluke shots.

Originally Posted by Barefoot

I don't call my special shots Flukes. I call them the result of years of experience, especially if I hold my tongue just right.

@greghud, another one with years of experience "biting the tongue", LOL!!! But must be in the right place too...

Shot a stag in the face at less than 3 meters, as he came charging in through the pongas at us roaring, from my hip. No time to shoulder the rifle, nor get him in the scope. I can vividly remember the whites of his eyes as he saw us the same time I pulled the trigger. He dropped and his antler shit the trunk of a ponga tree and the dust and dead fern from it landed on us. That's how close he was.

Two ducks flying high I'm swing through them no intention of shooting when my mate says bet you can't!
Bang down drops one I'm rather impressed as he was way out there my mates just looking at me like
Never told him I was aiming at the other one

I actually like this thread and I hope to see lots of great stories posted here. I must say I was disappointed by the first couple of responses however I understand their motivation. That said, I defy any shooter to tell me that they haven't had a "HOLY SHI..... Yeah, that was what I was trying to achieve" - moment.

With over 35 years of hunting, I have some favourite stories... many stories.... sooooooooo many stories...

Some personal bests:

3 rabbits with one shot using a .22LR. Done that several times. It just takes planning. Much satisfation to be had.
4 rabbits with one shot using a shotgun. Only once... was disappointed I didn't get the 5th rabbit. Lucky bastard got away. Wife was witness to that one.
A rabbit on the run, from the hip, one hand, with a 22LR. Done that 3 times now. Much satisfaction, just no witnesses to boast about it on my behalf.
A running goat, headshot at around 150m with a .222 - witnessed by my biggest hunting critic. That shut him up for a few days.
Two goats with one shot at 280 meters with a .243. Same hunting critic present, with his unbeleiving/cynical mate. Shut them both up for the day.
Running wobbly at just under 200m with the .243, standing shot, uphill. 5 witnesses all of who went.... "Wow".... followed by total silence and embarresed head scratching. Silently I was pleasantly surprised myself but it was a resolute and determined effort born of experience. Pffffff!!!

And then there are the funny stories, and the pure bloody luck stories...

headshot 2 goats with one shot frome .30/30 leaning off back of dog kennel...took abit of lining up but was much pleased with result.
most of the really surprising ones have been with a shot gun...one handed off back of wagon as hare goes out of light...duck at range too far to print..single pellet in lungs,bird dropped 5-600 yards after taking off..seen ducks do that quite a few times and big canada geese are shockers for it.
best skite shots ever was paddling a double kayak with son in back,bro in law across bay and ducks in shallows at head of bay..first pair went over bro in law and died so the rest flew directly over me ,up went the pump four shots fired four ducks dropped 3 dead in air at once.....really AWESOME to do it.
on the nights your ON with a shottie life is great.40odd hares for 50 shots and a silly yearling red who made mistake of bolting along fence past me at 25 yards and copped load of buck shot in head for it will always stick in memory.

I’m a little embarrassed about this one, but we’re among friends right. My mate and I had chosen a yearling on a slip among some pregnant hinds. I’m looking at it through my scope when my mate says wait I’ll video it. While he is getting ready I put my finger on the trigger to get ready to shoot. Then bang the yearling drops on the spot. I had forgotten we had just fitted a Timmny trigger to the old 8mm06 Mauser I was used to the two stage. No flinch that time!

Originally Posted by planenutz

I actually like this thread and I hope to see lots of great stories posted here. I must say I was disappointed by the first couple of responses however I understand their motivation. That said, I defy any shooter to tell me that they haven't had a "HOLY SHI..... Yeah, that was what I was trying to achieve" - moment.

The reason I started this thread was that I believed there must be some ripper yarns about surprising shots lurking in the forum without a way to be told.

Thinking about it a little more today, I think it's important to tell these stories, because it lets other people know that we don't always have a perfect shot lined up, and sometimes it's just that the "surprise factor" has swung in our favour, so to speak.

It makes us more relatable to other people if they know we aren't perfect, don't mind admitting it, and can laugh at ourselves.

It keeps us humble.

It helps people who have less experience than us to know that funny, astonishing, and humbling things will occasionally happen when they go hunting, and that experienced shooters sometimes get it "right" by accident.

@planenutz, you had some more stories?

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

@planenutz, you had some more stories?

Haha, nice try.

I like your sentiments and intentions. I used to sit in the smoko room and listen to stories being told by the helicopter boys on a Friday night over a beer... many now passed to the happy hunting grounds in the sky. Some stories were astonishing and I have always said that if you wrote a book about these things nobody would buy it because the truth was so unbelievable. And there lies the beauty of hunting. Strange things happen. Those impossible shots. Watching animals doing the darndest of things. The close calls.

I'm looking forward to reading all of them.

Originally Posted by 2post

... but we’re among friends right.

Oh hell yes.

Hahaha. There's a sucker born every minute.

Originally Posted by 2post

but we’re among friends right.

That's basically the premise I was working on when I joined this forum.

Me too Max Headroom, and its all fun until you upset one of the 'Five Protagonists'. Then you wonder why you bothered.

Originally Posted by planenutz

Me too Max Headroom, and its all fun until you upset one of the 'Five Protagonists'. Then you wonder why you bothered.

The 'ignore' option isn't perfect, but it helps.

Me and my co-worker got really competitive at shooting bunnies out the window of the landy. One day I told him to stop, I poked my shitty old 22 out the window the rabbit I saw hopped away before I pulled the trigger but further up the fence I saw this big bunny standing up I had a bullet up the spout so I thought what ta hell gave it a good metre holdover, shot it in the eye! Bullet didn't even exit there was no wound, my mate didn't say much for a while as he reckoned it had died of fright. Measured it a few days later 180m and about 30º uphill.
Plus many other successful well calculated shots. Plus lots of other well calculated shots that missed.

Had a plover lined up on my old 10 acres, Stirling semi, about 100 metres. Just as I let the shot go it’s mate ran in front of it a took the shot.
Night shooting with a farmer, he picked the head of a rabbit up at about 100 metres, shoulder the rifle and the farmer scoffed “ shit you’ll never hit that” straight thru the head dead. He looked at me and said he’d never doubt me again.
Shooting .22 on the Gladstone pistol club range on the old 70 metre range and a lone quail walked out under the cans, someone said shoot it, I took it’s head clean off, impressed the shit out of everybody!
Out on a Sunday drive as a young kid and my dad decides to shoot some rabbits with a Remington single shot target master .22 with open sights. Says he’d better sight it first, we were at the “Cliffs” out the back of Carterton. Leans on a fence post and aims at a kingfisher about 70 metres, took its head off, I was most impressed.
Walking across a paddock at Kaituna, just behind the old apiary, both with hammer shotguns, coming to the end of the pines, my mate decides to cock his hammers, greasy thumb slips and fires a barrel leaving a hole in the grass about a foot in front of me. I was not impressed! But we changed our habits on cocking hammer guns!

On the Monday after duck shooting opening weekend my girlfriend had said she wanted a turkey to roast. Me and the old man went looking for some turkeys, he took the 20gauge single barrel that she had been shooting with and I took my .223(more for 4 legged ones). As we came over the hill walking up on a mob of about a dozen they started to make a run for it down the hill, I brought the rifle up and he unleashed the 20gauge. 4 turkeys bit the dust with a single shot and I didn't even bother to fire. We sat there in the sun and plucked 1 each chatting away for a while, breasted the other two then made our way home for lunch.