Now not how far but how close a shot have you made?

B

bswiv

New member
What is the closest shot, gun or bow.............and I'm talking legitimate stuff.

I can think of two hogs that I took while stalk hunting in the palmettos that both probably had powder burns on them. One was so close that I had to step back as he crossed in front of me. The other came crashing through the palmettos after my buddy spoked the pack as we were trailing them. Just poked the rifle toward his shoulder as he passed........

Shot a couple of deer, one with a bow and one with a pistol, that were standing directly under my stand.........that translates into about 12 feet or so but I don't think that is all that unusual.

I'll admit that the long shots take a lot of skill but getting close is darn exciting.
 
I did a squirrel one time at my feet. I know it sounds small, and not that bad, but it was a weird situation. He and I got trapped in a small shop together, and he was not at all pleased about the fact that I was blocking the door. I was equally pissed that I only had 22 shot shells and a single shot rifle. Needless to say, those little shot pellets hurt when they bounce off of concrete at close ranges.

The other would be a coyote at about 10-15 yards. Spotlighted him with the truck on the way to the woods, came right in and I took the shot from the ground by the door, that was a little creepy.

F-C
 
First Deer i ever shot was at a yard. sitting in a ground blind after an all day hunt in TX. I'd like to say i was caught offguard, but asleep would be a better description. :) When i was startled to, she was crossing in front of the stand, at 13 years old you can imagine the nerves invovled. so nervous in fact i tried to look through the 3-9 power scope focused at 100 yds. all i saw were individual hairs. i just leaned back opened both eyes and squeezed one off. .270 175 grains. she just spun around and went straight down. wasn't a pretty kill, but i was the only one in the camp to come home with meat.
 
Woodchuck at 12" with a .22 and a deer at about 5yds with a 12 gauge slug. Oh, and almost forgot, a turkey at about 4-5 feet with a 12 gauge turkey load.
 
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Got a whitetail doe at less than 10 feet from a ground blind with a rem 870 12 ga. I was on the verge of falling asleep and didn't notice her working her way past my stand. Thankfully she walked right in front of me so I barely had to move to shoulder, aim and fire. She still ran 100 yards with both lungs torn up...
 
I shot a coyote last deer season around 25', sure is fun when you call them in that close. Big game I've shot my first cow elk at about 25-30 yards. I shot my first muzzle loader deer 15-20 feet. I sure love it when it rains, makes it much easier to get close on deer.
 
Deer at about 8' with a bow (2 times actually). Squirrel at the end of my 20 ga shotgun barrel, removed his head quite nicely.
 
Snake...at my feet with a broad head in my hand. If that don't get your hear rate up....well.

Squirrel about 5 feet with a 410 as a kid.

Deer 12 yards a couple of weeks ago.

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I didn't shoot either but I could have. I had a Raccoon 4 feet from me yesterday afternoon while Turkey Hunting and a Couple of years ago had a bobcat at about 15 feet.

Mavrik
 
when I was 7 or so, I took my first deer at about 10 yards. Used a 20 Ga slug and an old Savage/Stevens single shot. Still have the gun.

Hog at contact range, as I was climbing up out of the water onto a hardwood hammock in Pinhook swamp, North Florida. .44 Mag Ruger Blackhawk.
 
I've taken a couple of deer at 5 yards with a bow, from a tree stand, and taken another couple on drives at less than 10 yards with a shotgun.
 
Turkey, 5 yds. spring season '06
alligator gar 12" w/ 12 ga. :D
Deer: 7 yds w/ bow
Deer 11yds w/ rifle
Hog 5 yds 300 win mag from the hip:eek:

I think it takes more skill on the deer and the turkeys to get em in close, than to shoot them at long distances. There is so much more that can go wrong at close range than at long range. The degree of stealth is just sooo much greater, which i/m/o takes much, much, more skill, and really shows' the true skills of a hunter.
 
Probaly the closest thing i have ever shot except for gophers was a coyote at ten yards this spring.

The next closest shot was somewhere between 25 and 50 on a dead run white tailed deer.
 
First turkey I ever shot, about 15 feet or so, 12 gauge, 3" mags. DRT Deer, a different story. I think I was higher up in my stand than the deer was from the tree. 300 winmag, not pretty.
 
My father dropped a pheasant with a right hook one time. It flew right at him so he swung, hit it, and the bird was done for.

I don't know how you would measure that... 3 feet or so if you count the length of his arm, or 0 feet because he hit it?

I've jumped a few critters in dense vegitation before but that's not very impressive compared to downing a bird in flight with knuckles alone.
 
9 point buck with shotgun, about 7 feet. Yep, roughly two paces. He was spooked by another hunter and on the run. I saw him coming and froze right beside a tree. He almost ran me over. Turned broadside at the last moment as I raised my shotgun. Recovered all 18 pellets from the 3.5" shell under the offside hide. Even at that range none penetrated all the way through.
 
Last year shot a coyote directly under my stand with my .50 cal muzzleloader. Head shot. Head nearly removed (kinda turned inside out) :barf:. He was probably 10 feet or less from the base of the tree.
 
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