What's the CLOSEST you've ever shot a deer?

My first eight point was shot from about 12 yards away. I did the deed with a Remington 870 Express using a 3" Winchester sabot. It wasn't that it was that close when I shot it. It's that when it ran after the shot, it ran right for the tree I was sitting near. As the deer ran by me, I could have reached out and touched his side.
 
15 steps. Muley in B.C. Walking a trail early in fog, dead calm. Muley materialized out of the fog (as I did to him I suppose). He just lowed his head and kept walking toward me. It was rut so I did not know what he had in mind :) .... so bang, right in the forehead. Dropped like a rock. Then, I realized I was shaking.
 
Shot one of my doe antelope this year at 32 yards with a 308, and my buck at about 12 yards with a 7mm rem mag. Was sighted in at 300 yards, guess I was over prepared, and over gunned! Both of em were drt. Both guns made quite a mess out of the boiler room. flyboy:D
 
I took my first buck at about 12' with a 20 gauge slug at the tender age of eight.

Step-dad put me in a tree(no stand) in the middle of a small grassy clearing with a single-shot New England Firearms shotgun. I was exercizing poor hunting discipline and wasn't paying attention behind me, and this young 4-point buck walked almost directly under me. I took aim, thumbed the hammer as quietly as I could and got him right between the shoulder blades at a downward angle. He dropped where he stood.
 
Danger close. Had one run out on me during a dog hunt. I do not know if it did not see me or had plans on taking me out. I shot him with a singleshot stevens 12 ga, 36in full choked barrel #1 buckshot. I do not know the exact range, but the wadding was stuck in the hair.
 
Shot a camp meat doe at 20 feet ,had to circle the scope at 2.5 power and noting but fur,fire, deer down. Also shot a doe at 20feet straight down with a pistol out of a climbing stand a couple years before. And one doe straight down with a bow if that counts.
 
1. Three steps with a .54 cal ML.
2. Five steps with a T/C Contender 30-30.
3. Twenty five yards with Win M70, 300 win mag and 6X scope. Could see only hair through the scope.
 
It was raining, and I was standing under a tree to stay dry. A nice 8 point buck walked in front of me so close I had to wait to lift the rifle up. It was about 30 feet by the time he walked by, and I got the rifle up.
 
Hows this for close:
I've had fellow hunters serve up on a silver platter a giant 10+ point buck to me we all knew was up along the bluffs this year. The property caretaker had seen him around the bluffs recently. The boys decided it was time, everyone else had their deer, and it was time to do the final drive with me getting the honors...They told me where it would come through...down the face of this particular bluff. They told me where to stand even for the best shot.
I did.
They made the mile long drive keeping the deer between the bluffs and Lake Superior. The deer finally went up the bluff along the ridge like they said would happen, and it came down the trail right where they said it would come. I watched in complete anticipation seeing this giant rack ridgelining the bluff and reflecting on all the time spent...countless hours of range time I had accumulated that summer on my new lever action rifle as it did come down the bluff. I cocked my hammer on my lever action 45/70 constantly admiring the enormous rack on this dude. The buck came down the hill...stopped...giving me a perfect broadside shot. I put the front sight right behind his shoulder blade standing 10 yards directly in front of me. This baby was mine. I squeezed the trigger, and BOOM the deer slid down the hill the last 2 feet....and...well it made a motion to me that maybe I had hit a vital cause it jumped back up and started running kind of like a heart shot. I didn't shoot another shot because I was certain he would go down in 20 paces... suddenly he wasn't going down and the cabin was behind him with youngsters and woman within... He didn't go down and I had to hold another shot! He kept on running. I went over to look for the certain blood that must have been there... only a small patch of fur could be found... We searched for a blood trace for hours into the night never to find anything. It was 10 yards away...maybe less and he ducked!

Needless to say, the boys never let me forget having lost one of the greatest bucks we've ever seen on the North Shores of Superior. I still have no words to this day how it was conceivably possible for me to miss from that range.
 
I live in N.H. and where I hunt is semi open with thick patch's. I was sitting in the crook of 3 trees one morning and had a 4 pt run right up to me. He was so close his breath was hitting my face! We were like that for about 1 minute and I wasn't going to take him 1st day of blackpowder. I said Hi there, he went vertical with full afterburners, I guess he never had a tree talk to him before lol.

The actual closest shot was about 35 yards, most of my shots are 50+ and usually on running deer. I just pick my window through the trees and wait for the deer to get there. I have about a 90% success rate for 1 shot 1 deer every year for the last 30. I have only shot 2 deer standing still, that's what hunting in N.H. is usually like, with all the tight rolling hills and thick woods, twigs and leaves, its hard to sneak up on a deer. As far as waiting for one to come by, with 1 deer per square mile where I live you may wait a long time.
 
Closest shot deer?

Well, it happened to me last hunting season (2008). I was bowhunting in a ground blind over a well traveled deer trail. I actually had a big 7 point walk right up to the blind (3 yards from me). The wind was perfect (coming to me) and I made a double lung shot on him with my Mathews bow and Rage broadhead. Could not believe I could draw on him that close but it was very dark inside the blind and had it brushed up pretty good on the outside. Actually shook me up somewhat having him so close (I got Buck Fever) and was shaking pretty bad after the shot. Didn't go 20 yards before folding up.
 
Bow- I have missed deer at less than 9 yards. Different hunt than below.

I once killed one with the 4th (fourth) shot at about 20 yards. First 3 shots missed starting at about 10 yards. The deer hopped a little after each shot and kept grazing-I kept shooting-2 shots for a quarter. Finall hit it in the L femoral artery.
 
The closet was just over 5 feet with a 30-06. We were driving some laurel and this doe just stood up in front of me and didn't move. What seemed like forever we both just looked at each other. I just pointed the gun from the waste towards the chest and pulled the trigger. The doe dropped as the bullet tore through a lung and the heart.

My friend who was about 20 yards to right of me said what are you shooting at. I said I killed a deer and he said what deer he didn't see anything run out of the laurel.

To this days he tells everyone that I planted a dead doe in the laurel.
 
Happened today. About 2 feet away from my barrel. 20 gauge slug. 5 pt buck Running right at me, probably because I was on his trail ;)
 
I routinley carry a 1911 longslide while i hunt. Last year i used it on a nice fat doe that was maybe 10 feet away no lie. she was pre occupied eating apples that had fallen from the tree i was hiding behind
 
farthest I ever shot a deer was 550 yards. He was a 10 point beauty.

The next morning - about 13 hours later - I shot a nice 8 pointer from about 10 feet away.


Both occurred last fall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top