Shot you don't want anybody to know about

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Old Grump

Member in memoriam
Companion thread to bragging rights shot with a rifle only these are shots that in retrospect should not have been taken.

For instance one of my best friends took a shot at the neighbors bull. Range 50+ yards, target of opportunity was the parts that make a bull a bull. He and his BB gun just could not resist, especially since he had no intention of really making or hopes of making that shot. Murphy was against him, neighbor was a little heated up but not as much as my friends father. Free time which is never in abundant supply on a large dairy farm was used up that summer with hard labor on the neighbors farm.

In my case it was a carefully aimed shot with my brothers BB gun from inside the outhouse. The game was shoot the fly, never in short supply in that particular building. Our outhouse was built into the end of the woodshed and we had plenty of range for those long shots. This happened to be towards the end of the day and light was getting bad anyway when a perfectly aligned sun matched the angle of a knothole on the far side of the woodshed.

Dark room, brightly lit target, I had to take the shot. In retrospect it would have been a good thing if I had missed. It would have been even better if the knot hole had been a lot higher or a lot lower instead of just below waist level of a short woman. The yell was loud, the cursing unusual from my Grandmother and soon my rear was as sore or more so than hers. It was a heck of a shot though.
 
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ostrobothnian

New member
This thread brings up some bad memories. The first that came to mind was when my friend Dave and I were out hunting. We scared up a rabbit from the brush and he swung around and shot the little guy one handed with a 12ga slug. Went to check on the little critter and his head was no longer there. I said "you SOB! You shot his face off!" Damn idiot.

Ended up having rabbit for dinner later that evening.
 
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dgludwig

New member
Yep, and I still don't want anybody to know about it. I live in dread that somebody might yet discover the evidence...;)
 
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Ben Towe

New member
Ah, the blunders of youth. I had just aquired a new CO2 powered repeating pellet rifle, a little 10 or 12 shot deal. I taken aim at a bird of some sort perched in a brush pile on the farm. Missed the bird. Did not miss the cow behind the brush pile though. There were no witnesses, though I'm sure that ol' cow broke some sort of land speed record.
 
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wingman

New member
Christmas of 1949 a 6 year old gets the famous Red Ryder BB gun, snow outside, set up telephone filled cardboard box inside to shoot in hallway after couple days of this become bored when mother passes in view at end of hallway so boy takes aim at mothers stomach (large woman) direct hit, she explains in loud voice "why son you shot me" needless to say boy lost his Red Ryder for a few months.

I still ain't admitting this was me but thanks mom (who passed many years ago) for not whipping me and understanding it was an accident.;)
 
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.284

New member
An old buddy of mine liked to party hard. One new years eve he was having a house party. For no apparent reason he takes off out of the house with his 12 guage shotgun. His wife told me to go after him and see what the hell he was doing. I made it around the corner of the house in time to see him cap off on a crab apple tree. I asked what in the name off all things good, sacred, and pure in the world he was doing. He said he was sick off mowing his lawn and getting thorned by that tree. Needless to say he was relieved of his firearm.
 
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Kawabuggy

New member
As a kid we lived in an old wooden house that was pier & beam. We had a nasty old opossum that lived under the house (or so I thought). He would always come out at night and crawl up onto our front porch where we fed the dog, and eat the dogs food. I would come out that front door and be face to face with a mean, nasty, flea-bitten critter. He would not run from me-he would just HISS really loudly-and charge me aggressively. I was trapped in my own home!

Well, we rented this house from the old lady next door, and she apparently fed this beast at her house (next door) as well, and did not want me harming this thing. It did not matter that the critter could have possibly harmed me, she was only worried about the nasty, disease-ridden, varmint. Well, late one night I heard the dog growling, and knew that the critter was outside the front door. The dog was carrying on something fierce, barking, and making all kinds of noise. I got my mom's .410 gauge shot gun, loaded a 3" shell in the chamber, and snuck to the front door. I was only 10 years old at the time. I was home alone as my mom worked 2 jobs to support me & my brothers. My brothers often left me home alone whilst they ran the neighborhood getting into trouble. Back to the story.. I slowly unlocked the door, and opened it just enough to stick that barrel out. The critter was there feasting on the dog food. It looked at me with disdain in its' eyes, and went right back to eating the dogs food. It could sense the fear in me. But tonight would be different.. Tonight I would be the apex predator.

I brought the barrel of the gun up, but could barely keep it steady as it weighed too much. I eventually got close enough, and let the lead fly. I don't know what happened next as I dropped the gun at the shot-was temporarily blinded, and my ears were ringing. I finally realized that I better hide the gun and pretend that nothing had happened which I promptly did. Sitting there waiting for a knock on the door, listening for sirens through the ringing in my ears, and feeling my heart-beat so fast in my chest that it was a tie between that & the ringing sound in my ears for which was loudest.. No one ever came, and no police responded. I had gotten away with it. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, I turned on the porch light, and slowly opened the door only to find that the beast was gone! Where was my trophy? Had I missed? Was I to be denied my conquest?

It was about a week later that the neighbor hired another kid to crawl under her house and find out what that smell was. Yep, out came the dead opossum covered in flies & maggots.

My mom, already having found the dogs bowl with multiple tiny holes through it-put 2 & 2 together. I don't know if she ever told the old lady how it happened, but I got my back-side burned for that one.

I still don't regret what I done, I just wished I had hit it better and had it die under OUR house! Ha ha. Until they found that carcass, I was afraid that I had only wounded it, and that it was now ****** off, and waiting to attack me. It's amazing where a 10 year olds thoughts can take him. Finding the carcass was bitter-sweet. On the one hand, I got whooped but good, and on the other hand, I knew that beast would not be tormenting me ever again. I was a little sore, but as I remember it, I slept with a smile on my face the whole night through.

With age, and lot's of practice, I've gotten better with my aiming. I can honestly say though I have never killed a meaner critter since that day. Rest in peace varmint.
 
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TheNatureBoy

New member
I can honestly tell you that I'm not embarassed about missing what ever it was I was aiming at. At the end of the hunting day I sit around with the fellows, drink a few cold ones, and laugh sometimes to the point of crying about the one(s) that got away:)
 
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David the Gnome

New member
When I was a kid and given my first bb gun I decided it would be a good idea to shoot a spider that was crawling across the window of the house. For some reason it didn't click in my young head that if I shot the spider while it was on the window it would also break the window. I don't believe I ever made that mistake again.
 
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taylorce1

New member
Yes, made a few over the years but my pronghorn doe from last season really sticks out in my mind.

I used my new custom .25-06 without spending enough range time with it before hunting. I got the rifle back from the smith about 1 month before season opener. I wound up having the rifle stock break on me and rushed to find a replacement and get it bedded. Had the rifle at the range 3 days before season opened and it zeroed pretty easy at 100 yards with a 100 grain Remington ammunition. I adjusted my elevation on my scope to be 2” high at 100 yards.

I didn’t get a chance at a pronghorn on opening weekend but did burn a day of leave in the middle of the work week to go out hunting one more time. I was able to close in to what I thought was about 300 yards on a bedded doe. I waited quite a while for her to stand up, set my trigger and made what I thought was a good bread basket shot. The rest got up and ran off and while she started to run she soon fell over.

I grabbed my gear and started towards her to go recover my game all the time thinking what a great shot I had made. I got within 50 yards or so and all of a sudden my shot doe pops up and starts to run off. Me in my stupidity approached with my rifle on my shoulder and all the ammunition removed from my magazine. So I hurried up loaded a round as she was moving off, and rushed my shot. I hit her again but this time low and through the paunch so now she was moving off trailing her guts behind her.

She was hurt now and only went about 50 yards before she lies down again. So I hurry up and get two more cartridges loaded, but instead of trying to close the distance I try to make a head shot. Miss two more times and since all I can see is her head sticking up out of the depression I have no choice but to either go after her with my last remaining cartridge or hike the truck over a mile away to get more ammunition and leave her to suffer. Decided to close the distance and luckily this time when she stands up I put her down with my remaining round.

When I got her dressed out, found my first bullet had hit her high missing the lungs, and going just under the spine just behind the shoulder. I had aimed high to compensate for the distance thinking she was at 300 but she was probably closer to 250 yards. Hell I’d waited nearly 3 years for it to be built what would have one more season mattered. Hindsight is 20/20 so to speak I should have used my .270 Win that I had been planning on before I got the call my .25-06 was ready for pickup. Sure would have cost me a lot less in frustration and anxiety over my bad shot and the possibility of losing a wounded animal.
 
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Brian Pfleuger

Moderator Emeritus
Two shots immediately come to mind...


One being when I was 9 years old and shot myself through the hand with a BB gun. I shall go to my grave blaming my uncle (Yes, you Zhe Wiz), who shall be along shortly, I imagine, to exonerate himself....:D;):D


The second, being a time when I was fishing in a pond across the road from my dads house and the neighbor kid wanted to shoot at fish with the 22. After a few seconds of contemplation, and knowing that bullet "bounce off water", he exclaimed "No, wait, shoot that duck instead!".... I look up and here's this duck swimming across the pond. This is a BIG pond. That duck had to be 300 yards away. It was a LOOONG ways, especially for a 22. I said "Ok." and pulled up the gun and shot, I don't know if I even ever found the sight picture, I just raised the gun more or less at the duck and pulled the trigger. Well, didn't that friggin' duck explode in a cloud of feathers. Away we ran..... except that the dang neighbor kid went home and told his dad that I shot a duck.... who told my dad.... who asked "Where is the *&(%#$ duck?"..... "uh, he was in the middle of the pond.... we didn't go get him."
Long story short, we had to go get the duck. I'm standing there watching my dad pluck the thing (it was a great shot, BTW, right where the neck joins the body) and I say to my dad "Wow, there's got to be an easier way to clean a duck." to which he replies, and it's still one of the most profound sentences that the man has ever uttered.... "Yeah, you don't shoot the *&$%@ thing!"
 
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horseman308

New member
It wasn't with a rifle, but with a bow. However, I'd gotten it in 2007 and didn't ever have a shot that deer season. Opening day of 2008, a buddy of mine and I were in a blind and a small doe came out of the woods and into the small clearing we were watching. I got so excited that I never really noticed how small she was. If I had, I wouldn't have shot. However, I also was so excited that I didn't aim very well and didn't wait for her to fully stop walking. I just loosed my arrow and it hit her in the spine, crippling her two back legs but not her front ones. She was writhing and flopping all over the place, and I got so upset that I missed entirely with my second arrow, and so did my buddy. We had to run out of the blind and cut her throat. Of course, being up so close, we saw how small she really was. I'd also never killed anything so close before - with a knife. The whole thing made me sick, to have made such an awful shot. I've killed deer cleanly with my bow since, and missed all the others. But I still have trouble keeping that shot out of my mind when I draw on one.
 
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Trigger Time

New member
It sure does seem like alot of these posts involve BB guns and the 'innocent' days. The Statute of Limitations prevents me from commenting on my own shot of poorest judgement, but I had a childhood friend who was involved in much the same scenario as Old Grump. Except for the fact that the bull in this case was up on his hind legs and... well, lets just say he had a grin on his face.

We didn't get caught, despite our paralyzing laughter.
 
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bobn

New member
lyman gun range in the 80s. some moronski dinged my new winchester with a empty from a sks. i spotted a rock in front of the alleged moron's target. i shot that rock with my 375 ouch and ouch. everybody looked up and down the line to see where the concussion came from. nobody saw the shrapnel cut the morons target frame in half. lol. quietly went back to my load testing. bobn
 
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LastRebel70

New member
As a young man I had a Crossman CO2 pellet pistol. I was sitting it the chair pulling back the hammer then letting it down when you guessed it, the hammer slipped out from under my thumb. There is still a nice round hole in the paneling of my parents house. If I recall correctly I got some yellow play-do and filled the hole and they never knew until just recently when I was sitting there visiting with my wife and I finally told them. LOL
 
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Old Grump

Member in memoriam
My brother and his best friend who was a preachers kid with brand new BB guns, 13 years old just have to try them out right? Ditch in front of our house made a perfect foxhole. Hubcaps on cars slowing down coming into the village made irresistible targets. Apparently the owners of the cars disagreed and since it was a small community it wasn't long before my brother and the preachers kid were up in front of the constable getting their chewing out and relieved of their brand new BB guns. Don't know about the preachers kid but my brother didn't get his back till he was 15.
 
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