[SkyPup]

About fifteen years ago, I was out duck hunting on the lake in my duck boat with my dog alone early one morning as the sun began to rise above the horizon.

It was an absolute freezing cold high wind blistering day with whitecaps all over the lake and the wind howling down from the north into my ears. I was frozen to the bone and shivering, waves were crashing against the side of the boat and sending cold water splashing onto me. One by one, my four dozen decoys were floating away in the rough water. I wondered what in the world was I doing out here in the dangerous mess alone with my dog?

I looked far down the southern shoreline to my right and could see a small speck of something skirting over the tall reeds bordering the edge of the lake almost 3/4 of a mile away. I watched as the speck grew larger and larger and realized it was a flock of duck heading my way.

I crouched down low with my dog and peered over the gun rail towards the low flying flock of ducks headed up the shoreline my way. When they entered the edge of decoys, I rose up onto my knees and fired my Browning Citori over-under 12 gauge 3" magnum with #2 steel twice, emptying both barrels.

Unbelievably, three large ducks smacked down into the waves about 50 feet in front of me. My English Springer Spaniel jumped over the gun rail and into the raging white water and picked up one duck, then went out for another and came back with a second duck in his mouth. I grabbed him and started up the motor and idled out into the rough water to pick up the third dead duck.

Looking closely at the three dead ducks, I suddenly realized that I had two beautiful Pin Tail Drakes and Pin Tail hen, which was exactly two Pin Tails over the limit..... :shock: :shock: :shock:

I am an ethical hunter and I knew the local game warden and absolutely did NOT want to caught with an illegal duck limit, but also did not want to wantonly toss two of the ducks wastefully back into the lake to make me legal again......

I snuck back to the boat ramp and winched the duck boat onto the trailer and sneaked out of the parking lot as quiet as possible.

Then I immediately headed over to the local taxidermist's office.

Those three Pin Tails are all mounted in a wonderful collage of driftwood and ducks on the wall of my living room.

I've gotten a couple of doubles here and there over the years, but never a triple like that on a day like that, it was AWESOME!

I'll never forgot that morning out there alone against the elements.

Here is my dog, Amos:

Here are some of the ducks:

 

[elnonio]

I don't know squat about ducks (except that they taste good and go qwack), but that's a nice pad you have there...

 

[skinnyvito]

? best shot...

Walking on the far end of the property I spotted my nemesis, a big fat ground hog who had been able to evade me until now. I slowly looked around the mulberry tree and noticed two young skunks playing about ten feet from him. I had shot the skunks mother a week prior when she approached me. (I found out later my wife had been feeding her almost by hand while feeding our chickens.) Anyway, I knew if I shot the skunks first, the pig would escape (again). I was fifteen to twenty yards away. I rolled out slowly (slicing the pie) and took out the whisle pig with a head shot. The skunks continued to play. I followed up with one shot through both skunks. I didn't expect that, but got lucky.

Both shots were with my Kimber Pro Eclipse II with 230 grain Federal Hydroshocks. That pistol shoots better than I do. I love it.

 

[goo]

Amazing shots

I really enjoy amazing shot stories. There are some great one from U.S. snipers in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

I have benn competitive shooter but have two shots that really stick out in my memory personally.

1 - In 8th grade I had a Benjamin Sheridan .175 pellet gun. I shot it at my friend on a bicycle 7 houses down the street. I was extremely accurate with this gun shooting crows, at 1 house distance. But never thought I had a chance to hit my buddy. The lots on my strett are 70 ft wide, so this was about 500 foot shot. I aimed for his leg just in case. Right after I pulled the trigger I saw him stop. Sure enough he came back and was pissed.

2 - Another in 4th grade, I shot a dove with .410 overhead that was the longest dove shot I've ever made (including hundred with 12 & 20 guage). Maybe 410 has equal range, just smaller pattern? No way of know distance but it was a miracle.

 

[SGT_geardo]

You are probably expecting from this x2 Iraqi Vet know as Geardo... those are mine to share with my battle buddies, sorry.

BUT!

I have been through so many Army ranges I lost count. I recall one is at Fort Lewis, WA. My Personal Security Detatchment (PSD) team had just got the M2 Aimpoint for our M16A2's. I was very excited because I love guns and anything you can put on them. We mounted then off the carrying handle with the goose neck mount and co-witnessed them with the iron sights. So all we had to do was pretty much put the red dot on the top of the front sight post and put it on the target and go to work. We also did some Close Quarters Marksmenship as well. At the end of the day we had some ammo left over and a computerized range to play with. This range went out the 500meters. I told the lane opperator to pop up the 500m target for S&G for me. I got into the prone, lined up my shot exhaled and fired. "hit" came over the range loud speaker... The target popped back up and I fired again... "Miss, miss, miss ..." hahaha. Nobody else hit that target. I felt pretty good.

At another range at Fort Lewis I had just got to my unit a month before. We were qualifying with the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). I had my mosquito wings for rank so nobody expected much from me. We were given 66 rounds to engage 11 targets at verying ranges from 50m to 400m. The range NCO said to fire 4-6 round bursts at each target. This being a computer range I figured it wouldn't malfunction, boy was I wrong. After the two time the 400m was supposed to pop up I shot it down and it popped up again, and again I knocked it down. 2 extra times the first time and one extra the last time. I fired 2-3 round burst into each target. And left me with some extra round to fire off at the end. When they were readin off the score I listened for lane 4 "...lane 3, 9 out of 11. lane 4, 14 ou WHAT THE @#$%!!" Not only had I taken down extra targets and had a better then perfect score I had rounds left over. At the end of the range they asked who wanted to stay back and fire off the remainding ammo. I was told NEVER to volunteer but I raised my hand. I had about 200 rounds to fire now. They told me they would set upp all the targets so i could get some "training"... hehehe The farthest target was 800m. I adjusted my elevation and fired a 3 round burst at the 800m target knocking it down. Then went to the 700m fired a 5 round burst and not hitting it at all. then I just just fired at the rest of them with the remainder of the belt. Most were hits. I had a blast that day.

Alright next story... sorry for rambling on but I love to brag!

Yakima Firing Center we were in our M109A6 Paladins doing Direct Fire drills. That means we were acting like tanks and not firing over long distances. i was the gunner and had the sight. Usually the gunner on a Paladin verifies the firing data sent to the computer on board and loads the powder, during a regular fire mission. We had to hit 2 of the 5 targets to qualify. We were first up. The Chief of the gun was out of the hatch with a M2 HBG firing at scrap tanks trying to get the range. He would give me the range and I would raise the tube acordingly. Once all the projectile, power and fuse were in I line up the shot and yelled "FIRE". Since it was a hot sunny day in high desert, and the gun had rocked from the recoil I didnt see where I had hit. Then we moved to another target. Going through the motions 4 moe time on 4 different targets. After we finish we moved out and parked it. The Commander, "Cpt. 20%" we called him came to our gun and asked who was responsible for those shots. I looked at my Chief and he looked and pointed at me. "I am Sir" I said not knowing what the heck just happened. Cpt 20% stuck out his hand..."I ain't never seen anyone hit all five targets, good work." :shock: We then watched the other gun crews miss all five...

 

[ullie]

...way to go geardo !

... :mrgreen:

 

[Zeus]

This shot was not made by me but I personally witnessed it. I was about 8 yrs old my older brother 17 and my Dad and brother-in-law. We were all target shooting at beer cans after hunting which back in the 1970's was no big deal to have a beer in the truck. With a Pabst Blue Ribbon can as the target my Dad fired at the center of the ribbon at about 75yrds and boasted as he hit dead center with open sights with the Winchester Model 1894 30/30 which I now own, handed down from my grandpa. My older brother then took his turn and said he aimed at the center of the can as he could not see the actual hole my Dad had made from 75yrds. After he fired my Dad laughed at him and said ," You missed, you didn't even hit the can!" Then my brother in law walked up and looked at the back of the can and replied, "No he didn't pa" as he turned to reveal to my Dad the slightly offset exit hole on the back of the can. One hole in front, two out the back. Of course my brother had to gloat, " Ha, look at that shit, I shot through your same hole, beat that!" :lol: :lol: By the way Skypup great pics and very nice place :wink:

 

[SGT_geardo]

I forgot! Got wraped up in my "shots" :lol:

Skypup, AWESOME PLACE! :shock:

ullie, thanks! I love Artillery. Don't think I can find anything better than pulling tail on a 155mm gun... ever. No matter how many times you do it, it NEVER gets old.

Another good shot I can remember was a fresh Private strait out of basic sent to my unit to while we were in Iraq. I was back recovering from an injury, and I had been tasked with training the FNG's on Close Quater Marksmanship. This kid, 18 was still nervouse about holding a weapon. He had failed to zero and had been sent to me for retraining. I told him a few things and went threw some fun-da-mentals with him. I told him, "the most important thing is to make sure your whole sight picture is the same each time you pull the trigger." After we did some "dime on cleaning rod" drills, and proper positioning he went back up to the firing line. He came back to me about 10 minutes later with his zero target. He had not only Zero'd in ten rounds, he had made two holes. Five rounds in each. With iron sights on an M4 at 25m! That's the last I saw of the kid. He never bragged or boasted about being the best shooter I have ever seen.

Too bad he never made it home.

R.I.P. PVT Keller. Good luck in the shooting matches up above.

 

[handyscott]

long shot

a few years ago I was outside trying to teach my new girlfriend how to shoot a gun. She had never shot one before. I went through all the safety and showed her how to shoot just like my dad taught me. I had lined up a bunch of old spray paint cans we had cleaned up from an old landfull in the woods on my property in front of my log backstop at about 25 yards. After she got farely proficent at hitting the cans I backed her up to 50 yards she missed a few and got sick of it. I told her with practice she will be able to pick her spot and hit what shes aiming at. We started walking back to the house to put the .22 away and she asked how good I was at this shooting stuff. Of course being a man I told her I could shoot a flea off a mosquitoes ass at 100 yards. So she tells me (dares me really) to show her. At this point we were about 65 to 70 yards away from the cans. I said sure which one should I shoot? She told me she wanted me to shoot the little plastic white spray tip off of one of the cans. (ya right I thought, I am about to look like an ass) I loaded one round into the Marlin bolt action I've had since I was 12 and turned around and aimed *standing freehand* I couldn't even see the white tip but I guessed about where it was behind the front site blade and squeezed off.

She looked at me in amazement as the little plastic tip popped off cleanly. I have overheard her on occasion telling this story to her friends with pride in her voice at how awesome of a marksman I am.

That was 3 years ago and I have never shot in front of her since. (we are now engaged)

 

[SkyPup]

Okay, here is another unforgettable dynomite shot description.

I was out on the lake with the decoys all spread out after some open water diving ducks. Had a couple in the boat already and most of the other hunters had already called it a day and packed it up to the boat ramp. I had a sandwich, so I stayed out longer that morning.

I took a break for lunch, layed down my shotgun so it was pointing out over the gunwhale and broke out my sandwich and a drink. My English Springer Spaniel, Amos, was sitting in the front of the duckboat and I was laying on the floor in the middle.

No sooner had I started eating my sandwich did I spy a pair of wooducks flying real straight and low right in to my decoys. I still had the sandwich in my hands but dropped it and scrambled to grab my Browning Over-Under as the male and female woodies flew right directly over my head at a 90-degree angle about 30 feet high at 55 miles per hour. i could hear their wings whistling through the wind as they were right over my head.

I held the shotgun out of front of me with the barrels pointing straight up, not even having time to rest the stock onto my shoulder or hold the shotgun properly.

BLAM, I pulled the trigger and a drake woodie instantly collapsed and began an instant high speed downward fall as I watched him dropping down over the stern of my boat.

Next thing I knew, Amos had jumped into my lap from the front of the boat and then jumped out of my lap over the outboard motor off the stern.

He swam out and retrieved the dead woodie.

That was a instant spontaneous shot with zero planning and it totally collapsed the wood duck in mid-air right over my head. Then I had Amos in and out of my lap.

Sometimes it pays not to think when you are shooting and just let your instincts work.

 

[DCFD4]

SkyPup, can I rent a room?

 

[SkyPup]

SkyPup, can I rent a room?

Damn, everybody wants to come over and stay in my cabin, shoot my SIGS, kill my hogs, and eat my bacon - what's a man to do - open up a hunting lodge???? :lol:

 

[pistol fixer]

best shot

this may not be the best shot i ever made, but it is one of the first ones that people brag about.
around a year ago i was teaching a Police Precision Rifle school.
there were 10 students from five different departments.
to quilify to take the school the officers had be able to shoot a 1.5 inch group at 100 yrds. there were a couple of officers who just made it.
after two days of drills and several hundred shots , they all met the requirements for passing the course. we had some time and ammo left so i moved them back to 300 yrds. just to give them some exp.
one of the officers was shooting about a 6 inch group. i poped off and said i could shoot that well with my duty pistol. in unision the whole group said " oh sure you can, than show us" we were shooting a standard B-27 target. i pulled my Sig 226 and fired 5 shots offhand, when the target was brought back there were 5 , 40 cal holes all in the 10 ring , two of the five were in the x ring. everyone was amazed including me. it was a once in a life time shot and has made me a legend in my own time.
i have never tried it again, Miracle shots are hard to live up to some times.

 

[Zeus]

Pistol, if I had been there that day I crapped my pants-LOL. And I would have never disagreed with you again :wink:

 

[ftboomer1]

I was shooting a USPSA match and the setup was 2 poppers with the second one triggering a wheel behind a barricade. I dropped the first popper and I heard the second popper "ping" and shot with great timing on the wheel (best ever for me). When we marked the score I had failed to drop the second popper. How is that? I had nicked the popper and it richocheted into the cable and activated the wheel but did not drop that popper.

Pure chance but I thought it was cool.

 

[SkyPup]

This best shot that I've made with my SIG 556 was a one shot kill at a verified 235 yards with a Leopold Laser Range Finder on this large boar hog.

I was kind of surprised, but extremely happy when he dropped dead in his tracks from one shot through the lungs. Nothing pleases me more than a one shot instant kill.

I really have great confidence in my rifle and cartridge combination to be able to take out something like this at that range, which also means anything in between me and that range is a piece of toast with a well placed shot! 8)

 

[SWJewellTN]

I made an incredible shot with a compound bow before.

I has walking through the woods with my buddy searching for rabbits when one scared up about 20 yards in front of us running from my right to my left in a bounding motion as he ran. I instinctively got on target while drawing and loosed the arrow without trying to aim. As the rabbit hit the apex of his last bound, the field tipped arrow pierced him through his heart. My buddy's jaw hit the ground. I, of course, took in his comments of awe like that happens all of the time, (he could never shoot a bow as well as I), but I knew it was sheer luck that'll never repeat itself.

 

[SkyPup]

Has anyone ever shot a jumping fish?

When we were kids, my cousin and I lived on a large dairy farm in South Florida. There were drainage canals of fresh brackish water that ran through the farm to drain water out to the Intercoastal Waterway.

The canals were loaded with large schools of mullet, which are the favorite food of predatory tarpon and snook. When the schools were milling around on the surface of the water, a tarpon or snook would attack and many of the mullet would leap into the air.

My cousin had a Browning Semi-automatic and I had a Remington Nylon 66 Semi-automatic and we would sit on the banks waiting for a mullet to jump and then blast them. We shot dozens of them right out of the air with .22 Long Rifles, which were then immediately eaten by the tarpon and snook.

This was way out in the middle of a 20,000 acre dairy farm and there were no other humans anywhere near us, but we had a blast shooting those jumping fish in mid-air!