Your MOST Unbelievable HUNTING shot(s)

[LookMomNoSights]

I'm loving this thread!  I'm also realizing,  man my stickbow hunting shots are pretty boring in comparison to most of these .......  either a text book start to finish,  clean miss or something else not super exciting   I'll be an optimist and say there's a cool story coming for me as well.  Turkey opens this Sunday ........ we'll see what happens     I love reading these stories from everyone's days in the field, keep them coming please

[Gun]

A friend and I drew Trophy Archery Antelope tags in SE Alberta. The first afternoon Gary hit one high in the shoulder and we couldn't find it before dark. The next day we covered the whole section w no luck. I told Gary to ask the rancher if he would take us up in his plane for a look. (We had nothing to lose)
He agreed saying he had just got the plane back from its annual inspection and wanted to test it anyway. We did find the buck laying up against a patch of Sage near a water tank surrounded by cattle.

After we landed and thanked the rancher, we hurried over to where the buck was laying. Gary walked the fence and I was about 30 yds off to his side. As we got close to the tank I noticed the Buck just ahead of me. I whistled at Gary and pointed where he was. I noticed thru my binocs, that the Buck was still breathing and mentioned that to him. We both had arrows on the sting. Gary was using a Compound. He couldn't see the buck from his angle but kept creeping closer. He said "I just can't see him". I said he's right in front of you. Just then the buck jumped up and bolted away. I quickly swung and shot as he hit full stride, heart shooting him. He stumbled and went down as Gary said "I can't find him in my peep". I told him never mind, he's down. 

He was a beautiful Buck and would have made B&C except he had broken off one complete prong.

 

[pdk25]

I have made some pretty good stalks considering my size, but not too many great shots come to mind other than a headshot on a running armadillo at a touch under 20 yards using a tophat roving point from 3 rivers. The only place that would have hurt him.  Dropped him like a stone.

[Jim Jackson]

Awesome thread!

[Barry Wensel]

Everything is in the timing. I presently have an hour to kill and saw this thread resurface. I see I posted a couple shots in this thread way back in 2018. I thought of a few more I didn't mention that were all great examples. All of them probably warrant a full length/ detailed story to be appreciated but I'll shorten them way up to save time. Please consider the fact all these were in the 1980s, when I was in my prime and I practiced running shots almost daily.
  One late January I was hunting the rut in Alabama. That day I was hunting with our Olympic Gold Medalist archer Jay Barrs. We were "being carried" into our hunting area by a good 'ol boy named Billy McCoy, who was previously a world champion turkey caller. Walking in through a swamp we jumped an armadillo. Seeing I lived in Montana at the time I asked Billy if they were legal. He said yes. The armadillo was running full bore by then at maybe 15-18 yards. I swung on him and put a Judo tip right through both eyeballs. The guys were impressed.
  On an antelope hunt back in the '80s myself, Gene and another guy were walking back to the truck when we topped a small hill and busted a bachelor group of three antelope bucks. They broke running as fast as antelope go at about 25 yds. right to left. I swung on one and shot. My windage was right, but it appeared I was going to hit low. Then suddenly he fell head over heels. What I'm about to tell you is unbelievable but I swear to God it's true, plus I had the two witnesses. When a pronghorn is running full speed their hind legs overlap their front legs in stride. I remember I was shooting a solid yellow wood arrow and a Zwickey Delta, out of a Schafer Silvertip in the low '70s. That single arrow hit when three of his four leg shafts were all aligned, and believe it or not, broke all three legs. When you get 'em down to one leg they can't get away. Ha. Like I said, I hesitate telling people some of these stories but I think I had witnesses on all/most of them.
   Another great shot was also in the mid- '80s when I went on a pronghorn bowhunt with my oldest son, Jason, who was in high school at the time. Long story short, we'd just asked a rancher permission to hunt his place. He said yes and as we pulled away I spotted a small group including one nice buck. By the way, I should mention over the years I've only killed a half dozen antelope but all were stalking. I've never killed one from a blind or on a waterhole. I'm not against it, I just used to love to stalk them. Anyway, I let Jason try the stalk. They busted him and as they ran by me going full bore I rolled the nice buck. I didn't even realize the rancher was right behind me and also witnessed it. He was also really impressed.
   Actually, I killed my first whitetail buck ever with a bow back in the '60s in Vermont. I was in a ground blind and he busted me and broke running right to left at what later turned out to be 37 yds. My young mind couldn't accept he was getting away... so I heart shot him with a little Red Wing Hunter recurve; cedar shaft and Bear Razorhead... in fact I still have the broken arrow today.
   Back in '92 I was hunting javelina in south Texas with custom bowyer Mike Palmer. I'd never killed a javelina at the time. Mike was behind me when I stalked a herd. They broke and I shot a 52 lb. boar javie running at about 20 yds. I heard Mike cheering and him saying, "SUPER shot...you really do that stuff!" I guess he thought my video shots were done via selective editing or something. Ha.
   Another that is the sad truth, back in the '80s Paul Schafer was standing behind me with his 16MM film camera when I made another unreal shot on a whitetail. A few days afterwards he came over to the house and I asked him about the footage. He said it "came out good." But the sad part is I never got to see it before his death. I have no idea where it is but I'm sure it's somewhere out there in someone's attic or closet.
   Yet another that I hesitate even mentioning because it was so unreal, Gene and I and another guy were filling doe tags in the creek bottoms of MT. I was walking a dry seepage pushing deer to Gene and the other guy. As I walked past a thicket of sage a bedded doe actually held tight and let me walk past her at about 20 feet.  After I got by, she lost her cool and bailed out behind me. The angle she was running was hard to explain but almost broadside. But I had to run around another little clump of sagebrush. When I did, it offered me the running shot. Here's the unbelievable part ... when I shot, not only was she running but I was also running parallel to her. Try that with a 74 lb. recurve sometime. Ha.
   I swear to God all these stories are true to the best of my memory. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Please consider the fact a lot of these stories were from the old days when we were pioneering the sport and didn't know any better. I think I've only shot one deer running in the last maybe 25 years and very much doubt I will ever again.  BW
   

[Gdpolk]

This one goes way back to college...

It was early May and NOTHING on the land or air was in season statewide.  Squirrel season opens on May 15th in Arkansas and my buddy Michael and I were eagerly awaiting.  So, we decided to head on over to Bell Slough WMA to see what stumps we could hammer and bugs we could slay. 

The skies were a beautiful blue with about 30% cloud cover with white fluffy cotton ball clouds.  It had rained a couple days earlier from a cold front that had moved in.  As a result the temperatures were moderate at the low 70’s for highs and there was a light breeze intermittently.  Spring green was in full swing with the jonquils, clover, dandelions, and nettle in full bloom.  Blackberries were budding but not yet opening.  It was just too darned nice to be inside.

We were having a whale of a time, then here comes the ole possum police.  Naturally they were curious what we were doing back there when nothing was in season.  I had a hunting license but my buddy Michael did not, not that it mattered because nothing was in season and we weren't hunting anyway.  But, I knew we would be asked and since he didn't have one on him it would cause a raucous.  So, I told Michael to hang back because around the college EVERY SINGLE young man gets carded every single time.  When the ole state guy pulled up he asked in a curious but exhausted tone what we were doing.  I told him we were out stump shooting and shooting bugs to stay in practice before squirrel season opened on the 15th.  I got a confused and distrusting look, “Y’all out here squirrel hunting with those bows?” he replied. 
“No sir.  We are just shooting rotten stumps, bugs, and mud clots from the crawdads to stay in practice.  Squirrel isn’t in season.  As a matter of fact nothing is in season yet but when it opens we want to be in good practice.” I replied.

“Are you licensed to be here?”

“Sure…I guess” I replied. “But, nothing is in season and we aren’t hunting.  Nobody needs a license to simply be on public land.  But, I have my hunting license if you’d like to see it.” I started digging around in my pockets and pulled it out along with my driver’s license to hand to the man.

He studied it a while and sized Michael and I up as he let out a disgruntled growlish “hmmmmmm…You say your just shooting stumps and bugs?  Do you have any broadheads on those arrows?”

“No sir, just Judo points.  They aren’t good for much of anything other than plinking and not loosing arrows in the grass.” I showed him my arrow.

He just paused for a while and pointed at a dragonfly about 15-17 yards out and asked “Do you think you could hit that dragonfly?”

“Probably.  Sometimes they lift off just as the arrows approach and you miss even if it’s a good shot but I can give it a whirl if you like.  That’s what we are out here to do anyway.”

He paused and started puling out the pad to do what I can assume is write us a warning simply to document we were there and I got an idea.  So, I asked, “Do you plan to write us a ticket that can’t and won’t hold up?  How about this instead?  I get one shot to hit your dragonfly and if I do you remember us and simply wave as you pass by next time we see each other.  If I miss, you can write us up and we can go hang out for half a day in court but I’d rather not have the inconvenience.”

His brows furrowed a little and he nodded that he agreed and the hunt was on.  In the back of my mind I knew that I actually only hit a dragonfly about 1/50 times that I let an arrow loose at them.  They are elite predators and quite agile.  It was a steep odd against me but here we were.  Just as I drew back he flew off and I eased off but it circled back and stopped even closer.  Now he was at about 12 yards or so by my best guess.  I had one rubber blunt and one Judo point with me so I used the Judo just hoping that if I got close enough it would snag the bug. 

As I drew back the breeze settled and the flower that the dragonfly landed on came still.  Luckily for me he also turned to quarter away from me steeply and used his wings to balance a bit on his perch.  It was a beautiful bluish green dragonfly with a wide, thick, well fed body.  I could see my peripheral vision darkening and closing in as I stared at the center section of that dragonfly’s body.  Eventually I just sighed out some air right as I hit anchor and it felt perfect.  THUNK.  I dropped the string and watched the arrow pluck the top of the dandelion smooth off the stem.  I saw a few things fly on the impact but to be honest I wasn’t sure if I had hit the dragonfly or not.  Given the silence from both Michael and the game warden I’m not sure they knew either.

So, I walked over there and found parts of the flower.  I picked them up and kept searching.  On the ground about 2’ to the left I found a head, part of a body, and one wing attached.  So I picked it up and a few more pieces of flower.  As I walked over to the game warden I showed no signs of my excitement or disbelief that I had beat all odds.  When I opened my palm and stretched out my hand to tell him “See…here is the flower and part of that dragonfly.  That’s what we are here doing.  We are just shooting bugs and rotten stumps to stay in practice.  We will be back on May 15th to hunt squirrel and if you’d like to check us then I can assure you that we will be in compliance with all laws so at least do us the favor and check us at our truck rather than walking in on us please.”

That ole game warded grinned ear to ear with an open mouth grin and said from the bottom of his gut, “Well I’ll be darned!  That’s the best darn shooting I’ve seen in a long time!  Y’all kids go have some fun.  We won’t be bothering you all anymore.  The guys won’t believe this when I tell them.  I’m so happy we bumped into each other.  I hope you all get a bunch in a couple of weeks!” 

For the next few years that I lived there I never got so much as a smile and wave out of any of them and it was all due to my dragonfly hunt.

[Terry Green]

Great stuff Garrett!!!

[Mike Yancey]

I have many etched it my mind, but one of the best and most rewarding was watching this arrow pass through this trophy kudu in South Africa from a bow that I made. The kudu was knocked off his feet and only went about 60 yards before falling for good.

[Russell Southerland]

These are great guys!!! Keep them coming!!!

T, surprised you didn't mention the bumble bee  and/or mouse shots at Ray's Hog Haven.  Or, the one hog you shot 3 times in seconds and all 3 were kill shots. These stories get around you know.

[Mike Yancey]

This is a shot that was a dandy and the hunt was special. The shot was 44 yards, double lung pass through. There was a herd of cow elk coming down a game trail as I was stalking through the New Mexico woods. I could see that there was no bull in the bunch and they were spaced out a ways down the trail. I noticed that they all were walking in front of me on the trail and there was a break in the brush with a hole just prefect height to hit where you needed. I knew that I would either hit the limbs or thread the arrow through the hole about the size of a five gallon bucket, the only thing to do was time my shot at that distance. As they kept filling past I readied my longbow made for me by my very good friend Neal Brown from MS. As one of the big cows nose was right at the hole I released and watched the arrow and the elk meet at the perfect time. Resulting in a passthrough and a 60 yard blood trail.
This was a once in a life time elk tag in New Mexico's Valle Vidal unit and I had been on several bulls earlier in the hunt but was very proud to have the chance to take this cow towards the end of the hunt.
The day my buddy and I were packing meat my good friend Ed Scott was being buried there in New Mexico. I had the opportunity to go see him before he passed while he still knew what was going on and we were good. They said that day he passed he kept talking in his sedated state to his wife and daughter about my elk hunt and if I was hunting. It seemed fitting that the day and time he was being laid to rest I was packing an elk out. I pulled the bloody arrow from my quiver that had killed the elk and said a little something for Ed and sent the arrow into the beautiful New Mexico mountains for good.

[Mike Malvaini]

Wow, I just stumbled on this thread somehow in a search.   What a read.  I had to make another pot of coffee. 

[LookMomNoSights]

UP!!!!!

[toddster]

I have a few, but one for now...
It was late hunting season in Illinois, the weather in morning as usual was 10, but by end of day up to 38.  I had been tree stand hunting all day, as for various reason's had not taken a deer that season yet and needed meat in freezer and this would be my last hunt of the season.  As the weather began to change to another snow storm and getting darker, along with half frozen, with no game in sight, I decided to call it.
I took down my stand and steps and began to long walk out to vehicle.  As I was about half way, I noticed a Doe ahead of me 40 yards crossing a creek to my side.  I immediately checked the wind and was in my favor.  I knew she was going to cross this open area that was like 50 yards of laid down grass, then out to a huge picked corn field.  As I watched her, she got half way across and bedded down.  I checked my watch, still legal shooting time.  I dropped to knees (back when they was good), got the stand and steps secure.  I took my Hill longbow and one arrow and began to plan my stalk.  It was little doubt how it would go, the creek she crossed was deep and lead away from her and then I thought my scent may change coming out of it, so it would be a belly stalk. 
I laid down and slowly began to crawl in and angle from her, to ensure keep wind in my favor.  As I did, I was lucky in that this was an old pasture that had few worn down paths from cattle.  This allowed me to dip into them and crawl a little faster since out of view.  After about 25 minutes of crawling, peeping to ensure she still there and ensuring not to disturb to much grass to alert her, I had managed to get within 18 yards of her.  I really wanted to get a little closer with the light starting to fade more, decided it was now or never.
It then hit me, there is no way I was going to be able to "pop" up and shoot her, no way to get up to my knees with no trees for cover.  So, I would take the laying down shot, this I had practiced as I learn to shoot from Mr. Schulz "hitting them like Howard Hill", and glad I did.  I moved a little, and began to feel the wind slowly shift.  I got my arm out in front with bow, arrow on the string.  I arched my back up once to verify she was still there.  I then arched once more, drawing the string, feeling anchor as I was focused right behind the bent leg, I could barely see.  The arrow flew, and I seen the Doe jump up and bolt from the bed.
She ran into the picked field, then I lost her from sight, as the grey turned into black.
I decided to lay there for few minutes, I got my flashlight out as I stood up.  I walked over to where I last seen her exit.  I turned the light on and there was blood.  I lifted the beam and swung it to right, nothing, then left and there she lay in a pile.  The arrow passed through both lungs and heart.

[Terry Green]

Ah Yes, this is a great thread.  I'm sure there are some new unbelievable shot stories out there. 

Thank for the new additions guys!

[Sam Spade]

I read this late last night, and this is a fabulous thread!!!

[Pompano Joe]

I was doing a search and ran across this thread. Wow, this was a great read this morning. Yes, most of these are unbelievable. It got me to thinking, unbelievable shot has a meaning, I wonder if 'crazy' has a different meaning.  I'm going to start a thread on the craziest to see what we can come up with. 

[artifaker1]

I have one from when we were kids ... I shot a turtle dove off of a power line after a long, over 100 yard stock crawling on our bellies. Why the bird stayed there that long I have no idea. We had the birds very wary in the area for sure. When we got right under, we set up to shoot, still laying on the ground. I rolled over and drew the bow as far as I could, across my chest, still laying on my back mostly. We shot at the same time and I nailed that poor dove sitting on a fairly high power line .. LOL .... That shot has been brought up and discussed many times by friends over the years.

[PrimitivePete]

Only a city boy can claim this. I grew up in the Bronx, NYC and I loved traditional archery from the moment I saw a recurve bow. I begged my parents for years to get me a bow and they held firm. So until I could pay for it, I bought a DH Mamba recurve and that started the journey. While I lived in the city, there was a summer where due to the construction ongoing on our street, the rats became a problem for everyone on the block. One afternoon I spied a rat in my neighbors yard. I grabbed my recurve and arrow and headed down to see if I could take it out. The rat showed no fear of me and when it gave me a clear shot, I took it. The rat was down in my neighbors yard and the old lady that lived next door came out shouting as to why I killed a squirrel. Her grandson came out and told her "No Granny, the Greek killed a rat". She thanked me a million times and told me to kill them all. I was all but 19 years old and to this day still wish I mounted that rat lol. I earned the street name of "The Hunter".

[BS]

Longest shot, a black bird with my 43# Kodiak Hunter at 110 yards, third arrow.

First two misses did even scare him.

[Terry Green]

Nice BS, I hear ya!  I considered my longest shot also.  A groundhog at 65 yards with Doug Campbell with his 65# Pierce Choctaw during a visit. Jerry's bows had Mojo for sure!!!

Keep them coming guys, I might be inserting some of these in a project I'm working on.