Your Most Memorable Shot

[Jason Lester]

BG,

  You reminded me of a time I hit a small tree (3 inch diameter max) Trying to miss it and get this huge doe. I could probably find that tree again. it was one of my favorite hunts even though I got nothing. This was back in my earlier compound days.

[Negissimo]

First ever hunting season, 13 years old, center punched a grouse at 50 yards. I have never been so proud.

[BillJ]

Bumblebee at 10 yards.  I still think that was my best shot.  

Most memorable would be either the one that sailed gracefully over the back of a perfectly positioned buck last year, or the one that never happened when a monster buck walked by 3 yards from where I was sitting on a stool and surprised me so much that I froze and couldn't manage to raise the bow!  That's the one I relive over and over.

BillJ

[hormoan]

It was already dead, with a perfect small target. Not great to eat, but a real moral builder.
 


                   Brent

[mmgrode]

Most memorable...well, that would have to have been my first shot at a whitetail with traditional equipment a few years ago.  I was set up in a natural ground blind with corn out for bait.  It was getting towards evening when a nub buck comes ever so slowly in checking every direction before finally committing to eating at the pile.  Let me tell you my heart was pumping out my ears.  I felt the string tighten on my fingers as I drew one of my first homemade bows and released the magnus tipped aluminum arrow.  The beautiful arc of the arrow flying gracefully through the air was a sight to behold......5 feet to the left of the deer    The emotions were unmistakeable, I was the happiest guy in the world at that moment.  Perhaps it's hard to understand unless you were there, but I was as content with that complete and total miss as if I had slain a 12 point buck. I was just as happy with that miss as I had been with all the other deer I'd killed.  What a rush! Yes, my most memorable shot was a miss! I probably would have had a heart attack if I would have gotten him!          Cheers, Matt

[ethan]

My first deer with a bow I made is definately my most memorable hunting shot.  Nothing spactacular per say, just special tome.  my best shot just shooting was when two of my trad buddies and I were shooting at a local range.  When we came out there were about 6 wheelie guys shooting at a bear target about 75 yards away.  The farthest from the kill had to buy the beer.  After some good  natured ribbing, we said we'd shoot but not for buying the beer.  One of my buddy shoots and his arrow flies about 6" over its back.  They all sort of snicker and have another smart-a$$ comment.  I step up (just hoping to hit the thing) and proceed to drill the think in the center of the 10 ring.  Don't know who's jaw was haning lower, but my buddies and I just played it off like it was old hat.  Needless to say, I have never taken that shot in front of those guys again!

[slow walker]

Last day of deer season in N. Wisconsin in 1989 or thereabouts.  I was sitting on the edge of a small corn field, getting dark, but 3" of snow kept things doable.  Two fawns crept into the far end and began to feed on downed corn left from the harvesting machine.  I noticed that one of them would kick at the other and take whatever he'd found.  This happened again and again.  Then I noticed that the poor guy had crippled hind legs.  I'm sure he'd not have survived the winter.  When it came time to shoot, of course, the healthy one was about 20 yards and the crippled one was about thirty.  I decided to shoot, thinking that there was good tracking snow.  My arrow entered his ear and he dropped like a bag of stones and never moved. (at the sound of the bow, he crouched down and back as a lot of deer will do)  He was very tasty and I'm sure I saved him from starvation.  Gotta love the Gods of hunting.

[slow walker]

Just a footnote:  When I dressed out the fawn, it appeared that he'd been caught in a fence which had severely damaged his hind legs.  Don't know how he got free, but was apparently caught long enough to do permanent damage.

[slow walker]

Here's one more:  TX sweat 06.  Last day in the evening and I'd not taken a shot, although had opportunities on Javelin, but didn't really want one.  I was messin around by myself just looking for cottontails more than anything when I glanced up a sendero and saw three hogs coming my way.  Shrunk back into the brush and got ready.  By the time they got to me, two of them had gone under a fence but the third was still coming.  Just before he got to my "spot", he winded me and turned directly facing me.  Now, if you know the anatomy of a big hog, when he's facing you, all you can see is face and feet. LOL.  But then he "growled".  Let me tell you, when you're alone, nearly dark and one of those suckers is trying to figure whether to come for you, you're attitude changes a mite.  I drew and released, mostly out of self defense.  The arrow, from my 56lb. Zipper hit right where I was looking...right between his eyes with a noise as if I shot it from 10 feet into a telephone pole.  He came at me and veered about ten feet to my right and I heard that aluminum shaft bouncing off brush for about 40 yards.  Preliminary looking showed nothing.  I'd figured the arrow would have fall out of his skull, but no.  Later, Curtis and his dad helped me look with lights...nothing.  The next morning, another trad ganger and I scoured the area with no results...not even the arrow.  Hope the hog recovered.  Curtis told me that a couple of years earlier, some gun hunters had killed a hog that had an arrow head imbedded in his skull which had probably been there a couple of years.  I'm guessing the hog I shot weighed about 250 lbs.  Curtis said that when they get that big, they have no natural enemies and can become aggressive.  This one sure did.

[slow walker]

And finally, a shot I didn't take.  Northern Wisc, dead of winter and I had cabin fever so took my bow and went squirrel hunting.  Found a couple and was nearly at full draw on a squirrel about 15 ft. away when a Chicadee flew down and sat on the shaft of my arrow (as if to say "don't shoot, winter is a hard time for all of us"  I let down and went home.  Never regretted it. LOL

[MCNSC]

This is not my shot but I will always remember this one. In the early 90's I had went to Athens Ga to Archery Traditions to look at bows and my daughter went with me. I was looking at bows and she picked up a childs bow and started shooting. She wanted me to get it for her. I told her that if she hit the bulls eye I would get it for her.
 Well I was paying for a bow I had picked out when she yelled for me to come look. She had hit the very edge of the bulls eye. I asked her if she had went up and stuck the arrow in the bulls eye and she said no she had shot it. I decided that if she had indeed placed it there she would have stuck it in the center of the bulls eye not on the edge.
 I bought two bows that day.
 Mike

[Landshark160]

Let's go back to the top with this.  Every member on here has a memorable shot.  I want to read 'em all!

[todd smith]

My first big game animal.  John Dodge, my mentor, and I hunting the Haul Road back in about 1986, with my good friend Troy Graziadei.  For weeks John & I practiced gap shooting at ranges of up to 125 yards.  Finally I had my chance, a bull caribou at about 80 yards.  I drew to my anchor, measured the gap, adjusted and let fly...  Short!  The caribou, only a bit unsettled, moved a bit further away. I in turn adjusted my gap.  I drew, measured the gap, and let fly...  Too high!  My heart sank as I watched the arc of the arrow.  John, over my shoulder, watching the encounter unfold...  A hit!  The caribou droped in its tracks!  Jubilation!  John and I sharing the moment.  Me, his protege, with my first big game animal.  Taken with my first set of self-made arrows, under the watchful eye of the master.  A caribou at 91 yards!  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Praise God for the experience and the many "guided" shots since.  That's my most memorable shot, and I'll cherish it forever...

todd smith

[Dsturgisjr]

This shot was memorable because the trophy fee was $6500. It was only 20 yards, but the pressure was intense. LOL

The video of this hunt will appear for the first time in The Bowhunters Of Tradgang.com

[robtattoo]

Originally posted by Dsturgisjr:
 
This shot was memorable because the trophy fee was $6500. It was only 20 yards, but the pressure was intense. LOL
 

Yowch!   :eek:    :eek:  

Worth every penny though!    

One of my most memorable shots was my first ever at live game, TX Sweat 2007. Picture the scene...I'd been practicing & practicing my shooting from 2-30 yds for around 6 months, to the point that I could almost guarentee a perfect hit from any position. Well, I arrive at the camp fully trained up & raring to go. Curtis & Mark Horne (of all people!) take me out into the hills & go off running up the rocks. I'm huffing & puffing along behind 'em cursing the guy who discovered tobacco & all the cigarette companies. We arrived at the top (eventually) of a beautiful plateau & start glassing around for a few goats. About 200yds off, Mark spots a group of Angoras & we decide to put a stalk on 'em. Everything's going great, wind's good, plenty of cover, I'm moving like a fat ghost, unseen & unheard toward my quarry. Curtis hisses me to a dead halt behind a bush. The goats are coming towards us & should pass within 6 yards. Sure enough here they come. I've got a beautiful broadside shot at a huge (in my mind's eye) Billy. Nothing stands between me & him. I pick my spot, just behind the front shoulder blade. I'm burning a hole, right through to the other side of him, surely if my gaze intensifies much more I'll kill him with my stare! I draw slowly back to my anchor, razor sharp Woodsman in my periferal vision. My eye never leaves the small curl of hair behind the shoulder. I settle at anchor, middle finger tight to the corner of my mouth, knowing that this will be the epitomy of the perfect shot. LOOSE! Away sails my arrow, like a lazer guided missile of doom.......

Missed the bugger by about 6 foot low.

My arrow clattering harmlessly away on the rocks to land broken & forlorn many, many yards away from where I intended. I turn to look at Curtis, thinking about the shame & embarrasment of muffing such a simple shot, in front of one of my heroes & two of the finest bowhunters in the great State of Texas. Luckily I get the thumbs up from him. He's captured the whole thing perfectly on video.....

[coldpaddler]

One very memorable shot happened when hunting Wabbits in Montana.  I flushed up a cottontail, which ran into a patch of brush up ahead.  I nocked an arrow and proceeded with caution into the lair of the mighty beast.  With each step I stopped to scan every inch of terrain.  Little did I know, my quarry had doubled back on its own trail and the roles of hunter and hunted would soon be reversed.  

     Without warning, the grass to my left erupted with furry.  A blur of fur, claws and gnashing teeth were upon me in an instant.  There was no time to think.  My fight or flight instinct kicked in and somehow I chose the latter of the two.  I commenced a tactical retreat towards the nearest cover.  I believe it was the classic hop-skip-jump maneuver.  The beast lashed out, narrowly missing my leg.  I proceeded to continue my instinctive hop-skip-jump tactic as he attempted a second attack.  Then, as if the winds of fate had changed, he veered to the side and took off like, well… like a rabbit.

     The animal streaked away, only to stop at 30 yards out, reverse directions and have at me again!  As he accelerated to attack speed, I drew my recurved weapon and released an arrow.  At twenty yards, the beast and arrow met, each moving at full speed through the tall grass………….

   The dust cleared and I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed the event.  Part of me wanted someone to see the great shot I made on a running rabbit.  But another part of me was glad no one was around with a video camera.      

-   Dan

[STOBBER]

Most memorable ......First bow killed buck,
missed at 7 yds while he worked a rub in a thicket, missed again at 15yds...... he ran off , turned broadside at 30 yds and i drilled him through the liver.
Found him 50yds. away after a massive blood trail.

[Curveman]

I'd have to add my "robin hood" on the Quebec Quest trip that Barry Wensel signed: "now you are shooting like me!"  

[joe skipp]

Happened back in '78 shooting a Ron Maulding Tamarack Longbow. Decided to hone up for the fall season by chasing some gray squirrels around.

Shooting cedars tipped with field pts and judos, this "tree rat" took off across the limbs of a large oak. Not sure how high he was but I drew, anchored, and lead him by a good 2 feet in anticipation of his next jump.

I guessed right...arrow and squirrel met in mid leap with a solid "whump". Down came the squirrel and I was one proud bowhunter!      

[fireman_3311]

Every shot where I actually hit where I'm lookin!
Or the opening day doe, last fall, after I'd had a heart attack that spring..I never felt more alive!!!
Or a big, mature, long faced doe, several years ago...I heard some crashing thru the woods, when I saw 3 does headed my way, with 2 small bucks chasing them...The lead doe was a keeper...long old loins on her! She was running thru shooting lanes pretty quick, so I led her out in front, picked a lane, let the 2 blade magnus fly, and remember a little bloody slit open up, right tight behind her left shoulder...she didn't make it 10 yds! Like said above...everything felt right, fo sho!!!