Lucky

Almost 30 years ago I was forced to shoot a Brown Bear. It was charging and I had no where to run, not that I could have outrun him anyways. I had a Win. 270 with a 3X9 scope cranked all the way up to 9X. Dumb. First saw him at less than 60 yards away and he was already charging straight at me. Spent five or ten minutes it seemed trying to find him in the scope. Another five minutes to figure out that I was looking at his eye. One shot and he dropped at less than 30 yards with the bullet entering just to the mid-line of his eye and exiting out the rear of his skull. Truth is that the entire event may have been six or seven seconds, but it seemed like much more. Traded the .270 later as every time I shot the gun it brought back bad memories.

Had I had more time, I should have tried for a warning shot to break the charge, but I did not have time enough to think about what I should or could do. I saw, mounted, pointed, focused, pulled the trigger and shook for more than a half hour later. Scared does not cover my feelings at the time.

Long shot, Luck shot,

While a teen, I was out crow shooting with my buddy. We had no luck that morning and spotted a crow way across a field. With my trusty .22, 2 X 7 scope, I calmly called a shot at over 250 yards. Held four feet into the stiff wind and had over three feet hold over. Shooting the cheapest bullets that I could afford at the time. One shot, two or three seconds later the bullet seemed to make a solid thunk and the crow fell over stone dead. Made my buddy walk over and get my bird. We had a bet for a six pack of beer and back in those days that was like gold.