doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Long shots, Lucky shots & Lies

Considerable wisdom in that quote...Geo

Forrest, your point is reasonable. For every action there are unexpected or unrealized results, where fate seems pitiless, beyond our control. One morning I shot at a black hanging right over the tollers that flew off into a bright blue mid- morning sky. Three hundred metres away it set its wings and made a steep glide into two feet of crusted snow on the edge of a marsh. Another time, when limits were generous, my buddy and I shot 16 bluebills, all dead on the water without a cripple among them, and the bluebills circled back twice out of range. We watched the flock until it disappeared in the distant sky, all strong of wing. I can only vouch for my experience of scrupulous retrieving of birds which was as much of our shore culture as making a living from the sea. Your point is valuable as wildlife everywhere seems under strain. Thanks.

When I was in my late teens I used to do a lot of hunting with a boy named John Simmons. He used an old 20 gauge single barrel that had been blown up at the muzzle then sawed off so it had absolutely no choke. He was a good shot, and I've seen him kill a lot of game with that old gun. Two particular shots he made come to mind. One was a dove he killed while we were out rabbit hunting. I don't know what even possessed him to shoot at the bird but it was so far away that it was just short of a speck flying over the next field. He raised the gun, threw a long slow lead on it, fired, and it fell dead. We paced it off as best we could and it was something like 100 steps. Just luck of course, a Golden BB for certain, but he did kill it. Another time we were shooting starlings coming into roost. He fired once into a bunch that were flying over at about 40 yards and killed eleven, most of them falling dead. I've shot starlings doing the same thing a 100 times and never killed over two or three at a shot.

Flighting geese in Aberdeen, Scotland I saw the guide (Ian Robertson) kill birds on a regular basis at 70+ yards. He shoots a Browning automatic, with 3 inch Winchester #4 shells. To knock them down that far you've either got to break a wing or hit them in the head and he can do it. He shoots the #4 shot because he says with more pellets you've got a much better chance for a head shot. We were shooting 8 gauge guns and couldn't do what he did with a 12 gauge.

As far as my personal best shots:

I killed a mallard drake on a driven duck shoot in England with a double 4 bore at something like 70+ yards. I'd have never fired at one so far but the owner of the gun was standing with me coaching on that the big gun would do.

Back in my goose guiding days, I killed a goose with an old Richland double 10 gauge at 74 steps. My paid hunters had fired on it and lightly hit it but the bird wasn't coming down. I figured I'd better throw some shot just to see if I couldn't get it on the ground. I grabbed up my gun after they were empty, fired one shot, and folded it. Only after I'd crawled out of the pit did I realize how far away it was. They were impressed. I know when to quit as well, I never raised my gun again that day.

Nothing too great, but still fun memories.

Destry, JO'C mentioned a never-miss guy in his Shotgun Book who shot no-choke and a former wizard on this board told me that he always used no-choke. I haven't the courage to do it. Over decoys, it should be pure poison.

I was shocked how well Cyl worked once I tried it. Inside of 30 yards you just can not beat it. Its my preference for shooting wild roosters over my springers. Someone will be along soon to comment upon how it just can't be done.
Steve

I posted this one not so long ago and someone took offense. But since we're tellin stories....

The last shot of the last day of my hunting of the 2006-2007 quail season, while in the drizzling mist, I took a shot at a quail crossing in front of me across an open field at about 65 yrds. The bird fell at 75 yrds. The shot was with my Lefever Nitro Special .410

I've shot decoying ducks with a cylinder bore gun and heavy loads of 7 1/2 shot. You're right, it is pure poison if they're close. My main duck gun is improved cylinder in the right and extra full in the left though, I prefer a little choke personally.


Destry

Funny thing about all those "golden bb" shots. I told one above about my brother. Now I will tell one of mine and a comment. Course, since it is mine, it has a bit of larceny in it. (I would never do anything like that again, I promise. Young and dumb.) Anyway.

Pheasant hunting in Idaho as a young man. We shot out of the car at times. (Yea, we were bad.) And, truth is, I got pretty good at it. Used an 1100 3" mag. with Fed. Premium #4 copper.

That day, had a crazy (and probably more than slightly drunk) Texan driving the truck. We were in a plowed field and driving rather fast across the rows chasing a big bunch of roosters which had gathered as they do late in the season. Those roosters thought they were safe (and they should have been). Wind was blowing about 30 mph. Anyway, on a bounce between jolts, I got my body out of the window and killed a rapidly downwind flying rooster stone dead a LONG WAY off. Undoubtedly in excess of 100 yards.

After the shot the drunk Texan kept whooping that it was the best shot he had ever seen. And, he added that it was "a lucky shot." I pointed out to him at the time, and that is my point here, sure its lucky. It is also a PERFECT point. All those "golden bbs" have to have a perfect point.

Oh, the shame of my youth.

Regards, Jake

The thing to keep in mind is the ability to make a "Lucky" one pellet kill does not depend upon gauge, choke, amount of shot in the load & only to a very, very small extent to the velocity of the load. What is required is that one pellet hits a vital spot with enough force to penertrate to the vital area. To reliable & consistantly make kills at a given range is a totally diferent proposition & requires a dense enough pattern to ensure a vital area being hit. Those who intentionally & habitually shoot at ranges beyond their guns patterning ability on the "Hopes" of making a one pellet kill are "PooR" sportsmen indeed. I realize most everyone who has ever gone afield has taken an occasional shot they shouldn't have. A few have been "Lucky" kills , most have been "Assumed" misses. Countless birds have flown on away with a single pellet buried in their Guts.

I guess I've had two memorable "long shots" (distance or percentage) in my 67 years:

Back when I was 15 in 1954, and my fowling piece was a Stevens .22/.410 O/U, my father ran a warehouse in Franklin Park Il, and behind the loading ramps was a small dry pond area that looked likely. After a full day's work this boss's son took his peashooter out back, while a few curious secretaries, salesmen, and about a dozen warehousemen stood on the loading docks not expecting much. As luck would have it, a rooster got up and I luck shot him dead in the air--my first pheasant. There was a loud "Whooop!" and a round of applause. I was hero for the day.

A couple of years ago, having had not much luck with my bow and arrow for deer, I was reduced to using my 870 Sabot during gun season. A doe ran past my tree stand at full tilt at about 25 yards and I missed; then she stopped right-broadside at 65 yards and I took a more well-considered second shot, but she ran off again on a radis to present herself again right-broadside at 65 yards in the cornfield. I tried to squeeze off another shot, but nothing! I realized that I had not pushed the pump grip completely forward, did so and tried again, the third shot being the charm. She fell over on her left side. The entry wound on the right side (up) was perfectly located. I field dressed her, pulled her into my truck bed, hauled her to my shed and hung her for a week. Wife Nancy was steadying the carcass as I pulled off the hide when she commented about "two holes." But they were on the left side! A quick look at the right side showed a single slightly egg-shaped entrance wound--two shots at 65 yards with an open sights shotgun perfectly placed, through no fault of my own.

My duck hunting buddy Destry aka Markethunter has as many stories as someone twice his age ought to have, but he forgot to tel this board about his double on mergansers down at Delacroix LA a few years ago. Never fear, they will be in my new book--Parker Guns: Shooting Flying and the American Experience--so that such "long shots" are not soon forgoten. And then there was the "grinnin' mallard"...which reminds me of the hooker in the casino attached to our motel.

As I recall she told Destry that she'd do "anything" for fifty bucks. I distinctly heard Destry incredusouly say, "Anything?", as he escorted her out of the bar. I figured I'd better stay away from our room for a while, but Destry appeared a short 5 minutes later. According to Destry, she said, "Anything," so he had her plucking our ducks. EDM