I thought this woul be a good follow-up the the DRT thread. Should be entertaining too. Mine was last year while hunting with a 6.5x55 rifle......this year will be handgun only. I was shooting at a 140 lb hog. Hog was about 60 yds and i went for the neck shot. When I shot the hog fell right over and I thought I had a DRT. After about 1 minute the hog came-to and began the weirdest scene I have yet seen. She looked like Bruce Lee was body slamming over and over and over again! After a few minutes I said enough is enough and got out of the stand and finished her with my Ruger SBHH Bisley with one in the head. Should have done that the first time.
A guy heard me shoot and came over to help. The look on his face was priceless. There was about a 15x15 foot area that was totally soaked with that red stuff. So, what is your weirdest kill?

I can't claim the kill but witnessed the autopsy....
First gun season in Illinois several years ago a guy had a beautiful 12 pt. in large alfalfa field @ 175 yds chasing a doe. He was using a 20 ga. slug gun and decided to shoot over the deer in hopes of making it run toward him. It worked, and the buck and doe ran straight to him allowing a 35 yard shot. Buck drops and hunter goes out of ground blind to celebrate and tag the buck. As he grabs antler to drag him out of field, horn breaks off--he is stunned to see a slug still wedged in antler.
He still hasn't noticed that there is no blood--or an entry or exit wound. Brings the buck to our cabin to skin and quarter and the deer HAS NO BULLET WOUND. I'm standing there thinking about the horse in Animal House, but later we talked to a game biologist who said that one of the hunter's shots that hit and wedged in antler probably caused a cerebral hemmorhage that caused the buck to drop in his tracks. Never experienced that before or since.

Well, mine doesn't even involve a gun, but rather a Ferruginous Hawk.

Right at day break, I was walking a field looking for jack rabbits with my female ferruginous hawk (think red tailed hawk size, but twice as big. They are genetically closer to an eagle than they are a hawk.) and we jumped a fox. The fox took off, and being that my bird saw the fox well before I did, she flinched like she was going to take off, but thankfully stayed on the glove. I stopped and turned my back to the fox so she wouldn't see it and decide to chase it.

She was a young bird, taken out of the nest at 9 days old, and went with me everywhere, so she didn't really know her limits. The fox went over the small hill, so I figured since its out of sight, its out of mind.

I continued walking, and a few minutes later, we jumped a jack that started heading in the same direction that the fox had gone. Just as my hawk was about to catch up to the jack, I saw her shoot straight up in the air and pull off the jack. I was immediatly frustrated cause that means she is on the heavy side of her hunting weight, which would mean an error on my part. Anyway, she shot straight up about 50 feet in the air, set her wings straight out, banked to the right real hard for about 30 feet, then folded up and SLAMMED into the ground!

That wingover was SWEET!!!! Now all I need is the confirming scream from the jackrabbit to know she has caught something that I can't see. I wait, and wait.... no sound. Must have missed.

If I had heard the scream from the jackrabbit, I would have kept running at a dead sprint to get there as soon as possible to dispatch it. But since there is no sound, I slowed to a jog. I finally crested the little hill she had gone behind, and there she was, latched on to the business end of that fox, having the rodeo of her life!!!

How the HELL am I gonna dispatch this one???!!! Thankfully the ferrug is one of the strongest raptors out there. She had one foot around the muzzle of the fox and the other foot was poking holes in the neck trying to hit something vital while the fox is flipping around, jumping, and rolling trying to brush her off! I got in there, and was finally able to grab the fox's muzzle with my gloved left hand just for extra support and security, and dispatched the fox with a knife behind the shoulder.

At this point, when she catches a jack and we have it dispatched, I normally sit down beside her, relax, take in the hunt, and just enjoy my bird doing what nature intended her to do. But this time, I was shaking so bad it took me 20 minutes to calm down while she ate like it was just another normal day.

Never the same day twice with falconry!

This hunt took place on 12-29-09...

I climbed up in my treestand about 4:00 and waited. Around 5:00 p.m. I saw movement to my left about 80-100 yards away. As I sat and waited, several deer fed into the area and I waited for them to feed closer to my position. After about ten minutes the wind shifted and all of the deer were now on full alert and getting ready to leave out; game over. I looked around and spotted one deer about 75 yards out facing me head-on. I pulled up my knee in my treestand and rested my .44 mag revolver on my knee. I put the crosshairs of the 2X leupold on the deer's chest and it felt very steady so I decided to try the shot.

At the shot, the deer jumped straight up in the air and all of the deer left the area. I made good mental notes of the place that the deer was standing when I shot it and came down the tree. I walked over to the area and immediately found a patch of white hair. This puzzled me since the deer was facing me head-on. I hoped that the 300 grain Cast-Performance bullet had struck the deer in the center of its chest and penetrated the deer fully and that the white hair was hair from its rump. I began walking in the direction that the deer had gone and it began bleeding well. To make a long story short I trailed, and I trailed, and I trailed. Right before dark I actually heard the deer crash off about 50 yards in front of me. Overnight temps were going to be in the 20's so I decided to back off and try again in the morning.

I went back thE next morning and picked up the blood trail right where I had left off. It was still bleeding fairly well and I trailed the deer right to the edge of a small creek. On the opposite side of the creek, I couldn't locate ANY blood. I could not figure out where the deer had crossed the creek. I finally gave up and began searching the woods blindly on the other side of the creek. About 50 yards from where the deer had crossed the creek I noticed some fresh turkey scratching. I didn't pay alot of attention to it but I happened to notice that the scratching was isolated to a very small circular area and the leaves had been piled up in a mound. I had never seen turkeys scratch in a circle like that.

Here is a photo of what I saw:


My mind wandered back to my brown bear hunt in Alaska where the guides had told me stories of brown bears caching their kills, covering them with grass, mud, branches, whatever and coming back later to feed on them. I thought to myself "no way" but kicked into the pile of leaves. My boots touched something solid!



I couldn't believe it. Evidently the deer had laid down and died and sometime in the night a black bear (or something?) had found the deer and cached it. It fed very little on the carcass, only taking a few bites of the deer's left rear leg, covered it with leaves, and left. I examined my shot and I had missed my point of aim by about two inches, low and left. The cast bullet entered the deer just inside its right front shoulder, clipping the bottom of the right lung, barely missing the heart, traveled through the low part of the chest and abdominal cavities, and exited in front of the left rear leg. It had traveled a LONG way and I was very glad to have recovered this deer!

Nice story!! Do you have cats where you live?


Duane

This is a great thread, keep 'em coming!

Not a handgun hunt but an archery hog hunt about 4 years ago.

My buddies and I were down in Texas at an outfitter. The weather had been very wet that year and greenery was everywhere so the hogs were predominantly feeding in the wheat fields and not hitting the feeders. It was the beginning of the afternoon sit and the guide was taking me out to my stand in the Polaris Ranger. The stand itself was in the back of this monstrous open wheat field (winter wheat looks like a field of grass for those who are unfamiliar). The entry road followed a barbed wire fence line. On the other side of the fence was just normal scrub and mesquite. A herd of cows was bedded down in that scrub still seeking shade from the midday sun. As we are making our way down the road I see a huge humped back sticking up out of the tall grass. The guide stopped the Ranger and I climbed up in the bed to get a better vantage point. There laying up along with all of the cows was a huge boar. As I picked up my bow and prepared for a standing 50 yard shot from the back of the Ranger, the cows spooked and started moving. The hog, not to be left behind got up and started moving with the cows. I jumped back into the seat of the ranger and we started paralleling the fence line as the cows and the hog further spooked and now broke into a run. About 100 yards down, there was an open gate into the field. The cows exploded into the field running in all directions with the hog right in the center of the herd. The chase was on!
The guide maneuvered the Ranger among the running herd of cows as the hog broke out alone, running full tilt across the field. I yelled for the guide to pursue the hog. We gained on the hog and he got the Ranger about 20 yards behind and to the left. Still bouncing through the field at about 25 mph I leaned out of the side of the ranger and drew my bow (Had I not been left handed I don't think I could have managed that maneuver). We hit a very short smooth patch in the field and I released the arrow and I watched it bury itself right up to the fletching. The shot was a pretty steep angled quartering away shot and I was sure that it was fatal.
The edge of the field, and another fence was rapidly approaching so we slowed the ranger and let the hog get ahead a bit more. As soon as it reached the edge of the field, it slowed and did the drunken, "Game Over" stagger. Two more seconds and it just tipped over, stone dead.

It took me probably 5 minutes for my hands to stop shaking from the adrenaline. When we checked the hog, the arrow had indeed embedded in the opposite shoulder, so much so that it took both the guide and I, standing on the hog and pulling on the arrow to get the broadhead out. On it's way it center punched the liver, one lung and the top of the heart.

Tex, officially we have Bobcats. There have been unofficial reportings of Cougars/Mountain Lions including one from yours truly. My Dad's property borders the Cohutta Wildlife Management area in North Georgia. One day, I was sitting at his kitchen table visiting with him. I looked out the screen door and saw an animal come out of the woods, take two steps, and cross the road...gone. The animal was bigger than a coyote and had a long slender tail. My first thought was "mountain lion".

I went to where the animal crossed the road but couldn't find any trace, no tracks...I found myself wondering if I'd really seen anything at all?

I have seen 2 big cats and numberious little ones out in the field. The big cats have either been out of range, 500+ yards, or maybe a second or two of just being there. Like you said, if you are not paying attention there would not even be there...

Ps, nice tracking job on that "weird kill."

Duane

Ok, after reading these posts I now know hunting has been extrelmly mundane and uneventful,lol, wow great stories guys Keep em coming.

Umm, does no one else see a problem here ?

These are great stories guys....keep 'em coming

Well I don't know if this was a weird kill or not but here is what happened. I was about 14, deep in the Everglades hunting with my 30-30. Was in my tree stand and my uncle was on his way to pick me up. The airboat scared a hog from a head and it ran past my stand. I shot it when it went under the stand. It dropped like a sack. Uncle pulls up and was surprised to see a dead hog at the foot of my stand. We rolled it into the boat and I climbed into the drivers seat and started back to our camp. Just as I bust through the last stand of saw grass and out onto the open prairie the hog came to and started destroying the boat. It dented the stainless steel fuel tank on the boat busted open the Tool chest and spewed its contents everywhere. My uncle climbed up onto the ladder with me and I brought the boat to a stop and shut it down by killing the mags. That sucker was going crazy. We thought it was going to jump over board but it wanted a piece of us. It continued for about 5 minutes with this stand off before it climbed up onto the grass roll. I grabbed my uncles 357 he had and jumped into the waste deep water made my way around to the port side of the boat slipping up quietly behind it. Just when I get a good angle it turns around and looks at me. My uncle yells out shoot it shoot it. I was already squeezing the trigger when he started yelling and down it went. And in its final death thows it proceeded to kick the crap out of the grass roll. Those hoves did a number on it. Everytime I went out on the boat after that I got a good chuckle when I looked down at the grass roll.

That's a great story cfish. I do see the problem with discharging a firearm in the boat! Normally I like an exit wound but in this case...

LOL, the funny thing was my uncle pulled his revolver, a beautiful Colt python he carried as a sheriffs deputy at one time, and was betting ready to shoot it when he realised in so doing he would probably put a hole in the bottom. We laughed our butts off later about the hole thing.

That would definately crank up MY pucker factor!!!1 LOL

Ok I have a two way tie for mine...

Since this is Handgun hunting I will tell that one. It was last fall deer hunting. Me and a buddy were hunting together with our Ruger 41 mags. It was a cold, clear, still day, the kind that God makes just for deer hunters. We were still hunting together down a ridge when we spotted a doe. We stopped and she began feeding up the ridge in our direction. In a short time we could see she was going to pass by us at about 20 yards. I had my Flat Top Blackhawk, loaded with 210 grain Gold Dots and a dose of 2400 cocked and locked. I raised the gun to shoot and she saw the movement. She turned a little quartering toward me and started the "foot stomp". I aimed at the front of the on side shoulder and fired. The deer whirled and ran with that low to the ground, tail spinning dash that usually means dead deer.

We waited a while and went to get the deer. We found a good blood trail and figured on a short tracking job. The blood trail remained easy to follow, but eventually turned and went down a hill. She was going a LOT farther than I thought she should and was pretty sure I had only gotten one lung. We tracked the deer into a dry creek and looking down from the 4' high bank I could see a lot of blood in the gravel below. I told my buddy to stay up on the bank and I would go down into the creek and see where she went from there. While I was in the creek looking at the sign, I heard my buddy yell "there she is". I could not see the deer and yelled "where!!!". His reply was "RIGHT HERE". I looked up and the deer was running past him toward the creek where I was standing. I looked to pick a shot after she cleared my friend. The deer decided to turn rather than jump off that bank again, and turned right toward him. I watched in amazement as he brought his gun up..only to his waist and fired. The deer stopped, sat down and rolled over dead. His shot was at the most...EIGHTEEN INCHES. When we autopsied the deer, his bullet had actually entered the same hole mine did but exited down through the brisket. Only upon skinning the deer did we see that the entrance hole was actually two shots.

One more twist to this one. We went up to one of my ponds to sit and sip some coffee before we started processing the deer. Now this was nowhere near where we had tracked this deer. We had assumed that the deer was bedded and jumped up after we had passed. As we are sitting enjoying the morning and telling/re-telling our story, my buddy looks at the ground and sees blood. Now we are really confused. We go back to that creek and pick up the trail to see just what had happened. (At one point we thought we may had killed another deer..remember that same entrance hole thing?). Well it turns out that deer WAS hit in one lung and never stopped running. We followed blood over half my 200 acres and it circled and ran right to us. While we were tracking it was running, and just happened to run into my buddy's 41.

Dan

True life beats fiction every time. Keep them coming guys.

My wierdest kill was on a little spike, with a scoped 480SRH.

A new-to-hunting buddy and me were hunting on public land, and decided to really push deep, where few hunters would bother going. I was kinda showning him the ropes.

Right about when we were both about ready to faint from hiking, I made the observation of a little creek, and a good stand of oaks with large acorns. I said this is a good place to see a deer.

As if on cue, a little spike jumped up and started trotting off acrossed a hill. I quickly told my buddy to head up to the top of the hill, and maybe he could get a distant shot with his 30-06, and Id stay where I was in case he flushed back.

My buddy started up the hill, and I sat down under a large holly tree.

Before I could adjust my self, I heard footfalls coming, and actually saw the deers ears and spikes over the top of the ridge running paralell to the ridge. Sort of like a sharks fin, lol.

I raised up my SRH, and suddenly, the deer bolted straight over the top of the ridge, and was coming right at me, within maybe 30feet.
I mean straight at me.

I was looking through the scope, but couldn't see anything but a blurry blob.

I basically point fired at the "oh sh@t!" range, but missed. The deer stopped and just stood there broadside for a second, probably stunned by the concusion, where I was able dispatch him again by mainly filling the scope with brown.

This killing shot was within spitting range.

all of this took place within just seconds of my buddy heading up the hill.

he heard my shots, and thought there was no way I could have shot a deer that fast.lol.

My weirdest kill was a doe at around 100 yards shot with a FA Mod 83 in 454. It was getting late so I decided for a broadside neck shot to possibly eliminate trailing. A good hit DRT, a miss better luck next time. At the shot the deer fell DRT and while i walked up patting myself on the back, I noticed no blood. The shot was so far off, I actually hit the deer about halfway between the tip of the nose and the eyes. Like the slug in the antlers, I think I just scrambled her brain. Her bad luck, but I try to be more responsible with future shots after that one.

weirdest, and smallest, occurred when I was a teenager goose hunting from a permanent box blind at the edge of a field at my parents house. It was extremely foggy and my brother and I began to hear a weird scratching sound coming from inside the blind. We started to notice the dirt in front of us mounding up at which point I leveled my shotgun at it. A large pocket gopher stuck his head out at which point 1 9/16oz of BBB steel shot decapitated him. At the shot a huge flock of geese that had been sitting quietly in the field behind us took off right at us and I used the two shells remaining in my gun to get 2 nice size geese as did he... Pretty lucky to get a double on geese that day, not sure if it warrants calling it a triple though as all we could find of the gopher was the stripe on his back...

Several years ago, when I first switched exclusively to handguns, I took three friends hunting on private land in west Texas. They were skeptical of the whole handgun thing to begin with even though we had done plenty of shooting together in the past. I remember being disappointed by getting to my little box blind about 30 minutes later than I like, it was cold and windy and I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. About an hour after sitting down a little spike walked into view about 70 yards away. The little guy had one skinny spike 9 inches long about the diameter of a pencil that had question mark style bend in it, the other spike was much thicker but only about 4 inches with an acorn shaped growth in it. I decided that this deer didn't need to be breeding so I thumbed the hammer back on my 14" contender in 30-30. The as soon as I got the crosshairs centered on vitals the spike began scratching his back with his long misshapen spike, I waited, and waited....almost gave up. He stopped scratching and began to browse, I started squeezing the trigger and the little rascal whipped his head back around to scratch some more. I flinched, pulled the shot high, and cursed myself for missing when there would be witnesses to down talk handgun hunting. When I stopped berating myself for missing and actually looked at where the spike had been standing I noticed he was piled up within inches of where he had been at the shot. When I walked over, I could see no blood on the body, but the head was pretty mangled. When I flinched I shot high

over the spikes back. But since he was scratching his back with his spike the bullet caught him under the chin and exited between his misshapen antlers. I never did explain to my buddies that it was pure luck. To this day they tell stories of me head shooting this deer to show off.

These are great. I want more!!!

I can't claim this one but it comes up every christmas when my dad and uncle start telling stories. My dad and uncle where in Wyoming on a pronghorn hunt when they come up to a small canyon and see a buck on the other side, my uncle takes a shot and sees the buck hit the dirt where he stood. they walk over to it (which take a lot of time being across a canyon) and my uncle strattles it for a picture when the buck jumps up and runs about sixty yards and falls over finally dead.

Did your uncle ever father a child again?

Yes actually but that may explain why my cousins are the way they are lol

That would certainly get my attention!!!