What is your most unusual shot you've made on an animal with your handgun? Could be longest or luckiest or? Mine: I shot at a coyote with my 6.5 JDJ, 120 gr. Speer bullet, and apparently he was further away than I thought because I saw the bullet hit and blow up dust and then knock him down. When I got there I surmised what happened: the bullet hit the ground and jacket and core separated then ricocheted up and the bullet jacket was lodged in his flank fur and the bullet core penetrated his chest and killed him. Two hits with one bullet aka "Ricochet Coyote."

My first deer that I shot I used a Ruger Security Six,6" bl. in S.S.chambered in 357 mag. It was my first handgun. I used to practice every week. Then came Pa.'s anterless deer season in 1984. I hunted all morning & didn't see a thing until about 1 PM.Then my luck changed. Out of the treeline came 2 does. I took a bead on the first doe and pulled the trigger. She fell like a sack of potatoes.I was so excited I forgot where I had aimed. I looked for blood but I couldn't find any. I looked again & found my mark. Dead between the eyes.Alot of luck and alot of practice & alot of luck sealed the fate of my first handgun kill.

I was rounding the end of a thin penninsula of trees that jutted into a large meadow, while chuck hunting, and spotted a big healthy yote out about 80 yards or so. Looked like he was eating a mouse or something, had his face in the long grass. I shouldered my Hornet and peered through the scope (it was cranked to the top at 10X)and tried to zero on top of his neck when I noticed through the scope a small female standing on the edge of the meadow some 200 yards beyond him. She was looking dead at me. Well she let out a yelp and the big boy looked up, saw me and bolted broadside to me. I swung out of instinct while still looking through the scope and only remember seeing hair before I dropped the hammer(still on 10X!). That dog nose dived, somersaulted 3-4 times and flopped dead. The female hit the woods(my Hornet was a single shot anyway). I was anxious to see just where I hit that fella to kill him so darn quick! Especially since I didn't have even close to a good careful sight pic! That 50 grain soft point entered just into his armpit and out the other side. Must have drilled straight through his heart! On a dead run! Holy O'malley - there's never a witness when you need one!

Renster

Huntin coyotes in Nevada with 223 rifle. The one we called in came so fast we yelled to stop him at 100yd and I took a quick shot.Bullet exited under left ear but no entrance. The bullet entered right ear hole with no damage. Talk about clean ears...

Hey that's great, let's hear about your rifle episodes too. I have several...starting with...I was hunting mule deer with my .300 Win. Mag when a buck came running down and toward me from the opposite ridge. I led him in the scope and pulled the trigger and he cartwheeled down the hill, then lay still. I crossed the gulley and went up the ridge to find he only had one antler; the other broken off at the base but with a curious semi-circular "half of a hole" where it broke. Sure 'nuff, my 180 gr. Nosler partition hit the base of the antler, went completely through it of course and because of the angle it went down through his back and into his chest cavity and killed him. I searched and searched and finally found the broken antler...whether it broke when he fell or when the bullet hit, I don't know but I glued it back together and made a horn mount and will post you a pic of the horns with the hole if you wish!!

Kinda like stallionwest, when I was antelope hunting W/ HHI in WY there was a HUGE outbreak of rabbits, both Cottontails and Jackrabbits. The owner of the ranch asked us to kill as many as we could. After getting 4-5 antelope we went rabbit hunting for fun. My son was be side me when a jackrabbit took off by our feet. My son was using his duty Glock and dumped 6-8 rounds at it and MISSED!! It was going like a bat outta hell. At 110 yards (paced off)I swung on with my carry Sig in 357 Sig and threw a round at it. The bullet hit the ground 4-5 feet in front of the rabbit, bounced up and made a perfect head shot! Of course I turned to my boy and said "anyone can hit them dead on...I wanted to give it a fair chance by ricocheting a round into it, and I didn't want to ruin the meat!!" Ah, it was so sweet!

Bill in OR

I was hunting for the first time with a handgun. I'm sitiing on a huge log over looking a small valley. Off to my left a large does cames walking along a trail. I slowly raise the gun and wait for her to get to a window in the saplings at about 25 yards. I pull the trigger and she drops like a sack of potatoes. I'm looking over the doe and getting ready to field dress her when my B-I-L comes over the edge of the ridge and basically walks toward me in the path the bullet took. He gets about half way there and says in a real sarcastic voice "what did this tree do to you". Sure enough I had shot thru the edge of a maple sapling. After further inspection the bullet had hit high in the spine near the neck junction. I was aiming for the lungs. The tree deflected the bullet up and to the right from POA. If it had been 2" higher it would have been a clean miss. My brother in laws have never questioned me since when I get the handguns out for hunting. I even like to tease them a little now as I head for the woods, "time to kill a tree"!! LOL<LOL

When I was just getting started hunting I was with my dad squirrel hunting one morning and he had shot and missed one with a 22 rifle. I went over to where he was and we were sitting on a log watching the tree where he knew the squirrel was (it was green leaf season) and after a few minutes she started flicking her tail and barking. I was hunting with my grandfather's double barrel 12 ga. and we couldn't really see the squirrel. Dad said to shoot so I raised up and fired. I killed 4 squirrels with one shot. I was raining squirrels, a big female and 3 half grown youngin's. I was one happy kid... Dad couldn't believe it.

Well I posted a photo of my "bug eyed" groundhog. I was using my 243 shorty A-bolt. I had been watching groundhogs slowly make a showing since the weather had warmed up. I watched this one for a few minutes and it never stood up. It was busy getting some vittles on! It kept weaving back and forth coming towards me. I whistled really loud, as I had the crosshairs on a head shot. This thing froze up for a minute...POW! Seen the usual tail flickering. Went over to check it out. I had placed the shot directly in his mouth. The pressure from the bullet popped both of his eyes out. Cleaned his nugget out pretty good. The shot was over 200 yds.

This is embarrassing!! A couple of days before this I had seen him poking his head out. I was so excited to get a shot off, I just grabbed my 44mag, and decided to put a stalk on. I got about 30 yards from him through the woods. I got ready to pull the hammer and realized that I had totally forgotten the most important thing. Bullets!

My favorite shot was whitetailed deer hunting with my dad and the pastor of our church. We were heading out for a day of hunting, suddenly of to the left of the logging road down in the feild, a buck and doe apeared. Both my dad and the pastor got out first. I got out last because they were both good shots and whats the point right!!! Well the buck took off on a dead run, My dad, and pastor pulled up on him and nothing happened. All I remember is shouldering my rifle and hearing the pastor say, I cant find him in my scope!!!, and my dad said, @%$#@ safety, Kabloowee!!!! 175 yrds dead run right through the back. That was my best shot ever and with witnesses to boot.

Lars

I was pheasant hunting on a piece of public ground .I do not have a hunting dog any longer.This ground had a 8 foot wide path mowed down the middle of it as a walking trail.Waist high grasses on the rest of the ground.I was trying to flush both sides of the trail by myself and spotted a wiley rooster up ahead running across the trail I did my best to hurry to keep him pinned to a certain part of the field.I reached the point the bird entered and started to push the grassy area towards some bare ground to try to make the bird flush,they can be tricky.I came to a barbed wire fence and I stepped on the third strand and placed my palm on a post and as I hoisted myself up off the ground,with the crick of the fence the rooster flushed right from under me straight away and upward .I could not take it and in my excitement I pointed a full size 12 gauge pump with one arm while balanced on a fence with one foot and took perfect aim and literally DESTROYED that bird at about 10 feet away.It wasnt pretty,but I got my bird,he he.
dorson

Dorson you must have skiped hunter safty training.or it is different in Iowa.They told me to unload the gun before climbing or jumping over a fence.

First off, I am probably old enough to be your daddy and have been hunting many decades safely and accident free,without any hunter safety brainwashing classes.Hunter safety is taught by ones father and family where I come from.
I choose not to spend all day unloading and loading my gun at every fence or creek crossing ,get enough of that getting in and out of vehicles with the ridiculous laws of this state.The simple act of unloading accounts for a lot of accidental shootings.
I know where my muzzle is and have full control of the guns as needed.Also In this particular case I was hunting alone,so no one to hold my gun while I was crossing,and I dont set expensive firearms down in the snow and mud .
And I am sorry that was all you got from my story.Obviously I am not much of a story teller.HA HA
dorson

Good story dorson! As for hunter safety pter1020k, it is only good as the person learning it! I have known people to take the course and still didn't have no business with a gun. Old school Dad taught me. A couple of years ago I was in my "Old Faithful" hunting spot which a friend of mine always new I was hunting. I had just got done speaking to him on the phone about some dogs running. Anyway with both of us knowing where I was, we had agreed to move. When I moved I had jumped a nice buck up. My friend wrapped me up with 3 shots of a 10ga. #4. 154 pellets went wizzing by me. This was a 50-60 yard shot with a extra-full choke. That day I learned to trust no one with a gun.

well i think its at toss up,i have shown these here before and they were pretty lucky,i think this first one though is the luckiest.lol i didnt think the dog was so close.it could been a disaster.the others were pretty far for a tiny 410.

Nothing like video proof. I can't wait to get a P.O.V.

It had been a long year, short on bucks and it was a dreadfully cold morning. It was the last day of the season and I was ready to throw in the towel when I saw a big group of deer makin' a dash for the heavy brush. My hands were so cold,I could hardly hold the bino's steady to look for horns. The group was going to cross about seventy yards from me and there was a smallish buck in the group. I was standing in a reforestation plot of red pines so when the deer went thru I had a beautiful shooting alley. as they got to the alley they got suspicious and slowed up and passed across the alley one at a time. When the buck finally came thru he paused and peeked out. I was watching thru the 4x redfield on my 35 rem contender. his nose ears antlers neck brisket... shoulder ...I found the point of his shoulder and snicked off the trigger.... he went down now!!.the sound echoed thru the woods and the deer lay still. I scooped up my daypack and wisked down to the buck... I was flabergasted... he had no horns, there was no blood, I grabbed his leg, I was so cold ,I could hardly wait to shove my hands into his steaming cavity, I had shed my holsters and donned my latex gloves and as I stood over the carcass with my knife I realized he had no balls.. Then I stopped and looked her over carefully. There were small droplets of blood where she must have wheezed out lung blood, and too far from where she lay there was more windy blood. I grabbed my holster and followed an ever improving blood trail, and forty yards away lay my buck. The doe on the ground had been sneaking past the buck and when I heart shot him, the bullet passed thru the buck and hit the doe halfway between the eyesocket and the end of her nose.. two deer one shot

Lordy--2 with 1 shot, amazing!! Great stories so far. Here's my claim to fame--possibly a world record longest 1st shot on a game animal with a handgun, tho admittedly i shouldn't have taken the shot, and will never again at this range (the coyote)--

http://www.perry-systems.com/what_others_have_to_say.htm#Steve