Check your line of sight!!!

[Heym SR20]

I was stalking hinds with another erstwhile member of this forum. We crawled into a pack of hinds. I was 20 yards to his left. I lined up a hind and waited till he was ready. Counted down and on three both of us fired. Down went the hind I was lined up on. The hinds moved and there was an obvious hind - bang and down it went. I had two beasts down and so did he. We quickly found the two beasts - mine of course. Well we then spent an hour looking for the other two. We checked the two dead deer and they each only had one bullet hole. I finally went back to my firing position and the two dead deer where we I thought they should be. He went back to his - same result. We both had shot at the same deer. So why did one of us miss.

I I went back to my position and laid down behind the rifle. I had been shooting prone using my binoculars as a rest. Very low and 30 yards in front was a small hump in the peat with two bullet holes through it. My line of sight was good, but the scope is nearly three inches above the rifle barrel on the combination gun I was using. Lesson learned.

 

[Mungo]

I was stalking hinds with another erstwhile member of this forum. We crawled into a pack of hinds. I was 20 yards to his left. I lined up a hind and waited till he was ready. Counted down and on three both of us fired. Down went the hind I was lined up on. The hinds moved and there was an obvious hind - bang and down it went. I had two beasts down and so did he. We quickly found the two beasts - mine of course. Well we then spent an hour looking for the other two. We checked the two dead deer and they each only had one bullet hole. I finally went back to my firing position and the two dead deer where we I thought they should be. He went back to his - same result. We both had shot at the same deer. So why did one of us miss.

I I went back to my position and laid down behind the rifle. I had been shooting prone using my binoculars as a rest. Very low and 30 yards in front was a small hump in the peat with two bullet holes through it. My line of sight was good, but the scope is nearly three inches above the rifle barrel on the combination gun I was using. Lesson learned.

Oh, but this story has SO much more...

Guide spending 3 hours with loaded .270 swung back on his shoulder and pointing in our faces; guide's mobile phone going off 180 yards from the herd after painstaking approach; guide backing the Argo into farmer's landrover...

 

[VSS]

Oh, but this story has SO much more...

Guide spending 3 hours with loaded .270 swung back on his shoulder and pointing in our faces; guide's mobile phone going off 180 yards from the herd after painstaking approach; guide backing the Argo into farmer's landrover...

Tell us the tale then Mungo, Sounds like it could be a good one

 

[Mungo]

Tell us the tale then Mungo, Sounds like it could be a good one

To be fair, I think Heym and I have told the salient bits. It was my first experience of a guided stalk in Scotland, and I was appalled at the quality of the guiding. I heard later that the guide in question retired soon after.

Heym did get his revenge on me this autumn, when he watched me clean miss a roe buck at about 30 yards... not even a peat hag to blame. I did get a second shot at it, and it bolted into waist high bracken. I charged off over the horizon, convinced it had made a long break for it. He calmly unleashed his then very young BMH/lab puppy, who lead him straight to the dead beast in about 40 seconds. And then tried to ride it like a sled all the way back to the car!

 

[Bergarer 243]

How it gladdens me to realize I am not the only one ,I shot through my desk top ( antique ) after trying to shoot pigeons on my veg patch out of the study window, problem was my wife saw me do it.

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

shooting rats at night from armchair with bumped up air rifle because they where nicking all the bird food in the garden ,opened both patio doors wide to get a better view when security lights on low,had a great night morning comes, wife comes down shuts the vertical blinds and goes ape****,peppered!!! to hell,i had been shooting through them,i hadn,t even seen them through the scope with the lights and magnification as they where bunched up to one side of the doors!!

 

[bewsher500]

More years ago than I am willing to remember
Lining up on my first ever stag, slightly uphill, straight slope between me and him, 90 yards, beautiful day

as I was getting comfortable, sorting the rifle position out, getting my breath
the sight picture kept getting a little fuzzy every now and then so I lifted my head to the side to see what it was

15-20 yards in front of me was a big, fat, mountain hare!
sitting grazing right in the line of fire!

could have been a full on explosive impact at 20yds with a .270!

 

[tikka_madras]

Many years ago, when I was little more than a Tikka_Korma, I used to belong to a local archery team. Another kid and I were maybe 12 and practising at 80m ish at the usual large round targets. The range was a bit much for our standard, although at least all mine went into the target. The kiddy next to me was putting one in two into the butt, a couple into the legs (v bad for arrows), most into the floor.

A seagull landed on the top of the target. He took aim, and just as he let go it jumped down. There was a thud and the arrow went right into the gold of the target. Great shot. When we got there, the bird was dead on the floor and the arrow had no fletchings. It had gone right through the bird on the way.

 

[riflerob]

Reading this thread reminds me my scuba diving - a large amount of 'gallows humour' which, nevertheless, carries important lessons for us all.

I've never (yet !) done something like that. But I do know someone who shot a grey squirrel from the kitchen one morning. Opening the window before taking the shot might have been advisable, of course.

 

[long_range_rob]

And there's always the very expensive large hole in the front of the Chronograph to remember ......

There's a reason they invented this...

http://www.magnetospeed.com/

 

[ruby tuesday]

I had an elderly farmer ring me in a tizz one morning, he had stood on his bath to get a shoot at an egg eating magpie out of the top bathroom window , the recoil from the first barrel made him slip of the bath discharging the second barrel into the armoured mains electric cable coming into the house £500 later it was my fault for not keeping the maggies under control.

 

[fjer20]

The father in-law has shot through the wing mirror on his pickup twice now while out lamping. Some people never learn and it's clear the Mrs' brains don't come from him!

 

[Pedro]

Don't think I've done similar with a rifle, but whilst in a ditch on the edge of a field decoying geese, (so big loads...) I swung through one as it came in right to left and shot the fence post about four feet in front of me, to great effect!

 

[User00025]

Lamping foxes with the Dragon one night in lambing fields. Two foxes had a lamb between them but either side of sheep netting. She shot the nearest with the 22/250 and then had two shots at the other which was pulling the lamb away. You've got it, hit the sheep wire twice, what's the chance of that happening.

 

[Wapinschaw]

And there's always the very expensive large hole in the front of the Chronograph to remember ......

Do you mean like this one?

View attachment 68185

 

[andymarsh]

I have a scar on my head where a chip of rock that previously had been 6" infront of my .270 had been collected me on its way to a new home. Just goes to show mistakes like that one could be serious, it cut through my hat and glanced the left had side of my head requiring 6 stiches. Funny thing was the hind I was shooting at stood there looking at me with that look on its face saying "what a prat".

 

[NigelM]

Nice job. Even the same make as mine.

 

[Legolas]

My rather 'well to do ' mother in law took a vengeance to the grey squirrels helping themselves to her bird feeders so I loaned my father in law a springer air rifle to bump them off.... A very regular occurrence as they live in the middle of the Forest of Dean. After a while my MIL wanted to take up the baton and shoot a few herself. So far she has ventilated a couple of UPVC window frames (muzzle restin on sill) and given herself a scope ring shiner. I still chuckle to tnis day thinking about a 70 year old lady who lunches 'fessing up to her ladies circle that she got the black eye shooting squirrels from her living room.

 

[Simon Culver]

It's easily done. I've done it a couple of times too.

 

[ChesterP]

And there's always the very expensive large hole in the front of the Chronograph to remember ......

LoL...happened at Severnside. The shooter shall remain nameless to protect his identity (you know who you are )