How the f*ck did I miss her

P

phinton81

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I need to vent on this one. I have been hunting big game now for about 12 years and I had yet to miss anything I pulled the trigger on. Yesterday my streak came to an end, spectacularly. I jumped a doe right in front of me, about 15 yards and she ran broadside and I missed her. Granted I had to pull the trigger back on my BLR and I had the scope cranked up but I still can't believe it. She caught me completely off guard, I pulled the gun up and she was huge due to my scope being at 6x, and I just lost it all together, shot over her twice.

Now before I get the lecture about not practicing enough, I get out to the gun club all the time, I shoot just about every discipline and I am very competent with my guns. That said, I am mortified, I keep playing this through my head, how could I hit a running deer last year at over 200 yards and miss one this year at 25. Anyhow, please chime in and tell me I am not alone, this is ridiculous. Cheers,

Patrick
 
Done that as well. Jumped a nice buck, 20 yards away, broadside. Sent 3 slugs his way using my dads gun. 3 clean misses. Swore the sights were off, set up target next day, bang on at 20 yards and good all the way out to 100. Chalked up to buck fever and being 18 or so at the time.
 
Or you didn't miss.

I'm trying to figure out why guys walk around with the scope turned up.:confused:

Happened to 2 or 3 guys that I hunt with, last week. If its a variable, it should be on the low setting all the time. If a deer turns up 200 yds away, you still should be able to hit it on 3x.
 
There's always the heightened surprise of a close quarters encounter that comes into play. Getting startled will rattle you up a bit more than a normal rush of spotting a deer. Either way, it sucks.
 
303carbine said:
Most shots missed at close range are low because of the height of the scope.
For those close up shots I put the cross hairs on the back, the bullet drops about 6 or 8 inches.:sniper:
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HUH? 1.5 inches of scope height and a cross vision trajectory do not do this. It would shoot high at 20yds if sighted in at 100yds plus. Unless of course he has 6-8 inches of height between center of bore and scope. If you drop the bell of the scope towards the center of the bore you shoot higher, not lower.
 
Trick

Not every shot is on a mallard that seemingly comes out of nowhere while your shooting the #### in the duck blind.


B-N says "What is that???"

phinton81 says " Bang!!!!"

You've made some good shots (I've seen them) and you'll make some bad ones too. Don't over analyze the whole situation, turn down your scope, get a gun that doesn't have external hammers!!!!

Now get out there and shoot a deer (I've already managed to shoot 2 this year, my first and second ever).
 
phinton81 said:
I pulled the gun up and she was huge due to my scope being at 6x
Patrick
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ALWAYS have your scope on the lowest power setting!!! You can always turn the magnification up if you have time, but as you have learned, you can't turn it down if you don't have time!!!

Don't dwell too much on things you can't change! As many of the guys on here will say, "Hunt long enough, and you'll miss or wound an animal." It's an unfortunate truth, you just have to do your best when the cards are on the table!

Cheers
Jay
 
Might want to check the scope while you're at it. I missed once at a similar range - animal was standing perfectly still, i had all the time in the world, wasn't worked up or anything. Clean miss - i simply could not believe it was possible, but extensive searching showed absolutely no sign of a hit or that the animal was wounded at all.

Took the scope out shortly after - the reticle had failed. The scope had been fine not that long before, wasn't 'new' (wasn't that old either), but somehow it died and i couldn't it the broad side of a barn with it.

Screws come loose, scopes fail, etc. Just to be sure, run a few rounds thru it at the range and make sure it's doing what you think it should be.
 
Scopes at close distances have their liabilities, as you have established... Some folk kit their rifles with the see through mounts, although I have found them to be cumbersome.
One of the more experienced guys in our camp had to switch to a scope a few years ago, due to diminished eyesight. I was with him at the range last year, he was practicing 50 y shots at a paper plate using the bells of the scope as sights - he had put dabs of White-Out on the tops of the bells, worked like a charm.
 
take your gun to the range, leave the scope covers on and practice what I call site sooting or point shooting at short ranges 10-25 yards I have done this for years with an old semi .22 with the sights broken off and you would be suprised at how well you can do with practice. My best was 12 hits on a soup can out of a 15 rd mag.
 
The scope was turned up because I had seen two deer about 250 yards from where I missed this one. My cousin was dogging through and had things gone according to plan he would have pushed something out quite a ways away. But this doe just happened to be bedded down right in front of me. Thanks for the don't walk around with your scope turned up so high advice though, that is very helpful, wouldn't have had a clue what to do next time without it:). Cheers,

Patrick
 
rem338win said:
HUH? 1.5 inches of scope height and a cross vision trajectory do not do this. It would shoot high at 20yds if sighted in at 100yds plus. Unless of course he has 6-8 inches of height between center of bore and scope. If you drop the bell of the scope towards the center of the bore you shoot higher, not lower.
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I thought that too,try it and see for yourself.
 
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