Home Forums Campfire Forum My best shot ever, first blood of the season!!!

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    • Chris Shelton
        Post count: 679

        Alright, so my season is in full swing. I’ve been hunting as much as possible in between running a small business and going to college full time. It’s been limited more than usual but I still have had some time to hunt and more importantly practice.

        Well today a buddy and I decided to hunt a local WMA right close to home. We split up at daybreak and kinda circled around towards a common spot.

        Well the stalking didn’t prove to be productive today, despite a prefect new moon the deer were just not willing to play.

        Our meeting spot was this tall knoll type rock on a hill that someone in the years past had built a blind, and although it was not much of a blind it is a great vantage point. We sat up their for about 30 mins when the squirrels started coming out of the woodwork.

        I am very much a opportunistic hunter, I hunt everything that is in season all the time!

        And I jokingly said I’ll shoot at anything under 50(referring to squirrels)

        This one gray came out and ran on this log at about 35 yards, and disappeared behind some thicket and then reappeared further down the huge dead fall.

        It was so open and he decided to rest on this stump.

        My range estimation was 40ish yards. I drew back focused on the distant critter and let it fly.

        I waited for the split second for the arrow to reach its target and heard a thud. I swear my jaw kinda dropped.

        I practice out that far pretty often, but that was a really small target!! My buddy was in awe, he couldn’t believe the size of that horseshoe I had in my back pocket, lol

        Ill be the first to admit their was some luck involved, but its always better to be lucky than good, lol

        Anyway alot of you will probably think that was an unethical shot, but the way I look at it is with something that small if you hit it, you will most likely kill it, unlike a deer where a specific region needs to be impacted.

        The shot was right in front of the back leg and at spinal cord level. It did not penetrate but the shock was enough to do the little guy in. I will say that I will not shoot at anything that far with a judo again, just because I would rather have some cutting action . . . even though this shot was very effective.

        Alright after that book you guys deserve a picture . . .

        now I’m more of a traditional type guy, I love my cameras but things like ranger finders just seem like extra pack filling to me. But my buddy just happened to have one in his bag. I just about lost it when I read the range!!

        51 yards!!!!!!! Absolutely crazy!!

      • wildschwein
          Post count: 581

          Great job on the Squirrel, wish they were legal game up here. I also think longer range shots are acceptable on small, easier to kill targets. Sharptail Grouse are what come to mind for my area, as they rarely let you walk within 30 yards. As long as I am shooting a SHARP head I’ll fling arrows at em to 40 yards. Doubt I could hit em at 51 though!

        • William Warren
          Member
            Post count: 1384

            Unethical for an animal as small as a squirrel? Nah!!! The odds were high that you would completely miss. Shooting at larger animals at that range would be more questionable.
            Congrats on the first SQ of the season. I think our season starts Saturday.

            Duncan

          • Cottonwood
              Post count: 311

              Good shooting there, and you done real good on that one.

            • Mark Turton
                Post count: 759

                Worlds most unlucky squirrel
                or
                Worlds luckiest archer

                Move over Byron

                Mark.

              • bruc
                Member
                  Post count: 476

                  Move over Byron.

                  Got that right !!

                  Good shooting Chris !!!
                  Bruce

                • woodman
                    Post count: 9

                    Heckuva shot!Is it just me,or does small game hunting fill a huge void in all our souls sometimes?Long seasons in the places we love and all that good stuff…

                  • Stephen Graf
                    Moderator
                      Post count: 2429

                      Where is the movie Chris?

                    • Mark Turton
                        Post count: 759

                        I agree, for me small game makes up the majority of my hunting with just about every opportunity for bigger game coming undone over the past 2 years.

                        Mark.

                      • Chris Shelton
                          Post count: 679

                          Thanks guys, that was just one of those shots that I will probably never forget.:D

                          Steve Graf wrote: Where is the movie Chris?

                          Well, I have been kicking myself in the butt for this since I let that string go. We had two cameras on tripods set up, and neither of them were recording:oops:

                          I normally have a really stubborn rule towards hunting with my camera, last year I was really good about it too. I went all last season without one missed shot on film. Every single time I shot an arrow it was filmed. But on that particular day I was hungry and inpatient:roll:

                          Sooo there is no film:cry:

                          I think its safe to say I’ve learned my lesson, but I am almost certain if I were filming that day I would have missed!

                        • Ripforce
                            Post count: 225

                            Great shot I amazed that a Judo pt from that distance done that squirrel in, I have shot at a lot of squirrels this fall I have to say that just hitting one of them is a great feat! The other nite I was sitting and the woods was alive with the little critters, but they seem to be always on the move! I have zinged a few arrows off their hides but they are real tough to kill, fun to shoot at though! Congrats

                          • Larry O. Fischer
                              Post count: 92

                              Chris,
                              You were lucky to have a witness, usually when you make a shot of a lifetime there’s no one around!

                            • Chiloquin
                                Post count: 56

                                good shot!!!!

                              • Chris Shelton
                                  Post count: 679

                                  ripforce wrote: Great shot I amazed that a Judo pt from that distance done that squirrel in

                                  It did the job, but I won’t do it again, just because I feel as though I was lucky. I would probably launch one with a field point and a muzzy grasshopper, just because they seem to hit as hard but penetrate better!!

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