What was your most difficult shot?

[steve white]

This could involve range, speed, surprise, danger, or even the difficulty seeing kudu in the thick spekboom brush of the eastern cape. You tell us what you had to deal with or overcome. Hopefully we can all learn something and up the skills in our hunting toolbox.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Not Africa, and not a firearm...

In 2009 I went back to visit family in Kansas, over Christmas. I bought a NR archery deer tag. As luck would have it I picked up swine flu right before getting there. I was feverish and miserable the whole trip. Did that keep me from hunting? Nooooo.....

Long story short, on my last morning I was hiking out, after pulling my stand. I had seen a couple of does go into a tangle of plum thickets around several cottonwoods a half mile from my stand. The wind was in my favor so on the way out I angled towards the tangle, without knowing if they were still there.

They were. They started to come out as I approached, unawareof me. I dropped to my knees. I brought my bow up and drew, ready in case a shot was offered. I had to lean back to avoid brush between us. And that was when the stand-off started.

They spotted me but didn't spook. I didn't have a shot. They were as still as statues, staring holes in me. I managed to let off without spooking them but was still on my knees and still leaning back. They had me pinned down like that for over 10 minutes.

Eventually they turned to go back into the tangle. Ignoring the blinding pain in my knees and back, I drew and shot at the closest, dropping an arrow into her boiler room. She dropped in sight. The distance was right at 50 yards, and I still had a slight fever.

Not sure there was a lesson to learn from this other than sometimes it's better to be lucky, and persistence pays.