Closest Kill

go_deep

Veteran member
Nov 30, 2014
2,650
1,982
Wyoming
What's the closest you've ever been on your first shot that connected on a big game animal?
And of course the story that goes with it.

Mine is a whitetail buck on the ground with a recurve at 5 steps. There was a small spot in our winter wheat field that the deer would congregate in, so I holed up in some brush on the field edge, and low and behold first deer out was a buck, he never made it off the field.
Runner up was a cow elk at 7 steps in her bed, with the melting snow I slipped right in and she never knew I was there, well until I shot her.
 
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Colorado Cowboy

Super Moderator
Jun 8, 2011
8,073
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Dolores, Colorado
Doe Mule Deer..........10 yards with a .38 pistol.

When I owned a pretty large apple orchard (265 trees) here in SW Colorado, the deer were driving me nuts eating apples and my trees. I got 5 depredation tags from Game & Fish and took my S & W Model 15 .38 cal with a red Dot sight and climbed up into one of the trees. I shot 5 does over 5 days with the .38. All head shots. Took the meat to a local processor and then donated the butchered and packaged meat to a local food bank.

Hunting......different story. Probably 40 to 50 yards on a buck antelope.
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,070
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Gypsum, Co
Since javelina are considered big game in Arizona I had one at less than a foot.

We spotted some on a far hillside feeding, my partner went high to get to them and I went down and back up. He took a shot and I had one come right to me and stop.

Now for deer or elk, I had a elk at less than 5 yards when I shot her with a Ruger Redhawk 44 mag. She just walked up to me on a game trail. Wasn't much hunting or skill involved except for pointing and pulling a trigger.
 
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Hilltop

Veteran member
Feb 25, 2014
3,796
2,161
Eastern Nebraska
Whitetail doe at 2 yards out of a ground blind opening day. I shot 2 does that day and she was the second. My closest animal I wanted to shoot but couldn't? Bull elk at 4 yards. He was on the other side of a small pine. Frustrating to say the least. I didn't get my first archery elk for another 4 years.
 
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D_Dubya

Active Member
Aug 8, 2012
452
970
South Texas
Closest shot I’ve ever had was about 10 yards with a bow, but I once had to hit a whitetail buck with a set of rattling horns when he would not leave.
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
3,811
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My buddy and I were putting on some deer drives on a river after Christmas with our flintlocks. We were taking turns dropping each other off and then go up the island in my boat and sneak into a pinch point and wait.

My buddy said he saw the doe standing there looking back at him with a big log behind her and then he saw me come up over the log for the shot. I figure she was about 6 feet away when I let it rip. For reference, the fur was burned on the other side of the deer. Literally.

And I quote my buddy here: "That was some last of the Mahicans $hit!!"

We still laugh about it.

4 of us ate that entire doe in the following 2 weeks at our house. Deer meat was a staple back then.

36128
 

Timber Stalker

Active Member
May 22, 2020
291
622
My bighorn ram at 13 yards. I was expecting a longer shot but he moved on me while I was stalking in on him. It was a very intense situation when he stood up, I was positioned for a shot to my right and he was below me to my left. My scope was on 9x and when I put it in him everything was blurry. It all worked out though. 36129
 

nv-hunter

Veteran member
Feb 28, 2011
1,566
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Reno
Mine was about 8 feet on an antelope out of a blind.
Only place to put the blind was touching one end of a powder river stock tank to be able to see the whole area with the run off from the tank. A buck came in from behind and watered from the other end of the tank. Had to lean back behind the window to draw and just stacked all 5 pens rite where the neck meet the shoulders and was a complete pass thru coming out between his back legs.
 
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Mr Drysdale

Active Member
Mar 24, 2013
403
306
Three ~five yard shots on Whitetails. All from the same hang on stand in a Pine tree. I will be there on October 1st. Straight down through the spine. Two didn’t take a step. I feel better when I get that first meat in the freezer. BTW I’m out of meat right now!
 

kidoggy

Veteran member
Apr 23, 2016
9,581
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idaho
can't say I ever had any kills on big game animals any closer then maybe 25 yards or so archery. once made a coyote call and had one come in running straight at me . I shot him in the head and he flipped and came to a rest literally in my lap. sure am glad I hit him. he were gonna run right over me.
 

Kodiak32

Active Member
Dec 10, 2013
251
24
Evergreen, Colorado
5pt bull elk, 5 yards. He was a satellite bull on the edge of a big herd. Would have loved a shot at the herd bull but couldn’t pass him up. Awesome hunt, great memories!
 

Rich M

Very Active Member
Oct 16, 2012
758
566
I've shot deer straight under my stand but that's not like being on the ground.
 

dirtclod Az.

Veteran member
Jan 26, 2018
1,637
444
Arizona
Since javelina are considered big game in Arizona I had one at less than a foot.

We spotted some on a far hillside feeding, my partner went high to get to them and I went down and back up. He took a shot and I had one come right to me and stop.

Now for deer or elk, I had a elk at less than 5 yards when I shot her with a Ruger Redhawk 44 mag. She just walked up to me on a game trail. Wasn't much hunting or skill involved except for pointing and pulling a trigger.
My brother had a similar experience where a Javelina ran straight down the trail right to his
feet and he shot it at point-blank range with a .306
I still have the skull, shattered and glued back together. 💥
 
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Naturebob

Active Member
Feb 28, 2016
185
132
67
phoenix, az.
Coues Whitetail rifle at 8 yards, My first one ever, Archery a Javalina at 2 yards ,called it in. Shot gun Turkey 5 yards................BOB!
 

badgerbob

Active Member
May 18, 2015
397
72
Eastern Oregon
Well, we never actually got the deer but my cousin, who was same age as me, worked on a diary farm after school. He had been seeing some does and a fork in one of the fields every night. I talked my mom into taking me out there after school and he and I came up with a plan. He went to the upper end of the field and stood behind a big fir tree. Once he was in place I walked toward the deer. There was a trail which went a few feet from the tree. Once the deer saw me and bolted, up the trail they went. I kept waiting for the shot which never came. Walking up I asked what happened and he told me he saw a doe in lead followed by the buck, then the other doe. As soon as the first doe went by him he stepped out and the other doe had passed up the buck. She never slowed down, just butted my cousin in the chest with her head, sending him flying one way and his gun the other. Buck ran off...