What was your best shot this year?

K

KEOutdoors

Well-known member
Thought it could be a cool discussion. Whats the best shot you made this year? Lay it out for us! Maybe it was super long, maybe super close, maybe your dogs first point? Show up your buddy and kill the bird after he emptied his gun? Lets hear it
 
A week or two ago the dog and I were walking a slough and it wraps around a point. Couldn't see the other side around the corner. Hear a bird flush and start to look around. From over the other side of the point comes a rooster coming right over top of me, gaining as much altitude as he could. I figure he heard the dog and I coming but was not real sure on the direction we were coming from. Shot the bird and as he's falling it looks like he's gonna fall on top me. So in my infinite wisdom, I decided it'd be a great idea to try and catch him. Well, I succeeded. The prize I got was a black and blue left shoulder.
 
Second to last weekend of the year. Out with my buddy on public land primarily hunting quail. We got cut off by some other hunters who came in from a different parking area. They were nice enough folks and my buddy and I decided to call it for the day.

Walking the gated gravel road back to the truck and my dog goes on point 60 yards behind us in the ditch with cattails. After failed attempts to flush and the dog relocating, the bird gets up mostly in the direction of the sun. The colors were washed out but I could see a long enough tail to know it was a rooster. I managed a snap shot before it got to where the sun would of blinded me and it folded........ on the opposite side of the canal. I sprained my wrist trying to make it across without getting wet.

P.S. if you start a thread like this there is some social obligation to share your best shot of the season.
 
I will tell you about the one I will never forget. :) Rocket and I had just left the vehicle one morning. I was walking along a long stack of hay bales, 3-high in back and 2-high near me. Rocket goes tearing into the woods and out comes a nice rooster, crossing 20' in front of me, gaining altitude to clear the 3-high wall of bales. I can't just wait and take him going away because he would be behind the bales, so I swung on him as he crossed, telling myself, "STAY OFF OF THE BREAST!"

At the shot he folded up and smacked into the 3-high wall, fell and was laying dead on top of the 2-high row. Great, but now how am I going to get him down from there? Rocket doesn't think a thing about jumping up onto a bale, so I tried to push him up on top of the 2-high row to get the bird. He was having none of it. No way Jose. Found a long limb but when I got close enough to reach the bird I could no longer see it. Fished blind for a while to no avail. Finally had to go get the vehicle to give me a bumper to stand on, then I could see to drag it down with the limb.

He had a couple of pellets in the body but that's all. I had managed to bag him without destroying him. Took a long time to retrieve him but it was worth it.
 
I got a double on December 5.

Two roosters flushed simultaneously, one about 20 yards and the other about 30, both going right to left. Shot the closer one first. Swung way out on the second one which was actually already too far but I shot anyways and it went down crippled across an open field into the next piece of cover. I watched where it went into the distance though.

Found the first one quick, kept hunting/walking towards the second one. When I got to the patch of cover I saw it go into, the dog got birdy and found it. It was still alive too. I knew I had hit it because I saw feathers fly and a leg drop.
 
I was hunting in SD back in November with a great group of guys. We were walking this big draw, with a really large slough/pond at the bottom, that had a lot of cattails, some thick cane/grasses, and milo up the one side of the hill. I was on the right side of the water walking along the edge with Whisky. There were 3-4 guys to my right stretched out doing their thing as walkers. All of a sudden I heard a shot and then a bunch yelling "ROOSTER!" As I looked to the right I saw the bird flying, with the afterburners on, trying to get elevation and speed as it flew past the line of guys doing their best WW2 anti-aircraft artillery impressions on a perfect right-to-left crossing shot. As it got closer to me I thought to myself "I am the last man standing" as it started to pass in front of me at about 35 yards. I pulled up the old (1874-1885) London made 12b and as I pulled through the bird I let go of the 1oz load of #6 from the right (LM) barrel and it just crumbled into the pond, about 40' out from the bank. I casted Whisky for the retrieve. It was our/his first water retrieve on a pheasant.

This is the obligatory picture of that bird after the hunt was over in that area. I also dropped a picture of the right side plate. I love this shotgun.
 

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All of my birds this year were pretty normal, all memorable but only one stood out. My new dog's first bird.

We had really warm weather at the start of the season after opener, so I didnt hunt him (black lab) until the weather broke a bit in early November. My buddy was working on his house and called me at noon, he said he was tired of hanging drywall and asked if I wanted to try the afternoon for roosters. I said I'll load up the dog and we will be at your house in 30 min. We walked some CRP but it was still 75F and sunny with no wind so the birds were having none of it. The second we stepped in they were flying out the end 300-600yds up. We worked a field for a bit then gave up and walked up a dried creek draw. The dog had never been upland hunting before (waterfowl trained dog at 8mo), he was just running back and forth about 10 yards in front of me having a ball. After two coons, a cat, an opossum, and some rabbits he finally got his chance. He went down into the bottom of the creek and out from right in front of his nose a yearling rooster came, a perfect rising shot right in front of me at about 15 yards. I waited a second then put 1 oz of 5s right into the back at about 20-25yds. The doggo had no idea what just happened, he came up from that creek looking around like "what was that!!!". One dead bird-back command and he was right on it. He wasnt a fan of the big warm fluffy feathers, but after two pauses he brought it to me. I have the tail feather, leg, and the shell on my dresser. Going to make some sort of display with a picture.

That's a basic, run of the mill shot that I will never forget. Ive replayed it 1000 times in my head already.
 
All of mine were pretty normal too. The double I shot on the last day of the season was memorable.
 
birddude said:
I shot a starling off a tree limb. I'd had a few high balls, so it was quite challenging! Had to use some Kentucky windage.:sneaky:
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I knew this guy from North Dakota that used to ground sluice Hungarian partridge with a shotgun from inside his vehicle. What an idiot!!
 
My dad taught me to hunt when I was 10 years old in 1970 near Central Montana. I shot my first rooster with his 1970 Ithaca side by side 20 guage. I was a big kid,and an all state football player in high school. Wind the clock ahead to early December 2023,and I decided to take the old Ithaca out.My dad passed away in his sleep 2 years ago at 89. I made a 40 yard crossing shot across a canyon,and my 4 month old black lab made his first retrieve. Ran that bird down 200 yards away, and brought it all the way across the canyon,and up the hill, and handed it to me.He is going to be a great dog.He has had no training, he just did it.Labs are awesome bird dogs imo.
 
Goosemaster said:
My dad taught me to hunt when I was 10 years old in 1970 near Central Montana. I shot my first rooster with his 1970 Ithaca side by side 20 gauge. I was a big kid, and an all state football player in high school. Wind the clock ahead to early December 2023,and I decided to take the old Ithaca out. My dad passed away in his sleep 2 years ago at 89. I made a 40 yard crossing shot across a canyon, and my 4 month old black lab made his first retrieve. Ran that bird down 200 yards away, and brought it all the way across the canyon, and up the hill, and handed it to me. He is going to be a great dog. He has had no training, he just did it. Labs are awesome bird dogs imo.
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Labs for the win!!!
 
Was out on public land and dogs kicked up a nice rooster. My partner shot twice and missed and I had a long shot with the bird going straight away. Thought what the heck and shot once and to my surprise it went down. Few minutes later my dog retrieved it. One of the few times I hit something this year. Rough season.
 
My best shot was the last rooster of the year.
Rooster flushed wild at over 200 yards on an abandoned railroad bed.
He flew across an entire section, but I knew there was grazed
out pasture on the other side of the section line.
So I hustled the mile and put pup in cattails at that section line.
As soon as pup hit scent, rooster flushed. A long quartering shot.
That was the only rooster I saw the entire morning. Very satisfying.
cattails.JPG
 
AKSkeeter said:
My best shot was the last rooster of the year.
Rooster flushed wild at over 200 yards on an abandoned railroad bed.
He flew across an entire section, but I knew there was grazed
out pasture on the other side of the section line.
So I hustled the mile and put pup in cattails at that section line.
As soon as pup hit scent, rooster flushed. A long quartering shot.
That was the only rooster I saw the entire morning. Very satisfying.
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one two-pound bird but a ton of satisfaction
 
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