Seeing brown in the scope...

[StartMyHunt]

When I was a kid, I remember one elk hunting trip with my Dad that has pretty much shaped the way that I hunt today. We were up hunting during the third rifle season with around five guys, one of whom was new to camp. Anyway, the second day my Dad and I were hiking along this ridge in the evening when we heard 4 shots in quick succession coming from the area where we dropped the new guy off. We worked our way back over to where he was and asked if he had shot anything? He rambled on about this big bull that he thought he hit but was not sure so we started off searching. No blood trail or anything other than tracks to follow. We did not find the bull that night.
The next day, we pretty much repeated the same scenario. He saw another bull, pulled off four rounds in quick succession without really aiming and was sure he hit this one. We spent the next couple of hours searching for this bull also.

We found both bulls dead later in the week. They had both been gut shot once. When my Dad asked the new guy about where he was aiming, he just said he saw brown in his scope and starting firing. Needless to say, he was not invited back the following season.

Two points to come from this:

Know the location of the vitals on an animal you intend to shoot.

If it takes more than one shot, then you should probably pass on the second.

Just my thoughts.

[Lefty]

Two points to come from this:
Know the location of the vitals on an animal you intend to shoot.
If it takes more than one shot, then you should probably pass on the second.
Just my thoughts.

seeing brown in the scope is just wrong!

While I agree hunters need to know where to shoot. Ive heard of rifle shooters that only take neck or spine shots. I never have.
But as far as multiple shots I have killed a lot of game with more than one bullet through the top of the heart, more often than not knowing/ expecting the first shot was "good" . Ive taught my daughters the same. It is one thing to feel you missed and shouldn't take another shot. But a quick follow up is only ethical.
My second wt buck when I was thirteen had 5 holes in the heart/ lungs. I kept shooting until it disappeared, dropped dead but didnt know it.
My fourth wt deer had a second hole in it( top of the heart ) it never broke stride from the first shot
My first Montana bull elk and First Idaho Bull elk both had a 2nd shot quickly; one bull dropped in its tracks on the 2nd shot. the other went 120 yards
A huge Washington state black-tail had 4 shots in a 3 inch location ( above the heart) before I shot the 5th round
My first small Utah buck at 20 yards had three perfectly placed shots in the crease My last Utah buck, 4 shots in the crease.
My middle daughters first antelope; 323 yards, blood pumping out the hole and she had a 2nd shot (3/4" away) faster than most could bolt in another shell.
Two years ago my youngest daughter had two holes in the top of the heart on her moose; first shot at 22 yards 2nd at 5 yards, that bull went 160 yards
Of the 6 antelope Ive shot each had two well placed shots before they dropped.
I dont trust a perfect shot if game doesnt drop to the ground instantly

Now archery,.. others can chime in

[Fridaythe13th]

I would have let him come back He did have the golden horse shoe.
Here's my thought; we do the old fashion deer drives in MN the deer are running mock 4 across the field and my shotgun hold 5 shells and its not a 1 shot deal you keep shooting safely till it drops, yes I've hit them in the head,butt, lungs, the 1 guy manage to shot 3 legs off to slow them down before he finished the job. If we don't do deer drives we don't get deer plan and simple.
Elk are different, But I would keep shooting but aiming for the sweet spot every shot.
Last year archery elk; 3 went out called in a bull 20 yards broadside perfect shot double lung but not a pass through the bull ran over the hunter #2 he put another arrow in the bull lungs complete pass. They followed the blood trail 100 yards with decent blood after the 100 yard mark the blood quite, no blood for the next 150 yard were they found him.
The more hole the better.

[Tigger]

For me it is an ethical thing. I teach my kids that there is no sense in pulling the trigger that first time unless you are right on the spot you want the bullet to hit. After that, you need to take every safe shot possible to reduce the distance that animal travels. As stated, critters can go a long ways with fatal wounds and leave little or no blood trail. I look at it like this, I assume my first shot is fatal, my actions after that must reduce the distance that animal will travel. Most always, that is a good follow up shot. Even the best shots will sooner or later have that first bullet not go exactly where they want and that 2nd or 3rd shot may make the difference between a 50 yard tracking job and a 400 yard or longer tracking job or not even finding the animal. Good discussion.

Oh and the brown in the scope....that is ludicrous and that guy doesn't belong hunting. Good for you for not inviting him back. That may have been uncomfortable, but it was the right thing to do.

[Charina]

he just said he saw brown in his scope and starting firing. Needless to say, he was not invited back the following season.

Mental control at the moment of shot/release is critical! Some people just lose all mental stability at the most critical moment, but it doesn't have to be so. I would highly suggest listening to a Joel Turner interview on the matter.

When a young teen, hunting rabbits with my father, I learned firsthand about taking one and only one shot, and making it count, or passing on it if I couldn't get it just right. We hunted cottontails on an abandoned WWII era air base where paved roads were laid out in a grid pattern approx 1/4 mile apart. It was very productive for the shooter to be on the road, and a flusher to walk on the opposite side of the briar patches from the road. The rabbits would dart across the asphalt, approx the width of a narrow two lane mt road.

My success rate on flushed rabbits was not good, and a few were wounded and able to hobble off, even if I shot both barrels on the old break action 20ga. With some great coaching from dad, I determined to take my time with each shot, and shoot once and only once on each rabbit. Sometimes that meant that I didn't shoot until the rabbit was just about completely across the road. And sometimes that meant not shooting at a particular rabbit at all. Even though I passed on some rabbits, we took home many many more rabbits under that approach. Taking the necessary time and focus to make ONE shot count is worth a whole lot more than a semi-auto with a full magazine.

For me, it is an ethical thing of only taking shots that I'm highly confident will hit the mark, and never taking a second shot unless the exact same level of high confidence exists. For me, that means second shots are extremely rare - shooting at a running animal is a good way to wound an animal you missed because of a deflection, scope or pin knocked out of alignment, bad yardage measurement, wind, or whatever. It happens, but I think it is extremely infrequent, that a second shot is going to have a better chance of connecting than the first. Regroup, figure out why your first shot missed, and correct the issue, then take an animal appropriately on the first shot.