How many shots to take down your game?

[49ereric]

Quartering shot and suspect you just hit one lung keep shooting. Broadside shot behind the shoulder and the shot is good then one and done. Just deer here.

 

[timekiller13]

In my younger less experienced days there were handful of rifle shot deer that required follow-ups. All due to poor shot placement/excitement and lack of experience on my part.

I can’t think of animal that I’ve shot with a rifle in the last 20 years that required more than one shot. A couple spine shot bow kills needed a follow-up.

 

[streamerfish]

I don't know exactly.....

My guess is something like 2.5 shots average on elk. Like a few mentioned, I hunt thicker timber, I want them down as quickly as possible. Most of them were "dead" on the first shot, but didn't fall over immediately on the first shot, so they got more until they did. Is it potentially unnecessary, yeah probably. But I don't want to track. I've also made shots that weren't perfect either. I'm not afraid to admit it.

On deer probably 1.5 shots average maybe....Generally hunt more open country, not as worried about one running a bit.

 

[Lowg08]

We have learned over the last couple years. The deer here are particularly tough. Yes I know everyone says that but deep Appalachian bucks seem to have more than extra will to live Along with very difficult track jobs. Through laurel thickets,dog hobble and don’t want another one going over a cliff. We are putting two in them. Worked better in our favor this year.

 

[Kingofthemountain83]

My second mule deer when I was 14 I call the Terminator... Shot him in the ass as he was running away... He still had 3 good legs to go downhill as fast as he could while I lobbed 100 gr sp Remingtons upwards of 600 yards at him... At least I packed at lot of ammo as a kid... Hit him everywhere... Got the whole deer made into summer sausage... Then a spike bull muzzy hunting took 3 Powebelts... Didn't broadside penetrate lungs... First one 68 yards... Second one 23 yards... I had to walk up and shoot it in the back of the head... Garbage bullets... A big cross breed bull with a muzzy... Stood there and took 3 350gr .50 Hornady to the lungs at about 75 yards and still stood there a minute till he collapsed... Another muzzy spike bull took 3 .50 370 gr Maxi Balls at 53 yards... First one quartering towards got one lung and broke the diaphragm... He turned around and bedded but kept trying to get up... I put two more through his lungs broadside until he stopped trying to get up and just sat there for a couple minutes until he died... I've lost an elk before... Not because I didn't keep shooting... It's not feeling or an experience I wish on anyone... Imho elk are the toughest animal to kill and have the strongest will to live... If you have the opportunity to get a follow up shot in any game... Do it...

 

[fisherman983]

I've been fortunate that almost all of my kills have been 1 shot. All of them were with a 6.5 .. either a 264 win mag or 6.5 prc using 140-156 gr bullets.
Ranges vary from 20 yds to 804 yds.

I've only had a couple animals i shot a second time but only because I could see they were still alive, knew the 1st round was 100% fatal and had a perfect broadside opportunity to not hit/destroy a bunch of meat on the 2nd.



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[Mtns2hunt]

Normally one shot but I hunt field edges bordering logged off thickets. Shots are fast and if I can I will often attempt a second shot. Over a 100 one shot kills.

 

[Choupique]

I think my personal record is 5 hits with a rifle and also 5 with a bow... Both deer. The bow one was awful. It looked like a horror movie scene when it was over with.

I'll trade some meat for assurance that it isn't going anywhere, or if I think it is suffering. If I know I hit it, and it's running, I'm shooting at it. Follow ups on down animals are usually head or neck shots.

There is a running joke at my camp that if you hear one shot, it probably wasn't me. Two, there's a chance. Three, better chance. Seven, definitely me.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I had one year where I blew out on a bear with a rifle deer with rifle and a deer with a bow. Next year I shot 600 rounds with a rifle and made it my goal to kill with 100% of my shots. I let a lot of stuff walk for a year or two but real good at killing. I’m not 100%, but I do alright

 

[Maverick1]

Sitting over a waterhole one year a cow elk came in. I shot her at 13 yards with a perfectly placed arrow. She jumped back three yards and just stood there. So I took out another arrow and shot her again at a distance of 16 yards. At the impact of the second shot she crashed off through the brush and went down about 20 yards away. That was weird. Only elk I've ever been able to shoot twice.

 

[KenLee]

If its trying to get up, I'm slinging. Since im a half ass shot, I used to shoot more than once almost every year at something. Now that I have a magic 300 wizzum, it doesn't happen.

 

[jagunn550]

I mainly only shoot whitetail deer and have only needed 1 shot. I can see how larger animals like elk may need more than 1 shot depending on bullet performance and shot angle.

 

[Macintosh]

Ive made a couple poor shots that required a followup, both with gun and bow. Interestingly none of the bad shots were at longer range. A few that I managed to shoot twice even though one shot would have been plenty. Usually gun hunting my shots are at very close range but there is only the opportunity for one shot due to vegetation. Its impossible to say if they were still kicking for a bit and I might have shot again if they’d been visible. Lots of those do go down immediately but are still kicking or thrashing so a few have gotten a second to be certain it would be as quick as possible—even a perfectly placed bullet it often takes a few seconds to expire. Seems like a long time watching it.

 

[Mangata]

I always am planning on shooting until they are down. Really have never considered waiting to evaluate if my first shot was fatal unless of course they are down with the first.
Moose especially can absorb a hit and then try to find the nastiest location to die in just out of spite.

 

[CMF]

We shoot til down! Deer are usually one-shot, cause they either drop or run off. Bigger critters usually get a follow-up if they're still up and we have a shot. I've heard too many stories of animals dropping and then getting up, never to be seen again.
Son's muzzy bull elk, he dropped him at 60yds, had his head up still, so he put second in.
Daughters first oryx, dropped after first 140yd shot from 300wm, having heard the stories, we put two more in just to be sure. Her second oryx, 60yds 6.5cm, DRT, one more from 60 plus another once we got up to it just to be sure.
Cow elk 300wm, 100yds, I put two perfect in the vitals, and would have kept shooting, but she was hunched up and blood was pouring, so I held off anymore.
First archery elk, 4 arrows shot, 2 through vitals, not sure where the other 2 ended up.

 

[Lorxus]

If you're not trying for and fairly reliably getting 1-shots, then something's gone very wrong.

 

[Whitefox82]

On whitetail, I don’t remember the last time I shot more than once. I hunt timber these days so you’re likely not getting a second shot when they’re on a death sprint through thick cover but they won’t go far either if you hit both lungs, usually they can make it about 50-60 yards. Not a hard track job either. And it’s really unnecessary to keep blasting away at them while running anyway, probably just going to lose meat and they are already dead.
In open country and with animals that don’t typically bolt after impact, yeah, put another in him!

 

[MeatMissile]

One shot One kill no exceptions

 

[CMF]

If you're not trying for and fairly reliably getting 1-shots, then something's gone very wrong.

I'm confident every animal we shot more than once would have died regardless of follow-up shots, but I'm not going to wait around and find out.

 

[Goose_Huff]

All one shot drt, except when it wasnt... twice I've had mule deer bucks drop on the shot like a bag of rocks, only to get up 30 seconds later and hauling ass. One got a second shot high to anchor as he was running roadside to me, and a third once down in the vitals to be certain. The other time it happened, 3 years later, the buck started sprinting directly toward a 400 foot canyon cliff. He got the full mag Texas Heart style and slammed down just feet before the cliff edge. Recovery would have been a nightmare. I'll take the meat loss if I know an animal is going to die, but not dead and running.

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