Air Gun Home :: View topic - One in a million shot (and not in a good way)

Paulius1981 · Member

So today I was shooting at the Squirrels that just about infest the woods on my property...and have a habit of chewing their way through my roof (the little baskets have already caused more than a thousand dollars in damage.)

Sitting with my back to a tree a great big fat barsteward of a squirrel ran out onto a limb about 20 yards in front of me. I raised my rifle, put the crosshairs on its head and, after taking a deep breath, slowly squeezed the trigger.

The gun went off with its distinctive 'pop'...but rather than seeing the squirrel drop, there was a puff of feathers less than ten yards ahead of me and I heard something hit the ground... just as I saw the squirrel haul a$$ to the next tree and head deeper into the woods..

It took me a few minutes to work out what happened.

As I was squeezing the trigger, an American Robin (sadly one of my favorite songbirds) decided that that precise instant would be the perfect time to fly directly between me and the squirrel...and it took the pellet directly on the side of its head. It was dead before it hit the ground.

So, it was either a one in million shot... or the squirrels have started to hire Robins as secret-service style bodyguards.

Cantero · Member

Ive had something like this happen to me...not with anything as small as a bird or with air rifles but i was deer hunting one day and took a shot at a nice 8-point dropped him and when i went over to inspect i noticed a doe took the bullet too about 25 or so yard away from him in some brush. Didn't even see her.

But yeah that is a crazy shot, darn squirrels are getting too smart.

Juggernaut0504 · Member

sucks you didn't get the squirrel... great story though Smile

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

Wow,that is a one in a million.Never had anything like that happen while shooting,but I did take out a very small blackbird while golfing.He flew directly into my ball after I teed off. The ironic thing was I kind of hooked my drive,but the ball deflected off the bird,"which got demolished"and landed in a pretty good spot on the fairway. Shrug

bummy · Member

Wow
Robins taking the "secret service dive"!
That is a one in a million chance
But hitting an animal behind your target is a big NO NO. You should know what is beyond your target.
Could have been another person rather than an animal!

Paulius1981 · Member

Bummy, I thought it was pretty obvious from my story that the Robin flew in front of the squirrel.

The only thing behind the squirrel was sky...and the nearest human habitation in the direction I was shooting is around seven miles away.

Trust me, given that I shoot almost exclusively on my own property, I'm fairly certain I know what's behind my target at all times.

donec · Senior Member

I may be wrong but I think Bummy was talking about the deer story.

bummy · Member

Paulius1981 I was not referring to the Robin story, Yes, it was obvious by your story the robin flew into the path of the pellet. Sounds like a pretty cool thing to have seen. Sucked for the stupid robin though!

I had the ever living crap scared out of me one time during antlered season. I was watching a doe about 20 yard to my left and 25 yards down hill from me.
Some guy that apparently shouldn’t have been in possession of a rifle was below me in the bottom of the gulley. He spotted the doe and decided to fire a shot at her. Why shoot at a doe in antlered season and why fire at one without knowing where your bullet is going to end up I don’t know, but he did!
Luckily he was to my right some, had he been in the other direction there is a good chance he could have hit me!
Needless to say I gave him a piece of my mind and fought the urge to go down the hill and kick the crap out of him! As soon as I started expressing my dislike with what he had done he turned and very very quickly walked off!
After the adrenalin run wore off I couldn’t get out of the woods quick enough!

Jaxom · Senior Member

Heh, reminds me of a Cubs baseball game, stupid pigeon flew right in front of pitcher as he threw the ball. Basically an explosion of feathers between the mound and home plate!

bummy,

You're damn lucky! Buddy of mine was at the top of a hill, between him and the gully below there was a small ridge. Some idiot seen a deer on the ridge below the top of the hill and took a shot at it. Missed the deer, but hit my buddy in the shoulder shattering it. Darn lucky he wasn't killed.

Paulius1981 · Member

Ugh, other hunters are the main reason I don't hunt off my own property very much.

I was once in a tree stand when I bullets started whistling past my head. Turned out a couple of idiots had, and I quote 'got bored', so started taking potshots at random birds in the trees.

So..yeah...In the middle of hunting season they thought it would be a good idea to start firing 30.06 rifles up into the air at anything that moved.

Mark5043 · Silver Status Member

gargoyle3 · Member

Many years back, my hunting pal was just about to shoot a Ruffed Grouse perched on a limb, when suddenly it was snatched by a Red-tailed Hawk! Shocked

sureshot18 · Member

my uncle went pheasant hunting and while he was walking he got hit about 1 inch away from his eye with a couple bbs of bird shot that came from way far away on the other side of the field. he had a big welt on his cheek bone and he is lucky he didnt lose his eye!

midnightsniper · Member

Years ago,a friend and I were practicing our throwing knife techniques.I was trowing a heavy double edge 10 inch knife at a cork board target 20 feet away.Soon as I released the throw,I knew it was dead on,but it hit something mid air.The knife went left and the object dropped straight down.I ran over and found a robin rolling on the ground.Thankfully I didn't kill it,just knocked it silly.I picked it up and rubbed it's head a few minutes.When I felt it calm down.I sat it down,it hopped away a few feet,looked back,and flew away.My friend and I deducted that the bird was behind the building and flew between us and the target.The knife handle happen to knock the bird down instead of cutting it.The building we were next to was 10 feet wide and our target was 10 feet behind the building on a 4x4 post.The bird simple didn't see us as he flew through.That is the only crazy unintentional shot I have ever made.Not something I am proud of either.Just amazed by it.