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Quick second shot?

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What about the need for reloading fast when you find 6 squirrels in the tree???????
 
I've needed quick followup shots many a time. But all due to misses, and all but once on small game.

Take your shot, and the miserable critter just stands there looking at you!

Talk about an elbow-flapping good time. :rotf:

One memorable snowshoe hare let me shoot at him 4 times before he gave up in disgust and hopped away as I reloaded once again. Talk about embarrassing! :haha:

I missed a deer once at about 80 yards. Dunno what happened, but he didn't bat an eye and kept on feeding. I was pretty fumble fingered as I reloaded, but he waited through it all. When I finished loading he was still standing there, and I'd calmed down enough to stalk 30 yards closer. Let the air out of him good with my followup shot. :thumbsup:
 
I have to agree with Hanshi...

From my observations, if you are reloading..., you're not getting a "quick" second shot..., and also if you are in that much of a hurry for your first shot wasn't good enough when you took the time, then how effectively placed will your second "quick"shot be?

I know of three ways to get a "quick" second shot...,

I have a .50 caliber caplock swivel breeched rifle, and I can re-cock and swivel to the second barrel in about 3 seconds..., and a SxS rifle with both hammers cocked could be even faster (assuming the cloud of smoke from the first round doesn't obscure the deer). Lastly, one could carry more than one loaded rifle (or I suppose one could "Hawkeye" the situation and have a gun-boy pass you a second, loaded rifle. :haha: )

Other than that.... nope.

In 20 years of successful deer hunting..., I have had two opportunites for such a shot... the first was a flash-in-the-pan, and had I been using the swivel breech or a double gun, I could have fired the second shot to harvest the deer. The other time I took one of nine does from a group, and for some reason of the remaining 8 animals, 7 fled from my shot, but one stood still staring in my direction, and I could have taken a second deer had I another barrel.

It's not really a factor (imho) and I'd suggest placing a good first shot, and waiting 20 minutes to get the animal. Actually..., if you are quiet, and you reload in about 30 seconds and then sit for the rest of the time..., another deer might wander by giving you a chance at a second deer, instead of worrying about shooting the first deer twice.

LD
 
They don't always run out of sight. Sometimes they are just wondering what the heck happened. Kind of nice to be able to let some more blood out before looking. :wink: I always wait 30 minutes before looking unless I am darn sure. And that is usually a mistake. Always nice to see if you hit back to far. Then about 6 hours is the norm to wait. Plenty of time to reload then. :( Larry
 
Loyalist Dave said:
Lastly, one could carry more than one loaded rifle (or I suppose one could "Hawkeye" the situation and have a gun-boy pass you a second, loaded rifle. :haha: )
I ran into a guy who invited himself to trespass and sit in one of my treestands that subscribed to just that theory! He had two modern unspeakables up there with him and we were in a one-deer area.

Not only that but he had an entire twelve pack of Mountain Dew up there with him! :shocked2: I don't know how long he sat there before I got there for the afternoon hunt, but he had three of those Dew's gone already and the empties laying at the base of my tree. :cursing: Now...I don't know how big his bladder is, but I was thinking, as I watched him walk out of sight with his tail between his legs, that perhaps the stand should sit and "air out" a few days before being used again! :doh:
 
I have heard of loading a bare ball for quick follow-up but I would range test it before I ever tried it in the field.

Quick follow-up shots are needed from time to time. In the case of a miss you would certainly want to be able to follow-up quickly and only practice can help you with that.

I have the philosphy that after I shoot at game, as long as it it still on its feet I keep shooting. Even If I can see blood pouring out of its chest I will shoot again if it is still standing. I have never needed a second shot while hunting with BP but it is only a matter of time. I have seen both deer and elk take a first shot with almost no reaction even though it was in the vitals, I still keep shooting until it is down. Heck, I've seen elk take 3 shots and show no reaction. I'll be carrying my BP rifle for the first days of elk season this year and I can assure you that after the first shot I will be reloading as rapidly as possible to get that second shot in if I can.
 
Spikebuck said:
Loyalist Dave said:
Lastly, one could carry more than one loaded rifle (or I suppose one could "Hawkeye" the situation and have a gun-boy pass you a second, loaded rifle. :haha: )
I ran into a guy who invited himself to trespass and sit in one of my treestands that subscribed to just that theory! He had two modern unspeakables up there with him and we were in a one-deer area.

Not only that but he had an entire twelve pack of Mountain Dew up there with him! :shocked2: I don't know how long he sat there before I got there for the afternoon hunt, but he had three of those Dew's gone already and the empties laying at the base of my tree. :cursing: Now...I don't know how big his bladder is, but I was thinking, as I watched him walk out of sight with his tail between his legs, that perhaps the stand should sit and "air out" a few days before being used again! :doh:
Wow that guy had some big brass ones. What are people thinking.
 
I definitely try to be efficient in my reloading, but concentrate on the first shot only. The Second shot shouldn't even be considered, yet. But, when surrounded by squirrel or on a deer, where you hate to have an empty gun, use the tree or trees to stand behind to hide yourself. I have taken many times more than one squirrel off of the same tree.
 
Theres a 50 cal double barrel in the classified the follow up shot is as fast as u can pull the second trigger. :rotf:
 
....Also what I actually do after I shoot at a deer is to reload in however many minutes or combinations of minutes it takes and then sit there for at least an hour. By doing this I've often killed from two to three deer in that one hours time.
 
I once shot a cow at 60 yds. It and the entire herd didn't bother to look up, just kept feeding! I was beside myself, COULDN'T have missed! So I stepped back behind a huge ponderosa and reloaded (half powder in the barrel and half on the ground) and capped, steped forward, aimed....the cow fell over dead before I could shoot while the herd kept eating! I did get reloaded quickly but didn't need it! Seems a 385 grain conical didn't bother her much till her lungs filled up! :confused:
 
azmntman said:
I once shot a cow at 60 yds. Seems a 385 grain conical didn't bother her much till her lungs filled up! :confused:

Yeah...I would think that the larger and tougher the game animal, the more you would want to practice a quick reload. "Deer" (I know elk, moose etc are deer too :wink: ) don't seem to act like that with a gun hit (have had them do that with an arrow through the lungs). Have seen video of moose and Bison just soak it up and stand there a while before falling over.
 
Larry is right,I've been hunting with muzzle loaders for over 40 years, and I have shot deer, broadside, double lung and had them stand perfectly still, as if I had missed. Sometimes, they hang there head down, as if in a "stupor", but the patched ball, does not put them in shock, like a modern rifle. I've had deer walk slowly away, and just stand there. I've had others run, like they been "switched" and some drop in their tracks. I always prepare for the "Coup de grace". If you are lucky enough to hunt as long as I have, you'll probably see it happen. I'm sure a lot of deer have been lost, due to lake of reaction, and lack of blood sign. I use a lot of the same, thoughts, when bow hunting, and muzzle loader hunting.
 
He had two modern unspeakables up there with him and we were in a one-deer area.

Not only that but he had an entire twelve pack of Mountain Dew up there with him! I don't know how long he sat there before I got there for the afternoon hunt, but he had three of those Dew's gone already and the empties laying at the base of my tree.

A poacher, hopped up on caffeine, and double gunned.... that's a recipe for disaster fur sur!
:grin:

LD
 
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