Missing easy rifle shots.

[30-6]

On my friends farm there is a small pond that mallards come to every year. I've noticed there are only two little small ducklings swimming around. So do they lay another clutch if the first fails ? The size and number of ducklings would suggest that to me.

Back to my question. I know a fox hangs around the area, so decided to see if I could have it, assuming it was showing an interest in the ducks. Tucked myself in the hedge about 200 yds from the pond, still light, done 4 squeaks on a mouth caller, and out come a very large dog fox in pristine condition about 80 yds away. Side on, the perfect shot. The .223 was on the tripod ready, just a normal tripod no clamps or anything fancy, lined him up, pulled the trigger and missed.

Now with the same set up I've conquered harder shots than this one, so is it feasible that my brain is thinking " easy shot " , and that was my downfall, and did not execute the shot correctly.

Going to do some zeroing on targets, to see if it's me or the scope.

[Ultrastu]

You might not of missed him just his vital kill zone .so he ran off injured .

Its very easy to pull a shot (trigger control  ) a non vital hit will often result in a runner .

Get the thermal out and go look for him .

Foxes have a habit  of being found dead the next day 200 yds away from where they were shot . Its best you find him first. 

[jall25]

45 minutes ago, 30-6 said:

On my friends farm there is a small pond that mallards come to every year. I've noticed there are only two little small ducklings swimming around. So do they lay another clutch if the first fails ? The size and number of ducklings would suggest that to me.

Back to my question. I know a fox hangs around the area, so decided to see if I could have it, assuming it was showing an interest in the ducks. Tucked myself in the hedge about 200 yds from the pond, still light, done 4 squeaks on a mouth caller, and out come a very large dog fox in pristine condition about 80 yds away. Side on, the perfect shot. The .223 was on the tripod ready, just a normal tripod no clamps or anything fancy, lined him up, pulled the trigger and missed.

Now with the same set up I've conquered harder shots than this one, so is it feasible that my brain is thinking " easy shot " , and that was my downfall, and did not execute the shot correctly.

Going to do some zeroing on targets, to see if it's me or the scope.

 

Very easy to miss the "easy" ones - same with birds when shooting with the shot gun

Its not following the shot through and looking up too quickly

 

Ducks will have several broods a year

The moorhens have just hatched another brood with us 

[30-6]

I checked with the thermal right away, and then as it got dark with a headlamp and thermal again, walked around the other side of the hedge and done it all over again.There was no blood evident, and he never jumped or went down, just went the way he came out but a lot faster.

I would say there was no hit, but I still feel bad, because I should have done better.

Not going to use the .223 until I get some target work done.

[chrisjpainter]

1 hour ago, 30-6 said:

I checked with the thermal right away, and then as it got dark with a headlamp and thermal again, walked around the other side of the hedge and done it all over again.There was no blood evident, and he never jumped or went down, just went the way he came out but a lot faster.

I would say there was no hit, but I still feel bad, because I should have done better.

Not going to use the .223 until I get some target work done.

Just a thought, when was the last time you had your eyes tested? If your sight's changed - especially if your close vision's got worse - that might be having an effect. 

[30-6]

I'm ok with hmr, lr and air rifles though, and I've never had a problem taking the Alpex on / off the .223.

Every 2 years for eyes.

My gut feeling is that it's me, not taking the shot correctly, thinking it's an easy shot. I think I need to discipline myself.

[jall25]

I would not think too hard about it - it happens 

I missed one last night then got 2 in the same position

I did not take the shot seriously as i thought it was easy - i have an XP so recorded the shot and could see how i pushed the shot over - it was so far over that the fox did not even panic - and nearly gave a second opportunity - in the end it worked its way back and the second opportunity was spot on.

Just go and fire a few shots at the target to make sure it was you and not the gun - and then dont worry - get back out there 

[Rim Fire]

When was the last time you checked the zero it's the very first thing i do at the start of the Deer season check its on    my foxing rifles are shot at least once a week so i know they are on 

[FOXHUNTER1]

I think you will find its probably human error , everyone misses at some point , usually the easy ones due to lack of concentration. 

When people miss they always try to blame something when in reality its usually them 👍

[Dougy]

First time i ever went out shooting and hit the intended target i was running a pretty good shot ratio at 1 for 1 so 100%.

 

The more you shoot the more chance you have of loosing your 100% kill rate, it happens, those that never missed or pulled shots dont get out much, even 260 RIPS has the odd miss i bet, I know i have missed 1 once 

 

 

 

[30-6]

In answer to Rimfire , about 3 weeks had 4 in the same night, with the same set up, so assumed all was ok.

In answer to Jall25, haven't got into the habit of pressing record yet.

The only " excuse ", I can come up with is I had changed reticule type and tried the PIP for the first time. Perhaps that threw me off course.

Anyway, thanks for your input guys.

[Dougy]

Ah ! so your using thermal or digital scope. 

Could be zero shift then, i would be checking zero then. I recently bought a Pard rf thingy scope, its OK but not a patch on standard scope and tubed NV for confidence in shots. 

[30-6]

I changed from a Photon to an Alpex, but the Photon never let me down, just limited in its capabilities.

Like you say, the simplicity of a day scope with a Duplex reticule is hard to beat.

[jall25]

12 hours ago, 30-6 said:

I changed from a Photon to an Alpex, but the Photon never let me down, just limited in its capabilities.

Like you say, the simplicity of a day scope with a Duplex reticule is hard to beat.

Hi 30 - 6

I used to use the PIP - i really like it - but i missed a few with it

After analysing / reviewing it made me alter my head position to look atb the reticule in PIP - went back to normal and am on proper form 

[Whitester]

A mate of mine had a problem where he was missing a lot of shots with the 22 lr on rabbits. I gave him my hmr to try and the same thing, missing a load of shots.

We eventually worked out that he was seriously canting the rifle to the right.

a bad habit had crept in so he’s sorted it now after a bit of practise .