Re: Your furthest shot with a rimfire?
Posted: 22 Jul 2013 15:19
This is not the longest shot by any means and it was not done with a rim fire, but it's been one of the more interesting shots. I lived in an old cabin for awhile that had been vaguely modernized so the washer and dryer were underneath in a root cellar converted to a walk out basement.
So...in the middle of a movie and just at the tail end of twilight, I decided to run out and around to put in a load of clothes during the commercial. I ran out the door and jumped down three steps to the gravel driveway and as I took the first step on the driveway I heard the loudest hiss and rattle I'd ever heard from a rattle snake - directly underneath me - and realized I was in the process of stepping over a very angry snake.
I grew up with them, and I had had them rattle at me on numerous occasions, including one I discovered under bale I'd just lifted, but I'd never heard one make an angry hiss before. I had also been told by the neighbors there were none in the Black Hills where I had recently moved, so along with thinking %@*&$ I contemplated how wrong the neighbors were during the longest and highest long jump of my life. As I landed and turned I saw the snake coiled again for a strike, drew my .45 and shot 2 controlled pairs in the mostly dark to ensure he was dead. We have rules. I leave them alone and I stay out of places they like to be, and they are supposed to stay out of the yard, driveway and places I like to be. When the rules get broken, violence ensues.
Anyway...the next thing I heard was slamming doors and spinning tires as the entire parking lot of the country club next door emptied. Like most nights there had been several golfers drinking beer and trading golf stories in the parking lot before heading home. I'm pretty sure all they saw and heard in the dark under the trees were muzzle flashes and gun shots and apparently they did not want to wait around to see what was going down. If anyone called 911 they apparently recognized the address (I was an investigator at the time) and figured it was probably not criminal in nature. More likely the golfers just took it as "normal" Saturday night behavior in the area.
The next morning as far as I could tell, the 38" timber rattler had been laying stretched out on the drive soaking up some heat, and was not able to coil and strike fast enough to connect as I went over him, no doubt startling him as much as he startled me. I was surprised to find he was a timber rattler as they are not common that far west, and also disappointed as Reptile Gardens was paying $500 at the time for examples of live timber rattlers. Mine was very definitively dead.
So...in the middle of a movie and just at the tail end of twilight, I decided to run out and around to put in a load of clothes during the commercial. I ran out the door and jumped down three steps to the gravel driveway and as I took the first step on the driveway I heard the loudest hiss and rattle I'd ever heard from a rattle snake - directly underneath me - and realized I was in the process of stepping over a very angry snake.
I grew up with them, and I had had them rattle at me on numerous occasions, including one I discovered under bale I'd just lifted, but I'd never heard one make an angry hiss before. I had also been told by the neighbors there were none in the Black Hills where I had recently moved, so along with thinking %@*&$ I contemplated how wrong the neighbors were during the longest and highest long jump of my life. As I landed and turned I saw the snake coiled again for a strike, drew my .45 and shot 2 controlled pairs in the mostly dark to ensure he was dead. We have rules. I leave them alone and I stay out of places they like to be, and they are supposed to stay out of the yard, driveway and places I like to be. When the rules get broken, violence ensues.
Anyway...the next thing I heard was slamming doors and spinning tires as the entire parking lot of the country club next door emptied. Like most nights there had been several golfers drinking beer and trading golf stories in the parking lot before heading home. I'm pretty sure all they saw and heard in the dark under the trees were muzzle flashes and gun shots and apparently they did not want to wait around to see what was going down. If anyone called 911 they apparently recognized the address (I was an investigator at the time) and figured it was probably not criminal in nature. More likely the golfers just took it as "normal" Saturday night behavior in the area.
The next morning as far as I could tell, the 38" timber rattler had been laying stretched out on the drive soaking up some heat, and was not able to coil and strike fast enough to connect as I went over him, no doubt startling him as much as he startled me. I was surprised to find he was a timber rattler as they are not common that far west, and also disappointed as Reptile Gardens was paying $500 at the time for examples of live timber rattlers. Mine was very definitively dead.