Reaching into my pocket I felt the last bullet. I jacked out the spent .243 shell and chambered my last hope. The wind was howling and Rod whispered, “Hold on his back and to the left.” Lining up the cross hairs on my target I squeezed the trigger and watched my prey disappear behind a rise in the terrain.
Was it me? Did I knock the scope off? These were the only two factors in a success equation that at the moment was equaling failure.
Sighting in my rifle before I left on this antelope hunt I laid the narrative out in my head. I would hunt with my very first rifle. A Model 7 .243 that my dad gave me when I was a young boy. It still has the original scope and up to this point in my life never failed me. The lesson would be “you don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment to get the job done.”
I found myself in a different situation. Out of bullets and hustling back to the truck to swap out guns and get more ammo.
Before all this transpired Rod and I spotted the buck bedded down less than two hundred yards away. We had a nice ditch to make a stalk. He had not been alerted of our presence, so I figured this would be a good opportunity for an easy shot.
Taking my time I rested the gun on my pack and squeezed the trigger. My target stood up. With the wind he could not locate the direction of the shot. I held steady and squeezed again and again and again and again. I repeated this process until I found myself reaching for my last bullet and watching the antelope walk out of view. I thought I had hit him, but he really wasn’t in a hurry to get out of the area.
Once I swapped out my rifle for Rod’s (which proved to be on the mark the day before) I ran up a hill trying to cut off the antelope. There was just enough rise he couldn’t see my approach. I crested the hill and he saw me. I dropped down to a knee and put my pack in front of me. Instead of running away he started to come towards us. He was head on and there was still too much of a crest for a shot.
His curiosity would make him take a couple steps towards us. His instincts would kick in and he would turn and walk away. I got aggressive and just kept moving towards him. I couldn’t make up enough ground to get clear shot. Finally, a broadside shot presented itself and I placed the bullet where it needed to be and watched him take a few steps before falling to the ground.
I was experiencing two emotions: excitement and confusion. I was excited I had finally placed my hands on my antelope, but I was still trying to figure out what the hell had happened.
We reviewed the footage (which was mostly sage brush and witty comments from Rod). In total 13 shots were fired. It wasn’t a rapid fire situation. Several seconds passed between each shot as I loaded a shell, steadied my gun and “squeezed easy.” If there is anything positive I can pull from this story is I was concealed, based on the fact that the buck never knew where I was located.
I felt guilty about the misses. There is nothing illegal about missing. However, I feel there is an ethical question about taking a shot you can’t make. In the end I decided the antelope was in range. When everything started he was less than 200 yards away. That is the distance I sighted my rifle in at. I am confident with that shot. I have made that shot. And I will make that shot in the future. The farthest shot was under 225 yards. Still a makeable shot. My gun was sighted in when I started the hunt. I must have knocked it off during a stalk.
While writing this story I had two choices
1. Tell the story how it happened and admit to my mistakes
2. Sugar coat the story
My decision is pretty obvious. I am telling the story how it happened. Honesty is the best policy.
Click here for a highlight of our hunting trip.
How Does This Apply to Business
You will make mistakes at your job (just like I missed). I have found the best policy is to admit to mistakes when they occur. Additionally always have a plan to prevent them from happening in the future.
The next time I am getting ready for a rifle hunt I am going practice more. I am also going to take preventive measures to make sure my scope doesn’t get knocked off.
What mistake have you made recently? What are you going to do to prevent the mistake from happening again?
Until next remember…You’re going to have to earn it.