Shooting down

[tasaman]

Ok. I have been hunting for a number of years but something happend to me the other day and I'm perplexed. I have a new thumbhole Savage and have it sighted in a bit high at 100 and dead on about 160. Shot a doe at 120 last week and it was right on the money.
Here is my dilemma. I shot at a small 8 pt from my stand and completely missed the week before. Yep, at a whopping 15 ft from my stand! I've been ready for the long shot having sent a few rounds down range but never shot almost strait down. It cost me a buck and I'm a tad upset. Not so much I didn't get the deer but that I missed! He can go grow up now and not walk under orange wearing monkeys in trees.
I was standing strait up and could not bend without being seen so I took the only shot I had. Then, after the shot I noticed that the gun was not really tight to my shoulder. This I know was a mistake. Lastly, I put the crosshairs midway on the deer so if I hit exactly where I was aiming, it would have went right thru the heart. That didn't happen. Did not even touch him.
So why do you guys think I missed? I am going to practice this shot sometime in the near future but I am going to listen very closely to any suggestions. By the way, the gun was not off, just me. I checked the gun at the range and then shot a deer shortly after and it was good. Thanks guys for any help.

Ed

[whyohe]

what load are you using? shooting streight down gives you alot less area for error. being that closeyou should IMO add the differance between scope and bore+ some more how much depends on how flat your load is shooting. practice is best cure. put target face up and try it and see how far off your trajectory is.

[ozark]

Shooting straight down or straight up does away with the normal gravity pull on the bullet. Since you couldn't bend without being spotted it would be very difficult to cheek the rifle and get a good eye relief distance on the scope. In my opinion you should have waited until the deer provided you with a better opportunity for a normal shot. I can't suggest practice shooting straight down. I would practice forcing myself to wait until a decent shot opportunity presented itself. If you can't hold and cheek the rifle properly the you are likely to miss or minuts a deer. I can't offer a reason for missing other than expecting to hit under the conditions is not correct. JMHO

[tasaman]

I guess a little more info would help here. If I let that deer walk another 10 ft he would have walked right into the trail I took to get to my stand and most likely I would have been busted. It was a now or let him go shot. I didn't think it was going to be that hard of a shot.
The load I was using was 250 XTP in front of 44gr 5744 in my MLII. That load shoots really good in my gun and it should have at very most been 3 inches low at muzzle due to scope hight above the barrel. I had it sighted in at 2 inches high at 100 and was expecting the deer to be in the field not in the fence row I was set up in.
From my stand, the gun was about 17 ft above the ground I am estimating. So, the deer being about 15 ft from my tree, you have more than a 45 degree angle to the target. Now, I will be hunting some hilly area in the near future and shots could be from 25 feet to 150 yards. I do not want to miss or worse, wound an animal.
I do know that when shooting up or down, you have to hold slightly low due to less drop because there is less horizontal bullet travel and less gravity affecting the trajectory. Given the strait line distance of less than 30 feet I figured the bullet would be "close enough" and cause enough trauma to give a quick clean kill. I wasn't paying attention to my form and because of it I had a clean miss. I have heard of people shooting at elk at 15 yards and completely missing but it has never happened to me. I guess I am going to have to go find a steep incline around here and set up a couple of targets and see what exactly is going on there.