I missed.

I went out with my 788 in .308 to draw first blood with it tonight. A big sounder showed up right before dark. I settled the cross hairs on the biggest pig, and eased into the trigger. My hold felt good. Looked good. No flinch. The pigs scattered...all except for a small one that staggered off about 20 yards. But that's not the one I was aiming at. I figured I had a two fer. After I went and looked, I found no blood from any pig except the small one. I'm going to check my scope tomorrow. If it's not the scope, then I'm gonna feel really bad. 80 yard shot with a gun easily capable of 300 yard shots. Gotta be my biggest whiff ever.

Everybody is entitled to a miss, but I would bet it is the bullet.

Probably went right through the lungs of the big one and then hit the small one, bet you will find bones of the big one another time within a few hundred yards of where you shot it.

It's novel to see this degree of self accountability. I'll bet the issue was not the Uncle Bubba in it. Even if it was, the bet here is you will grow from this incident. Onward & ever forward.

What a frustrating series of events.

Hopefully you just knocked the scope off putting it away.

Assuming the scope is on, and I bet it is, your bullet went right where the crosshairs were when the rifle fired. And you didn’t miss. In the last month I’ve shot two big hogs that ran off, leaving no blood. Dang things don’t always leave a blood trial.

Another possibility is that your bullet clipped a bit of unseen / unnoticed brush or grass between muzzle and intended target. It doesn't take much at all to dink with the stability of a projectile, and where the slug winds up after that is anybody's guess!

I've seen a number of bizarre instances of this over the years. Whatever it was, don't sweat it...anybody that hasn't muffed a shot is either a liar or just ain't hunted much!

Mark

I've one-shot dropped 'em at 20 yards and 130 yards. I've missed/not killed at 20 yards and 130 yards and everything in between, all with the same rifle. I think the technical term for it is "hog hunting". Resilient beasts...

If you had recording through your scope, you'd also have the opportunity to see how badly you miss sometimes and wonder who snuck up behind you and was pulling the trigger when that happened.

Charlie

Sounds like a pulled or pushed shot hit one in the big sounder...Shoot enough and you will ultimately miss one or two or more..

Easy way to know is to go check your rifle. If you hit where you are aiming I would bet you hit the bigger one and the bullet deflected and impacted the other one. I have had doubles lined up before and it doesn't hit the 2nd one. Lots of variables after a bullet makes impact on which direction that thing exits if you get a pass through. A lot of times hogs do not leave a blood trail either.

Most hogs I have shot and certainly most under 100 yards have principally dropped DRT. I generally aim for neck or head on them; not sure where you were aiming.

It may have gone through as others have stated. You may have pushed or pulled despite the shot feeling good. Checking your rifle will only rule out that it wasn't a rifle problem.

One of the things I have really liked about using electronic scopes and recording shots is seeing where shots went wrong. It would also potentially show you splatter from the first hog as the bullet went through it on the way to the second hog.

The thing about self assessment of shots with no target for validation is that the process can be self deceiving.

Plenty of good responses already, and I agree.

Check the zero, if that's good...
Check your skills when the heart rate is up a bit, if that's good...
Maybe rethink your point of aim in those tough hogs. Ear hole or neck tend to give me more confidence in them dropping where they stood.

They're a cross between a bulldozer and a cockroach.

Nope. It was a miss. I checked last night, and again this morning. I am sure I missed.

I was aiming high shoulder. If I would have hit where I was aiming, he should have dropped right there.

I am convinced that either the rifle is off, or I had some sort of brain fart and pulled or yanked when I thought I was steady. I'll find out when I check my rifle's zero a few hours from now.

Wow, always nice to hear a Mea Culpa.

I made a similar mistake with my deer rifle last season. I was sighted in the last time I used it (the season before) and I neglected to sight it in again just to make sure. I had my wife in the stand with me for the first time ever and saw the cull buck I was looking for show up. I got done explaining to her that I'm aiming for the heart, and that the deer will probably bolt, so don't be alarmed, heart shot deer run 30-60 yards no big deal. I line up my shot, cool as a cucumber and squeeze off the shot. The buck drops its rear and staggers around for a couple of seconds before he collapses and dies. Not what I was expecting! My wife's like, "I thought you said he was going to bolt?" I'm sitting there trying to figure out where exactly I hit that sucker.

Turns out I got him through the liver. If he was facing the other way, it would have been clean miss. The scope put the bullet 12" to the left of the target.

I'll be sighting in prior to the season from now on.

I would have just gone with "that hog sure looked bigger in the scope"

sucks man wouldnt know really... i dont miss

Not sure if you shoot a lot but something that has plagued me in the past is differences in the trigger pull between rifles. My last miss wasn't so much a miss as it was being forgetful of the light trigger on the rifle that I was using at the time. The last rifle that I had taken to the range has what is probably the hardest trigger of any rifle I own. The rifle that I decided to take to the woods a week or two afterward has a light trigger. I had the cross hairs just above the back of a hog and was lowering my aim for the shot when my finger broke the trigger. The fact that I was wearing gloves at the time probably also contributed to a lack of feel with the light trigger. It was a lesson learned about knowing the feel of the trigger on the rifle and remembering to treat each trigger in accordance with its design.

Not sure but perhaps it points to one of the key benefits of a two-stage trigger. The end of the first stage serves to alert you that you're about to squeeze into the more crucial second stage. No surprise to me that I shot my last hog just a few weeks ago with my Savage that has the AccuTrigger which emulates a two-stage trigger.

Never have your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

That too could be a poor habit picked up after lots of shots at the range. I mean, how many people remove their finger entirely from the trigger when making a series of practice shots.

Um, everyone that has to cycle an action.

Semi-auto?

Muscle memory comes into play with so many things that we do with our hands and fingers. I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I can be very accurate with my single action only handguns that require a lot of muscle memory. Some claim that it becomes easy once you practice enough, which is something I do very little because I enjoy shooting my rifles far more.

Happened to me, very frustrating!

I'd bet I shoot quite a bit more than most, and this rifle has a very nice, crisp trigger. I sat down at the range this afternoon. 6" plate at 100 yards and 12" plate at 200 yards. 2 shots dead center at 100 yards. Aimed 2 moa high and put 2 shots a few inches high of center at 200 yards(bad dope) but still kill shots. Back to 100 and put the third shot right there with the first two. It was me. The rifle is fine.

Very humble

Like I said before, it's the bullet's fault, always a faulty round in every box of ammo, the manufacturers make them that way. Sometimes a joker will put more than one on a box.

So what do you believe might have been the reason? Just trying to see if your thoughts might offer something that could be useful to the rest of us.

TIA

Sometimes the pig doesn’t fall down. Simple as that. I shot one the other day, and put the bullet right where I wanted. He ran. It was dark, so I figured I’d find him in the morning. Never did find him. Pretty sure he’s dead somewhere, but where...I don’t know. It would only matter if I had planned to eat that hog.

Many years ago I was going to shoot a large white rock. I don't do long range shooting but I tried to hit this white rock that was probably 500 yds. from me. I took a good rest and shot. Luckily I missed as it was one of my Angora Goats that got up at the shot that missed him.

I've had more than one dust off the first shot, that's for sure. Had one that I watched fall and kick for several minutes before it finally stopped and appeared dead. After I had gotten out of my chair and started heading out the back of my ground blind, I just happened to look back and see that he had gotten on his feet and was walking off. Never did find him.

That would’ve been an expensive shot

You're right. Saw Buzzards this morning. Pig didn't go but 50 yards from where he was shot. Good lord was he ripe this morning!

Congrats!

The buzzards never miss one.

Glad you found him. Coyotes gotta eat too.

Glad you found him

Shot at a pig a few months ago at my ranch. Perfect broadside shot and distance. 160 yards, 308 with Barnes 180 gr TSX. He took off like a bat out of hades. Went to the sight and found no blood. Was just a little bit miffed how I could miss at that distance. I decided to check the gun on the range. 3 shots produced a nice clover leaf. Saw no buzzards the near the area where I took the shot. Sometimes, stuff happens.

My olfactory nerves sure weren't glad!