Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Moving shots…..

Very rare for me

Between C and D. However, it Really depends on the range I'm shooting them at. At 600+ yards, I won't take a shot if they are moving much. Generally they need to be head down grazing and unsuspecting. Elk hunting in the timber is an entirely different ordeal. Growing up in Nevada and shooting running jacks (every day) was a big part of my learning experience. Later in life, competition trap shooting played a big role in keeping practiced up on moving shots... I feel comfortable taking offhand shots at running mulies from 100-150 yards. But past that, there's too much that can go wrong. I'll never pull the trigger if there's an ounce of doubt. Most of the critters I shoot, die from an explosion in the heart. Pretty much sums it up for me..

The last deer I shot was at a quick trot at around 175 yards. That's the only one that comes to mind that was on the move. But I guess that puts me in the "b" category.

c

b, I've shot a few that were moving slowly, but only a couple that were running and they were close.

c. All my early years deer hunting was "driven game", or " pushing bush" as it's called here. Those deer were going flat out. I like to walk and flush game almost as much as calling or stalking, so I still shoot some on the run even though we don't push bush much any more. And when any game animal is hit, I almost always shoot the running animal again to be sure. To date my journal shows just over a third of more than 100 critters were taken on the run.

I never have (on big game).

I have never wanted to risk wounding an animal.

But If I was hungry or my family was hungry, I wouldn't mind a bit.

Counting a walk as moving it would be C. Moving out pretty quick: B.

About 90% of deer I have killed are either trotting or running. They are however close range, typically less than 70 yards. I've killed a bunch of running deer but never shoot at any running directly away unless I've already shot once. If I've already shot at a running deer that close chances are I've hit it once and I feel obligated to put it down, even if it's from a Texas heart shot. Probably 80% of the deer I kill are shot more than once.

I killed 4 this year. 3 were running and all 4 were less than 50 yards away. The biggest I killed this year was a very large bodied 8 point at 20 yards. He was running flat out.

Definitely C, maybe, probably D as I did a lot of drive hunting back when. With a teenage son and 80+ year old father, I still do a lot of moving as the designated dog.

Dale

c

Between B & C, especially still hunting. Grew up shooting running jack rabbits in west Texas & cottontails in east Texas pushing'em out of old over grown abandoned RR right of ways....with a bolt action Mossberg or Marlin 22LR....made for a LOT of Practice.

My PB Game shot ever was a Pronghorn that was at a steady canter and just beginnng to break into a run like the does had in front of him...stretched over Bronco hood & fender while leaning on an elbow ...at 440 paces of a guide wearing 36" inseams.
Ron

C or D. do not like to,but where I now hunt they do not seem to stand around much. When I first started to hunt there I left a lot go while waiting for a standing shot. Now I try to pick the best open spot, and shoot.

About 40%.

B
usually just a walk, couple at a trot, but most times I wait for a standing shot. I've never left long skid marks in the snow though

John

B.

Most of the movers were walking slowly, but I recall five running shots. Powder burned one of those, an elk that ran over me.

C overall. B if you just count the last 10 years. We used to do drives and hunt deer like pheasants. Usually pass on the ones at a dead run lately

40% C.

c. if they are walking I can usually get them to stop. The others are usually 3/4 to full throttle.

Watched my grandfather shoot a deer in the back of the head while running away from him when it jumped a fence at 200 yards. It dropped on the fence. He was great at running shots, but he would practice them all the time. He built an apparatus that used a clock mechanism (one where the second hand was moving smoothly, not jerking) and attached a long wire arm onto it with a double loop at the end. He made small deer shaped cut outs that slipped between the loops and set the thing up in a hole. The paper "deer" would pop out and "run" along the top of the hole for a split second and he would shoot freehand at it with his .22. It made him great at split second running shots.


SS

We used a RC truck with a gallon tied to a whip antenna.
Good training.