How much to lead a running whitetail deer?

BadAsMo

BadAsMo

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So with the upcoming whitetail deer season fast approaching, I was wondering what lead formulas you guys have for running deer?

Like many of you I’ll be at deer camp with about 20 other guys who seem to miss more deer than they hit because they don’t know how much to lead them.

One caviat to would be posters – please don’t come in with some lame suggestion like – you just need to practice – most guys don’t see enough deer in their lifetime to get good at it by that insightful method.

We need some sort of formula like lead one body length for every 30 yards away or something like that.

What if you are using slugs or a high power rifle – then how does that (velocity change) affect the lead?

Any thoughts?

How fast does a deer run anyway?
 
this is a wide open question.........
Is the deer 50 yds away for 250 ?
is it trotting along or going balls out?
slugs vs rifle will be huge difference at any distance at all.

start with a 1/2 a body length in front and go from there.

DO you like MATH?
If you want to do some EASY math, consider a deer at 100 yds. (300 ft)
Assume your bullet is going 3000 fps. (average over the 100 yds) which is damn fast
It will get there in about 1/10th of a second.

Assume deer is moving 15 mph (not fast) which is 22 fps. In 1/10th of a sec if just moved 2.2 feet
So you need to be 1.1 ft out front to hit it 1.1 ft back. With me so far?

So, if your bullet is slower, or the deer is twice as far away, or if the deer is moving faster, you need to be farther out front.
Guestimate some numbers of your own to get a rough idea for 100 yd shooting
 
Unfortunately you have more variables to consider here than ones brain can compute in their head, let alone in a split second.

How fast is the deer running? Can you estimate that good enough to form a formula?

Is the deer running directly perpendicular to your stance or vision or is it slight away or slightly towards?

How far is the deer?Can you estimate by eyes how far?You won't have a range finder for this shot.

Are you shooting a slug? A 45-70 a 257 Weatherby? Do you know for sure how fast that projectile is traveling?

Now put all these together in a formula AND get all of the variables right in your head as a deer breaks the edge of the bush in front of you.

Leading an animal for a running shot is simply a guess.

If you want to know ballistics vs moving target with known speed a simple software program and your jr high school math can figure that out.

My advice, first, if you are unsure of the shot, don't friggin take it.All too many a deer shot through the guts was a result of a running shot.

If you are going to take the shot lead much further than your brain tells you.That is the only equation that I feel would help here.
 
Ok I googled it and there is 5280 feet in a mile. So if a deer runs 40 miles per hour then he is going 211,200 feet per hour / 60 equals 3,520 feet per minute / 60 equals 58.67 feet per second.

So if we suppose a shotgun slug goes about 1500 FPS and a high power rifle goes about double that, then we would need to lead about twice as much with a shotgun as a rifle. That seems simple enough.

I think we need a number for how long it takes for the projectile to go one yard. 1500/3=500 yards per second for shotgun and 3000/3=1000 yards per second for rifle.

So that works out to .001 second per yard for a rifle and .002 seconds per yard for a slug.

So for a 10 yard shot, the flight time would be .010 seconds for a rifle and .020 seconds for a slug.

If the deer is going 58.67 feet per second then 58.67*.010=0.5867 feet is the distance the deer will move in the time it takes for the rifle bullet to go 10 yards. 58.67*.020=1.1734 feet is the distance the deer will move in the time it takes for a slug to go 10 yards.

So if a deer does run 40 miles per hour I guess a good rule of thumb would be to lead about one foot per 10 yards with a slug and 1 foot per 20 yards with a rifle. That is if he is running at 3 to 9 oclock. All that would be half at a 1 oclock angle.

Does this math sound about right?
 
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Kelly Timoffee said:
My advice, first, if you are unsure of the shot, don't friggin take it.All too many a deer shot through the guts was a result of a running shot.
Click to expand...

Ever been to deer huntin camp? Everyone always takes the shot! The thinking is that if it gets wounded there is 20 other guys who WILL find it.

I think they so often miss because they never had a clear lead objective in mind before opening day.
 
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I don't shoot at running animals. I just let them run away and think " Yep, you won this time" I do follow up shots on a wounded animal that's making a break for it but that's rare for me as I try to be a rather sure shot.

I do let off a few chirps and whistles to try and get the animal to stop though.


Not starving, not going for the biggest rack, no pressure. If I don't shoot an animal so be it, there will always be others.
 
Lead formulas..... Hmmm I'm gonna be a smart ass just for fun :D
My lead formula is 180 grains of 303 brit and if the deer is running... If a whistle won't stop it.... It gets away and I keep hunting.
 
BadAsMo said:
Ever been to deer huntin camp? Everyone always takes the shot! The thinking is that if it gets wounded there is 20 other guys who WILL find it.

I think they so often miss because they never had a clear lead objective in their heads before opening day.
Click to expand...

The shot they probably shouldn't have taken?? ;)

My idea of hunting isn't going out with 20 other guys who might find my wounded deer.But to each their own.

I am not condemning these actions but they do result in a very poor hit percentage on vital organs.Kind of goes against what some would understand as ethical, but everyone's ethics will differ.

But again, you cannot have a mathematic formula to lead deer unless you know for certain every single variable and just when you think you have it!!! MISS !!!!
 
I shot at a (starting to) run Caribou once. He was about 75 yards away, and didn't like me getting so close, so he started to bolt, perpendicular. I would say he was just getting up to speed as my crosshairs settled in at the leading edge of his chest. I pulled the trigger, and even with a 300 Weatherby the bullet struck him in the shoulder.

That is just a real world example of bullet speed, distance, animal velocity (speed and direction), and lead required. In hindsight I would given a little less lead, and less elevation.
 
What a load of Cr@@@@@@@@ppp!!!! This is a silly counter productive attitude to be reserved for the high and mighty. If civilization collectively had this attitude duck hunting would be limited to shooting ducks after they land on the decoys.

Kelly Timoffee said:
The shot they probably shouldn't have taken?? ;)

My idea of hunting isn't going out with 20 other guys who might find my wounded deer.But to each their own.

I am not condemning these actions but they do result in a very poor hit percentage on vital organs.Kind of goes against what some would understand as ethical, but everyone's ethics will differ.

But again, you cannot have a mathematic formula to lead deer unless you know for certain every single variable and just when you think you have it!!! MISS !!!!
Click to expand...
 
I think a lot of guys miss because they worry about, and lead too much! I'd like to see you bring up your "formula" at deer camp. Should be good for a few laughs.
 
Well then if that is the game we play I can only assume you are the one missing these shots on animals if you ask for such detailed information on the lead required to hit a deer moving @ x at a distance of y with a projectile moving at z.

After all, if you were making these shots you wouldn't be asking an internet forum advice now would we?.

Oh and FYI , deer aren't airborne creatures.

BadAsMo said:
What a load of Cr@@@@@@@@ppp!!!! This is a silly counter productive attitude to be reserved for the high and mighty. If civilization collectively had this attitude duck hunting would be limited to shooting ducks after they land on the decoys.
Click to expand...
 
BadAsMo said:
What a load of Cr@@@@@@@@ppp!!!! This is a silly counter productive attitude to be reserved for the high and mighty. If civilization collectively had this attitude duck hunting would be limited to shooting ducks after they land on the decoys.
Click to expand...

Well, I for one completely agree with the idea that no one should take a shot at a deer that he KNOWS he can't make. I have never taken a shot at an animal with the idea that someone else I know might manage to finish it off for me. Hunting for me does not involve shooting the gun off and hoping I will get lucky with the shot. Never.

If that is a load of whatever for you and your shooting buddies, I can only say I'm glad I don't live in Ontario.

Hunting, if it is going to survive, needs much higher expectations of hunters themselves.
 
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