After reading a lot of these replies, ppl were deff not following through with the shot. Think about it folks, the average slug is going about 1600 fps, now I dont care how fast you "think" that deer is running. It most deff not running faster than anything you guys are shooting. if you swing through the target from trailing to leading and fire on the leading edge of your target and follow through on the shot, your going to be killing that target. In doing that your matching the targets speed and following through with the shot is making sure your consistant with the speed your round is going to make it to the target with more than enough time to spare to hit vitals. Obviously at muuuch farther ranges its going to take a little more lead than that but not much.
How much should I lead a running deer?
- Thread starter BellyFlop
- Start date
My thoughts exactly. Unless you're CONFIDENT in your ability to hit a running deer 10 for 10, you have no business shooting at a running deer.
A shot on a standing deer can go wrong as well, but far less likely. My buddy's scope got bumped and he gut shot a deer standing dead broadside within 100 yards. I've had the scope on my BLR move back in the rings.
YMMV
Also has nothing to do with shooting running game... not taking care of your equipment, yes. If you know your scope took a hit and you havnt kept your equipment properly tuned and you take it out hunting, that is much more unethical and irresponsible than taking a head shot if your proficient with your gear and taking a running shot. Also doing your math on your ballistics and proper technique can mean you'll hit the boiler room every time with running game. Just most people are too lazy or don't have a clue to begin with.
Same here.
Shooting clays will certainly help, it improves your follow thru. The other method is terribly hard to figure out IMHO. That is holding the gun steady & hoping to fire as the deer moves into line of site, in thick stuff that may be the only way. Rolling a tire down a hill is excellent practise for both types of shots.
My comment was that if you ARE NOT CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY...
I don't have a problem with running shots if you know what your doing, never said anything of the sort. We push bush, so running shots are the norm. I hate sitting in a tree stand.
If a deer is belly down going flat out, and you're not competent at running shots anywhere from nose to a**hole can be hit.
We sighted in our rifles before the start of the season, both were within 2MOA. Not sharpshooters, but definitely minute of deer. Buddy's got bumped or otherwise failed. Mine moved back in the rings, although the rings were tight. They were Buris Signature Series rings with the nylon inserts. They don't grip worth a s**t, so now i use a drop of blue loctite on each insert so it doesn't happen again. It's not my first BBQ.
Very interesting how many preachers are out there - on about how unethical it is to to shoot at a running deer if you dont already know how, but the same guys offered no advice as to how it could be done. This leaves me to think most of you bench sitters dont know how to do it either.
Practicing on a tire is impractical advice. How can you get a tire moving 30 mph without alot of land and a pickup truck, a driver, a guy in back to throw the tire out, a guy to stop the tire - I have access to none of the above.
I started this thread looking for practical advice on how to make slug shots on running deer. The only reasonable effort was made by fclassguy that leading about 1.5 feet per 10 yards and that seems to make sense in practical terms.
Is there anyone out there who actually knows (for real) how to make running deer shots with 12 gauge slugs?
Practicing on a tire is impractical advice. How can you get a tire moving 30 mph without alot of land and a pickup truck, a driver, a guy in back to throw the tire out, a guy to stop the tire - I have access to none of the above.
I started this thread looking for practical advice on how to make slug shots on running deer. The only reasonable effort was made by fclassguy that leading about 1.5 feet per 10 yards and that seems to make sense in practical terms.
Is there anyone out there who actually knows (for real) how to make running deer shots with 12 gauge slugs?
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I found myself, to sucessfully teach oneself to shoot running game, I learned alot more with a good scattergun than a rifle.
I can easily imagine that trap or sporting clays, would be equally valueable training for this.
We were lucky enough to have plenty of buckshot & a good double barrelled shotgun with a tight choke on lots of moving jackrabbits. This is where I learned about keeping the gun moving while you pull the trigger, on ground game. Trying to teach someone to shoot running game on the internet is about the worst way in the world. This is a shooting game that the novice must carry out on his own, in the field, and learn by accumulated experience on small game & varmints, before the deer season even starts. Myself, by the time the fall of 1996 was upon me, I was fairly confident with the rifle from a full spring & summer shooting sessions. But for every .308 round discharged at deer, I shot about 20-30 rounds of .222 Remington on varmints.
And before that, innumerable 12 gauge shotshells.
I can easily imagine that trap or sporting clays, would be equally valueable training for this.
We were lucky enough to have plenty of buckshot & a good double barrelled shotgun with a tight choke on lots of moving jackrabbits. This is where I learned about keeping the gun moving while you pull the trigger, on ground game. Trying to teach someone to shoot running game on the internet is about the worst way in the world. This is a shooting game that the novice must carry out on his own, in the field, and learn by accumulated experience on small game & varmints, before the deer season even starts. Myself, by the time the fall of 1996 was upon me, I was fairly confident with the rifle from a full spring & summer shooting sessions. But for every .308 round discharged at deer, I shot about 20-30 rounds of .222 Remington on varmints.
And before that, innumerable 12 gauge shotshells.
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we grew upp huntinmg deer by pushing them out off wood lots and shooting them on the run .granpa always told us if a deer was running flat out aim for his front knees when in full stride his knees will be out front of his chin when you pull the trigger you must follow thru and as your bullit is on its way the deer will be moving forward and down to the ground giving you a perfect heart and lung shot .a lot of us still us buckshot and have got a lot of running deer on the ground in the 5 or 6 days we have to hunt them ,very rare that a hit deer is lost down here just becoues were thy going to go no place to hide .it all comes down to were you hunt and how .we have a controled hunt a that means we have so many days to fill the tags .get her done ! some guys get carryed away every year and try to shot them at 200 yards on the run and it is not right .but we have to judge are selfs out there .i would never put some one down for the way thy choose to hunt or have to hunt .my 2 cnts DUTCH
http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/ultimate-shooting-challenges-shooting-running-deer.php
Its for a rifle and at ranges beyond most shotguns though - but it may give you some insight.
Now I only shoot at running deer that are already wounded from a previous shot (not necessarily by me) but I have successfully killed deer on the run before. I found it to be more of an instinctive shot rather than aiming.
Most guys I have seen doing a deer drive push way too fast. Of course if you are running hounds you get what you get.
Very good article, thanks for posting. And it does look realistic as I had two occasions using a 'nose lead' twice and both times hitting deer in pelvis area. So lead tables do look correct to me.
HINT: Try looking in a -->gravel pit for a place to roll a tire!
Sometimes they even have a hill you could pull it down with a truck
A number of Clubs in our area have a running deer target that propels it along a line, did you look around your area?
Re-read the posts, there's lots of good advice, shooting clays realy helps with follow-thru & gun swing control, did you try that.
tactical870
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Buckhorn, Ontario
You shouldn't need to lead a deer unless it's a long ways out. Practice following through on your shots. Never stop the gun to squeeze. I've taken running deer out to 180 yards although it's a little long. Tripple tapped on a running fawn with a scoped slug gun at 35 yards and made 2 vital hits and a neck hit. The best practice I've found is an open field and live trapped raccoons. If you can hit a running 'coon at 50 yards you'll have no issues with deer........
Nobody can list a lead for someone else, since the biggest variable is the shooter's swing speed. If you don't believe that, stop your swing while shotgunning and see where the charge goes.
Since you are shooting a slug-gun, why don't you find a clay target thrower with a rabbit arm, a case of trap loads and have some fun with it.
Since you are shooting a slug-gun, why don't you find a clay target thrower with a rabbit arm, a case of trap loads and have some fun with it.
guys, swinging the gun does not majically force the slug to follow your point of aim after the slug has left the barrel. The slug must exit the barrel going into a direction forward of the deer so that the flight time of the bullet is equal to the travel of the deer over that period of time. This is basic vector stuff.
What you do with the barrel of the gun does not matter at all once the bullet is in flight. All follow through does is help prevent you from failing to lead. You still need to lead by an amount that must increase proportionally to the distance from the deer. In other words the lead for a 40 yard deer will be at least double the lead for the same deer at 20 yards. Another way to think of it is that if the deer will move 6 feet by the time the bullet gets to it, you must aim 6 feet ahead of the deer to hit it.
It is not incorrect to pick a point forward of the animal and pull the trigger when the animal is the required distance from the point of aim. One method is just more popular than the other but both are practiced by experts.
There are few places for most of us to practic such a thing at deer slug distances. The key is to go into practice or hunting with a formula that holds up to the math involved. There is no amount of practice anyone can perform that will change the reality of that.
If any hunter does not have a clear mental picture of the math of lead mechanics he will not hit didly squat in the field.
As per my earlier post, just lead a full speed deer by about 1.5 feet per every 10 yards, and half of that for full speed deer travelling at 1 oclock.
Any other visual will just cause confusion and hesitation at the critical moment.
What you do with the barrel of the gun does not matter at all once the bullet is in flight. All follow through does is help prevent you from failing to lead. You still need to lead by an amount that must increase proportionally to the distance from the deer. In other words the lead for a 40 yard deer will be at least double the lead for the same deer at 20 yards. Another way to think of it is that if the deer will move 6 feet by the time the bullet gets to it, you must aim 6 feet ahead of the deer to hit it.
It is not incorrect to pick a point forward of the animal and pull the trigger when the animal is the required distance from the point of aim. One method is just more popular than the other but both are practiced by experts.
There are few places for most of us to practic such a thing at deer slug distances. The key is to go into practice or hunting with a formula that holds up to the math involved. There is no amount of practice anyone can perform that will change the reality of that.
If any hunter does not have a clear mental picture of the math of lead mechanics he will not hit didly squat in the field.
As per my earlier post, just lead a full speed deer by about 1.5 feet per every 10 yards, and half of that for full speed deer travelling at 1 oclock.
Any other visual will just cause confusion and hesitation at the critical moment.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Myself I never bothered to work out the math beforehand. Vectoring was done subconsciously by mounting the gun, eye to the target & pressing the trigger, & follow through. You tell me how you can magically tell if the slug is still in the barrel or six inches from it? For most of us, the terminal effect on the intended target is the only practical clue. So we follow through, as we should do so.
I practiced practiced practiced on small game & varmints on the praries, for months ahead of the deer season, until I felt confident in my own abilities. All the math in the world will never give one quick muscle reflexes or the beneficial experience of trial & error.
What ever works for you fclassguy.
I practiced practiced practiced on small game & varmints on the praries, for months ahead of the deer season, until I felt confident in my own abilities. All the math in the world will never give one quick muscle reflexes or the beneficial experience of trial & error.
What ever works for you fclassguy.
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I like this idea and I'd like to try it but I don't understand how you can swing away from the guy pulling. The target is always going to be following him and you have to lead it so unless you set up a 2nd pulley how do you swing away from him?
Jeff
