Shooting running deer is related to shotgunning, in particular the classic methods as advocated by Stanburry/Carlisle and Churchill, certainly not the classic techniques of rifle shooting.

Problem is, too many rifle shooters are just rifle shooters only. Nothing wrong with that, it just limits you to shooting only at standing targets. Meaning you really ought to pass shots at those great running bucks. And..........real big bucks usually are seen on the move, trotting or running, not standing in the open munching clover with the dummies..

That is why they grew into big bucks in the first place.

Soooooo..............when a typical rifleman is faced with a sudden running shot at a big game animal exploding out of cover, and they can not resist the temptation for a shot, they tend to poke shoot at it, with the usual miss as a result. Hits are more of a "flook" with this technique.

Witness the "4" desparation shots sometimes fired at runnin game, if they flub the critical first one.

To be able to shoot running targets with a rifle one must be a rounded shot. Meaning be a decent shotgunner and rifle man.

To those rifleman who do not master shotgunning I would say read some books on the art of shotgunning then practize on skeet or sporting clays, with gun in down position, until proficient.

That is how I had to learn it too.

My shotgunning has helped me tremendously in my rifle shooting on fast targets within reaonable range.

For those who are not shotgunners you may find it interesting/surprising that shotgunning principles are much related to golf or tennis.

Hope those comments explain some of those inexplicable misses.

Good hunting.

I've never shot at any running animal. I shoot clays with shotgun and practice at running deer, elk and antelope targets regularly etc, but I only make good hits on them them about 90% of the time the other 10% of shots usually end up in the guts or hind quarters. In my opinion thats not good enough, and yes I regularly pass shots at bucks that are moving, big bucks that guys from the south dream about. It's all about self control and personal ethics. I hope to get through life without ever losing an animal,or having to take more than one shot. So far so good, at least for the last 35 years. I pray my luck holds.

Oscar Makonka,
I be very interested in participating shooting @ running deer/elk/antelope targets in Alberta. Wish more shooting ranges had such a set-up.
Where do you practice and what kind of set up is it?

Shrike, I shoot here at Drayton Valley. We only do the running stuff in the summer cause everything is frozen in the winter. We have a cable and pulley set up, we have to pull it back after every shot. We put a piece of paper on the kill zone of a lifesize plywood animal cut out and then someone lets it go with a trip rope from inside a bunker we made. We have to be ready and shoot them when they come out of the woods and go across a cutline about 50 yds wide. They don't tell you its coming, you have to be ready. Rather time consuming resetting it every time and you get used to the rythm so you get pretty good at it. It certainly is predictable unlike a real hunting situation but fun nonetheless. We can only do it when the range isn't busy. Fortunatly that is most of the time except for a few weeks before hunting season. Where are you at?

I thought that Running Deer was shot during the Battle of the Little Bighorn .

LD hunter,
your statement that you do not lead at all.
Of course within 20 yards even straight across, the lead or perceived lead needs to be very small. I do not know what distance you talk about, but for convenience I assume you talk anywhere up to 100 yards or so.
It is more likely that the speed of your swing getting on the target is such that it has enough "carry through" to form the lead.
Meaning, your perceived lead is zero, but when you slammed the trigger when your brain told you to do so, you were swinging at a certain speed. By the time you obeyed the signal of your brain and by the time the firing pin ignited the shell and the shot colum left the barrel, your gun was still moving fast. This is the carry-through or follow through of a swing. If you perceived slamming the trigger at the chest, in reality your shot went off ahead of this spot, ergo, your lead.
How much, depends on the speed of your swing.
It is easy to mathematically calculate required lead for a deer running a certain speed and a bullet of a certain velocity to intercept it if you swing a sustained deer speed ahead of the animal.
The swing speeds develloped by various individuals like you for success, translate often into different perceived leads by those individuals.
The neat thing is that if they are successfull they are all correct, because they all attained the mathematically correct lead by using different combinations of swing speeds and trigger let-off points.
I am sure that you are aware of this and I do not mean to pontificate or lecture, but I find it so damn interesting to analyse this. Thanks for your patience.