Has any one got a story to tell about it?
Did it once myself...but only once took a shot at a coyote while checkin' cows...I think i saw more realestate between me and that saddle than i care to remember.
How bout you guys?

I'm not quite that stupid.
Grizz

Read Elmer Keith's " Sixguns" He says be kind to your horse , never shoot near his ears !!

Personally I have lost 90% of hearing due to gunfire Vietnam conflict ! Only an IGORANT IDIOT shoots near a dog or horses ears ! or anything that has ears !

I've shot from the saddle lots of times, most commonly over the ears. It's a good thing I didn't get stepped on or hurt when I landed!

"Only an IGORANT IDIOT shoots near a dog or horses ears ! or anything that has ears !"

Sorry ,wasn't trying to insult anyone
Guess i'll quit posting with this kind of attitude

cowboy action shooting is getting big! a good six shooter and horse is more fun the you would think. a little sheet cotton rolled up and stuck in the ears protects well enough especaily if it is just .45LC

Lash Laroo, now there's a name I haven't heard since I was a kid. I think he performed at the Calgary Stampede one year. Just cause its popular, doesn't make it smart. I've read several reports where idiots have shot their own horse out from under themselves. Probably went to a better place, away from their owner.
Grizz

the trick is to shoot the other guys horse out from under him... much easier slower target then

We bought an older gelding off the neighbors which had gone deaf due to shooting over his head. That horse would go on point when ever it saw a deer or elk. You could actually rest the rifle on the top of his head and shoot. We never did it, but that is why he was deaf. I did shoot from his back a couple times. No problems at all.

One day we were hunting and my friend saw a 4 point mulie (10 point for you eastern boys). He took a shot from the saddle and ended up being drug thru the oakbrush after he fell off and his foot was caught in the stirrup.

i have trained many horses to shoot off of. i start with a paint ball gun in the round pen.. ounce they have gotten used to the pop transition to real gun no sweat. while working at the race track i had ex race horses turned pony that would get real live from noise of grand stand rather than using tranqs.. and stuff i started using sheet cotton rolled up and poked in the ears instant difference! works well for shooting also

Just shot away from the ears silly.

There is nothing wrong with shooting from the saddle, but it should be used as a party trick not in hunting. It is like shooting off hand while standing on the shoulders of two people. Too much movement to be accurate.

I use to hunt rabbits and squirels off a horse in my younger years. Never once had a problem if you turn your horse away from the muzzle blast. I loved hunting off the horse. Not real sure what the horse thought about it but I never had a problem.

One of my older friends was guiding a guy, they were going up the mountain and the dude asked if he could shoot fromthe saddle, my buddy said hell yes.....ONCE!!!

It's the second shot that's the problem. I once killed a nice muley with a muzzle loader from my favorite old horse I use in the New Mexico mountain wilderness areas. Do work for NM Game and Fish (used to do work). A good friend who was a good horse packer and director just retired so I don't know if I'll get any more work.
Anyways, I was able to pull that huge Hawken reporductio out of the huge scabbard and get off a shot at that mule deer while he just stood there. They don't seem to run from horses. My horse (Mack) is a very well behaved gentleman who has seen me thru many "learning experiences". Supprised he hasn't devorced me a long time ago. I usually don't hunt off horse back, but I'v had other successes with getting up on mule deer, getting off the far side, getting my smoke pole out and shooting from a tree. Old Mack just gets busy grazing on what evers around, like oak brush, or something.

I grew up on a ranch in West Texas and we still worked the cattle with horses(circa 1950). As a result of being on the hurricane deck of a horse most of the day, my cousins and I did a lot of shooting from horseback. Some shots were good others we missed. However, I do not recall being bucked off from shooting; other reasons, yes. Accuracy from horseback is like accuracy anywere else, you gotta practice.

Boys:

I have a 16 hand quarter horse that you can fire a rifle from off his back--------ONCE.!

We were coming down a steep trail on our ranch in the Big Bend of Texas and I was in the lead, my dad, cousins, uncles and brother were behind me and chattering like a tree full of magpies..We had spent the day hunting Mule Deer, I had my 25/35 across my lap for some reason. I saw a little Coues buck bedded in some Sotol and Leche Guilla about 15 yards off the trail, I didn't look directly at him and just kept riding his direction on the trail that would put me right on him,and as I came almost abreast of him he lowered his head a little more to hide and I up and shot him, my horse shied off the trail and blew a cork on me, and everbody elses horse went bucking off the side fo the mountain, some got bucked off others rode to the bottom including myself, it was a sight to behold and funny was the word, in fact funny as hell...

I caught hell for a little while, then everyone saw the humor in it and being cowboys, they didn't get too uptight over it and started laughing....I can still picture the whole scene..

Oh yeah, that little set of horns hang over this computer and it scored 116 B&C, thats a decent Coues..

Horses arn't dangerous, people are. I suppose the same applies to cars, motorcycles, 4 wheelers and whores!!

I have a couple horses that you can shoot off of all day long. I also have a couple horses that you could shoot off of once. Then the rodeo is on. Some horses do well (with training) others never do.

I got shot from the saddle once when riding a 2-year old that started bucking and the off billet broke. I can't see any reason to attempt to shoot from horseback and I am very comfortable horseback, spend 50 hours a month that way.

If I had a horse I would want to be able to shoot off of him.

I used to tease the Horse Patrol of the Police Dept. about shooting off of their mounts. They did take them to the range to see how they reacted to firing near them.
We also trained the horses in violent crowd control.
It will suprise you how much the personalties of different horses varies.

Still it is mostly a manner of training.

I have shot near horses with out problems, but I have not shot while on one.

However I did have a "little rodeo" when hunting in Wyoming when an USAF bomber flew over us at treetop level. Six of us were on a steep trail, with 4 pack horses.

No body got bucked off, but we did have to re-tie a load or two.

Problem with shooting off a horse is you can't hit anything at any distance..You have your 175 pounds of quivering flesh, pumping blood, frayed nerve endings all going full strength, so add anothe 1200 pounds of the same and accuracy goes to hell, add to that that you have to shoot off hand and most folks can't do that standing on their own hind legs, so there ya go, a recipe for wounding game in spades...

Better to step off your horse, drop an anchor, and find a good rock or tree for a rest and bang away...

i do it every now and then, mostly when going after wounded roedeer in the forest, the horse get you nice and close without alarming the deer.
i never shoot at anything but at a 90 degree angel to the horse, the shots is mostly shotgun and 20 meters or closer.
it is the fastest way for us to get to the wounded deer and dispacht it, if murphys law has been in play.
i havent been bucked off on that acount yet.

peter

www.axelved.com

peter.....that about sums it up.

Ray you are bang on....you have the hunter and the horse both breathing in and out....pretty hard ot be accurate at other than close range and that is if your noble steed like syou pulling the trigger in the first place.

Yeah, and its pretty darn hard to get a horse to stand completely still while your doing all that stuff on his back, he tends to want to graze, or is your holding his head he is probably wanting some relief from the bit and moves around a little, by then the deer'elk or whatever is making tracks.! I guess they are pretty good on buffalo, at least the indians thought so! but thats was pretty close! I would love to do that one time.

ray
i did some riding and hunting in aus in the mid 90's, these guys were riding up to the pigs and shot them behind the ear with 22s, looked like a circus act but i was blody impressed with it. to me it was hard enough trying to hang on for the ride.
it was a sight to see.

peter

Ray......I am completely with you on the wanting to do the buffalo hunt as the Indians did when they had nags. I have a couple of ponies that are up to it... and no place to do it.

I bet it would be a rush.

Woudn't it! that would be the utimate and I also have two horses up to it..Wonder if I could talk my So. Dakota folks into it. they allowed it in dances with wolves I guess. At least they allowed them to run the herd. Costner fell off his horse, but he got back up and did it again..He can't ride for beans btw.