Aiming Where They Aren't

Hitting a moving target with a rifle is not so easy as some shooters would have you believe. One fellow told me he routinely killed running pronghorns farther than I like to fire at motionless game. But the next day he crippled a fine buck that was standing still as a post at 200 yards. Another man boasted of killing an elk on a dead run 300 yards off. A little probing revealed that his bullet clipped the skull, nearly three feet from where he had intended to hit. A couple of years ago, I watched a bear guide miss a grizzly three times at less than 80 yards as it motored around an open hillside after my friend John Chisnall had delivered a near-lethal blow with his .300 Remington Ultra Mag. The bear skidded on its nose when John fired again.

Shooting moving game with a rifle calls for the same instant response and fluid body movement as using a shotgun. If you dawdle or interrupt your swing trying to refine that sight picture, you'll miss, or lose your chance to shoot at all.

One deer hunter who taught me a lot about shooting in the woods said that it is like boxing: "The first thing to think about is your feet." He pointed out that many hunters fire at running deer before they get their feet planted right. "That's like throwing a punch when you're off balance. It probably won't connect," he said.

Moving through cover, he was careful to keep his weight over his feet and never get so "twisted up" that he couldn't shoot to any point on the compass by moving one foot quickly. When he paused, it was always where he had good opportunities to shoot, but more importantly, where his feet could rest and pivot easily for a quick offhand shot. "Deer most often break cover when you stop moving," he said. "If you stop where your feet can't help you shoot... well, that's just dumb."

My mentor swung as gracefully with his little 6.5x55 carbine as with his favorite 20-bore double. His knees were bent slightly, most of his weight on the balls of his feet as he leaned into the rifle.

"Take the shot right away, even if it isn't perfect--unless you've already decided to wait for the animal to stop or cross a better shot alley," he told me. "The time to decline a shot at moving game is before you mount the rifle. Once you've committed, follow through. Raising the rifle and getting your body in motion and focusing on the vitals and taking up trigger slack--that's all part of a shot. The bang is just the finale."

When you spot a moving target, determine right away whether you have a shot or not. Sometimes you don't. It's irresponsible to fling bullets at every running deer in range. But to swing tentatively is to miss.

Forget about light brush. If you're in timber, you should have a shot alley picked out before the butt hits your shoulder. As soon as the sight sweeps in front of the target, the rifle ought to fire itself. Abort only if another animal runs across your line of sight or if the target buck switches direction suddenly, forcing you to start over.