Other hunting and the moving target.

This past week I shot a buck with my .45 Springfield Arms 4″ XD semi-auto. I hadn’t actually sat in a deer stand for a number of years as I am most always pursuing upland game. So shooting a deer was a bit of a novelty to me since I haven’t shot one in so long.

A friend suggested I use my pistol …   …that it might be fun to hunt with. He was right. I actually was a little worked up when I saw the 7 point standing behind my tree stand. The buck passed within 15 feet and quartered to my right. I got him at 30 feet after the buck snorted and jumped. I already had my pistol out and on him so just stayed with him and at 30 feet you don’t need to lead ‘em, you just put it on ‘em.

What is interesting to me is that in over 40 years of hunting I have been posed with the issue of shooting game on the move in multiple scenarios.  Everything from a squirrel jumping through the tree tops, rabbits on the run, bounding deer, walking turkeys, varmints on the prowl, and of course, upland game.  When making a shot on moving game, the inexperienced shooter probably will miss or worse, wound and lose game.

There is a dilemma there, do I shoot and possibly wound / lose the animal or let it go.   By the time I took my first deer on the move I had already hunted squirrels, rabbits, quail, varmints for 10 years.  Many of those smaller game animals were on the move.  I think that small game hunting is a great primer for a youngster who will eventually learn to shoot over your most prized hunting companion, you bird dog.

Shooting game on the move, learning to be patient, making every shot count is fundamental to learning to shoot game well.   The best buck deer I ever shot at that was moving was with my dad.  He let me make the shot on a nice buck but I missed at 30 yards.  The buck was only walking but as a young man I had poured through my dad’s hunting magazines and studied the ballistics charts.  In my young mind I figured that with a rifle at 30 yards I only needed to lead the deer one inch.  I did and I cleanly missed…another life lesson about ballistics and magazines.  It was a very nice deer too.  I still ache over that disappointing loss.

Fast forward a bit to my next chance to shoot a moving deer.  I was on the side of a hill in West Texas and a buck was moving in the draw below.  I got in a supported sitting position and because of the distance, did not have to move much to effect and maintain a good lead.  I imagined he was a quail and tried to visualize a single strand of hair on his hide and took my lead off of that.  The shot ended up well placed and right where it should have been.  I shot him through the heart and he was out within just a few seconds.  Lesson from the aforementioned first miss taken well.

Actually, I omitted the fact that I missed a deer in Mississippi being pushed by hounds as a prepubescent (around 12).  That was my first moving shot using buckshot in a shotgun and I flat out shot at the whole deer instead of picking a spot and putting it on it.  He was less than 20 yards.  Another aching mistake.

By the time I was in my early 20’s I had shot a fair number of deer for the table as well as a good share of small game and upland / migratory birds.  Hunting was so important to me in my youth that my senior year in high school I dropped football early in the season because it simply got in the way of my hunting.  I didn’t just love to hunt, hunting was my life in  which I toiled all year for.  In the Navy at 18, I had difficulties getting to hunt due to duty but managed most every where I was stationed with exception to Italy but at least I got a nice Beretta o/u while there!

While stationed in Maryland, I hunted for meat.  I had a young marriage with 2 small boys and meat provided support to the grocery bill.  In Maryland, you can get an inexpensive hunting license and you literally have millions of state and federal acreage at your disposal.  Almost every single deer I took in the 9 years there was on public lands.  I spent very little money.  I learned in Maryland that all those fancy little scents and special clothes are a waste of money.  Get in the tree stand, shut up, don’t stir about, wear darker clothes and wait.  Have a pee jar with you so you can take care of that up in the stand etc. and stay there from before sunup to sundown.  That’s tough to do but in those days, I did it for the meat and the hunt.  Public lands can be tough and the persistent hunter will be rewarded.

Because Maryland’s gun season for deer is so short, I ended up getting a muzzleloader to extend my season.  Maryland, in those days, had the longest archery season in the lower 48.  Already owning a bow, I resumed bow hunting as well.  In those days, if you hunted every single legal season and were successful, you could theoretically shoot about 8 whitetails and 3 sika.  That’s a lot of deer!

I mention Maryland because there I made my first moving shot on a deer with my muzzleloader.  I own a .54 cal and shoot buffalo bullets in it.  My intention was to hunt elk with it someday so got the larger caliber.  I was in a tree when I made that shot and much like my first moving shot on a deer I concentrated and lead the deer like a quail, trying to visualize the actual tiny hair where I would send my buffalo bullet.  The snap of the percussion cap and the explosion of smoke blowing into my face had me waving my hands to clear my line of sight to see the deer roll tail over head to complete final mortality.

I guess the reason I’m telling you all of this is that hunting your entire life makes you comfortable with different shooting situations.  If shooting at moving game is something you’ve always done, then whether it is a squirrel, deer or upland bird, the mechanics are all still basically the same.

Taking a deer with my pistol was something I had never done.  It was a good challenge and am thinking I might just do that again!

Merry Christmas!

Dave