Who Are The Best Running Shots With A Rifle?

[Green Chile]

Here is a good article on Franz and his approach, background, etc. He says his dad almost made the Olympic shotgun team. Interesting that his dad taught him to only take the shot if you are confident of the conclusion...no guessing. He also uses a variety of lead methods....sustained, swing through, etc depending on the situation.

I know he uses a Sauer 202 in 270 Winchester for boar, although he previously used up to 9.3 caliber. With ported 270, he feels better about his shot calling and trigger control, which makes a lot of sense.

I would love to do some of the driven shoots but I don't have anywhere to practice that.

The wild boar masterclass with Franz-Albrecht zu Oettingen-Spielberg

An exclusive, first of its kind interview with one of the modern era’s most celebrated hunters.

fieldsports-journal.com

 

[IvW]

Disagree, most hunting in Spain is done at running animals, we have lots of experience.

I still remember the looks of surprise of my SA PH´s when I shoot running warthogs !

No rules....bang bang bang there is lead in the air there is hope........Germans use 1/10 th of the ammo same result.......

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I can only speak to the way I do things, so I’ll limit myself to that. While shooting a scoped rifle from the bench at a target or in the field my hard focus is always to the extent I can manage it on the reticle the moment the gun goes off. I most certainly don’t just try to keep whatever I’m shooting at more or less in the center of the scope. That’s a new one on me. People have different methods of doing things and each has varying degrees of success. I guess we can politely disagree on how to do things exactly but that’s what makes this interesting. If everyone was in agreement with the first thing said there would be some mighty short threads!
I’ve never shot a red dot at anything so count me out in that regard.

Shooting at paper from a bench is entirely different from shooting at moving game in the field. I also focus on the reticle when shooting at the range or shooting at a standing animal in the field. But when that animal is running full tilt I don't have that luxury. I'm shooting fast and close (well, usually close). Shoot at paper close. You'll learn to get the crosshairs on target without looking at them. Or you can if you practice ... and the gun fits.

 

[WAB]

I’m also going to be a bit contrary to what others have said about shotgunning and rifle shooting. It could be that those who’ve dedicated themselves to both disciplines are good at both and that’s how it works out. On the other hand, one’s focus is so different in the act of making the shot that I don’t see how one helps the other. The only thing in common is that the gun is in motion while the shot is taken. With a shotgun, if you look at the bead you’ll miss the shot 9 out of 10 times. Yours focus needs to be on the target. I think the opposite is true with a rifle. Focus on the front sight or reticle or all is lost.

Actually I’ve found it different for myself. I shot competitively at a very high level in sporting clays for many years. I find the fundamentals the same with a rifle. My focus is 110% on the target and I shoot with both eyes open. I am aware of where the crosshairs are but my focus is the target. I spent a lot of time on running jackrabbits. That probably helped a lot.

 

[IvW]

The lead and follow through are critical.......

 

[Green Chile]

It’s really easy to dip the barrel on moving shots and that’s really detrimental to good results. Anticipating the shot is a nice way of saying flinch. EVERYONE deals with it. Good shooters address it and everyone else pretends like it doesn’t affect them.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Actually I’ve found it different for myself. I shot competitively at a very high level in sporting clays for many years. I find the fundamentals the same with a rifle. My focus is 110% on the target and I shoot with both eyes open. I am aware of where the crosshairs are but my focus is the target. I spent a lot of time on running jackrabbits. That probably helped a lot.

Hmm. To be honest, I don't know if I'm shooting at running game with both eyes open. I doubt it. Shooting my shotgun I must keep left eye closed. It's badly damaged from multiple retina detachments and repairs. It sees up and to right respective of my shooting eye. Both eyes open and I will almost always miss the target. So I practiced mounting and closing that eye until it's become pretty much automatic ... except in poor light situations where brain is trying to pull out all the stops. Yep, legally blind in one eye and still shooting those scores.

 

[ARHinAK]

Ontario Hunter, I wish I was smart enough to use the quote thing about you being blind in one eye.
I lost my left eye to a baseball when I was 15. Hasn’t slowed me down a bit!

 

[Dewald]

RIP Paddy Curtis. Makes me angry again that he was murdered in Zim

 

[Alistair]

Actually I’ve found it different for myself. I shot competitively at a very high level in sporting clays for many years. I find the fundamentals the same with a rifle. My focus is 110% on the target and I shoot with both eyes open. I am aware of where the crosshairs are but my focus is the target. I spent a lot of time on running jackrabbits. That probably helped a lot.

Agree. I used an illuminated dot in a 4x reticule and found the same.

Both eyes open, look at target and step into it, start the swing whilst mounting, dot appears on target organucally cus the gun fits and the mount is practiclsed. Then move with the target whilst you squeeze, ride out recoil, unmount. Very similar to a low crosser with a shotgun. Even more so with shallow v irons where I just put the front bead on the target and let the rear v sort itself out by virtue of the gun fitting.

 

[HankBuck]

Shooting moving game is more about 1) staying on the target with eyes and not looking at the sights, and 2) follow through. Both can become instinctive for rifle shooting after a lot of time on the shotgun range. But it's all for naught if the rifle doesn't fit the shooter ... perfectly. Shooting trap high gun I can make any gun work but low gun at the skeet range is with one gun that fits me perfectly or I just as well throw away the score card. Here it is. View attachment 554749Not pretty but my average is 22.75/25. And I only shoot fifty rounds a week these days.

Incidentally, above is my only pheasant triple from last fall. Not easy to do. Requires an empty bag and finding three roosters together which is becoming difficult in these lean times. This day it was particularly challenging in temperature hovering around zero and a light wind.
View attachment 554761

The triple on roosters is impressive - that Snot Sickle is the real trophy !!

 

[HankBuck]

Actually I’ve found it different for myself. I shot competitively at a very high level in sporting clays for many years. I find the fundamentals the same with a rifle. My focus is 110% on the target and I shoot with both eyes open. I am aware of where the crosshairs are but my focus is the target. I spent a lot of time on running jackrabbits. That probably helped a lot.

You’re the 2nd guy I heard that credits’ shooting “running jack rabbits” as helping them learn to shoot running Big Game — must be a lot of truth to it

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Ontario Hunter, I wish I was smart enough to use the quote thing about you being blind in one eye.
I lost my left eye to a baseball when I was 15. Wasn’t slowed me down a bit!

I use both eyes to acquire the target, then close the left as the gun is mounted. I need both eyes for quicker acquisition and depth perception. That's about all I get out of that eye now. For almost three years I was totally blind in it after nitrous oxide bubble from surgery ruined the lens. They wouldn't attempt replacing the lens until we were sure the retina had settled down. Until then I poured a lot of coffee on the table. You know all about that.

 

[Rare Breed]

In what may be the first of several installments: "Who are the best shots?" it occurs to me that there must be several categories. I propose the first category be "WHO ARE THE BEST AT RUNNING SHOTS WITH A RIFLE." Although Americans once called themselves "a nation of riflemen" I just wonder if we can lay claim to being the best in this category these days. After all, I see hunters on TV waiting interminably for an animal to even stop walking before pulling the trigger. On the other hand, in many European countries, one cannot be certified to hunt moose, etc unless proving shooting proficiency, off-hand, at a mechanized running moose target at about 80 meters. Where else is this standard required. Where else is driven hunting so greatly practiced?
What say ye--who are the best running shot artists?

From what I have read Henry Selby seems to have been one of the best shots commonly taking down running game at 400-500 yards with great consistency

 

[fourfive8]

You’re the 2nd guy I heard that credits’ shooting “running jack rabbits” as helping them learn to shoot running Big Game — must be a lot of truth to it

Very true! Every once in a while jacks can overpopulate. I started on them with a 22 when I was about 12yo during one of those population explosions. Several years later another jack explosion and I used both a 22 and a 243. At some point, shooting a 45 mph jack at distances out beyond 200 yards becomes mostly instinctive. I have no idea the numbers of rounds shot at them. But it is one of the ways to learn… and really not unlike learning to effectively wing shoot with a shotgun.

That type instinctive shooing is one of the highly refined skills that Annie Oakley was most known for. Make no mistake, she was one of the best ever and I’ve not seen her name mentioned in this thread.

 

[steve white]

Eyesight is a factor which I have observed in the good running shots I have known. And Franz Albrecht stated that he looked for teeth on a running boar as an assist to identification--that's pretty sharp eyesight. My uncle Tim can see where a squirrel's eyes are looking at 60 yds. He has made many a shot to the earhole of a running feral hog, only to state later, "yeah, he ran down through a gully and I just shot for his ear with my 22/or 17/or (whatever rifle he was carrying)" My nephew Jerone has killed many a running deer with a neck shot--always a neck shot. They are just in a different league from me in eyesight and eye hand coordination, I think.
Having said that, I agree with those who recommend driven game shooting as instructive.

 

[perttime]

I believe running shoots used to be an Olympic sport at one time?!?

Yes they did. It has been dropped from the Olympics. 10 m airgun and 50 mm .22LR are still in the ISSF program.

 

[HankBuck]

Yes they did. It has been dropped from the Olympics. 10 m airgun and 50 mm .22LR are still in the ISSF program.

Yes they did. It has been dropped from the Olympics. 10 m airgun and 50 mm .22LR are still in the ISSF program.

How great they dropped it from Olympics - now we can watch more Womens soccer, Synchronized Swimming, & Golf

 

[MS 9x56]

I cannot argue against Mr. Albrecht as he is an amazing running game shot. I wouldn’t go so far as to anoint all Germans as the best running game shots, at least not without some sort of competition. I know some pretty amazing shots here in America but they don’t have their own TV shows. Still I take nothing from Mr. Albrecht. I wish I had the opportunities to do driven hunts such as he.

 

[Nyati]

No rules....bang bang bang there is lead in the air there is hope........Germans use 1/10 th of the ammo same result.......

Whatever you say, you are the experienced African PH, but...I have been hunting in Spain for the last 50 years, so maybe I know what I´m talking about.