ethical shot on running deer?

[Double Naught Spy]

Running shot...My Granpa always told me if ya hear more than 2 shots, they missed.

Now now, sometimes the second shot is just a failure to stop shot. The first round hits but fails to drop the animal.

[Art Eatman]

A hit is usually, "Boom. Whop." A miss is usually, "Boom. Whish."

Art

[Nanuk]

I have seen far to many people with the wonder caliber of the month that can't hit anything. They are also the same guys that diss my '06.

[buck460XVR]

2rugers took the words right out of my mouth. Too many varibles to say the answer is black or white/right or wrong. The answer lies with the hunters skill and confidence. I have killed many a running deer when presented with what I consider a ethical shot......and in the same sense have passed on many that I considered "low percentage". Most of the larger bucks I have shot in the last twenty years were running......after I had snuck to within 10 to 20 yards of them.

[DonR101395]

I don't know about unethical, but it's not for me. I would be one of those guys who will shoot at a running rabbit or squirrel and not think about it, but I get a mental block when it comes to larger game.

[dfaugh]

99% of the time I would never take a shot at a running deer (trotting maybe, but not running)...I can hit a standing target wherever I want...but to properly lead a running target takes skill an order of magnitude greater. Most running shots I've seen end up withh the deer 'Gut shot" or other wise injured, but in no way totally capacitated. They often end up going a long ways to die (I've found more than one carcass/skeleton on my property).

As mentions, as soon as I hear "bang...bang...bang" off in the distance, I cringe, as I expect yet another wounded deer roaming the woods. Often, its more like "bang...bang...bang...bang...bang", while they empty the gun, with shots they'll never make.

A friend has a flock of deer that comes up into her yard (she feeds them--not really anti hunting, just likes wildlife). After last hunting season, one of the bucks came up, and had AT LEAST 15 minor wounds, all over his body.

[Jseime]

The only running shot I have ever taken on a deer was two years ago on a huge white tail. He currently resides on my bedroom wall. A single 150 grain soft-point from my .270 put him nose first into the snow.

It was about 50-75 yards and i only took the shot because he was huge and it was closing day at 3:30 PM

[hinkleid]

I have never taken a shot at a running deer. There are just too many opportunities to get a clear shot. The deer I have encountered too will not run very far anyway. Just restalk toward them being quieter.
The only animal I have never had a problem taking a running shot at was a coyote. I shoot a 7 Mag... so pretty hard to just injure them. Either hit and kill or miss. Besides it is a coyote anyway.

[mikejonestkd]

Hunting for me is about the experience and being out in nature. Taking a game animal is secondary to the experience of good friends and a great day in the woods.

I respect a deer too much to take a high risk shot. Another one will come along eventually, or not, either way it is still a great hunt.

Unless you have real life target experience with moving targets I do not recommend running shots at any great distance. A deer deserves a better death that being gut shot and running for miles.

[stuckon308]

How right you are mike. Unless the deer is wounded already don't even bother. You just risk too much. There will always be more deer. Plus if you have a whistle, or can whistle you might be able to make them stop and turn back at you. Which means a better shot.

[Desertfox]

Unfortunately, this experience people talk about in reference to taking a running shot, comes at the expense of how many gut shot deer?

If you are only seeing running deer, you are in the wrong spot or you are doing something wrong. (scent, movement,wind,stand location,approach direction,etc.)

If you are a still hunter, choose the path with the wind in your face as much as possible and don't move so fast. If you are jumping deer, be at the ready for that deer to stop and look back at what spooked him.

Otherwise, you should be sitting still. Don't be scratchin yer butt or swatting skeeters.

IMO- running shot=bad preparation and bad idea. Running deer to ethical hunters means missed opportunity but not the end of the hunt.

[buck460XVR]

I have never taken a shot at a running deer. There are just too many opportunities to get a clear shot. The deer I have encountered too will not run very far anyway. Just restalk toward them being quieter.
The only animal I have never had a problem taking a running shot at was a coyote. I shoot a 7 Mag... so pretty hard to just injure them. Either hit and kill or miss. Besides it is a coyote anyway.

I envy you bro for having the area to hunt where endless possibilities for the perfect shot present themselves to you. You are a lucky man. I too have opportunities for perfect shots and got one this year on a nice eight point public land buck that never knew what snuck up to him in his bed. But in the next breath, had he jumped up and ran I have no doubts that I could have nailed him before he got too far. To me, making a clean shot on a deer sized animal at 20-30 yards running broadside is a fairly easy proposition, anyone who has hunted deer as long as I have and can't make a shot like that in my opinion couldn't hit one standing at 100 yards either. I shoot sporting clays(they don't sit still) grouse, pheasants and waterfowl(they don't sit still either). I do draw the line when turkey hunting.....there is only one way to make an ethical shot there.
But why do your ethics change from a coyote to a deer? Do you judge the coyote as inferior to a deer intelligence wise? Do you think they needlessly need to suffer from a poorly placed shot, whereas the whitetail does not? Why if you can't make a acceptable shot at a running deer sized animal, can you make the same shot on a much smaller target as the coyote? I aint trying to argue here bro, just trying to figure out where it is you're coming from?

If you are a still hunter, choose the path with the wind in your face as much as possible and don't move so fast. If you are jumping deer, be at the ready for that deer to stop and look back at what spooked him.

words of wisdom...have read the same quote in nearly every article on deer hunting ever published. Must be pretty common knowledge, eh? As of yet(40 years) I have yet to see a whitetail buck when busted, stop and look back before it disappeared into the brush.....have seen it with Muleys, but never with a whitetail. Maybe I hunt areas where deer are pressured more, but that's my problem. I know not of anyone else's' skills or the regions and species they hunt.....that's why THEIR ethics are theirs and my ethics are mine. Many of my friends claim if they had to hunt deer where I do, they would give up hunting deer altogether(and some have), but I look at it as a challenge....to me it's the hunt and not the kill.

[auburnboattail]

Indiana is shotgun only.
We shoot Rudolph at 20-30 yards, we shoot running deer routinely.
They are rodents here on the farm, destroy corn, Christmas and fruit trees and cant keep them out of the garden and berry patches.

[WeedWacker]

Last time I hunted, we had a spot picked out where a set of about three nice bucks would exit a fir tree stand every evening and set up a couple of blinds. When we wer all set up on one of the days I could hunt (school permitting) We had perfect conditions. Then the bucks showed up. Running. Not walking like usual, nor were they close enough for the shotgun I was carrying. If I'd had the .30-.30 I would have taken the shots since there was nothing behind them but hill but no rifles in Iowa. Turns out other ppl were on the private property we were on and were driving the deer off to their land so they could go shoot them. Even had guns with them in case they saw anything. Cost my dad the biggest buck he'd ever seen in those woods. They never saw anything (gee I wonder why ) and kinda ticked us off since my dad had a bead and was waiting for a shot So right place, right time, wrong people who weren't supposed to have guns on that property (they had permission to be there but they didn't have permission to hunt).

[squirrelsniper]

If you have the skill to make a running shot, then it's ethical. Most hunters do not have that skill level with a rifle (shotgun with buckshot is a different story).

It's kind of like shooting deer at over 500yds. For some people that is perfectly ethical due to their equipment, skill level and the amount of time they've spent learning how to shoot at extended ranges. For most hunters, that's not the case.

[fletchbutt152]

This discussion concerns me. I've never once thought about not shooting a deer on the run. A deer to eat is a deer to eat. I've never gut shot a deer and I've shot several at 150 yards or more while standing more than 35 feet in the air or more with a 20 knot wind or more. My best shot being from 35 feet up an 8 inch poplar tree with about a 25 knot wind off hand and small 6 pointer at about just under 200 yards running flat out. One shot that left the top 3/4 of an inch of the heart left. Will it happen so gracefully again? Probably not, but I've done it several times at more than 150 yards.

Back when I was 12 and shot my first deer with a gun at just under 200 yards while it was running flat out, I never took a second thought of shooting a running deer. We intentionally made the deer run. That is how we got the deer to move and could actually hunt them. We would walk 5 miles a day driving deer. It was always the most fun to be the one sitting on the rock pile, you had 800 yards to shoot at them as they ran past you and on into the big woods.

I think that truly only each person can determine for themselves if the shot is ethical, and I don't mean this in a "there is no way for us to tell so we should stop thinking about it way". I guess never ever having considered thinking about it before it is good to do. But what I'm saying is that some of these ideas about what is ethical is very short sighted. Is it worse for a hunter to gut shot a running deer and the deer dies in a couple days than it is for the deer which are so very over populated in many areas to starve for the winter? What about taking a shot at a running deer to protect ones crops? What about shooting a running deer to feed your family, yes I still do know some people who still need venison to get through the winter.

And quite frankly, I think shooting running deer is what defines me as a true sportsman. I should want to attain the skill to a running target. We have also to remember that we're shooting animals here and the world isn't perfect or politically correct. If you want to talk about chances of wounding a deer, then we should outlaw bow hunting all together. Now I love bow hunting and am going out this afternoon, but I think my argument would be quite valid.

Sorry I couldn't get my thoughts out more concisely...I was just flabbergasted by the ideas of the thread and my thoughts are a million on this one.

[piercfh]

Really if its a big enough deer who cares. Im all for ethical hunting practices, but everything balances itself out. Coyotes and other critters have too eat too. Look at it from a bowhunters perspective-there is allways a chance the deer is going to get away. The more you do it the less chance you have of loosing an animal. Not much different than putting a running shot on a deer. If you dont shoot at running deer then you will watch some of the biggest deer you have ever seen simply run off.

[Caeser23]

This past year I took my first buck, small seven point, running at about 35-40 yards. I didn't take the shot until I was sure that I could hit him, I followed him through my scope from 10 o'clock and took the shot at about 1 o'clock position. I however have had plenty of practice with moving targets and knowing whats in the background from my year in the sandbox. First thing I do whenever I stop and find a nice place, is look to see where other hunters are and what is in the background.

The previous year, the only buck I seen was well over 150 yards and definitely moving with a purpose, There also was a house in the background even though the house wasn't even behind my target it was close enough. I obviously didn't take it but when I told my stepdad about it he said I should've taken it anyway :barf: needless to say I keep my distance from him when we hunt.