Where did that come from?

I'm always low and ready

I was thinking the same thing???

Nobody has mentioned triggers and multiple rifles. To get really good offhand, you need to be very ‘familiar’ with the rifle trigger. Of course that also applies to shooting off of sandbags, but I think is even more important offhand. If I switch rifles, my shooting will be a bit off till I get familiar with that rifle trigger. I missed a hog at about 220 the other day when the very light trigger(on a rifle I don’t hunt with too often) caused me to shoot a heartbeat before I wanted to. I was shooting off a rest at the moment. Take that, which i’ll term a lack of trigger control, and combine it with the wobbly scope reticle you’ll have shooting offhand, and you have complicated the situation. The “one gun” guy will likely be the fellow with great trigger control, if he shoots a lot.

Me too...somebody's not happy

IMHO & YMMV ....The so called "Lazy Texas Style" hunting of sitting over a fenced corn feeder, shooting out of box blind ( aka "shooting house" )at usually under 200 yards off a padded window rest has almost degraded Offhand Shooting skills out of existence. That style of hunting almost cost me losing the ability to pass a required Shooting Test to Qualify for a Hunting Permit on the only Moose Hunt in Finland I would have ever been on. The 12 man squad of Europeans & Canadians I was with ALL easily passed the 100 meter moving target test with little effort, while I struggled to remember how I shot jacks rabbits as a preteen in West Texas with a 22 rifle, and was allowed a 2nd practice round in the deepening rainy evening that required the use of car headlights to even see the target as it moved at 40/50km across the rails of the targrt track.

Yes, I hunt that Lazy Texas way too for the most part, but I have also tried to keep my Offhand Skills fuctional whenever possible as well on targets of opportunity, and have made enough kill shots on various critters close and out to 200+ yards successful shots as well. One shot I made, that resulted in the Texas Mule Deer hanging on the wall over my head as I type this, when my hunting partner missed his coin flip earned shot at under 75 yards, when we had spooked the sleeping Muley out of the bottom of a dry wash.

Another memorable offhand spur of the moment shot was when I was being derided by my guide on a famous ranch in the Rio Grande Valley for refusing to take an off hand shot, standing chest high in a huisatch thicket, at the biggest WTail I've ever seen, off hand at over 500 yards. As we walked away aftrt the monster buck and his harem spooked, we jumped a large jack rabbit out of a Pear Cactus patch when the guide sneered at me that I probably could not have even hit the sitting rabbit...and busted the bunny after he got up to full speed with a new to me rifle at about a 100 yards. The 7Rmg prototype & cheap red box Federal 150gr'er sent the Jack 30-40' up into a overhanging mesquite with a perfectly centered hit in the middle of his ribs that left all 4 legs, head and back untouched and shut the guide up all the way back to camp, 20 miles away.

Good Offhand shooting skills will give the Hunter the confidence to make what ever shot is presented, instead of watching the critter disappear while the Blind/Bench Shooter hestitates to get setup looking for a tree or something to lean on. My longest kill shot was made leaning across the fender of the guides Bronco, offhand, at 444 yards uphill with a 257Rbts & a slow non +P 100gr WW Siver Tip 100gr on a Wyoming Pronghorn, and later watched in amazement at my partner make a 500+/- yard off hand shot, on the 3rd try with a BAR 7Rmg, at a Pronhorn that was running flat out..but then Bob Welsh was a long term ranked trap shooter in those days too.

The negative and uninformed comment & reponses I saw recently here on THF about the term "Low Ready Position" tells me everything about the differences of the Hunter and a Box Blind/Bench Shooter. FWIW I am happiest in the field tiptoeing thru the hunting area looking for targets of opportunity that most Blind Shooters will never see....just getting too dang old to do it much anymore, besides sitting in box Blind is Boring.
Again, JMHO & YMMV
Ron

What terms folks use or know doesn’t tell you one thing about their abilities as a hunter.

Some of the best hunters I know don’t know the fancy lingo and never will. They still call cartridges “bullets”, magazines “clips” and wouldn’t have a clue what the “low ready” position is - even though they’ve been carrying their rifles in that position while still hunting for over 50 years.

Nog, "When In Rome" you speak the language that the people you are with can understand, I no arguement with that. I learned to speak East Texas too, and am not put off by it.

The point I'm trying to make is not about what you call something, but being able to Shoot Offhand Skillfully when the opportunity presents itself, instead of being relegated to depending on a Box Blind/Bench Rest approach only.

In Finland the Brit's drove me nutz with some of their eupheisms and I could not understand or attempt to use the same head up & erect offhand shooting style, but I had an experienced American "interpretor" explain stuff, named Howard French, who was the Editor of Guns & Ammo magazine at the time, and had hunted all over the world for many years. I learned to follow him around like puppy, to catch the nuggets of information I've never had access to before or since.

The other thing I learned in Finland about myself, was that I was not using a traditional fore and aft, elbows under offhand rifle stance, but feet spread more side to side, shoulder's squared, elbows out like wings, like a birdshooter swinging the gun side to side that was what I had the most experience with. That comment was from the Scot who attemped to offer me the most advice after he'd just scored a perfect score on the Running Moose target...and has helped me over the years immensely when I get lazy.
Ron

This thread made me dry fire it about 5 times yesterday. I tried a 12" plate at 300 that afternoom, and missed right. That's the only target I'm somewhat lined up with from inside the shop. I knew it as soon as I squeezed the trigger. Looks like a new target is going to be built for 100 yards off the shop.

This discussion had me doing some dry firing last night as well and there is plenty of room for improvement. The 22 is coming out this afternoon to work on offhand.

Excellent posts Wiley.

Where in Texas has moving targets for rifle for practice? I used to shoot skeet competitively at a pretty high level long ago, so am comfortable with movers, but have no idea how much lead is needed with a rifle as compared to a shotgun.

Jeff, you can of course calculate the lead on a moving target and get very close to what the actual lead needed will be for a moving target. For videos of running shots look around on Double Naught Spy's Youtube channel and video's he posts on here.

Dirt pit in Mississippi I shot at for years had a "road" going down into it and we could safely do moving shots at tires with cardboard taped over the hole. The way the "road" was cut there an area for someone to roll the tire from behind a hill from the shooters and the shots were taken about 45 degrees to the side of the location behind the hill from about 80 yards away. Not great for long range practice but sure opened some eyes to lead distance for deer in front of a pack of deer hounds where hunting with dogs is still alowed.

The only moving targets location I have seen in Texas was about 16 or so years ago A ways East of Junction on the McNutt ranch. That was a private range.

Wow, welcome back! By far the best post is just seeing you back!

Kevin,

I can plug the numbers into a ballistics program, but how fast does a deer and a pig run?

Agreed.
Good to see you around, Kevin!

They run different speeds. IDK the answer to becoming proficient except to shoot a lot. The last coyote I shot was running flat out - hit him on the second shot because the first one was obviously behind him. Felt like I led him 6-8 feet the second time.

I simply won’t shoot at a running deer anymore unless it’s a follow up shot or he happens to be right on top of me. Before I go after Cape Buffalo in Africa I plan to practice moving buff target shooting as much as I can. The well-known shooting place in central TX Boddington and lots of other bigwigs attend had a course and classes just for that.

I’ve seen an article or two from Boddington on that course. Sounds like a lot of fun.

fast draw was a hobbie, back in the day.
WMA hog hunts were all off hand chooten, all short range, started use the AR-15, not much of blood trail with that small of cal, most blood stays inside.

Ya'll see if you can find a live creek that is flowing steadily, early in the fall and see if you can hit floating leaves from a high over head bank, so nothing richochets. A 22LR is a good tool on those kinds of shots, and you'd be surprised how much your Off Hand Game Shots will seem easier whne you get used to computing lead at a glance. Squirrels on the ground is another fun day, with no straight away shots ever...and use only a bolt action rifle instead of a spray and pray big magazine shooter.

Given my laundry list of ailments over the years, I adapted the classic rifleman's stance of front foot almost pointing at the target, the rear foot almost perpendicular but not behind the front foot and a little off to the side, knees slightly bent with the front leg bent the most, forward arm/hand extended and directly under the rifles forearm, shoulders locked with any excessive recoil absorbed from the hips and the trigger hand's elbow almost tucked into your ribs...is what I came up with for myself. Any swinging movement needed to stay on target, is from the hips and not the waist or shoulders.

This setup is what works best for me, and has given me successful rifle shots on everything from running turkey head shots at 60-70+ yards with a 270, to a cull buck at about 175+ yards that was running flat out with a head start. The bullet hit his onside front foot just above the hoof & broke his ankle, and gave me a pass thru at the low'ish mid point of the crease, again with a hot 270 as I swung past him like shooting a low and away trap shot...and made my partner stone quiet for a while, for a change. My partner was GTG with the standard Field Positions he'd learned in the his 90 Day Wonder School, but never learned anything other than that in field shooting a rifle as a Red Leg Artillery Officer.

Shooting Off Hand is just another tool in the toolbox, and the Hunter with the most tools has more fun, IMO.
Ron

FTW Safari Course. The targets move and charge you.

I’ll check it out thanks!

NP
To practice the charge setup, set up targets 25y 20y 15y 10y (I like hanging water jugs 4 feet from ground). Set a shot timer. Make rifle ready and hold in position you would use following wounded game. Best if a partner calls charge at random but you can just start shooting or have timer signal start. Start at furthest target and shoot as fast as you can hitting all of them. I do this before going to Wyoming elk hunting, not for elk but G. Bear.

Adjust your target number to rounds gun will hold. I practice with 22 and work up to the final tool leading into the hunt.

That sounds fun and practical to boot.

We need to get our Biesen rifles together and sling some lead.

Want to make it a greater challenge or need a tiebreaker? Add opposite shoulder shooting to the mix.

I can think of at least one nice buck that I was forced to pass up because I wasn't skilled or experienced at shooting from the opposite shoulder. I was in a ladder stand when he came up behind me close to my right. No way I was going to swivel my shoulders without getting busted.

That particular exercise would be for the bigger rifles though.

Years ago I might have been 9 or 10 read something in Outdoor Life that I am glad I did. If you want to be a hunter ready for any angle shot you have to be able to shoot from either shoulder proficiently. I took that to be important and only shot my BB gun left handed until I could hit as well or better than I could right handed. 14 one shot kills on deer from my left shoulder over the years tells me it still works. Then again I am right handed but left eye dominate which helps the left handed shooting I am sure