Guide to "LEAD" Shooting moving targets.

TEXASLAWMAN

Lone Star Boars Owner
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Are you using a magnified thermal? Great video and good pointers.... I will probably have to adjust depending on my optic, rifle caliber, and bad eyes...but besides that good to go.
Yes most thermal scopes are at least 2x but I usually use the 3x or 4x
 

Richard Teague

LSB Member
Afraid to watch the video, might cause me to figure out why I hit running animals so well. When I was much younger I shot a lot of running jackrabbits and somehow figured out how to make tough running shots without even thinking about it.
 

Tbar

New Member
My shots are from a fixed position 200 yard from the feeder.

A friend of mine calculated my hogs would hit 30mph burst speed in short order.
It takes ~ .25 second for my projectile to get there.
Thus my lead needs to be 11 feet or ~3 pig lengths.

I still have not mastered that lead yet.
 

Brian Shaffer

Hog Hunter
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I wish it was that simple. I can visually see hogs running at 3 different speeds and the distinction between the three can't always be grouped in MPH. The low speed run is a trot where they are just moving away and don't seem to understand what it going on. There is a mid speed run where they appear to be fleeing, but not actually reacting like they are about to die. They are just moving away from danger, quickly. Then there is the balls-to-the-wall 30 mph run where they feel directly threatened like they are being chased.

When you shoot at them, the don't always go from zero to flat out full speed. That is part of the problem. On top of that, they don't always run at a constant speed once they start running.

Then there is the problem of vertical changes. Hogs often have a lot of vertical change when they run fast. Depending on the timing of the shot and how much change is being produced, your head level shot could impact at belly level.

It is going to take practice. It would probably be beneficial if you tried to learn from a shorter distance.
 

Richard Teague

LSB Member
If I'm shooting around cattle or houses I don't take running shots but if the field is wide open I will burn ammo! The longest running shot I took on a hog was a spotted 200 pounder running flat out up a hill toward the timber. I pulled my 7x57 out of the case jacked a round in and rolled that hog. Range around 200 yards and I fired just as my crosshairs were a hog length in front. I was swinging the rifle faster than it looked like the hog was traveling and did not stop my swing. It was one of the cool looking rolling end over end hits in front of witnesses. It could have been luck but I was shooting at that hog, he was the only one in sight!
 

Robert Salmon

Big Daddy
I made a short video trying to explain the types of lead I hope this helps someone out there.

This was a great video, all the shots were well explained and man, nothing beats a visual display. Excellent choices on the videos, especially where you combined different leads to take down more than one. You are one helluva shot sir. I'll be hunting with my AR-10 with my DBAL and my PVS-14's (Gen3), I'm thinking the lead principles you showed us should basically apply - but I'm a little concerned since I don't have a PVS-22 or Thermal that I don't have a reticle to make sure I'm on good plane to get good round placement. This is an eradication hunt, but I still want to make good shots on these critters even though they are evil, destructive critters. I've had no issues engaging targets with my IR, but not small and as fast has hogs on the ground. So any input from someone who has hunted fast critters using IR and nods, is appreciated!
 
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