Moving/charging target

[Dublinpiper90]

I’ve done some research but can’t find any “decent” information on fabricating a moving target to replicate a charge of a animal, have herd some folks having them and some shooting schools havimg them, was wanting to make one for the house, any information would be helpful and much appreciated.

 

[Hogpatrol]

This RSA PH school has a video on a social media site where they have a charging cape buffalo.

Northern Cape Professional Hunters School

The Hunting School caters for anybody who is passionate about hunting and wants to extend their knowledge to every aspect of professional hunting.

www.ncph.co.za

 

[skydiver386]

I've seen a few target holders mounted on a yard cart and pulled along with a rope. The ground would have to be very smooth to give a decent target presentation.

If I personally designed one from scratch, a small yard cart with the pull handle removed, tires removed but steel wheels left to run on a narrow track, and a variable speed electric winch to pull it with.

Yes, I know it sounds podunk, but anything that is downrange is going to eventually get SHOT, so best to make it realistic, stout and cheap.

 

[Mekaniks]

Put a target in an old tire. Roll the tire down an incline about 100 yards away and shoot it.... Very humbling in my experience

 

[Wade J VanGinkel]

I've seen remote control cars used with something as simple as helium balloons attached.

 

[R eight]

This one was at the International Big Game Rifle shoot that was held in Darwin NT 2 years ago. It worked well.

 

[farmer_john]

I’ve done some research but can’t find any “decent” information on fabricating a moving target to replicate a charge of a animal, have herd some folks having them and some shooting schools havimg them, was wanting to make one for the house, any information would be helpful and much appreciated.

Rc car give to kid and put some ballons of whatever size on it on about 5ft of string

 

[BourbonTrail]

@Frederik , don’t they have this kind of set up at the BASA shoot? How do you all do it?

 

[dogcat1]

SAAM school on FTW ranch has several.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Get thyself to a skeet range (apologies to Shakespeare). I cannot imagine any better practice. Once you start to get the hang of it switch to shooting low gun ( = gun in your hands not on the shoulder when target is pulled). Station eight midway between the two throwing houses is excellent practice for charging animals. Yes, a shotgun is not the same as a rifle but the principles are the same. And at station eight the pattern is so narrow when the target gets to shooter, it's not much different than shooting a rifle. Don't bother with trap range. All but useless for field hunting. Sporting clays can be helpful but few (if any) stations have incoming targets.

THE most important factor for shooting moving targets well is have a gun that fits PERFECTLY. For a shotgun I go to the patterning board, close my eyes, then quickly mount and shoot at the bull. The location of the pattern will tell me how I need to adjust the stock. Same with a rifle. Close my eyes, mount the gun, open my eyes and the sights/crosshairs should be where I want to shoot ... every time. I can make myself fit any shotgun and do well enough at trap because it's shot high gun. But no one walks around in the field with gun on their shoulder. And no one shoots moving game from a bench or off the sticks.

 

[DLSJR]

The problem with every single one I’ve ever seen is that NONE of them come at you anywhere near as fast as a charging buffalo can move. FTW’s seems good, but it’s about half the speed of the real thing, or less than that.

 

[farmer_john]

The problem with every single one I’ve ever seen is that NONE of them come at you anywhere near as fast as a charging buffalo can move. FTW’s seems good, but it’s about half the speed of the real thing, or less than that.

I would argue practicing good form at a slower pace is better than bad form at full speed.

 

[farmer_john]

Get thyself to a skeet range (apologies to Shakespeare). I cannot imagine any better practice. Once you start to get the hang of it switch to shooting low gun ( = gun in your hands not on the shoulder when target is pulled). Station eight midway between the two throwing houses is excellent practice for charging animals. Yes, a shotgun is not the same as a rifle but the principles are the same. And at station eight the pattern is so narrow when the target gets to shooter, it's not much different than shooting a rifle. Don't bother with trap range. All but useless for field hunting. Sporting clays can be helpful but few (if any) stations have incoming targets.

THE most important factor for shooting moving targets well is have a gun that fits PERFECTLY. For a shotgun I go to the patterning board, close my eyes, then quickly mount and shoot at the bull. The location of the pattern will tell me how I need to adjust the stock. Same with a rifle. Close my eyes, mount the gun, open my eyes and the sights/crosshairs should be where I want to shoot ... every time. I can make myself fit any shotgun and do well enough at trap because it's shot high gun. But no one walks around in the field with gun on their shoulder. And no one shoots moving game from a bench or off the sticks.

Thats actually a great idea.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

The problem with every single one I’ve ever seen is that NONE of them come at you anywhere near as fast as a charging buffalo can move. FTW’s seems good, but it’s about half the speed of the real thing, or less than that.

Good point. Buffalo can run at about 36 mph. Skeet targets fly about ten mph faster (Olympic skeet 20 mph faster).

October 28 the first afternoon hunting in Montana my Fr Britt sent a rooster through thick Russian olive right at me. He was squawking so I was ready to shoot as soon as he was in sight. A station 8 shot. It was a very tight window but I took him less than ten yards from the end of the muzzle. Then another squawking rooster came on the same flight plan. He fell on top of the first rooster. Second rooster didn't have much left of his head and first rooster had both legs blown off at the knees and guts hanging out, but breast was okay.

I'm sure I could have put a slug in the much larger brain bucket of a charging buffalo at that range. I'll credit skeet shooting.

 

[Flbt]

I’ve done some research but can’t find any “decent” information on fabricating a moving target to replicate a charge of a animal, have herd some folks having them and some shooting schools havimg them, was wanting to make one for the house, any information would be helpful and much appreciated

What one trainer did was get a cheap remote control car
put a helium balloon and a long staring on it.
What were were doing was practice head shots.
And it worked well the car could move it at any time but the smallest wind will move it to.

I could see making a mount and put a one of the deer/ hog target on it for running targets.

I know it sounds funny but that rig made a very good target and very unpredictable target to hit

 

[Flbt]

Oh a simple thing if you have a lot of rabbits.
Shooting running rabbits with a 22 is good practice to.

 

[DLSJR]

I would argue practicing good form at a slower pace is better than bad form at full speed.

I never said practicing good form at a slower pace was bad. Practicing at a slower pace has its benefits.

My point is that none of these practice scenarios come close to replicating an actual charge from close range. In real life, they’re over almost before most clients realize what the F is happening. @farmer_john, if you haven’t been on the receiving end of a real charge, you should try it some time.

 

[farmer_john]

I never said practicing good form at a slower pace was bad. Practicing at a slower pace has its benefits.

My point is that none of these practice scenarios come close to replicating an actual charge from close range. In real life, they’re over almost before most clients realize what the F is happening. @farmer_john, if you haven’t been on the receiving end of a real charge, you should try it some time.

I Would love to. Im actually trying to figure out a hunt for 2027.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I never said practicing good form at a slower pace was bad. Practicing at a slower pace has its benefits.

My point is that none of these practice scenarios come close to replicating an actual charge from close range. In real life, they’re over almost before most clients realize what the F is happening. @farmer_john, if you haven’t been on the receiving end of a real charge, you should try it some time.

Try shooting station 8 skeet low gun. If the target gets past you, you're not allowed to shoot at it (well, you can but it won't count). That target is on you VERY fast. Leaves the house 60' away at 46 mph or 46 miles in 60 minutes or 46 miles in 3600 seconds or (5280x46) ft/3600 seconds = 64.5 ft/sec. So I have less than a second to shoulder my shotgun, acquire the target, and break it.

 

[DLSJR]

Try shooting station 8 skeet low gun. If the target gets past you, you're not allowed to shoot at it (well, you can but it won't count). That target is on you VERY fast. Leaves the house 60' away at 46 mph or 46 miles in 60 minutes or 46 miles in 3600 seconds or (5280x46) ft/3600 seconds = 64.5 ft/sec. So I have less than a second to shoulder my shotgun, acquire the target, and break it.

I used to shoot skeet quite a bit when I was young. We loved to have friendly competitions afterward to see who could get the closest to the house from low 8 and still break the target. Of course, we did it with the gun mounted since we were getting dangerously close to the house. I got to where I could break the target more than halfway between station 8 toward the house. It was ‘pullbang’ pretty much all as one. I was a lot younger back when we used to do that, like 47-49 years younger. I agree that shooting station 8 low would be good practice from a reaction timing standpoint, that’s about the closest thing I can think of compared to a buffalo charge.