hunting from horseback ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
"I've never been stupid enough to try shooting from a horse.
Click to expand...

I wouildn't know how many dozen rounds I have fired from horseback. I swear my favorite old gelding would hear me thumb my single action, and he knew what was coming next. He didnt mind.(usually)
 
From curiosity: How many of the naysayers grew up around horses, plowing, working livestock, whatever, over a good number of years? Or, ever done a good bit of target-shooting when horses were nearby?
 
Out here in western Wyoming, horses including the pack stock; mules or horses are the only way to get into the high country for elk, moose, deer, etc.
No one would even think about taking a shot from the saddle.
I guided for years, we always used to laugh about the dude hunters in camps trying it and the rodeo that happened.
 
My horses take off when I shoot. One is a very highly trained (competed in equestrian events), but none were ever trained to be accustomed to gunfire or July 4th and one will slap out kill you to get away from a snake. :)

Edit: If anyone wants to show me how it's done I have a young greenbroke quarterhorse that could use a little excitement. I'll require you sign a waiver first. :)
 
Last edited:
"From curiosity: How many of the naysayers grew up around horses, plowing, working livestock, whatever, over a good number of years? Or, ever done a good bit of target-shooting when horses were nearby? "

I have a decent history with horses, not an expert, but reasonable experience, & to be truthful I have never seen (or even known) anyone who hunted this way. but hay,, to each their own, I don't consider myself a "naysayer" but on a topic such as this,,, Hay, I gotta see it. (I don't mean shooting a gun while astride a horse,, I mean hunting astride a horse)
 
From curiosity: How many of the naysayers grew up around horses, plowing, working livestock, whatever, over a good number of years? Or, ever done a good bit of target-shooting when horses were nearby?
Click to expand...


We always had horses. I have spent days behind a horse or mule scooping tobacco after it was too big to get a tractor over. Had a big work horse named Kate that pulled tobacco sleds obediently responding to come up and whoa as we worked along side. I had an Appaloosa mare that I have ridden up the left out track head on in to a freight train several times.

But, I wouldn't light up a 300 Mag sitting on her.
 
Art, I was raised on a horse farm. I'm a nay sayer. That's not a pun, I wouldn't shoot from horseback. Being around horses from birth to 18 I can tell you... they're crazy. Even when you train them well they'll shock you.
I'm not saying NO ONE SHOULD do it, I'm saying I wouldn't... ever.
 
Wait a minute -- shooting ON horseback is one thing, shooting after dismounting is another.

Even if you have a perfectly trained horse, it's gong to breathe, move it's feet and so on. A horse is a difficult platform to shoot from.

Me, I pile off the horse while pulling my M94 Winchester from the saddle boot and shoot while standing next to the horse.
 
Reminds me of this one...
CoRoMo said:
Okay, so here's a good story:
Back in October, I was making my last hike out of the backcountry, and taking a route that I've never taken. A few miles to go, I hear a couple rifle shots and can tell that it was relatively close. Keep hiking. A little while later, here comes a saddled paint horse running flat out towards me. I'm on a horse trail after all, so he's got something to follow. When he sees me he hits the brakes and begins to settle down. No rider though and we're a long ways from anywhere. So I figure that if he won't try and bite me, I'll grab him and lead him out, not knowing what I should do with him afterward. By the time I get down to him, he's grazing and copacetic, so I take his reigns and we start out. A mile or more back out that horse trail we go, before... here comes a huffing/puffing hunter trying to maintain a fast pace. He was extremely glad to see me and thanks me over and over. I simply tell him that, "I've got a horse for sale".

Turns out that he had just killed a little bull elk between me and the trailhead. He dismounted to take a finishing shot and when he turned to get his horse, his rifle barrel hit the paint in the face... and off he went.

I helped him dress out that bull, and he promised me a quarter for my trouble, but I declined and headed out with nothing but the story. Dang it; if I had only been a little quicker on the foot, I'd have been in that spot where that little bull flushed out.
Click to expand...


And wow... there was a lot of poor muzzle control in that video of competitive mounted shooting!

At the 46 second mark, he aims his pistol at the ring announcer?

attachment.php
 
Last edited:
I probably wouldn't have thought of shooting from horseback except for the way that gelding would come watch me shooting my 1911. He'd stand close enough that sometimes the ejected cases would hit him, and he'd not do more than just twitch. Still, I didn't just go to ought-sixing right away. :) "Just a good ol' hoss."
 
FWIW, I'm not referring to shooting while in the saddle, either. However, experience has taught me that like most things, horses become accustomed to gunfire with repeated exposure, to the point I've often worried about getting stepped on by them while in the midst of shooting prairie dogs proned out. We've had horses on the family ranch my entire life, and I learned how to ride very shortly after learning to walk! In 37 years of being around horses, I've yet to find one that hasn't grown accustomed to the sound of nearby gunfire, and it often serves as sort of a "horse call" when I attempt to pop a few dogs....they may be at the opposite end of the pasture, but they'll come at a gallop TO me (not AWAY from me) after hearing a shot or two, in hopes of maybe some oats or a good petting. These stories about horses coming unglued at the sound might hold true for early exposures to the noise, but its simply not an issue with most horses (all, in my PERSONAL experience) and repeated exposure, unless every one of the 20+ horses I've had experience with has been a fluke.....as for the above poster( Courtgreene) who claims all horses, even well-trained ones, are crazy.....well, apparently, his definition of either "well-trained" or "crazy" differs from my own. While no animal in infallible, I've never considered any of our saddle horses to be "crazy", and apparently, dad trusted them enough not to be "crazy" that he'd put me on them before I could walk to ride with family members. I've had horses I trust more than I've trusted any man. Like most animals, their behavior and demeanor reflect how they were raised and trained. Horses are a tool to be used, as well as pets, on our ranch. A "crazy" horse is no good as either.
 
Last edited:
Dudes, ... go back & re-read the OP's post in context.

Unless he clarifies it subsequently (so far nada), the way he used the words "from horseback" strongly implies that he meant shooting at game while mounted.

That raises the "hearing sensitivity" issue of how much muzzle blast ol' Trigger can withstand, or be trained to withstand, before he bucks your behind into the next county.

Ideally, you'd have the horse trained to hold its head high and perfectly still so you could slide that afore-pictured .308 Tanker 'tween it's long ears, sort of the "horse fur" equivalent of a sandbag rest, while you draw a steady bead on a group of hogs emerging from some brush and commence squeezing off shots of 7.62 ball ... :what:

Yep, I'm sure that would make for some fine and successful hog hunting ... :rolleyes:
 
I'm not a horse, but if a rifle goes off above my head when I am not expecting it I will probably crab one way or the other.

I think you will eventually get augered in to a rock pile.
 
DaveK, It sounds like your horses see gunfire as a good thing. Hear gunfire, get to see Dave, get my cheeks rubbed and back scratched. :)

IMHO, Horses are naturally skidish and it takes a lot of work to get them comfortable with certain things. When working with a new horse I'll start getting them accustomed to all sorts of things like something as simple as stepping over a rope (probable sounds strange to folks that haven't been around horses much). Then other things that will freak a horse out like walking on a tarp. Loading is advanced training for some of them. :D

I have a great horse that was hit in the face when young because he was a hand full and the then owner didn't know how to handle him. Great horse, but I'm mindful not to quickly swing my hands / arms near his face.

Yesterday evening I was putting up some temporary fence cutting off some winter graze. All the fence was up except the 'gate' and everybody was in the grain field except one. I notice she's moving her feet a little and look over to see my son standing in the open area where the gate will go. I tell him to move (then explain why) and she bolts through there to get with her buddies.

All this is not really important to what you're talking about; I'm just mentioning it to say that I really do appreciate the work and TIME that was involved in getting your horses accustomed to something like gunfire.
 
Davek, you nailed my point exactly when you said "no animal is infallible." I don't want to be sitting on it looking through my sights and focusing elsewhere when it has that infallible moment.
 
I've wondered about bird hunting from horseback at times but I don't feel I have the time to put into the training of myself or the horse.
There are no doubt some perty good hoss's out there but after knowing a few hands that have spent a lifetime in the saddle I am convinced that if you commit enough time to that endeavor el diablo will eventually try to kill you.
I can't think of any horse I've ever had that would head back for the trailhead at a shot but I've never tried it of ones back.
I think historically it is correct to believe that the mounted Cavalry did a great deal of shooting while mounted but I'm sure the accuracy is far from what we would allow for hunting and back then a poor rider was probably pretty good in the saddle by todays standards.
 
There are no doubt some perty good hoss's out there but after knowing a few hands that have spent a lifetime in the saddle I am convinced that if you commit enough time to that endeavor el diablo will eventually try to kill you.
Click to expand...
If you ride, expect to be thrown now and then -- even when you do everything right.

As I say, I have killed many a deer while riding after cattle, but I always dismounted and shot from the ground, never from the saddle.
 
I was near Meeker, Colorado one year when I came upon an outfitter who had several horses that he used in his trade. There was one old horse that had been branded with the letters U.S. Just to see what he would say I asked him if he could shoot off of that horse. He said "Yeah, one time."

I've been around guys that use horses and my observation is that they spend more time taking care of the horses than they do hunting. You don't take a flat land horse to Colorado and expect them to perform like they do at home.
 
Too many "General Custer"-types weighing in here who have little or no saddle-time in the field, let alone actually attempting to shoot game with a rifle while mounted. :rolleyes:

C'mon guys, seriously?

I'd like to see someone try to jam enough cotton into Trigger's ears - but even if he let you, I'd still pay good money to watch the one-man rodeo ride that would ensue after you touched off that first round of centerfire ammo ... :evil:
 
agtman said:
Too many "General Custer"-types weighing in here who have little or no saddle-time in the field, let alone actually attempting to shoot game with a rifle while mounted. :rolleyes:

C'mon guys, seriously?

I'd like to see someone try to jam enough cotton into Trigger's ears - but even if he let you, I'd still pay good money to watch the one-man rodeo ride that would ensue after you touched off that first round of centerfire ammo ... :evil:
Click to expand...
Hey now I never claimed to have much saddle time. It has to be easily 15 years since I've been on a horse.
Just throwing out ideas.
 
agtman, I may have missed it, but I think I'm the only one who has actually done a hunting shot while on horseback.

A couple of neighbor kids and I were never Custer/cavalry. We were the Dalton gang, riding the fifteen or so miles down to Buda to case the bank before we robbed it. :D This was back during WW II. It wasn't until in the 1970s that I trained my horse to tolerate me shooting while on him.

What's interesting to me is that he was only around four or five years old when all this happiness got going. I've been told that US Army cavalry horses were older. My father never mentioned anything about age, but he broke horses for the cavalry back in the 1930s. I once worked with a guy whose father had been in the horse cavalry. He told me about one-eared horses. Not all beginning cavalry troops were all that well coordinated in obeying the command, "Draw...Sabers!" Oops.

Fort Hood has a reenactment group of horse cavalry. They shoot balloons with blanks from SAAs, and do really horrible things to watermelons with their sabers--all at high speed.
 
I'd like to see someone try to jam enough cotton into Trigger's ears - but even if he let you, I'd still pay good money to watch the one-man rodeo ride that would ensue after you touched off that first round of centerfire ammo ...
Click to expand...
They make earplugs for horses -- the Cowboy Action shooters use them.

But my experience has been that if you accustom the horse to shooting, and are not so foolish as to try to shoot from the saddle -- a well-trained horse will stand while you shoot.

And mine were also trained to take the carcass behind the saddle.
 
Thanks for that info, Art & Vern.

Maybe older horses with A LOT of training would react differently to gunfire over their heads.

Interesting about the Ft Hood re-enactments too.
 
Art Eatman said:
agtman, I may have missed it, but I think I'm the only one who has actually done a hunting shot while on horseback.
Click to expand...


Not the only one. I took several deer at 20-30 yards from horseback with a 30-30 as a kid. Knew the horse well even though I didn't own him, and he enjoyed hunting. That close in it's hard to miss, and a quarter horse with a 120 lb rider can actually be a solid platform to shoot from. With some of those deer I probably could have gotten even closer, they were used to sharing the pasture with horses and didn't seem to care we were there.

I never fired over Peanut's head, only off to the left broadside, and he never flinched...probably because there was a 100 yard range in his field and the family shot frequently.

Safe to do from any horse? Certainly not. But in a half dozen animals taken from the saddle I had no issues. I'd hunt from that horse today if he were still alive.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

K
  • Locked
Does Anybody Hunt on Horseback?
2
Replies
30
Views
5K
Decker
D
B
  • Locked
Elk hunting fitness
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
ZeroJunk
ZeroJunk
geim druth
  • Locked
Horseback shooting
2
Replies
25
Views
1K
jhco50
J
S
  • Locked
Exciting Hunt
2
Replies
43
Views
1K
moosehunt
M
D
  • Locked
Questions about guns for a book
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
bigfatdave
B
Back
Top