Whitetail Deer HuntingGain a better understanding of the World's most popular big game animal and the techniques that will help you become a better deer hunter.
Buckshot can be deadly at close ranges. Probably up to 40yds but every gun is different.Buckshot definatley can waste more meat. Slugs are probably the most prefered but i suggest shooting them through a rifled barrel and get yourself a nice shotgun scope. I used to shoot nothing but 3 1/2 inch buckshot but since i bought a nice rifled barrel shotgun and a nice scope i've never gone back to buckshot.Thats just my opinion but see what suits you best.
Deerhunter2006,
Buckshot does have its place in history with hunting, and has taken a great deal of deer. However, buckshot is a poor performer. I"™m not going to go into great detail, but here is my summary;
A slug is just as powerful, or even more so than buckshot at any range, but buckshot has far less power at a greater distance than a slug. This is mainly due to the ballistic coefficient of a sphere, which slows quickly and has poor penetration. The number get worse and quickly when you start to calculate in the fact that some of the pellets will not hit the animal at this greater distance, which will compound the poor numbers. If you hit an animal with only a few pellets and they are not in the best location on the animal, you may never find it, or know that you"™ve even hit it, subsequently resulting in either not tracking it, or not being able to track it due to the large range it can cover while it is still alive.
With a slug it is pretty obvious if there has been a hit because it will deliver a good bit of energy even if shot placement is less than optimal. There really isn"™t much of a reason to limit yourself with buckshot if slugs are legal for use.
Good luck,
KP
P.S. "“ There will be others who disagree. You should study this matter on your own and form an opinion from your research.
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Member of team Headhunters and founder of the INAP (Insane Naked Ape Posse"¦)
It would depend what kind of range and species of whitetail.NC whitetails are smaller than those giants in Canada.
__________________ http://wwwanytimeanimalcontrol.com in Los Angeles, San Diego, Wisconsin, Florida, Mississippi, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Sacramento, San Francisco, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC.
The only reason you should use buckshot is if you are hunting with hounds which isn't done a lot but I know we do it here in Eastern Va and its done some in south fla. and the reason is becauseyou are taking a lot of running shots. And this stuff about 40 yd effective range is BS. We reguarly kill deer out to 100 paces with 00 buckshot. We reguarly miss alot at that range too. If you are going to shoot buckshot then be sure to pattern your gun to see what load it shoots best with which choke ( I am a Winchester 00 Buckshot with modified choke man, and with my 11-87 that puts 15 out of 15 pellets in a 2x2 paper target at 50 yds.)
Also some places allow buckshot but not slugs (like where I live) and other places allow slugs but not buckshot so check out your local regulations.
But in general I would say if you are still hunting use a slug if you are hunting with dogs then use buckshot. If you use buckshot and it patterns well for you thenthe winchester 00 high velocity is a real widow maker, they took 3 pellets out and put in more powder,the only problem is it kills on both ends... my shoulder is killing me.
Good Luck
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"From the outside looking in you can't understand it, from the inside looking out you can't explain it."
I Hate Buckshot
Over the year's Iv'e been hunting,I have found six animals that I harvested to have Buckshot pellet's just under the skin,two of which had
busted leg joint's that have healed over.
One Deer in particular that sickened me was Gang Green on the whole side of it.I thru the whole Deer away what a waste of a animal.
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BOB
BE SURE OF YOUR SHOT,,AND,,WHATS BEHIND YOUR SHOT.,,MAKE A QUICK CLEAN KILL
SloPitch a couple of lines in your post stand out. "We regularly kill deer at 100 paces with 00 buckshot. We regularly miss a lot at that range also." I would be willing to bet that those aren't alwaysmisses, rather you don't get enough buckshot in the deer to kill them quickly and a number of them die later on. Stick to the distance that buckshot is effective and meant to be shot.
SloPitch a couple of lines in your post stand out. "We regularly kill deer at 100 paces with 00 buckshot. We regularly miss a lot at that range also." I would be willing to bet that those aren't alwaysmisses, rather you don't get enough buckshot in the deer to kill them quickly and a number of them die later on. Stick to the distance that buckshot is effective and meant to be shot.
Timber: I have no argument for that. I was just stating the facts of the way it is around here. I am a bigtime bowhunter and I never take low percentage shots however alot of the shotgunners here do. I do dog hunt when the season comes in because most deer become nocturnal once they here the hounds start up and its the only way you will see deer. When I dog hunt I always take my little brother and I rarley take my gun out of the truck. I just like seeing him be sucessful. I kill most of my deer in bow and muzzleloader season.
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"From the outside looking in you can't understand it, from the inside looking out you can't explain it."
i would prefer slug just because buck shot doesn't not have enough penetration power even at close distances....slugs really don't either..i shot a buck at 22 yards with a slug...made a 2 inch hole in his front shoulder and the slug did not exist, just penetrated about half way in the buck and broke into pieces....
buckshot vs slugs
