one on one said:

Just curious how affective is 00buckshot 3 1/2 inch?? What is the max safely effective range up to fatal wounding a deer and not just wounding it??


I dunno. I just don't trust it very far. Never shot 3-1/2; my shotgun chambered for 3" max. You get three more pellets at a little less velocity, I think.


After having shot many, many deer with buckshot - I would opt for something else in most circumstances, unless jump-shooting deer in very, very thick stuff up close. With a slug if you hit, you'll prob get a bloodtrail; with buck, you're less likely to. You'll never hear me say it won't work - it just is unreliable the further out you get. My own limit, for ones shot at a standing or slow-moving broadside deer, is around... 40-50 yards. And I think 50 is getting dicey. I'll be tempted further. If you use a slug or rifle - and I hunt almost exclusively with a muzzleloader these days - you'll get a bloodtrail, or more likely a clean miss. Lots of deer wounded by buckshot, IMHO.

If you're going to use buckshot, get flipchart paper and pattern it, get used to judging that distance. Remember that those individual pellets have less energy than little pistol shot