RE: buckshot vs slugs
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.