Blain

" I went Bear hunting in Michigan this year after waiting seven years to get a tag. This is my first bear hunt and it was a full moon, so like deer the bears were moving late. I opted to take my 3 1/2 inch mossberg and use buckshot. The bear came in fifteen yards and never moved another inch. All eighteen pellets hit the bear. A nice humane kill. That Mossberg is one bad gun within 50 yards.

Blain, thanks for the reassurance of using the buckshot. I have used buckshot for deer and coyotes. I only use it in areas where my shot will be within 70 yards. I would put a 3 1/2inch buckshot against any gun. I once shot at a doe and dropped two deer with one single shot. I use a turkey choke and can put 12 pellets in a paper plate at 50 yards. I would say that is very deadly. The bear I shot, all eighteen pellets went right through the bear makin a hole about the size of a galf ball. A couple pellets went and hit the other shoulder, destroying it. A good, clean, humane kill. Thats what we all strive for. "



" The deer picks his way within 35 yards of us and stops broadside. He sees us but I guess doesn' t know what we are since he doesn' t bound away. He walks a little more and as he goes behind a bush I move into shooting position. His tail is flagging, but he doesn' t run. I fire my 3" 15 pellet 00 buckshot and he is hit by 11 of them at that distance (five go through both lungs). They all penetrate to the far side stoping against the skin with one pellet busting his far shoulder. He fell right there and expired 20 seconds or so later. Meat tasted great! The steaks were a little gamey, but then it was my first deer and maybe I just wasn' t used to the taste."


" Kilgor

I' ve shot 50 deer. Those shot(with buckshot) while standing still went NO where(except bow shots)."



“Just got a trophy boar 330 Lbs after literally 6 months of baiting etc etc.
Big fellow just walked in at about 10 yds from me .I was hardly behind any cover but the secret was sit motionless.As he began to eat some garbage lying around I raised my gun(It was not so that because of the garbage they were fearless,they are regularly shot here and bolt at the slightest sound/movement).Another boar had just bolted from there minutes earlier.This fellow would have heard him bolt and been cautious but it appeared he was fearless.
I was using a double berrelled shotgun with super X- OOB (2,3/4" 9 pellets buckshot).When the gun was up his belly was towards me and I could have emptied both the barrels at the expence of loosing some fine meat.I am an old hand now and can control --and did control my pounding heart.Being just 10 yds away all area ahead was target and lots of it--you could swing your gun left to right and it was him.
I waited for about 5 minutes.I must mention there was hardly any cover in front of me .I was only 25% covered and was also silloutted against the sky.He was fearless and that was to my advantage.I sat stone dead and as he turned and began to moove off I blasted off at his spine in the heart lung area(from slightly above)He was curving right so I missed the spine but bust his right lung real well.
He took off with such giant energy that left me spellbound .I could possibly never fire the secoud barrel for in 2-3 seconds he had gone 100 yds or so at top speed.he had so much force that he could tave pulled a loaded 5 ton truck with him.Awesome energy.
Normal getaway tracks--no blood--and people started to believe I had missed.I asked them to take me to a tree I had marked along the skyline and there he was -stone dead.”



“Pepaw a few years ago I shot a nice buck standing in some broomsage at about 35 yds. ( we dog hunt in my part of the country so we use shot guns ) I was using 0 buckshot in a 12 gauge, the deer droped like he had been pole axed, a friend was up the road about 200 yds. and I waited untill he came to where I was standing and we walked down to look at the deer, well if he died he had gone to heaven, body and all.”



“Blain-
Here are the examples I know of.
1) Several years back, a farmer I knew had a problem black bear, so he took to keeping his shotgun handy. The bear appeared close by,, he grabbed his gun, and shot it once with 2 3/4" OO. The bear dropped dead at the shot. wo pellets had hit in the head and pierced the skull.
2)A fellow I know also had a problem bear coming to his property. He shot it in the chest and shoulder, it was slightly quartering towards him. That bear took off running, and was shot again, in the side of the ribs. That slowed him up but didn' t kill him. A final shot brought him down, and killed him. OO buckshot.

3) A good friend was working at a logging camp, and they had a problem bear. One day they surprised the bear, which ran up a tree. He shot it with a OO 2 3/4 shell. This dropped the bear to the ground, where it began thrashing about and trying to get up. A follow up shot at close range to the head killed it.

4)A fellow I met had worked as a guide in northern BC. They were heading through the bush when they surprised a grizzly on a carcass. The bear charged, and was shot once in the shoulder. This didn' t even faze him. A second shot to the head put the bear down. 3" Copperplated 00.

I only witnessed the first one, but have no reason to doubt the other stories. The RCMP aropund here have taken to carrying slugs to deal with bears when the CO' s can' t attend, and I heard it was because the 00 wasn' t doing too well. That is hearsay, of course.
When i carry a shotgun for protecton, they would come out the barrel as slug, OOO, slug slug slug. I throw the buck in there to give me a higher hit chance. Right or wrong, it' s what I do.”



" The outfitter himself carried a 12 gauge loaded with OO Buckshot. Turns out he had killed a charging grizzly with it a few years earlier. It was a medium-sized sow which charged him while he was field-dressing an elk. He hit it in the shoulder the first shot, doing great damage and knocking it down, but it got up and charged again. He shot it in the head at close range, killing it. Ruled justifiable self-defense by the powers that be.

OO buck wouldn' t be my choice for bear defense, but this guy had results you just couldn' t argue with.
Good Shooting, CoyDog"



" When we last debated the subject I was using 30-06 to shoot hogs and finding little success. The hogs would run for long distances and were almost impossible to find or retrieve. I switched to magnum buckshot (#1 Buck) and changed tactics. I built a quasi-deer-stand over their wallow, and sat quietly for about two hours.
The hogs appeared. I ran through all 5 shots and ended up with 4 kills and a maybe. The distance was about 20 yards and one of the shots was on a boar that weighed approx 300 lbs. He ran 30 yards and died (buckshot hit with his neck and shoulder), and the rest made it about 5 or 10 yards and dropped nicely. BUCKSHOT WORKS! I just wish I had more ammo capacity with my 870 or I would have been able to drop 2 or 3 more pigs"



" The buckshot isn' t supposed to be the stopper. I don' t care what kind of animal it is, if a good blast of 00 Buck doesn' t kill it, it will sure as hell stop it for a second. That is all the time you will need to take careful aim and administer the slug.

I was out deer hunting with a friend and we were walking back to camp and we came over a hill and saw a buck munching with his head behind a big tree and we were able to sneak up within about 40yds of it. It was my friends first hunt and he was pretty nervous and I let him have the shot with my shotgun using 00 Buck. He shot once and made a kill shot in the neck, with one of the balls actually running up the neck into the brain. The deer jumped and he immediately fired another round into its hind quarter for fear that he had missed with the first shot. (As a side note, he shot twice so fast it sounded like a machinegun, and this was with a Win 1300 pump no less)

The second shot almost completely severed the left back leg between the knee and the hip. There was nothing buy a little hide holding it on.

Because of that experience and seeing what that kind of damage those two shots inflicted, I have a lot of faith in some accurately applied buck shot. I think that at a close enough range a decently placed shot would be fatal to a moderate sized bear. Still though, nice to have a slug to back it up.

Michael"



" In Africa the Shotgun loaded with SST is what is called for when a big cat is wounded and in the tall grass,not the rifle."



" A couple of yrs ago I shot a deer that ran 40 yds in front of me at a full gallop with 00 buckshot; hit him right in the head. It was like I hit him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat. It was quite impressive!"



" I have never been in a life or death situation but have used a shotgun to take a lot of deer. I have taken one at 65 yards when using 3 1/2 " shells, and deer go down alot harder than some intruder might.As for the kick I have never even noticed it a bit ,even with 3 1/2" 000 buck and i can cycle through the shells in flash when i have to.In my mind the pump shotgun is my first choice."