Originally Posted by
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And even more are wounded and get away. I lived in VA where they do a lot of dog hunting and a lot of those fools have no problem shooting at fleeing deer at ranges of 100 yards or more. When you talk to them about poor shots like that they say "you never know when a pellet will get through" so they feel justified in just banging away. I took several deer in VA that carried buckshot that didn't get to the vitals.
I did a lot of buckshot hunting in VA on military bases and it is worthless at anything over 40-45 yards but dog hunters, in my personal experience, don't care and they happily toss 4 or 5 rounds down range at fleeing deer and many of those deer that are hit are not recovered. I've personally found the carcasses rotting away with buckshot wounds in the guts.
I encountered a particular club member decades ago and his group had recently ran dogs through. I was inquiring with him how far he was willing to shoot at running deer. He was adamant that 70 to 100 yard shots were acceptable. Also, if the deer was wounded, another in his group would likely get the chance to finish it, so why not shoot?. Various hunters have told me of using buckshot at those extended ranges.
I couldn't agree w/you more on the 40-45 yd. maximum. People that shoot beyond that are a sad testament.