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- - buck shot (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/whitetail-deer-hunting/191441-buck-shot.html)

I have never used buck shot but was wondering why would use it instead of a slug ?
Seems like a greater chance of just wounding the deer instead ofkilling it

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It doesn't carry as far as a slug would if you missed, so in more populated areas it might be considered safer.

You also get a spread to it, so you wouldn't need to aim as accurately I guess. Probably people doing drives where they would shoot at running deer at closer ranges would like it.

I personally don't like Buck Shot and have never used it. I see where it has a purpose, but most use it outside of what I would consider it's effective range, or they use it because they don't want to invest the time and effort to get a slug to shoot accurately. Or they just want to blast at anything that comes running by.

If that is the way someone else wants to hunt that's fine I guess. It is not the way I want to hunt though so I don't see much need for it. Maybe if I was shooting in a real populated area and I had to use it I would. But then I would probably use my bow if my shots had to be that close.

Paul

Oh and as far as wounding deer, if you use it within it's effective range it works very well. You probably stand about as much chance of wounding one with a slug gun as you would with buckshot if you didn't know your equipment or didn't practice. I know people that hunt with buckshot and have not wounded deer with it. However they know what it is and isn't capable of and adhere to that.

You can easily wound a deer with a slug gun if you don't know the trajectory or where the accuracy drops off and shoot beyond that.

Paul

Agree with what has been said.

At close ranges the buckshot acts like a big slug. Although I don't think buckshot is as popular as it used to
be, where I hunt the underbrush and palmettos are thick, so people used it for that (brush busting). Some people obviously have problems with that (I don't use BS).

With a 3" mag and a 30" barrel, I knew guys who took deer at 100 yards with buckshot. While it increases your chances of hitting the deer at longer distances (due to disbursement), it probably also increases the chance of wounding. My cousin shot a running deer at 100 yards and one buckshot pellet hit the front of its windpipe (like a slice with a knife) and it killed that deer.

If you do use buckshot, I would go with 00 or something large, 1 buck seems small to be using on deer.

I live on Cape Cod Ma, an thats pretty much what everyone uses around here bc we have so much thick scrub oak. I shoot a super black eagle with a 665. turkey choke on the end. DO NOT SHOOT A SLUG threw it bc it will blow the end of the barrell up, but shoot 3 1/2 buckshot threw it and its deadly. i killed a small 8 pointer with it last year at about 83 yards. At closer range its about the size of a soft ball and it hammers the deer.Try it and i think youll be happy with the results... my 2 cents

Down South hunting with dogs has been a tradition for 250 years or better, the traditional weapon has been a shotgun with buckshot, as long as a hunter patterns his gun and keeps his shots within effective range it can be deadly.

Can't use it in MO so I've never had the opportunity. It would seem very handy in some of the close-quarter encounters I've had in the thick timber.....

Quote:

ORIGINAL: LebeauHunter

Agree with what has been said.

At close ranges the buckshot acts like a big slug. Although I don't think buckshot is as popular as it used to
be, where I hunt the underbrush and palmettos are thick, so people used it for that (brush busting). Some people obviously have problems with that (I don't use BS).

With a 3" mag and a 30" barrel, I knew guys who took deer at 100 yards with buckshot. While it increases your chances of hitting the deer at longer distances (due to disbursement), it probably also increases the chance of wounding. My cousin shot a running deer at 100 yards and one buckshot pellet hit the front of its windpipe (like a slice with a knife) and it killed that deer.

DON'T DO IT. If you're gonna use buckshot, consider it a sub-40 yard load. Yes, you can kill further... yes, someone has killed a deer at 100yards with it... but don't even consider that. Sub-40yards, unless you're willing to lose deer. Period. The only reason to use buckshot is that you're REQUIRED to, or... you're in very thick stuff, and shots will be under 40 yards or so (or you're got the discipline not to take shots beyond 40).

Maybe a fifty if deer is broadside, still, and you'll have opportunity for multiple follow-ups. I've killed alot of deer with buckshot... and it is my bottom-choice load for deer.

Itis illegal to have buckshotin your possession while hunting in OK.

Catus,

I wasn't advocating using buckshot for 100 yard shots, and I think that it would carry too high a risk of injury, but you are getting carried away.

You say you have used buckshot, but a 40 yard max? So you are limiting a high powered shotgun shell to archery distance (or even less)?

If I had a tight choke, and was shooting a magnum load of 3 1/2" 00 buckshot, there is no reason you couldn't make an effective shot out to 60 or 75 yards. That isn't that far! Now, if it is some kid with a light 20 guage load of 1 buck, well then maybe 40 or 50 yard max, but that is not what most people shoot.

I don't deer hunt with a shotgun anymore for other reasons, but telling people the max range of buckshot is 40 yards is spreading misinformation. I have been around shotgun hunting since I was a kid so I know what I am talking about.