Shotgun for deer

[MostWanted]

I've scouted a new place on Wake County gamelands this year, looks good but a long haul, so I'm thinking I might leave my climber at home and shoot from the ground. Can't shoot a centerfire rifle from the ground in Wake. I have a Remington 870 Express Magnum but I've never hunted with it. What choke and ammo would you use?

 

[IrishCannon]

Rifled slugs (2 3/4 or 3) and IC choke. That's what I use on my Benelli Nova. On point to 75yds. Never tried any further. You could probably get a rifled barrel and sabbot slugs for pretty cheap on that 870, too. So much aftermarket stuff for htose.

 

[Downeast]

I grew up killing deer with a shotgun. I used either No. 1 or OO Buck and kept my shots to 35 yards or less. Important to pattern your gun with different brands and chokes. I haven't hunted deer with a shotgun in 25 years but I'm thinking seriously of doing it this year with buckshot. I liked No. 1 but it is getting harder to find. I killed my first 8 point buck with that combo. DRT at 30 yards. I've also used slugs and they easily will work out to 75 yards. Can you use a mz on the ground? If so I would look into that as well. I routinely kill deer out to 150 yards with mine.

 

[Bailey Boat]

IMHO.... Buckshot is the sloppiest, least ethical way to take a deer. I've seen too many mortally wounded and later die but not recovered. I've found shed's that had buckshot holes in the side of the skull.
Either get high enough to use your rifle or use slugs or a muzzle loader if legal. Any thing but buckshot...

 

[Chdamn]

Having lived somewhere that I could only hunt with a shotgun of black powder I will tell you that I would take BP all day long and twice on sundays.

Modern BP is Far more accurate and longer range than shotgun rifled slugs.

I've never understood buck shot though unless you're on a deer drive.

 

[HMP]

I dont think any shotgun is really appropriate for deer...they dont have fingers to operate the trigger!

 

[backwoodsshooter]

I've scouted a new place on Wake County gamelands this year, looks good but a long haul, so I'm thinking I might leave my climber at home and shoot from the ground. Can't shoot a centerfire rifle from the ground in Wake. I have a Remington 870 Express Magnum but I've never hunted with it. What choke and ammo would you use?

First and foremost you need to find out if there is ammo restrictions for shotgun. I put in for a permit draw for a spot in mecklenburg county. It is shotgun only, with slugs only.

Either way I would use a slug only anyways.

 

[Tailhunter]

IMHO.... Buckshot is the sloppiest, least ethical way to take a deer. I've seen too many mortally wounded and later die but not recovered. I've found shed's that had buckshot holes in the side of the skull.
Either get high enough to use your rifle or use slugs or a muzzle loader if legal. Any thing but buckshot...

Thank you for this. My exact sentiments.

 

[nchunt101]

I have killed a pile of them with a shotgun but prefer a black poweder rifle. That said I have little to no experince shooting slugs. Buckshot is very effective if shots are within 30-35yds provided you have patterned your gun. That said would a AR pistol in .300/6.8 SPC be allowed? The regs only ban center fire rifles.

 

[thrillhill]

Meh.

We were only allowed to hunt with shotguns with buckshot in my neighborhood growing up.

Long story as to why that was.

If you have half a brain, buckshot kills are clean and easy.

Problem is of course, there's a whole lot of folks out there using significantly less than half their brain, especially when a deer walks in front of them.

 

[Windage-n-Elevation]

I was forced to use a shotgun when I lived up in Michigan. I messed with rifled slugs for several years before I sighted in a customer's gun that I had just scoped
The rifled barrel and sabot slugs make a WORLD of difference! I built a slug gun specifically for deer season from an old Remmy 1100 action...new wood fore and aft, a Remmy cantilever rifled barrel and a 4X Leupold scope. The last eight deer that I harvested (bushwhacked/assassinated) were taken with one shot to the head from forty to eighty yards. If you can afford it, get a rifled barrel and forget the rifled slugs.

That puts me in the mood to go north and go hunting...something that I haven't been able to do for a few years.

 

[Mightyox04]

Ive seen multiple deer killed with buck shot. I use 00 or 000. Ive never seen o e run a step after being hit. I killed my first with a 20ga. full choke. Sounds like operator error if the deer got away. Ive seen a 270 take the back off a deer and the guy who rents the field killed it the next year. Shoot it in the right spot at the right distance and the deer will die!

 

[Mightyox04]

Meh.

We were only allowed to hunt with shotguns with buckshot in my neighborhood growing up.

Long story as to why that was.

If you have half a brain, buckshot kills are clean and easy.

Problem is of course, there's a whole lot of folks out there using significantly less than half their brain, especially when a deer walks in front of them.

The more you post the more I like. Cut form the same cloth.

 

[Downeast]

I think the most unethical and sloppiest form of hunting is with a bow.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

Meh.

We were only allowed to hunt with shotguns with buckshot in my neighborhood growing up.

Long story as to why that was.

If you have half a brain, buckshot kills are clean and easy.

Problem is of course, there's a whole lot of folks out there using significantly less than half their brain, especially when a deer walks in front of them.

Exactly

I've never had much problem killing deer with 00 buck shot when I've used it. Just have to know the pattern of your shotgun and the limit on your distance. A close range shot drops them just as well as a rifle. Some forget 00 buckshot is for closer range hunting and want to push the limit on distance.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

IMHO.... Buckshot is the sloppiest, least ethical way to take a deer. I've seen too many mortally wounded and later die but not recovered. I've found shed's that had buckshot holes in the side of the skull.
Either get high enough to use your rifle or use slugs or a muzzle loader if legal. Any thing but buckshot...

Do you bow hunt?

 

[Bailey Boat]

Do you bow hunt?

I did a couple of times and shot ONE doe and had to track her the better part of 2-3 miles before I found where someone had drug her about 20 yards and loaded her in a truck. It was a high lung shot with and old Bear 3 blade (non razor type)
I was more than a little disgusted with myself and never hunted with a bow again. I went back to my Marlin 336 in 35 Rem and never looked back.
Lost game, wounded game makes me feel like I somehow failed, either in my choice of weapon or in my skill. For the last 10-15 years I've been using an S&W 629 in 44 Mag with a 2X Leupold and where I hunt the ranges are normally between 20 to 60 yards and the hand load I use has proven to be very reliable. I hate to see an animal suffer in any way.....

 

[nchunt101]

Exactly

I've never had much problem killing deer with 00 buck shot when I've used it. Just have to know the pattern of your shotgun and the limit on your distance. A close range shot drops them just as well as a rifle. Some forget 00 buckshot is for closer range hunting and want to push the limit on distance.

This. Patterning a shotgun makes a world of difference when shooting buckshot. That said I can see why folks hate it. A lot of the dog hunts here sound love dove shoots and when they finally kill the deer it looks like swiss cheese.

 

[Silver_Bullet]

I did a couple of times and shot ONE doe and had to track her the better part of 2-3 miles before I found where someone had drug her about 20 yards and loaded her in a truck. It was a high lung shot with and old Bear 3 blade (non razor type)
I was more than a little disgusted with myself and never hunted with a bow again. I went back to my Marlin 336 in 35 Rem and never looked back.
Lost game, wounded game makes me feel like I somehow failed, either in my choice of weapon or in my skill. For the last 10-15 years I've been using an S&W 629 in 44 Mag with a 2X Leupold and where I hunt the ranges are normally between 20 to 60 yards and the hand load I use has proven to be very reliable. I hate to see an animal suffer in any way.....

I was about to say, the shotgun properly used is still more efficient than a bow and arrow. Yeah I don't care for the tracking. I like them to drop where I shoot them, or at least close by. Most the time they do. Loosing one is very rare for me, but I had it happen last year during black powder season. I think I've had 3 in the last two decades I've had to track.

30-30 up close work in the woods, same Marlin I've been using since I was a kid.

.270 win when I hunt over a field.

.45 cal in sabots for two weeks of black powder season.

It's too hot during bow season this way!

 

[Charlie]

Buckshot is horrible stuff unless used in an appropriate way. If you have ever patterned any, you realize that those pellets can spread out very quickly and very irregularly at times. Getting a bunch of different types and trying them in several different chokes may allow you to find a combination that works fairly well for you at dove-shooting ranges. My old 3" Browning A5 with a modified barrel will throw Winchester and Federal #4 Buck in a very nice pattern at 40 yards. I never could find a good load for that gun when I had a full choke barrel on it.

All my early deer hunting involver running the deer with dogs and shooting them with buckshot in a large tract of timberland. There were very few deer back then before CB radios and 4 wheel drive trucks, and we worked hard for every one we even saw. The deer were generally shot crossing a logging road, so the shooting was fast at a moving target. Buckshot worked fairly well as long as you did not try to shoot too far. Most of the roads were flat and straight, so using a rifle or slugs would have been unacceptably dangerous since you could generally see the next stander down the road. Everybody stood on the dog side of the road and only shot the deer when it was almost across the road so you would not shoot directly at the next stander. That was about the only way we could hunt those thick areas.

I hunt mainly with a rifle these days but still like to carry a shotgun with buckshot when I am wandering around down in the thick stuff along my swamp. For fast shots at very close ranges, buckshot is hard to beat.

If I could not use a rifle where I hunt, shooting slugs out of my 870 with a rifled barrel and a scope on a cantilever mount would probably be my first choice. A muzzle loader would be my second choice.