Deer hunting with shotguns vs rifles...

[Dave McC]

I got an E recently that was of the "Teach me to hunt deer with slugs in 500 words or less" variety. Here's the edited version of same...

Dear Jim, you're very welcome. Slug hunting is more like bowhunting than rifle hunting, at least the way I do it. Rifle hunting oft consists of taking a position where one can see lots of landscape, and glassing until a deer shows up. My longest deer kill was more than 275 yards, 270 and a 6X Weaver.

My least accurate center fire rifle here will put them into 2 1/2" @ 100 yards from the bench. My slug gun of choice does twice that.The limitations of range and accuracy mean one's better off waiting at a natural ambush point like a narrowing of a creek bottom, a ridge tip where two gullies run together, etc. Tree stands do work, but my doctors keep me on the ground.

First, make sure you have picked the best slug for YOUR shotgun and that it's zeroed in nicely. I prefer the KO Brenekkes, but there's no ineffective 12 gauge slugs. Use whatever YOUR shotgun likes.

Practice with it using field positions and learn what you can or can't hit at reasonable slug ranges. For example, I'd take a 100 yd shot from a steady position at a walking broadside deer, but not at one moving fast or quartering from offhand..

Second, select a stand spot where you're between a food source the deer are using and a bedding area. Practice good scent discipline and staying still. More deer bust me by movement than by scent. Staying still is more crucial than camo.

If you're going for antlers, be aware that bigger bucks use different trails than the meat critters do. Oft a heavy trail has a smaller one running parallel to it, ususally with a rub line associated with it. Outside the rut, there's little time a big buck will use the main trail.

Third, you want your slug to hit well into the shoulder area. On a broadside shot, I want my slug to center the shoulder, destroying the heart and lungs and breaking at least one shoulder blade. Short blood trails result.For angle shots, adjust the hold point to hit the same area. Forget neck shots.

If you're used to the high speed turnoffs people get with high velocity rifles, be aware that slugs do not produce those regularly. A 50 yard blood trail is standard.

Hope this helps, sing out if there's questions...

 

[JIH]

My experience agrees with this, especially the "no neck shots" (or head) and that deer do not instantly drop with slugs... be they saboted or rifled slugs.

 

[Dave McC]

Thanks, JIH.

IME, sabots are mostly very accurate, but blood trails oft run further than those made by full bore diameter slugs. Not so big a prob. Either needs to be placed correctly.

 

[Mannlicher]

My very first deer was taken with a 20 Ga single shot, loaded with #3 Buck. The range was very short, no more than 20 yards. The gun was effective because the old Methodist Minister that was my hunting/outdoors mentor, taught me that since my gun was not the best for the job, my skills needed to be the best.

He was right then, and that advise is right now. I can still walk up on a sleeping deer, or trail one through the thickest brush. I no longer use the single barrel Stevens for deer, (though I still own it), but my woods skills are as sharp as ever.

These days, when stalking or still hunting whitetails, I carry a little Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine, 8x57, or sometimes a Marlin 1894S in .44 Mag. I don't shoot at ranges longer than necessary, and I believe in getting close.

I understand that my type of hunting does not work everywhere. I hunt the swamps and creek bottoms of North Florida. Even out west or in more open country anywere, woods skills are always important.

 

[Brasso]

I find it interesting that people will suggest the use of slugs for protection against big, mean, nasty beasts like bears, moose, etc, but don't expect them to work as well as a .270 against deer. I've never hunted with slugs, so I have no reference point, but it seems odd. Either their impact on deer is being marginalized, or the use against large critters is over stated?

 

[Dave McC]

Mannlicher, I used to stillhunt much more than I do now, and plead age as the reason. Also, in the dryer parts of my hunting areas, it's difficult to do until one knows how.IOW, the learning curve's very steep at the start.

There certainly are more ways to hunt with slugs than how I do it. But, the question was how I hunted.

Brasso, slugs work very, very well. They do not knock down or paralyse like high velocity rifle rounds, but they do massive damage. A slug channel in a deer looks like a 3/4" pipe was shoved through the critter and the whole thing removed. Lungs are shredded, massive hemorrhaging,etc.

And, war stories about problem bears in the West have the pros using 12 gauges and Brennekes for crisis management. These folks oughta know what works.