Deer with a shotgun Question

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Nagano21

New member
This will be my first season in which I will be able to actually be able to o for Deer now that I am home for good from College.

I am a MA resident, so besides a bow and blackpowder all we can use is a Shotgun.

I have some Questions regarding this since I want to gain some more knowledge and actually do well this season.

My first question is that I will be using a Mossberg 12G. It is a smooth bore so what type and brand of Slug do you recommend? I think I have read too far into this on some sites, and am now confused as to what to use.

Another Q I have is do you Recommend using only Slug, or use a combo of slug then followed up by buck shot? Yet another topic I have read too much about with no luck.

As for some off topic from guns but about hunting, do you recommend scents, and scent blockers or even soaps to use pre and during hunt? If so which ones? and what are some of the better Buck calls to use for around mid to end Nov when the season here starts.

Thanks for all your help in advance. GDLCK this season
 
My opinions (worth whatever you think they are):

I used a Mossberg with slugs in MD when stationed there. I spent the money on a rifled barrel and a friend drilled and tapped it for a 4x scope.

If you plan on this being your deer weapon for a few years, I would recomend a rifled barrel with one of those cantilever scope mounts so you can swap out barrels for birds or deer. It is not a huge investment.

I have never used buckshot of any size, so can't say anything pro or con about it. I treated mine like a "rifle" and only used slugs. Slugs are tremendously effective critter gitters. With a rifled barrel, I used the sabot slugs and was well under minute of deer out to 75 yards. Might have been good further, just never tried.
 
Hey dave. Thanks for the advice. I am not planning on investing in anything anytime soon, so this smooth bore shotgun is what I will be using. I have an old mossberg 16G bolt action as well I might use and and there however it is smooth bore as well, 90% of the time it will be the 12G I am taking with me. Thanks.
 
Kent Cartridge Co. makes rifled slugs that shoot very well out of a smooth bore. They are what I use with very good success. They are about 1/4 the price of high end slugs. I highly recommend them.
 
I will have to look into them. What stores carry them? Do you shoot them with or without a choke, and if so which one.

Thanks
 
My first question is that I will be using a Mossberg 12G. It is a smooth bore so what type and brand of Slug do you recommend? I think I have read too far into this on some sites, and am now confused as to what to use.
Click to expand...

I like the Brenneke KO slugs in my smooth bore 870. You will want to use these or "rifled" slugs. Sabot slugs will not be stabilized in a smooth bore and accuracy will suffer. Something along these lines:
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/shotshell/slugs/slugger_rifled.asp
http://www.winchester.com/products/catalog/shotdetail.aspx?symbol=X12RS15&use=3

Another Q I have is do you Recommend using only Slug, or use a combo of slug then followed up by buck shot? Yet another topic I have read too much about with no luck.
Click to expand...

I use slugs only (state law). There is no comparison between slugs and buckshot effectiveness. Slugs give much more range and penetration.

As for some off topic from guns but about hunting, do you recommend scents, and scent blockers or even soaps to use pre and during hunt? If so which ones? and what are some of the better Buck calls to use for around mid to end Nov when the season here starts.
Click to expand...

Scent blockers, soap and detergents may lower the scent released by a hunter. You still need to hunt the wind.

I carry a grunt call and a doe bleat can. I use both sparingly and usually to stop deer for a shot.
 
Last night on the Outdoor Channel, Zumbo was hunting hogs in Texas and Axis deer on a ranch in Florida, both with a rifled slug gun (Rem 1187) in 20 ga with Remington buckhammers. Put them down fairly quickly, but not instantly.

The forster-type slugs (so-called "rifled slugs") should shoot reasonably well (minute of deer) out to 50 yards or so. Try a few of them, whether Kent's or others, and just make sure they are shooting well, and what distances you're comfortable for.
 
BIG thanks for the answers guys. If anyone could clarify which choke would be better please do. It will only help me more.

anyone know any good recourses I could check out to learn which calls to use, and when? or if you don't mind spittin them out real quick that would be great to. As you can see I am gearing up hard for when the season starts here. I am gettin sick of bird, and am happy to finally have the time for Deer now.
 
Use what the manufacturer recommends for slugs, but if you can't find that, use the largest possible (cylinder bore/skeet, or improved cylinder). Just don't use full or extra full.

I have used a doe bleat can with success - it brought in a buck right to me last year. I'll try various grunts & doe bleats. Use higher pitched and medium pitched bleats & grunts, rather than low-pitched (dominant buck) grunts. Dominant buck call may scare off does that you want to harvest (or smaller bucks even, if you want to harvest them). A "medium-sized" buck grunt (medium-pitched) can lure in a dominant buck who is P.O.ed that a smaller buck is in his territory (during the rut anyway).

On scents, being scent-free is much more important than using cover scents or lure scents. Cover scents can be smelled by the deer, and may scare them off (or may not). If you're sweaty and smelly, the cover scent is better than the deer smelling the sweat. But no scent of any kind is far better than that. I do lightly spray an "autum blend" or homemade cedar tree cover scent on my boots and clothes however, after I've been in the woods more than a 1/2 day (and thus sweaty/smelly). Lure scents can do more harm than good if you use them at the wrong time. If used at the right time, during the rut for doe estrus, then they can and do work sometimes. Deer can also be attracted to sweet smells, like vanilla or molasses, but don't count it.

So bottom line, being scent-free to the max extent possible is the most important thing, second only to being in the right spot and using the wind in your favor. Use scent free soaps for both your body and your hunting clothes. Baking soda for clothing. On stands, blinds and chairs, set them out in the woods for a week or three before hunting to let them soak up the natural scent. If you don't have a week, then dunk the chair/blind/stand in a creek where you will be hunting, then let it air dry overnight - that will help a lot. Don't wear the same boots & clothes that you drove to the hunting spot with - you may have odors from your house, gasoline from the gas station on your boots etc. Keep your scent-free clothes in a plastic bag or tub with leaves & sticks from your hunting land, and then change only when you're ready to hunt. Some guys will carry their hunting clothes, then change at the base of the stand, with their smelly clothes going into a separate bag, to be sealed up - that's pretty extreme, but you get the idea - you want no non-natural scent of any kind on or about your person or gear or weapons. If you answer nature's call, dig a small hole by kicking with your boots, then cover up with displaced dirt, leaves & such when finished.

If you have been in the woods for a few days, and are pretty ripe, and have no way to wash yourself & your clothes, then smelling like smoke is better than smelling like sweat, so build a campfire, and put a bunch of green twigs on top, close your eyes, and get engulfed by the smoke for a little while.
 
hi nagano,, i years past when i lived in ohio,,there have been many deer fall to a smooth bore shot gun for me,,,i use remingtons,,, an 870 and 1100,,,both with factory slug barrels with rifle sights,, i am pretty sure they are choked imp.cyl.

for me i don't care for a scope on them,, had one on and took it off,, but to each his own....my guns will both shoot clover leaf groups at 50 yrds. from the bench

i think the biggest thing for accuracy is to find a slug your gun likes and to keep the lead out of the barrel,,,,you will be able to tell when the barrel gets leaded up,,, my guns start slinging slugs all over the place

my .02

ocharry
 
I have not tried (since I moved out of "shotgun only" land, but was curious about the rifled choke tubes they make now and if that would stabilize a sabot.

Can you tell I obsessed about sabots?
 
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