New Hunter

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sonnylee77

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I am a new hunter and need lots of help. Currently the only gun I have to hunt with is a short barrel 12 gauge. :mad: I am hunting in heavily wooded area with lots of under brush. Can anyone give some good advice on hitting deer and boar?
 
What brand and type of shotgun are you using? What type of sights will you be using and what are the shot distances going to be?
 
Gather up some cardboard boxes and test your sight picture. Learn how 00 Buck patterns, as well as where a slug hits.

With either load, the generally-preferred target area is the lower frontal area of the chest, for an animal seen from the side.

At your apparent level of experience, I strongly suggest that you not try to hit a running animal. Slow walking? Maybe take the shot.
 
If we hunt tight places ,with a shot less than 50 yards, we use shotguns and 00 buckshot almost exclusively. A full choke is best but modified is ok. You need to pattern your gun at different distances to know it's limits. Some hold good patterns only out to 30 yards or some a little further. You limit your shots according to how your's shoots. You also still need to take your time and site your gun on target. I usually aim at the spine where the neck and shoulder meet, the bucksot will drop and spread so this gives you all of the neck back to the end rib cage to hit and allows for some drop.

Be sure to keep your gun on the animal for a follow up shot if needed.
 
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Practice. Where I live, it would be Foster-type slugs through a short barreled 12 gauge rather than buckshot. My father-in-law borrowed my 18" Mossberg 500 for a hog hunt down south, and to practice we cut some sheets of cardboard sized to fit inside an old car tire. Out at a friend's farm, we took turns shooting at the tire rolling down a hillside. Worked well, as the tire tended to pick up some bounce along the way. Worked with slugs and buckshot. Just taped the cardboard up and went again.
 
I'm hunting with a New England Pardener SB1. There's no choke with iron sights.
I've practiced a lot with it. I'm just not sure of what type of distance I can get out of a 1 oz slug that is 1600fps.
 
Shotguns with smooth barrels and open sights are going to be limited to an ABSOLUTE max distance of 100 yards in the hands of most shooters. Frankly, that's probably in the hands of a skilled shooter with a better than average gun.


Bottom line, no matter what the gun, never shoot an animal at any distance that you have not shot paper, and have shot paper consistently with good accuracy.
 
What section of fla are you in?

Me, with my 18.5 inch 20 gauge, I will gladly go for a 60 yard slug shot. 80 if we are running out of meat and I would really question trying for a hundred yard shot.

Buck shot, under 40 yards with 00 out of a 12 gauge...

Brent
 
I am in North West Fla. I'll be hunting in the Blackwater area. Heavily wooded with lots of under brush. Not to much room for any shots longer than 50 to 60 yards. I am using a smooth barrel.
 
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