'Nother KO field test....

D

Dave McC

Staff In Memoriam
The doe dressed out at around 85 lbs, a yearling. Shot was 30-35 yards, she was slightly quartering towards me. Slug entered one rib back from the shoulder crease,busting three ribs, exited three ribs further back, both lungs shredded, liver hit. She made 70 yards or so at a dead run(literally) on a flat field.

Just for comparison, the autopsy(Field dressing) showed almost as much damage as a similar doe taken same day by best buddy, with a M/L loaded with 100 gr of Pyrodex pellets, and saboted 300 gr bullet.50 yd shot, similar placement.

Again, there's no ineffective slugs for deer in 12 gauge. This one groups into about 4" edge to edge at 100 yards in this 870, and under 5" in my other slug shooter. YMMV.

How about other folks who got lucky this season with various slugs posting their results? It may help newbies is we had a database for comparison's sake.

Thanks...
 
Trust me, I'm trying. Success ratio in MA is only about 15% each year, and so far, I'm not in that 15% :(

M1911
 
Harvest rates down here,M1911, run close to 100%. We've lots of deer, this one came from farm country where the densities run up past 100/sq mi.

The Eastern Shore is a food factory for men and deer alike. Corn, Winter Wheat and Soybeans rotate through the fields, winters are relatively mild, and about 40% of the doe fawns born last spring will bear their own young nest June. The doe mentioned above had one fawn with her, and was probably born May before last. IOW, a herd here can DOUBLE in one year. Thank Heaven for liberal bag limits, all season, weapons and zones mean something like 36 Whitetails and 6 Sikas, plus crop permits where applicable. Md's one of the smaller states, but the harvest will top 80,000 this year.

Mature does here oft have triplets, and a yearling buck will run close to 115 lbs dressed weight, whereas one from the Western end of MD in the mountains will run 95.

ENough bragging for now, good luck....
 
i spent the entire first day of buck season in PA on a beautiful mountan
~47 degrees & cloudy

i sat on a rock overlooking a bowl of ~100 yards of deerish territory from 6:00 am till 9
then i still hunted my way up 2 benches over an hour and sat till noon had lunch with my Dad below his tree stand and spent the rest of the day still hunting & watching

i saw nothing except squirrels a mouse & a GH Owl

beat a day in the office by a long stretch

I shot my first deer on that mountain with a 20 gauge slug at 35 yards

she dropped in 5 feet from a shot right behind the elbow
 
Congrats on your deer, I didn't make it out this year. In a previous year I nailed a doe that dressed at 180, 2 yrs later my brother nailed a buck that dressed at 195, gives an estimated live weight of 234lbs. Estiated age was 3 yrs old. So, yes deer here in the N.E. (S.E. PA) can get big. You should see our bears. One taken was over 700lbs., one in the Poconos that go's over 1,000lbs winter weight. I know I was off topic, but I felt like babbling.:p
 
Thanks, Mike. Off these leases in the last coupla years have come bucks running over 200 dressed. My biggest check in doe ran about 147, IIRC.

A two year old 7 point taken the same day as my doe ran 154 dressed, and that's post rut weight.

DZ, some hunts show more good firtune than others, but few are outright bad.

I may get down there again next week. Will advise..
 
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