Buck shot question

I shot AT a deer one time with 00 buck. It was standing still at about 35 yards and I wasn't exactly in heavy bush though there was some between us. I was young and should never have listened to the guy in charge of the hunt and stuck to the slugs I had with me. Instead I let him convince me 00 was the way to go. Well I dropped the hammer and the deer took flight unscathed. I can't say the same for every branch in that 35 yards that could stop a pellet. I never missed a single tree!! The only reason I would ever put 00 buck in my shotgun again would be for close range defence.
 
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Does the 20 gauge semiauto you bought have screw in chokes ? if so get a modified one and find some 20 gauge slugs . I was deer hunting with some friends one year and this deer took off and buddy shot it with buckshot and it kept running. and one of the guys I went hunting with said he shot a deer one time and it had all these marks all over it . it was peppered with buckshot from other hunters over the years and it was still alive. if your going to use buckshot use a full choke and shoot it in the head from a very close distance. no body shots.
 
Brobee has some videos showing #4 buckshot taking down a Mule Deer at 22 yards, basically shot and it dropped on the spot.

I have a case of #2 Buck which I ordered from Lawry's, but I have never found #1 or bigger for 20G in Canada.
 
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brybenn said:
Brobee or something like that has done some great videos with buckshot. Search the shotgun forum and this one you should be able to find them

I've used buffalo bore 00 buck in 12 ga. Close range is was great. At 50 yards they didn't penetrate much at all

I'll take a slug over buck shot any day for deer
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Are you thinking of the youtuber Bubba Roundtree Outdoors? Or is this someone thats on cgn?
 
Pattern with a few different brands and see how far you can shoot and get most of the pellets inside a paper plate. I have taken 3 at ~25 yards and had instant deaths with a shot to the neck. These we're all Vancouver Island blacktails - on the small side of north American deer.

KM
 
waltman said:
The amount of bloodshot meat surrounding the holes only creates waste, you can eat it if you like.
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Buck shot is not traveling fast enough to create a lot if bloodshot meat. Not like a rifle....I have shot a lot if deer with buck shot
 
You can really tell the difference between the blabber mouths and the people who have experience in using buckshot on deer...There is a reason they call it buckshot folks. Under 50 yards, it is a one shot stopper. my dad used to carry his old single shot in the bush, even though he owned a nice wingmaster. He always said that he only ever needed one when using SSG's. I grew up on deer meat...
 
waltman said:
The amount of bloodshot meat surrounding the holes only creates waste, you can eat it if you like.
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Check out brobees video. You will see not much damage around the holes .buck shot us not trailing fast enough to do lots if damage to the meat around the holes like a rifle
 
Throughout my journey as a firearms enthusiast I've always had a love of shotguns....so much so that even though here in Alberta we have tonnes of deer hunting rifle opportunities and you will never hear me argue against the position that a rifle is a much more effective deer hunting instrument across a much wider range of conditions, my favourite hunting to this day is using a smoothbore shotgun to harvest deer.

There is something about having to get almost-bow-range close that seems to amplify the intensity of the experience. I think this is why even though I know from deep experience that slugs are a better choice of ammunition as they more than double the effective range of the smoothbore, I still love to hunt with buckshot. I've always been interested in the terminal ballistics of various shotgun rounds and have used this interest as subject matter for my youtube channel - here's some episodes documenting some of my hunting experience with various forms of buckshot:

00 buckshot - https://youtu.be/41wBr7-QQlI
#4 buckshot - https://youtu.be/ie6dKLU_Bas
zinc pumpkin balls - https://youtu.be/fUU6NhqtgXU

While I've always hunted with a 12 gauge, this year my oldest daughter turned 12 and I'm thrilled she wants to come along to try for her own shotgun deer. She's going to be hunting with #3 buckshot out of her 20 gauge, and the video referenced above in post ##22 is her going through discovery of her maximum effective range based on pattern. Having previous experience with #4 buckshot I'm reasonably confident the slightly larger pellets will have sufficient lethality provided we keep her within 20 to 25 yards - I am always interested to see investigate the round's terminal ballistics and will try to get the hunt on video.

My video hunting project this year is going to be to compare low-recoil 00 buckshot to regular 00 buckshot out of a 14 inch barrelled gun. I've got my patterning exercises done and filmed, as well as a couple of good sessions over the chronograph so I can document the difference in velocity between the two rounds as well as the difference in velocity of the two loads when shot through a 22 inch barrelled gun vs a 14 inch barrelled gun. All that's left now is for gun season to start around here....I can hardly wait!

With respect to meat salvage - I find that there is little to no waste when using buckshot. Slugs can sometimes get messy if they shatter a humorous, scapula, or spine whereas buckshot is easier on the surrounding meat as the bone fragments are not as sever.

So I guess my advice would be that within the constraints of good pattern (and a hunter needs to do their homework here...I'm looking for 50% of the pellets within the vitals), buckshot is an effective smoothbore choice for deer sized game.

Cheers, and good hunting!

Brobee
 
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