Does anyone here actually hunt with buckshot?

manbearpig

manbearpig

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there was some nice 12g 3" mag Federal Power-Shok - 15 pellets of 00 buck goodness - on sale at Wally World™ a while back and i picked up about 200 of them for when the zombies come.

does anyone actually use these for hunting? if i use a shotgun for deer ill always use slugs, for bear its 3" mag brenneke slugs.
i dont think i would rely on them for bear defense unless it was one round of buck followed by brenneke slugs... the only thing they seem good for is zombies.
i dont doubt it kills things - i touched off a few at the cottage and they take down small-medium size trees, like a 15 round burst from a 9mm submachinegun.... but cant think of any situation to use buckshot where something else wouldnt do the job much better.

anyone actually hunt deer with these? and i dont mean 'one time 25 years ago i took a shot at a deer with buckshot'... i mean if you are going deer hunting you actually choose to take a shotgun with buckshot.
what are the advantages to it?
 
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Maybe it's just on my mind right now, but they're great when you're hunting pumpkins.

If I was to hunt with a shotgun, or when I use it for bear defence, it's slugs and nothing else.
 
some places only allow buck. I know some of the small islands off BC etc = shot only. no single projectile. (rifle or slug)
 
I hunt bears over bait quite often with 00 buck loads. The range is only 12 yards and they drop fast. It is nice when the lighting gets dim in the cedar swamp where I bait. NOTE: I don't hunt after legal shooting time, the light tends to fade faster in the timber. A single Tru Glow bead is easy to see.

cheers Darryl
 
how is their performance on bear compared to slugs? how is penetration?

im assuming you are firing down on them, where do you place your shot?
what size loads do you use? 00 buck can range from 2 3/4" low-recoil loads to 3 1/2" mags, from 5 pellets to 18.
how is their stopping power on bear compared to foster slugs?

there are so many people in net forums that theorize between slugs and buck, would be nice to finally get some thorough data from someone who has actually used them.
 
I use buck for hunting coyotes, more often than not they are on the run and once you find a buckshot the gun likes it is pretty easy to turn a running dog into a bowling ball.
 
When I was 16 I tried it once oo buck a whitetail buck jumped up at abuot 40yds I shot him in the side he fell over dead never tried it again . just had to try it once.
 
in our hunt almost all of the hunter use buckshot... the shooting is tight and the deer are almost ALWAYS on the run because we have drivers and dogs running them.... i dont think we have a good 100+ yard lane anywhere on the 1000 acre property
 
Sure, it will work. In the same sense that hiding in a tree and dropping down onto a passing deer and killing it with a knife would work.

I'll stick with a rifle
 
I've only used buckshot one time which was in an area that mandatory, west of Courtenay BC. I was able to harvest a nice blacktail doe at approx 3 1985toyota truck lengths away. I was using Federal 3" 000 buck and a modified choke, she dropped on the spot.
 
I found I get tightest patterns with a modified choke and premium buckshot (I use #4 and oo), something about copper that keeps everything in line. To keep the critics happy I wont get into the effective range of the combination I use, but I will say that I hunt for a living, wounded animals are not something I should have to deal with.
If you take the time to figure out what your gun likes and have the time and resources to experiment with different combinations there is no animal that you can not bring down ethically with a decent load of buckshot. However, I do not hunt deer with it.

Winchester-1897 said:
What choke do you use ?
Click to expand...
 
Under most circumstances I don't know why anyone would choose buckshot if they were free to use anything else. I keep a couple of rounds of the stuff on my side saddle in case a bear tries to get in the house in which case it is safer with respect to over penetration. If a shotgun is what you have, slugs are much better for big game.
 
I have this same conversation with my father in law quite often, and it never seems to end in agreement. I believe he has seen a buckshot episode go wrong on large game and can't get his head around it.
I am a good shot, I have a decent selection of shotguns to choose from when I hunt shotgun.. I shoot Winchester Partition Golds to the tune of about $5 every time I pull the trigger. Even being a good shot I have a hard time putting a bead on a yote with his tail between his legs darting in every possible direction. Buckshot evens the odds, I like to call the dogs in to about 30 yards before I even consider deflating them, mostly with a bow, sometimes a shotgun.. If the weather is telling me they are going to be running when I shoot then I choose buckshot, A weary coyote will not be hit by a slug.
Deer, well that is a different story.. A bit of a bigger target, and far more worthy of a better placed shot.

*Disclaimer* Every animal is worthy of a good shot, I know, but coyotes are one animal I do not mind pulling the trigger on when the variables are not always ideal.
 
We shoot alot of deer in SW Ont with buckshot. In the gang I hunt with there are alot of farmers whose one shotgun does it all. The shots are alot under 50yds "Dogging" and "Blocking". The doggers shoot alot of the deer at close range as they often come back thru after winding the blockers. These guys don't have sight on their guns and wouldn't know where their slugs were shooting, but they kill alot of deer with buckshot. A fast moving target in brushy cover is handled well with buckshot. I've shot a couple popping out of blowdowns or bedding areas that were more like grouse shots than typical deer hunting shots. I usually have 2 guns in the truck, one set up for dogging with a smoothbore and open sights, and a scoped slug gun for blocking where I can see farther.
I use a mod choke when switching back and forth from Challengers to buckshot, and got great buckshot patterns from a "Patternmaster" wad stripping choke I had.
 
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I have 3" mag loads of 000 buck each holding 10 pellets that are over 9mm a piece. That's nuts. At 20-40 yards that is some serious stopping power.
 
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I used to hunt with a guy.....and that was all he used.......and oh yeah they kill deer very effectively......BUT....it's like everything else......know the effective range and stick to it( eg. 30yds broadside)
 
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