Weight of buckshot pellet strike for clean deer kill?
- Thread starter RMcL
- Start date
Meh, perfectly legal here, and lots of bucks fall to them every year. They're particularly effective in the palmetto swamps where the ranges are short and the shots are fast. It works for us.
However, back to the original question.
Asked and answered. That depends on your shotgun. How does it pattern with buckshot? Remember, buckshot is simply a round ball, and round balls kill differently than other bullets. A 00 buckshot is basically a .32 caliber round ball and if you put enough of them into the ribcage of a deer, he's going to blow pink foam through his nose and fall over.
My shotgun will put all nine balls of Federal 00 buckshot into the 8-ring of a standard B27 target at 50 yards. Will yours do that? If not, then you need to find the range of your shotgun with your buckshot load and plan your hunt accordingly.
That is strange, the nine or so deer I shot (I posted eight before, but now that I have been thinking about it, there were more), with #4 buckshot and two I shot with #1 buckshot did not display anymore intense "will to survive" than the pheasants, ducks, and geese I have shot over the years. The deer seemed to respond about the same to "scaled-up" bird shot (buckshot). I will have to talk to some Doctors and Biologists, about how "the will to live", keeps some animals from bleeding to death.
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The area behind a deer's shoulder is very thin. After striking the ribs or passing through the small amount of muscle between them the lungs, heart, and liver are soft and easily penetrated. Once those vitals are penetrated, there is no pressing need for the buckshot to exit. I have carefully examined the vitals and the damage done to the deer on each one I have shot. I can attest, that even #4 buckshot has the mass to do a good/fast job of killing deer so shot. At about forty yards, I have found the #4 buckshot under the hide on the off-side. In short, it works well...observed from actual practice. In short, buckshot does not have the velocity and energy of a bullet, but then again, it does not need them.
Banned States
As far as the Banning of buckshot on deer. Deer are plentiful in most states, in fact too plentiful most of the time. Conservation Departments usually aren't worried so much as to the fact of whether or not it'll wound deer or too many deer being harvested as they are about running shots with people not looking past their target when they shoot. Buckshot carries a lot farther than bird shot and you don't have to necessarily have penetrating speeds to cause mishaps with stray projectiles. An other factor is that hunting deer with dogs seems incorrect to a lot of people ,therefore the debate entering into the Political Arena and we all knows what happens from there.
As far as the Banning of buckshot on deer. Deer are plentiful in most states, in fact too plentiful most of the time. Conservation Departments usually aren't worried so much as to the fact of whether or not it'll wound deer or too many deer being harvested as they are about running shots with people not looking past their target when they shoot. Buckshot carries a lot farther than bird shot and you don't have to necessarily have penetrating speeds to cause mishaps with stray projectiles. An other factor is that hunting deer with dogs seems incorrect to a lot of people ,therefore the debate entering into the Political Arena and we all knows what happens from there.
Every deer I've ever killed, save one, and that's more than few fell to Remington 3", No 1 buckshot. That other one fell to a 2 3/4" Remington load of No 1 buck.
I've always found them to be more than adequate.
No idea how many pellets hit or where. If I ever bothered to check, I've forgotten now. I never lost a deer.
I've always found them to be more than adequate.
No idea how many pellets hit or where. If I ever bothered to check, I've forgotten now. I never lost a deer.
bamaranger
New member
buck
Buckshot legal here, as is hound hunting in certain counties. I have no idea how to answer the "weight of a load) OP. But....buck is a close range proposition, period. As a rough estimate, I'd say no more than 50 yds with an ideal load and choke, handled by a shooter that understands moving targets. Most of the buckshot kills I've seen have been half that, in cover you could hunt rabbits in. At that distance, 00B or #4 doesn't seem to matter.
What seems to happen is that a deer passes a stander and the guy just can't help blazing away, in range or out. But dogs can help with baying up a cripple, or another stander on a drive may get a shot at the same deer.
Very traditional with some folks, and you will not change their minds, I promise.
Buckshot legal here, as is hound hunting in certain counties. I have no idea how to answer the "weight of a load) OP. But....buck is a close range proposition, period. As a rough estimate, I'd say no more than 50 yds with an ideal load and choke, handled by a shooter that understands moving targets. Most of the buckshot kills I've seen have been half that, in cover you could hunt rabbits in. At that distance, 00B or #4 doesn't seem to matter.
What seems to happen is that a deer passes a stander and the guy just can't help blazing away, in range or out. But dogs can help with baying up a cripple, or another stander on a drive may get a shot at the same deer.
Very traditional with some folks, and you will not change their minds, I promise.