let me start by saying, I am not a great hunter or a great shot. I have chased, tracked, wandered around in the dark for many a white tail deer, but this season I would like to change that. my question is are slugs pretty much a drop in its tracks ammo? we dont have a slug only season here and almost nobody I know hunts with them, so feel free to throw in your comments.
thanks
Make no mistake, there is a reason why nobody uses slug guns in rifle country. I live in a part of my state that has always been slug only...up until this year, they allow "straight wall" rifles. First I will say that I have tracked too many {some I shot, some by others} deer that appeared to be hit good only to have the blood dry up and the deer never recovered. The forced use of slugs is not because they were purpose designed to kill deer, it's because they are generally safer in populated areas.
Second, as testimony to the sad performance of slugs I will attest to the fact that many deer hunters are going with straight wall rifles in the hope that their chances of recovering a hit deer will improve.
Third, in my own case as well as several others, I hunt with a bow. I own a very accurate slug gun that will hit a clay target at 100 yards easy. I also own several straight wall rifles and I own a lot of land so I could {illegal} hunt with anything I want. If your broadhead is hair popping razor sharp you will see the deer fall with a good hit every time. I definitely cannot say that with slugs.
I remember the first time I went to Alaska and the conversation turned to self defense bear guns...all the locals I talked to said, "a 12 gauge slug"...I was struck by that because I wouldn't bet on that to kill a 100 pound whitetail and they are betting their lives on it against a brown bear!!!
Bottom line, I have personally lost too many trophy deer to count on a slug gun. Couple that with the tracking events that resulted in the same thing for others and I say it's this simple, yes you can kill a deer with a slug. Yes I have seen many drop DRT in their tracks and not move again, but the ones that got away killed it for me.
Edit: I started hunting in 1975 and as a gunsmith for most of my time hunting I saw first hand the advancement of the slug gun. Back then you simply used the same shotgun you quail hunted with. We have come a long ways since smooth bores with just a bead and Foster slugs that dropped 6 inches at 50 yards to rifled scoped sabot slugs that will hit a deer out to 150...but in spite of all those improvements a slug gun is still not appropriately effective for me. Just to be clear, hitting a deer with a slug is not the problem. A slug is just not a very effective killer.
