SLUG hunters help me

[hogpatrol]

I hunt 20 ga Lightfields, now out of a Benelli M20 autoloader and have used a Mossberg pump. Both are rifled barrels. Accuracy is well in line with one MOA of deer. Have never lost a deer with either, longest shot was 150 yards but I believe they're more of a short range tool. As some have posted, they will either drop or run. I attribute that to a combination of shot placement and the will to live. Some deer give up the ghost on the spot and others don't know they're dead until they run a hundred yards.

 

[okie]

It ain't what you shoot them with it is where you shoot them. Shoot them in the center to upper 1/3 of the front shoulder and they will drop in their tracks most of the time because it takes out the spine as well as the heart and lungs. There is not that much REAL meat in this portion of the front shoulders. If you are worried about loosing too much meat then be good at tracking because "heart shot deer" usually run off a ways even though they are dead on their feet and often do not leave a good blood trail because there is nothing to pump the blood out with. Lung shot deer will run until enough blood is lost for them to collapse but usually leave a good blood trail because the heart is still pumping blood.

truth---grandpa always wanted us to shoot em behind the shoulder so no meat was wasted. they can go a long way with heart and lung shot out... especially downhill in the mountains. High shoulder ruins almost no meat and they usually drop--if they dont, they dont make it far. grandpa was wrong. high shoulder is what i taught my kids --it works. in flatland it doesnt matter but in the hills it can be a chore if they run ---i am too old and lazy to drag a deer all the way to the next logging road.

 

[okie]

others don't know they're dead until they run a hundred yards.

thats for sure!!!

 

[Dale264]

my question is are slugs pretty much a drop in its tracks ammo?

The simplest answer is "No". Unless you have a dedicated slug gun, like most of the posters are mentioning [savage 220s or rifled barrels with expensive sabot slugs], you will struggle to drop deer in their tracks because shot placement is KEY! Unless you already have a rifled barrel for your shotgun, I wouldn't bother trying to use a shotgun for deer hunting if other guns/rifles/calibers are legal.

Can it be done with cheap slugs and a smoothbore barrel? Yes. But its going to take practice and you claim to not to be a great hunter or shot so it sounds like some serious range time would be needed.

I have slug hunted for more than a decade in Iowa and I found myself using a Muzzleloader (legal during shotgun season) more often than not because I know I am more accurate with that. This will be the second year I'll be using a 350 Legend and I have no intentions of ever returning to a smoothbore shotgun for deer hunting.

 

[Treerat-sniper]

I started deer hunting in IA in 1985, the state was slug only up until 3 years ago, we were allowed handguns in 1996 or 97. I switched to handguns (.44 revolvers and Contenders/Encores in a variety of calibers) at that point. Prior to that, like many others, I lost deer with slugs & have tracked many other deer shot by members of my hunting group. Some were recovered, many were lost.

The advent of sabots & rifled barrels helped out with accuracy, range & knockdown power. Kills definitely improved. If you have to use slugs, the best combinations I have seen are the Savage 220s with the Rem accutips. The 20s have a very slight ballistic advantage over the 12s. One of our "blockers" who like me shoots year round, has made several "long range" (for Iowa anything over 100 yards) kills with his 220 supplemented by his shooting sticks. He does practice out to 200 yards with this combo.

When we were finally allowed straight-wall cartridge rifles, I switched & didn't look back. With my 77/44 used in deer drives, I haven't lost an animal yet (knock on wood). For tree-stand hunting on my property, I use my Encore rifle with a .357 Max MGM barrel. I'll trust my .44 to 150-175 & the .357 max to 200-225. I still like the Guide gun for close range knockdown power, but its a little heavy for walking miles at a time.

 

[rayporter]

a 12 ga with a slug like a light field is just nasty inside 75 yd. i have shot em at every angle you can imagine and lost very few. and not many tracking jobs either. the reason for so many angles is the deer drives. if you can shoot center of brisket or butt it is dead in less than 50 yd.

and yep, i shoot a 45-70 now. good gun, but it has not proven the equal of a 12ga.
ask me in 10 years about that.

 

[1lessdog]

Years ago I seen a doe that was gut shot run for over 3/4 of a mile with its intestines dragging 3 or 4 ft behind her. A deer hit with a poorly placed shot will run just as far with a shotgun slug as a rifle slug.

So dont think if its hit with 500 to 750 gr slug its going to drop on the spot.

 

[JEFFPPC]

y'all have scopes on these long shots?

I do and guess most do.

 

[Mark W]

truth---grandpa always wanted us to shoot em behind the shoulder so no meat was wasted. they can go a long way with heart and lung shot out... especially downhill in the mountains. High shoulder ruins almost no meat and they usually drop--if they dont, they dont make it far. grandpa was wrong. high shoulder is what i taught my kids --it works. in flatland it doesnt matter but in the hills it can be a chore if they run ---i am too old and lazy to drag a deer all the way to the next logging road.

I grew up hunting thickets in the piney hills county of northern Louisiana and we were taught to use a high shoulder shot or risk losing your deer. I once had a streak of six DRTs in a row using the trusty old 30-30 before I had a runner and it didn’t go far. I didn’t take up archery hunting until after I was 50 years old because I couldn’t stand the thought of watching my deer run away after the shot.....lol

 

[cheek9075]

A 22lr or arrow with right shot placement will drop them, an ill placed shot with anything will not. All about shot placement I think. Slug, rifle, arrow, sling shot... all about shot placement.

I saw a full grown cow put down with a tobacca stick when it tried to charge, didnt mean to, but it happened. right placement and it went down....

 

[rr2030]

I have hunted with, and killed many Whitetail with 12 and 16 ga slugs. There is no magic.
What I have learned ...

1) Choose the shot. I only shoot them if they are presenting a nice shot. Never on a moving Deer, never late in the afternoon. At 4:00, they win, I hunt the next or another day ( I have tracked too many Deer in the dark for other hunters, it sucks and cuts into my cigar and scotch time at camp).
2) Shot placement: always in the boiler room, no exceptions.
3) I always wait 15 minuets after I shoot to go find it. If I did 1 and 2 correctly, and they didn't DRT, they usually travel less than 100 yards before they drop.
4) The above apply when I hunt with Rifle or Hand Gun also.

YMMV

 

[helmut in the bush]

The best bang for the buck is the Savage 220, super accurate for a slug gun, my kids have killed a bunch of Deer with it. When I have a shotgun only hunt, I use my old HK SBE with the ER Shaw rifled barrel. Things have improved since having a smooth bore as your only option.

 

[hillbillydruggist]

I am wondering the same thing. No offense meant.
What cartridge and where are you hitting them? I can’t imagine hitting a whitetail deer in the chest with anything from a 243 on up and it not killing it quickly. I know.... they can run a ways sometimes, I have hit them in the heart with a 150 out of an ‘06 and still have them run 100 yards, but almost always leave a blood trail.
Gary

here is a partial list, 243,6mm CR,.308,300WM,338WM, and of course I have had some bad shots,but I was referring to good shot placement with those deer that ran a long ways and eventually expired. I was just thinking the sheer size and weight of a slug could drop them solid

 

[james]

I live in Illinois where slug guns only are permitted for deer hunting. In the last 26 years I have taken at least 35 deer with my slug gun and lost only one deer. I use an Ithaca Deerslayer II (20" barrel) with a Leupold 2x7 shotgun scope. I have always used Lightfield 2 3/4" slugs with my longest shot right at 100 yards - the majority of the time the deer drop in their tracks. I have complete confidence in my gun and scope.

I am now taking my 11 year old grandson hunting (got his first deer last year) so I just did purchase a Savage 220 bolt action slug gun. The recoil in the Savage is much less than my Deerslayer and with Hornady SST's
2 3/4" I have shot a 1 3/4" group at 100 yards. Slug guns will do the job if your shot placement is correct.

 

[john 800]

I live in a slug zone, and have hunted with slugs, muzzle loaders amd high power rifles. And have seen success and failure or near failure with them all, so here are my thoughts: slugs CAN be effective, but you need a dedicated barrel or gun, amd there are a few thongs that can get you in trouble with slugs, they can show extreme dislikes of certain ammo, not from a 3”group to a 5” group. I am talking “WTF?! How is it not on paper?” A fouled barrel can do almost the same thing in very very few rounds, sometimes they throw fliers for no apparent reason, i am still not sure if it is ammo quality or barrels getting dirty, but i think some of the deer that are lost that people swear they had good shots on are fromfliers from fouling or crap ammo. I have spent more time amd money loading my own slugs and buying 100 different loads only to find that i cant find the same lot that shot good last trip to the range amd the new lot is different (usually worse) I almost always go for my muzzle loader in the shotgun zone close to home.
Not trying to be a negative eehhhh hole but i will be blunt, I think using a slug gun where you can use a rifle would be pointless.
I commend you for looking for something more effective but look elsewhere, bullets, loads, rests shot placement ect. Also, i have a long near failure story of a deer shot right through both lungs in the right spot with a 270 with the wrong bullet that went a long long way. The bullet was to hard and didnt kill fast enough even with a good shot.

 

[hogpatrol]

I live in a slug zone, and have hunted with slugs, muzzle loaders amd high power rifles. And have seen success and failure or near failure with them all, so here are my thoughts: slugs CAN be effective, but you need a dedicated barrel or gun, amd there are a few thongs that can get you in trouble with slugs, they can show extreme dislikes of certain ammo, not from a 3”group to a 5” group. I am talking “WTF?! How is it not on paper?” A fouled barrel can do almost the same thing in very very few rounds, sometimes they throw fliers for no apparent reason, i am still not sure if it is ammo quality or barrels getting dirty, but i think some of the deer that are lost that people swear they had good shots on are fromfliers from fouling or crap ammo. I have spent more time amd money loading my own slugs and buying 100 different loads only to find that i cant find the same lot that shot good last trip to the range amd the new lot is different (usually worse) I almost always go for my muzzle loader in the shotgun zone close to home.
Not trying to be a negative eehhhh hole but i will be blunt, I think using a slug gun where you can use a rifle would be pointless.
I commend you for looking for something more effective but look elsewhere, bullets, loads, rests shot placement ect. Also, i have a long near failure story of a deer shot right through both lungs in the right spot with a 270 with the wrong bullet that went a long long way. The bullet was to hard and didnt kill fast enough even with a good shot.

This is what I found with dedicated/ rifled barrel slug guns shooting saboted slugs and muzzleloaders shooting saboted bullets. The plastic is the culprit and the barrels need to be deep cleaned with J.B. Bore Paste or other scrubbing cleaner. The standard barrel cleaning the powder residue until a white patch appers just doesn't get it. After ten rounds, my DSGs and MLs get a serious cleaning. This hasn't completely eliminated fliers but it's rare I get one. Add in to this that some barrels are worse than others for plastic fouling and you get the scenarios described.
Edit: Recent trip to the range to get a fellow hunter's smokeless muzzleloader dialed in. I ask him if he cleaned it after last year. Yep. Shooting saboted SSTs, can hardly get them started down the barrel. Almost bent the ramrod. 100 yards, a couple inches higher than last year, 200 yards not on the target. 300 yards, forget it. Now it's really getting difficult to start the bullet. Long story short, take gun, scrub with J.B., return
to the range, bullet/sabot starts easily. On at 100, good group, first scope dot good at 200, bottom reticle chevron good at 300. Still easy to start the bullet. Suggested that when it starts to take some extra pressure to start the bullet, it's time for another J.B. session.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Never lost a deer shot with either slug or Ml. .
Over here in central Ct. or the NW hills of Ct. there aren't many shots over 50-75 yards if you are hunting the woods, although I once had a 105 yard shot through a survey cut.
It all comes down to shot placement. Hit them right and they go down. Period.

But most hunters have a tendency to blame their equipment, not themselves.

 

[snert]

I spent years in NY where much of that time slug guns were required. I had grown up in PA, where rifles were the thing.

Much has changed in slug guns over those 40 years. That being said, after shooting several with a slug gun, even a good one, I went to a rifle caliber pistol. And the minute they allowed rifles, I went to a centerfire rifle.

I will note that i moved away from the old PA recipie of 30 caliber and at least 150 grains. I went to smaller calibers and lighter bullets. I started shooting only heads (doe) or broadside chest in the ribs (anything else) and never had a deer go more than three hard hops. I like Berger and the hunting versions of the NBT. In one side, blows up like a grenade, blows ribs and lungs out the other side.

 

[james]

Update on my new Savage 220 slug gun. Here in Illinois our (3) day deer opened this last weekend. On Sunday I took 2 deer with the Savage. I shot the first deer (doe) at a gimme distance of 50 yards, she ran about 75 yards and dropped. The second deer (small buck - we love venison) I took at a bit over 120 yards. This deer was quartering away from me so not a real easy shot for me. It was raining so it was nice to have the stainless Savage with a synthetic stock. My Ithaca Deerslayer 12 gauge Is still my go to slug gun however I’m very impressed with the Savage.

 

[Scrumbag]

If you want to go for slugs I would reccommend Brenneke.

Which rifles have you been using that have given you runners?

Scrummy