Shotguns - deer hunting?

[wafisherman]

What is the typical setup for a shotgun that is setup for deer hunting that can be used in restrictive zones?  I thought you could just get some slugs and use my 12 or 20 guage, but now realizing there is more to it.

Do I need a specialized gun?  Rifled barrel?  Certain choke?

Also, figure I'd want some sort of optic on it since the single and even double beads probably isn't as accurate as I'd want.  How do you approach this?

I may just end up using my bow if I hunt those spots, but want to understand this in case my boys have the chance during modern firearm to hunt one of those retriction areas.

Thanks!

[h20hunter]

Widgeondeke this year knocked down a button buck and his son whacked his first deer....a nice little doe (that he gave me some steaks from) with my H&R 20g.....

Plenty of combos that could get it done...smooth bore with 00 and irons or a scoped single shot like mine and plenty in between.

[carlyoungs]

I use an old sears 12 g with 2 3/4 1ounce slugs. It has a single bead and I have got 4 deer with it. I have no idea what choke is in it but it shoots straight and I haven't had any problems.

[h20hunter]

Didn't Ripper take his hog blackie this year with a shotty? I believe this years and last years as well. A 12 as far as I know.

[WoodlandShooter]

all I have is a Rem 870 with the sighted smooth bore slug barrel.

Took a 5x5 three years ago with it...

[Bmcox86]

Any smooth bore will work. Where I grew up was a shotgun only county. I killed deer out to 150 yards with a Winchester 1200 and some brenanke slugs. Never ever had a deer move more than a step from where I shot it.

[wildweeds]

If a guy was super serious about it Savage makes a bolt gun in 20 guage with a rifled barrell based off(model is 220 slug gun) the 110 series rifle.Top er off with a shotgun scope and your in buisness,I read some reviews of 3/4 inch groups at 100 and 2 inch groups at 200.My buddy is getting one for his west of I-5 blackie whackin.

[coachcw]

I have taken a ton of deer with a mossburg 500 with 00 buck shot . I also have used a slugger barrel with sabots Highly effective ! 

[pd]

WaFisherman, don't overthink this. Any smooth bore with a Remington Slugger will work. More than 50 yards? Go with 12 gauge. Less than that 20 gauge. Most guys I know tag out every year with this method.

[PolarBear]

Got a half dozen bucks with a 50 year old Steven's 12 gauge side by side with 00.

[bowhunterwa87]

Rem 870 12ga with 00 buck.  got me my biggest bt to date

[wafisherman]

Thanks guys!  Hard trying to get into this stuff after the age of 40... But you guys are a great help and I really appreciate it!

[Bmcox86]

I don't reccomend a scope though. Not needed. You can do good on busted deer with just a bead when their running through cover.

[RadSav]

If a guy was super serious about it Savage makes a bolt gun in 20 guage with a rifled barrell based off(model is 220 slug gun) the 110 series rifle.Top er off with a shotgun scope and your in buisness,I read some reviews of 3/4 inch groups at 100 and 2 inch groups at 200.My buddy is getting one for his west of I-5 blackie whackin.

I've been thinking about getting one of these!  I'd love to hear from your buddy after he hits the range.

[Bob33]

A 12 can be used for elk, should that ever be an option.

Rifled barrels and good sights are the way to go  if you are making a purchase..

[hillbilli]

as the boys observed, any old shotgun with a bead sight can be used to kill deer.. how far you can shoot will greatly depend on your equipment. I started hunting deer with a 20ga single shot. a plain shotgun with a bead and plain win/rem/fed/ or brenneke slugs might reach 75-80 yards or further- or you may find your limit at keeping them on a paper plate is 50-60yds. (mine with the old single shot was about 75) the best approach if you really want to shoot further is probably to get a "cantilever mount" rifled barrel to shoot sabot slugs. (you really need a rifled barrel or a rifled choke tube to shoot the more expensive sabot slugs) I always recommend slugs to folks over buckshot- because most folks can tell the difference at a glance between 35 and 45 yards.. but that may well be the difference between a cleanly killed deer and a deer hit with a few pellets, whereas with a slug a deer is probably just as dead at either range..

[lokidog]

 

I've shot a deer with a 20 smoothbore with single bead at 60 yards, my first, 12g smooth with single bead at 45, and 20g rifled barrel with scope from 7 yards to 93.

It blows that this state won't allow a 20g for elk as they are just as effective as a 12.  IMO 

If you are buying, and not hunting elk, Mossberg (500) makes a nice combo with a smoothbore and a cantilevered scope mount rifled barrel.  They also make a rifled barrel with fiber optic sights which is easier to find but then you have the potential limitations of this type of sight, which I personnaly do not like as much as a scope.

Just remember, if you shoot a smoothbore, you need rifled slugs.  I think you can shoot rifled slugs from a rifled barrel but you get better performance out of the saboted bullets.  If shooting buckshot, you want a smoothbore as a rifled barrel may spin the shot out of any decent kind of pattern.  I would not shoot at a deer much past 40 yards with buckshot, and that only after patterning to make sure I had a pattern not much bigger than 6-8", but that's me.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Back in the 50s and 60s my family's go to gun for Blacktails in a rainstorm was a shotgun and 00 buck. My dad and uncles grew up on the Mox Chehalis in the Capitol Peak unit and most of the hunting we did was fairly brushy anyway so the shots were never that long unless we pushed a deer into a field or the powerline. I got my first deer, a doe, and my middle brother got his first buck with an Ithica pump 12 ga. 2 3/4 with 00 buck. Mine was a head shot. His disappeared into a salal patch from Hell and took over an hour to find and had one pellet in it, right through the heart.