Hunting deer with 20 ga.?

[Steven Woas]

How does the 20 ga. shotgun (3" shells) perform on deer? Slugs or
buckshot? If effective, what would be the maximium effective range?

Thanks

[gre...@ibm.net]

Nothing wrong with a 20 ga. and slugs for deer. Go to the range and
find out what distance you are effective with. You have to be able to
hit it in the "breadbasket" without question every time. I would not
recommend buckshot from any shotgun. Good luck and be safe.
Greig

[JohnLGrove]

In article <4mgkhr$1m...@news.gate.net>, Steven Woas <sw...@gate.net>
writes:

>How does the 20 ga. shotgun (3" shells) perform on deer? Slugs or
>buckshot? If effective, what would be the maximium effective range?

Heard many good things about 20ga rifled barrel and slugs. I live in
Northern VA and we have alot of shotgun only areas to hunt. Seems that the
20ga sabot has the same effective range as the 12ga sabot--about 100yds.
Less recoil, less weight, and plenty of punch. I'm looking for one for my
boy, Mossberg combo with slug barrel and smoothbore for about $300.

John

[Jim Miller]

Hi Iwould not use shot on a deer. Slugs from a 20 show good
penatration and expansion on wet newspaper out to 50/60 yds. Shot
placement just becomes more important with the lighter slug.

[Steve Buttitta]

Steven Woas wrote:
>
> How does the 20 ga. shotgun (3" shells) perform on deer? Slugs or
> buckshot? If effective, what would be the maximium effective range?
>

> Thanks

The first deer I shot was with a 20 ga. 2 3/4" slug. There were nine
deer standing in front of me about ten yards away, all facing me as I
was standing just downhill from an open field so they didn't know I was
there until they walked up on me. I picked out the biggest deer and
shot it right in the brisket. The back legs flew up in the air, came
back down, the deer turned,walked about twenty yards and dropped dead in
its tracks. The slug went in, travelled the whole length of the
deer but never came out. That was a mess to clean. That was about ten
years ago.

This past year I went out with a Browning 20 ga. and Remington 2 3/4"
slugs. I saw a deer about 60 yards away. I shot it in the base of the
neck, cut the spine in half and dropped it where it stood. It tried
getting up but could only move its head as the spine was shattered. I
walked over and put another slug infront of its ear and that was it.
Later on, looking in the hole in the skull it was empty. I live in
Wisconsin. I do have a 12 ga., but after shooting my first deer with a
20 ga. I knew that caliber would have no problem and decided to go with
a 20 ga. again. I would rather use my 30-06, but unfortunately this
past year had to go to a shotgun only area.