Why are shotguns often so reviled for big game hunting?

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You should be able to (off hand) hit a paper plate at 50 yards with most slugs.
If you cant, you might need to check out why your missing.
 
That there is a whole group of sportsmen out there that hone the art of slug shooting.
American Slugshooters Association, ASSA

ASSA is an organization created exclusively for those hunters, target shooters, and professionals who are shotgun slug shooters. Not Riflemen, Not Trapshooters or Sporting Clays Guys, Not Pistoleros, Not PaintBall players. All fine people, of course, but they already have their Clubs, their Events, and their Competitions. (Note to all of You Other Guys: You are 100% Welcome Here, just as long as You Bring Along Your Slug Guns, and Leave All the Other Toys At The Door)

This Association is just for the SlugShooters. You know who you are.
We're here just for you.



https://www.slugshooting.com

ASSALogoBrass2.JPG.w180h136.jpg ASSATargetWeb.jpg.w300h413.jpg
 
Rex in OTZ said:
That there is a whole group of sportsmen out there that hone the art of slug shooting.
American Slugshooters Association, ASSA

ASSA is an organization created exclusively for those hunters, target shooters, and professionals who are shotgun slug shooters. Not Riflemen, Not Trapshooters or Sporting Clays Guys, Not Pistoleros, Not PaintBall players. All fine people, of course, but they already have their Clubs, their Events, and their Competitions. (Note to all of You Other Guys: You are 100% Welcome Here, just as long as You Bring Along Your Slug Guns, and Leave All the Other Toys At The Door)

This Association is just for the SlugShooters. You know who you are.
We're here just for you.



https://www.slugshooting.com

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That is a point. The shotgun in a big game role is a specialist’s weapon, similar to a side lock muzzle loader, a recurve bow, or a firearm that shoots one of the old timey hyphenated rounds.

On paper, the guy with the bow is handicapped compared to the guy with a rifle, but if he’s well practiced and confident in his abilities, he probably doesn’t feel handicapped.

Eventually, all current cutting edge technology will be surpassed by something newer and better. One day, the rifle hunter will leave his house with his carbon fiber stocked chassis rifle sporting a scope that can count the stars on the flag on a moon and fires a round so fast it shreds the very fabric of space time only to be called a Fudd and dinosaur by the kid with Deer O Matic 4000 meat getter drone that kills, processes, and packages your venison while you enjoy your morning coffee.
 
It also depends on your skill as a hunter. I'm more of the UK tradition of spot and stalk or driven hunts. I find it more fun to sneak up or get as close as you can to your quarry. Modern day rifle hunting is more still hunting in a tree-stand or blind that affords the ability to take shots easily up to 300 yards if the terrain permits. The last few hunts I've used the terrain and my solo drive to push the animals into an area that I know they will be but are limited from escaping because of a natural barrier i.e. lake or fast flowing river. So you can start to close in on them in an area of certainty and allows for closer 12 ga slug shots. This year, I climbed with my shotgun to the top of a mountain where the Mulies bed, and at the plateau up there, there's no where to really hide and there's much less vegetation to hide behind.
 
dak0ta said:
It also depends on your skill as a hunter. I'm more of the UK tradition of spot and stalk or driven hunts. I find it more fun to sneak up or get as close as you can to your quarry. Modern day rifle hunting is more still hunting in a tree-stand or blind that affords the ability to take shots easily up to 300 yards if the terrain permits. The last few hunts I've used the terrain and my solo drive to push the animals into an area that I know they will be but are limited from escaping because of a natural barrier i.e. lake or fast flowing river. So you can start to close in on them in an area of certainty and allows for closer 12 ga slug shots. This year, I climbed with my shotgun to the top of a mountain where the Mulies bed, and at the plateau up there, there's no where to really hide and there's much less vegetation to hide behind.
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Sounds way more fun than freezing my butt off and bored out of my mind in a tree stand all day.

good exercise too.
 
A 12 guage shot gun is the only firearm you Really need. Beware of the shooter who owns only one gun.
 
Just like with handguns and just like with archery gear, if you work within the limitations of your equipment and skill, you will have good results.

I’m not a big buckshot hunter but the same can even be said of that.

However, many people don’t know and won’t find out what the limitations are of their equipment. They don’t know or vastly overestimate their skill and can’t, won’t, or don’t practice to figure it out and/or improve it.

Weird thing though is this can also be said of rifles.
 
spoof said:
A 12 guage shot gun is the only firearm you Really need.
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Really? I'd love to see how you go about carrying one of those when you're out running errands or working, or shooting an elk at 300 yards, or even just shooting a whitetail at 150 yards with confidence.
spoof said:
Beware of the shooter who owns only one gun.
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"Beware" alright. The "shooter" (I use that term very loosely) is the typical gun owner whose "one gun" is used primarily to collect dust in the corner of a closet. Owning a firearm doesn't make one a "shooter" any more than owning a ratchet makes one a mechanic and the "mechanic" who only owns one type of tool is woefully unprepared to do his job. In a nutshell, the old idiom about "the man with one gun" hasn't been true for well over 100 years.
 
Jason_W said:
I can’t help but wonder why in states and locations that were historically shotgun only, the second straight walled metallic cartridges were allowed, deer hunters were tossing aside their shotguns with the same disdain they would have when dumping a girlfriend with borderline personality disorder.

we’re shotguns failing so regularly all those years?
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One reason I didn’t notice being mentioned: They ditch the shotgun because it is an excuse to buy another gun!
We love buying things and not “making do” with things that perform, but not convenient.
A65B53C5-C6BA-4515-AFAC-CC3828071AD9.png
 
I picked up a used combo shotgun
Its one my favorites.
I love the rifle sights over a bead.

870143.jpg
 
If I lived in that part the counrty the combo shotgun would make allot of sense.
I live out on the barren arctic coast of North Western Alaska.
Still is a decent choice in some cases.
Definate choice of sighted slug barrel stoked with 1 oz slugs esp when in willow thickets and along rivers.
I think of the slug gun as PPE like fall protection, steel toe boots and wearing a hard hat.
Essential to maintenance work in bear country.

Photo of a December Polar bear further inland (note Kobuk River trees) about 20 miles east of OTZ.
We can encounter three types Polar, Brown and Black.
One DEW operator (Cape Lisburne)
told of walking down to the beach to look around, had brought along a shotgun.
Down at beach after threading through a few blocks a beach ice a Polar Bear started twards the guy.
So he decided to mosey back to the safety afforded by the DEW station, on return trip encounterd 2 browns (all in half mile).
 

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I kind of like the idea of using multiple weapons in a season. Earlier on I'll likely use a bow or crossbow, then move to a rifle. We do have an early archery season in August but you can't harvest does then and last time I went I had between 12-15 of them all around me for a good half hour. Plus it's August so it's miserable with the heat and mosquitos even with a thermacell. If I did harvest one early on in the season I would consider using the shotgun again just to mix it up a little. In my experience rifled slugs in a smooth barrel work well inside 50 yards and deer/hogs don't go far.
 
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