Buckshot...Aim for the Head?

[priv8ter]

I have never used a shotgun for hunting deer. If I did, I have always thought slugs were the way to go. But...

I was reading an article in Washington and Oregon Hunting and Fishing, and a guy was writing about deer hunting in the San Juan Islands, and how his prefered weapon is the shotgun. Cool. What stunned me though was that he said he prefers using buck-shot aimed at the head to slugs aimed at the chest. I guess I had always kind of imagined buckshot being aimed at the chest cavity also.

So, as someone who is clueless about buck-shot use, is aiming for the head the normal approach with buckshot?

Thanks!

greg

 

[MassHunter2190]

It would be news to me...

 

[mustanger98]

Maybe they do it that way in the San Juan Islands, but that's not how we do it where I'm from. Take out the chest cavity and knock the deer down in his tracks. A headshot's too iffy and likely to cause a cripple or a paralyzed deer and that ain't humane.

 

[priv8ter]

That's what I thought...

Here is the actual quote from the article:

Double 00 buckshot is a good load for close shots, say up to 40 feet. A headshot is your best shot and a load of 00s to the head will do the job. I prefer it to slugs in the islands as I can predictably get a good close shot and a lethal pattern the size of a basketball, which beats a pattern the size of a cork.

I think the fact that he referred to a slug as a 'pattern' the size of a cork is one of the things that concerned me also.

Oh well, I guess that's why I'm getting prepared to use my revolver for Island deer this fall instead of a shotgun.

greg

 

[griz]

40 feet is a very short shot at deer. I think the pattern would be closer to softball size than basketball. Once you get out to normal shotgun range, say 30 yards, a head shot is too chancy. You can easily hit the jaw, eyes, or esophagus, all terrible wounds that will take days to kill the deer. Aim for the chest.

 

[mete]

Aim for the chest ,and I wouldn't use buckshot at more than 25 yds.

 

[Byron Quick]

I think you might be surprised at the size of the buckshot pattern at forty feet. I've taken a 12 gauge shotgun for a test drive with 00 buckshot inside an old abandoned house on family land. The patterns were soft balled sized within 12 feet.

That being said, I wouldn't try for a head shot with any caliber except .22 LR even within 40 feet. And I'd only try that head shot if I was I shooting for survival.

Too great a chance of winding up with a wounded deer that's run far, far away.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Have any of you seen the deer in the San Juans? For some odd reason, they are tiny. Smaller than even the whitetails in Texas I've seen. I'm guessing they are fairly easy to bring down. On Orcas Island, almost everybody has fences surrounding any plant that they don't want eaten. They are thick with them.

 

[Lennyjoe]

The only deer I have taken with buckshot was a forkhorn at 30 yards and I put the shot in his neck. 00 out of a 12 guage with a 28" smooth bore modified choked barrel. The deer dropped in his tracks. Had 8 holes in his neck and 1 right behind the ear from a flyer.

I personally prefer slugs out of a shotgun instead of buckshot.