Rock Salt?

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cowmeateater

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Been having a problem with critters(particularly deer) eating up the garden and lawn. So i was thinking, what would happen if you loaded up a shotgun shell with rock salt? I dont know where i got this idea but i think it was a book, only i think they used a bp gun of some kind.Would it damage my gun (870)? Would it even get to the target?
 
Disrupt the peaceful munching of the deer with other noise adversion devices.

A recorded Snarl of a predator that deer are fearful of played through a bullhorn will do very well.
 
Loading shotguns with rock-salt has been around at least as long as there have been shotguns.

It is terribly ineffective.
Salt doesn't weigh anything, so it has almost no range at all.

http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot33.htm

It is also very likely to rust your gun from one end to the other unless you clean everything inside & out with hot soap & water every time you shoot one.

It's just a bad idea all the way around!

On the otherhand, if you load the shells with salt, AND pepper, and manage to get close enough to kill a deer, you have pre-seasoned meat, ready for the pot!

rc
 
cheaper than dirt sells rubber shot gun ammo for sit's like yours , even liquid filled shells and concussion(sound waves from very loud blast) shells as well ?
just a thought ... $.02
 
My $.02... If you live in a place where you can get away with firing a shotgun at night, why not just load up with buckshot and kill the nuisance deer? You'll get a freezer full of good meat and the surviving deer will avoid your place like the plague.
 
Straight-up wrong too!

Deer have no reasoning ability, and if one of them turns up DOA in the middle of the night, they will be back to business as usual the next night. Or later the same night.

rc
 
Rcmodel hit this nail on the head. While it seems like a good idea rock salt is completely innefective beyond about 25 feet.

Piss will go a lot further. Coyote or wolf from your local spoting goods store or your own are all pretty good at keeping dear away.
 
Okay, if you guys don't like my first answer, then how about this?: Free-roaming dogs. When I lived in rural Louisiana many years ago, every farmhouse had a pack of dogs roaming all over the place, harassing the hell out of any wildlife that dared to venture within a mile of the homestead. Vegetable gardens were completely safe from everything except being trampled by free-roaming dogs. :rolleyes:
 
That works too. Forgot about that one. Works especially well if they're not house dogs. Think one or two missed feedings away from going feral.
 
When I was a great deal younger I recall one uncle telling me stories about those "rock salt" loads, including catching one in the butt checks, if memory serves. A number of his friends had similar stories. I was 12 years old.

By the time I was 14 I'd concluded that someone once loaded a BP muzzle loader with some rock salt with dubious results and that stories, echos of stories and modified echos of stories made it down through the years.

I believe that one guy with one barrel of a front stuffer with rock salt resulted in no less than 2,000 tales of rock salt derring-do by the time I was a teenager. It was largely legend until box-o-truth tried it with results that should lead it to remaining folklore.
 
Pee actually does usually work.

Otherwise, you could shoot the deer with a slingshot or a paintball gun instead. Those'd probably have more effect on the deer than rock salt.
 
I like the way fiddleharp thinks! If you're gonna shoot the buggers, shoot the buggers! On the other hand, you can load anything that you like if you'd rather just scare them off. I'll agree with RC, that with anything less than lethal, they won't be gone for long though as long as there is a garden to be munched. Once they get it down into the roots, then they'll move along.

I remember my dad talking about rock salt loads being used by his dad. I never met my grandfather but I still have a "high gun" award that he won at a shooting contest. It pictures a bird hunter aiming a shotgun.
-Bill
 
About the pee theory: Several years ago my wife sprayed around her purple hulls and green beans with Bobcat urine that she paid a small fortune for via mail order. It was probably expensive because the guy who has to collect if from the Bobcat has a high health care premium:). Anyway, the deer obviously thought it was salad dressing of some sort. When we checked the garden the very next morning, the only thing left was the stems. Not a leaf, not a pea pod. Nothing:mad:.
They didn't come back until the green beans came up again. I finally solved the problem by purchasing a solar/battery powered hot wire charger and putting a fence around her garden. I went solar powered so that I didn't have to run a wire to it. It's neat, convenient and deadly.
I ran one wire at 4' high and a lower wire at 6" and the deer and the rabbits get their groceries elsewhere. T posts, wire and charger came to about $300.00 and we easily got that much produce the first year and more.
Don:p
 
Probably not a good idea to go spouting off about poaching deer, aren't we supposed to be responsible gun owners on here?
 
I don't remember ever hearing about cat pee working. It might be like putting up a 'no predators around' sign. I've had good results with pee but I'm pretty sure you've gotta go a little higher on the food chain than Bobcat.
 
What is wrong with the Daisy? Enough sting to do the job with about the same range as a shotgun. I have never tried it on deer, but I know for a fact it will keep the neighbor's dog from using your front lawn as a toilet.
 
Have we heard from the original poster lately? Just wondering.
Since he or she mentioned rock salt shotgun loads, I just assumed the OP was living in the country, since one shotgun blast, containing rock salt or 00 Buck, would bring a SWAT team swarming around your place in no time flat in a surburban setting.
I tend to shoot varmints out of my veggie garden/fruit tree orchard with a .22 rifle loaded with CB caps.
Fortunately, there are no deer around here. My garden pests tend to be on the small side.
 
Poaching? If their in your garden, and it's out in the country somewhere, I'd call it "harvesting"... :neener:

Surely, I don't find baiting animals to be "real" hunting when you're bagging them with a long gun. But then things turn about when you are not hunting but are ridding your garden of pests.
-Bill
 
The best deer repellent is dog hair - and now is shedding season! if you want some, send a self addressed, post paid envelope to my dog Frida, and we'll give you enough to knit a sweater, free of charge. Just scatter it around the garden on the plants the deer like to eat. Deer repulsion is the only reason my mother allows my dog to come along when i visit.
 
Dirtpile said:
Piss will go a lot further. Coyote or wolf from your local sporting goods store or your own are all pretty good at keeping dear away.
Click to expand...
Okay, I get the rock salt thing but how do you load you shells with piss?
 
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