Does this bring back memories

[Hunter007]

Who remembers the days when a lot more of the state was shotgun only . 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

NZ and Catskill park only, back when. 

[Steve D]

If I am not bow hunting I use a shotgun 95 % of the time. To me using a rifle in the woods is useless since most of my shots would be a 100 yards or less because of the terrain and my shotgun can easily do that. I only use the rifle when hunting open areas where I could get a long shot. I only have a couple of areas I can do that and don't hunt them much.

I hunted a part of 9h for a couple of days located in Erie county and that is still shotgun only.

[Hunter007]

9 minutes ago, Steve D said:

If I am not bow hunting I use a shotgun 95 % of the time. To me using a rifle in the woods is useless since most of my shots would be a 100 yards or less because of the terrain and my shotgun can easily do that. I only use the rifle when hunting open areas where I could get a long shot. I only have a couple of areas I can do that and don't hunt them much.

I hunted a part of 9h for a couple of days located in Erie county and that is still shotgun only.

Rifled barrel or smooth  bore shotgun?

[Steve D]

3 minutes ago, Hunter007 said:

Rifled barrel or smooth  bore shotgun?

I have one of each but use the rifled gun most because it is very accurate and good to about 150 yards. 

[airedale]

I remember it well, almost all of the early deer hunting I did was in Shotgun only areas, I had some pretty accurate slug slingers back then and killed a lot of deer with them. Since I moved to my current residence I have switched to Rifles and Muzzleloaders. With a couple of exceptions I believe  all the Deer I have killed with Rifles could have been killed with my slug guns. Still I like the precise accuracy edge most of my Rifles give me, I can put one in a Deer's earhole at a pretty fair distance if I have to.

Al

Edited December 9, 2019 by airedale

[Nomad]

Not hard to remember, used a smooth bore 12 ga from mid ‘70s to 2012 or 13 . Went we went rifle I never looked back , slimmer , lighter doesn’t beat up my shoulder .

[Lawdwaz]

23 minutes ago, Steve D said:

If I am not bow hunting I use a shotgun 95 % of the time. To me using a rifle in the woods is useless since most of my shots would be a 100 yards or less because of the terrain and my shotgun can easily do that. I only use the rifle when hunting open areas where I could get a long shot. I only have a couple of areas I can do that and don't hunt them much.

I hunted a part of 9h for a couple of days located in Erie county and that is still shotgun only.

I hunt 9H also and use my smokeless ML'r exclusively.........IIRC I haven't used a shotgun in almost 15 years.  And DON'T miss it a bit.

That said, I haven't come up with a reason to ever carry a shotgun loaded with 'punkin' balls in the deer woods since I started toting the rifle in rifle-legal counties opened in recent years.  I enjoy rifles and their accuracy so much I'd happily take a spike buck at 40 yards with a rifle than a 10 point at the same distance with a slug gun....honest.

I haven't sold my slug gun yet (Ithaca Model 87 DS II and Leupold VXII 2-7) in case I win the MEGA LOTTO and buy a large estate down the road from Treeguy's house and am inundated with big bucks like him.  Maybe I should sell it??

 

[Steve D]

1 hour ago, Lawdwaz said:

I enjoy rifles and their accuracy so much I'd happily take a spike buck at 40 yards with a rifle than a 10 point at the same distance with a slug gun....honest.

I too enjoy the rifle and what it offers. I am lucky to have a very accurate shotgun that is nearly as accurate as my rifle to a point and just find it more practical in the woods. The last deer I shot was with a rifle and I like what a rifle offers as far as accuracy and distance.

But honestly with the amount I of deer I have seen the last two gun season I may as well leave them both home and just carry a slingshot.

[ATbuckhunter]

Only reason id ever use a shotgun for deer is becaused im being forced to. Rifles are better in pretty much every way. Glad I hunt a county where rifles are allowed 

[Hunter007]

Just my opinion and because now I'm forced to use one but 

If you know you are going to be shooting at close ranges don't  think its enough of a difference to make difference. 

The Diameter of the hole a 12ga slug makes is  double the size of any bullet should make for a better blood trail if it runs before dropping dead .

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Hunter007

[Al Bundy]

Most of my shots could be with an xbow, but I still carry my rifle.  12 gauge is for waterfowl only now. I actually wonder about the fewer number of shots heard now vs years ago. Could it be at least in part due to hunters no longer shooting at running deer with 5 or so slugs? Taking your time to pick a clean shot using a rifle?  

[turkeyfeathers]

On ‎12‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 5:23 PM, Steve D said:

 

I hunted a part of 9h for a couple of days located in Erie county and that is still shotgun only.

Wasn't aware there was any 9H in Erie county

[Hunter007]

2 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

Most of my shots could be with an xbow, but I still carry my rifle.  12 gauge is for waterfowl only now. I actually wonder about the fewer number of shots heard now vs years ago. Could it be at least in part due to hunters no longer shooting at running deer with 5 or so slugs? Taking your time to pick a clean shot using a rifle?  

Thats Possible but more so I think less hunter now then before .

I would bet Probably the same guys  that blame the shotgun because they miss are the same guys that blame the rifle  now when they miss anyway. 

 

 

[ApexerER]

I started hunting in Schoharie County with my Dad in 1989. Had no choice but to hunt with a shotgun. My Dad purchased a Remington 870 with a slug and bird barrel for me for Christmas the year I turned 16 and could deer hunt. I still hate that gun. I developed a terrible flinch  that I still have to talk myself out of before I take a shot even though I haven't shot a slug gun in probably 20 years. I wish my Dad had purchased a 20 GA for me. I hope I never have to go back to carrying a shotgun for deer.....

[airedale]

 

7 hours ago, Hunter007 said:

Just my opinion and because now I'm forced to use one but 

If you know you are going to be shooting at close ranges don't  think its enough of a difference to make difference. 

The Diameter of the hole a 12ga slug makes is  double the size of any bullet should make for a better blood trail if it runs before dropping dead .

For me shotgun slugs have proven to be wickedly devastating on Deer when it comes to power and penetration, their main drawback has always been a lack of fine accuracy especially at longer range. Todays technology for the slugs themselves and the firearms that are made to shoot them are a far cry from the stuff used fifty years ago. Easily and securely mounted quality scopes, rifled barrels, slug design-construction and sabots have brought the accuracy in line with groups that will rival many rifles, their rainbow trajectory which limits long range somewhat and their fierce recoil is about the only downside today. 

Kept within it's range limitations a modern slug gun tuned for accuracy with quality ammo can handle most big game hunting with no problem.

I still have my old slug gun, a Winchester Super X 1, she killed a lot of Deer in her day but is pretty much retired now.

Al

[BigVal]

1 hour ago, turkeyfeathers said:

Wasn't aware there was any 9H in Erie county

Yep my house is 9h erie county

[dbHunterNY]

i'm pampered. i've always hunted with a rifle and had land destined for reasonably long pokes.

[DirtTime]

Remember those days well.

 

When I got into hunting, the areas we hunted were shotgun only, NZ was the only place that allowed rifles for the most part. There was a wonky area out by Schenevus that allowed rifle, I don't remember if it was North or south of Rt. 10, I want to say south, and it was a small area compared to the Dacks.

 

My current shotgun will not shoot slugs to save it's life, it will keep them in an 8" "group" at about 50 yards, not the accuracy I like so I don't use it for big game.

 

I look off and on into buying a used single shot 20GA with an IMP CYN Choke to hunt deer with. Now, I have my mind set to go the ML route instead. From reading on here and many other articles, today's ML's are as good or if not better then some shotguns as for accuracy and distance. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by DirtTime
even spell check sucks donkey poo

[The_Real_TCIII]

9 minutes ago, DirtTime said:

Now, I have my mind set to go the ML route instead. From reading on here and many other articles, today's ML's are as good or if not better then some shotguns as for accuracy and distance. 

Theyre not nearly as good at shooting twice though lol. Whats your current setup? Ive got an 11-87 smooth bore slug barrel I want to get shooting well for next season. Youtube videos say that believe it or not the Remington sluggers grouped best, at $1 a pop

[DirtTime]

1 minute ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Theyre not nearly as good at shooting twice though lol. Whats your current setup? Ive got an 11-87 smooth bore slug barrel I want to get shooting well for next season. Youtube videos say that believe it or not the Remington sluggers grouped best, at $1 a pop

TriStar Raptor, 28" barrel with Mod. Choke tube. I can't get other barrels for it, and the choke tubes are way out of my price range. The wrench alone is like $100.

 

With the ML, I can get the early season up North, and hunt a couple areas by me that don't allow rifles.

[Will_C]

2 hours ago, ApexerER said:

I started hunting in Schoharie County with my Dad in 1989. Had no choice but to hunt with a shotgun. My Dad purchased a Remington 870 with a slug and bird barrel for me for Christmas the year I turned 16 and could deer hunt. I still hate that gun. I developed a terrible flinch  that I still have to talk myself out of before I take a shot even though I haven't shot a slug gun in probably 20 years. I wish my Dad had purchased a 20 GA for me. I hope I never have to go back to carrying a shotgun for deer.....

Same here!! Had to be like Dad and the other men, so I bought an Ithaca 12 gauge Deerslayer in the mid 1980's-of course topped with a cheaper scope in a clamp on mount. Just the thing for a kid who hadn't shot much-a light weight 12 gauge that you had to rest your chin against the stock when you shot, and a scope with 3" of eye relief.That gun bruised me, the scope bounced off my forehead, and 5 shots would give me a headache. I too developed a terrible flinch that I battle until this day.

Although I eventually bought a Rem 11-87 with a cantilevered barrel and a Leopold shotgun scope, and killed many deer with it, I gladly retired that when I received an Encore for Christmas in 2003, and in 2005, we were allowed to use rifles.  I haven't shot a slug since. I was so happy my nephew was able to start his deer hunting career with a .243.

 

I once did a recoil comparison-I believe I remember that Deerslayer was in the 32 ft-lb range-that's up there with .300 magnums!