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Slug Guns & Deer Hunting/Rifles Now


Lawdwaz

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So I was thinking of a new thread to take the attention off the crazy covid thread and thought about my slug gun gathering dust all these years.  It's been (IIRC) about 17-18 years since I carried the old 12ga Ithaca DSII.  I quit as I enjoyed carrying the T/C Encore ML'r and killed a few deer with it the first year.  For a number of years I continued to use it then bought the smokeless ML'r and used that until they allowed the use of CF rifles in 2014.  Since then the ML'r is only used during regular season when I hunt Erie County and of course during the late ML'r season and the NEW Holiday Hunt.  :)

So back on track, for those in the western zones that are now hunting rifle country, do you still have your slug gun or did you send it packing?

Do you occasionally use it for nostalgic reasons or could you (like me!) give a flying flip if you ever use it again?

Bonus points for pre-rifle slug gun deer pics......

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Still have my 870 , but the slug barrel has not been on it in years. I have thought about putting the slug barrel back on  and using it . Heres a photo of my dad with his Ithaca deer slayer , pretty sure this is late 80’s. 

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Edited by rob-c
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I use my Deerslayer 20 every year as I am in Onondaga County on some of my props and for the first few days I carry it so I can shoot multiple deer if opportunity arises. Then I switch to the muzzleloader. 

Edited by Fletch
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BPS buck special , ill keep it till I die , use it once every few years on drives . Killed a pile of deer with it ,can’t really see the tiny front site anymore . Got 100 or so slugs for it .

Once we went rifle I bought a .270 , then 7mm08 as one who actually shoots their guns a lot , I can’t say I miss slugs through a 12ga pump .

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I personally still use the 12gauge auto when hunting hardwoods. Most shots in the woods are not that far and the rifle bullet I use is somewhat touchy and less tolerant of brush, etc. than a slug, so I tend to only use the rifle when hunting field edges or have the possibility of a longer shot.

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Use my old 870 often since I got it about 12 years ago. Killed alot of deer with it.  Was my grandfather,  then my father's,  and now mine. Prior to that I used my Winchester ranger 120 with open sights. That gun belonged to my other grandfather. Took my first deer with that 20 gauge, and several after.

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Even though I could use a rifle in 2014 I carried the 12ga 1100 through the 2018 season and into the opening weekend of the 2019 season. I believe it was the next weekend I carried the rifle for something different and tagged a doe by 9am with it. I’ll still carry the shotgun at least once a year during our deer drives. Last deer I shot with it was the 10point that’s on my wall unfortunately I don’t have a picture of that buck and the gun together so heres the doe I took in 2017 with it.
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The first half of my hunting life all my Deer hunting was done with various slug guns. My first new gun was a 20 ga Ithaca Deerslayer, went to a 20 ga Remington 1100 with a 2.5 Weaver scope, from there to a model 51 Ithaca Deerslayer semi auto. My final piece is a Winchester Super X Model 1 which I still have. I had Lefever Arms in Lee Center NY make me up a special slug barrel for the Winchester as per one of my gun nut buddys (A Toolmaker) who swore he came up with a tack driving winner. A 28 inch plain barrel was purchased, Lefever cut the barrel to 25 inches and I had them install a set of Browning open sights on it. With the old Remington 7/8 ounce slug I was getting groups at 75 yards with most if not all shots touching. Sent the gun back up to Lefever and had them drill and tap it for a scope base, mounted a straight Leupold 3X and was one happy chappy. Used the Winchester for many years and killed a pile of Deer with it, one of the better ones pictured below. Moved to rifle country back in the mid eighties and that was pretty much it for the Super X1 Winchester, slugs and Deer hunting.

Al

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My 11-87 sits in the safe. It has a short barrel with a turkey choke, but I haven't hunted turkeys in many years. The rifled barrel is in the corner of the safe in a silicone sock. I shot 13 deer with it between 1994 and 2003, Used my Encore in 2004 and the next year was rifles here.

I also have my father's 12-gauge Ithaca Deerslayer. It gets wiped down once a year. I doubt I'll ever shoot either one again unless I turkey hunt.

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Do I get a bonus point, if I post the actual 20 cent 16 gauge Remington slugger, that I killed my last antlered buck with on the Friday after Thanksgiving last year ?   It makes a nice antler ornament anyhow.  
 

I like taking grandpa’s old Ithaca model 37 deerslayer out  on a few hunts each year.  It has not let me down, since I put the 1.5 Weaver on it, back around 1982.  
 

We will probably always have to use shotguns here in wmu 9F.  I would probably retire it, if they made center fire rifles legal.  
 

Those 20 cent sluggers  are a lot more fun to shoot than the $ 5 sabots they try and sell these days. They kill the deer equally dead, you just got to get them a little closer.  They also have great brush-bucking ability, compared to most rifle bullets.  

 

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Edited by wolc123
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My first was a Mossberg 500. Killed done deer with it but can't say I enjoyed it. That thing kicked like a mule. I ended up selling that one because I had others that were more enjoyable to shoot. I still have a handful that I hang on to for drives, not that I ever do drives. The most fun slug gun I have is a single shot break action H&R with a heavy 10ga barrel machined down for a 12ga slug. It looks like a cannon with the short fat barrel on it.

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When I first started deer hunting (1966), I used the standard Remington pump then I bought an H&R single shot. Finally, after an extended search, I found an iron sighted slug barrel for my beloved Browning Sweet Sixteen. I killed bunches of deer with it. When rifle was ok’d in Steuben, I went that route. I still have the Browning but have not shot it in years.

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Started off with a smooth bore Ithica 20ga. Featherlight deerslayer....didn't kill a thing with it....I borrowed it from my buddies dad for a season or two.
Then I bought a 12ga mossberg 835 and then put a rifled barrel on it with a cantilever mount. Great turkey or goose gun.
After years of hunting in a Rifle County I switched by to shotgun only area and since then have used a 20ga mossberg with a rifled barrel and for the last 3 years I have used a 20ga savage 220 and probably won't stray from that gun as long as I keep hunting a shotgun county.

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