I personally think buckshot is worthless and will not use the crap on deer. Besides if you can hit it with buckshot surely you can hit it with a slug.
If you can consistently shoot a deer at 40 yards that is full out running in thick brush with a slug that you have an entire 2 seconds to view before its come and gone, you might want to consider this:
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2010/07/top-shot-tv-show-seeks-cast-members-for-season-two/
Not saying its not possible or that you personally can't do it, just saying that -I- could not CONSISTENTLY make that shot.
Also, many places do not allow slugs and they really aren't safe for dog/man drive hunts in my opinion.
Personally, I've never been fond of the smaller buckshot loads. People in the club use them occasionally, and I never really see good results with them. 00 or 000 at 10' with a bush in between you and the deer wouldn't have moved again. I do agree on the thin blood trails though. A bonus for us is that when running dogs, the dogs do most of the tracking for us and they don't need a blood trail.
Don't get me wrong, I use a muzzleloader more than anything else, and once I get one of those nifty bolt action Savage 20 gauge slug guns I'll use that a lot too. But for truly thick cover on moving deer, buckshot is a perfectly reliable tool. Like I said before, you just have to spend the time and money to pattern the gun and stay well within it's and your capabilities. Just like I wouldn't take a 45 yard shot with a bow, I won't take a 45 yard shot on a deer with a gun that doesn't pattern reliably at 45 yards.
Buckshot, of any size, is unreliable past 30 yards or so.
Simply not a true statement. My huntclub killed over 100 deer last season running dogs, all taken with buckshot from ranges that varied from 10'-80+ yards. Brand of buckshot in each gun makes a huge difference as well. Check out the new Federal buckshot with the flight control wad. Extremely tight patterns out of a modified choke. I believe the Box Of Truth did a review of the stuff.
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