Best deer rifle may be shotgun Close quarters are optimal, open areas better for long guns

There are several notable rites of passage for Maine youngsters growing up in a hunting family. When that long, narrow gift on a birthday or at Christmas is opened to reveal your first gun, usually a .22 or perhaps a .410 or 20 gauge shotgun, it is forever memorable. For many young sportsmen, the most memorable milestone is receiving their first deer rifle, a .30-30, .32 Special or .35 Remington in the old days, more likely a .243 or 7mm-08 nowadays. I still have my first deer gun and have added several others to my whitetail arsenal over the years, and after thousands of hunts in several states and provinces during the last 45 years, I’ve come to a unique conclusion that sometimes my best deer rifle is actually a shotgun!

Buckshot buck

My first inkling leading to this determination came when I was 16 and the situation was completely governed by fate. Dad and I had traveled to Escourt, a remote territory in the very Crown of Maine consistently overrun with whitetails, where we enjoyed a three-day Thanksgiving holiday hunt each season. While unpacking my gear, we discovered that the Redfield receiver sight on my Model 81 Woodsmaster in .35 Remington was broken.

I was a small wisp of a kid in high school with neither the arm length nor bulk to handle Dad’s long gun, a scoped .270 Husqvarna. For still-hunting Escourt’s thick forest, the short-barreled peep-sighted Remington auto fit my slight frame perfectly and didn’t beat me to death with recoil. With no gunsmith within 100 miles, I had but one choice, lug the Remington 1100 autoloader we had brought for partridge. Just by luck Dad had a box of 3-inch double-ought buckshot in his packbasket.

Heavy snow made our first day of hunting tough, the deer just weren’t moving, but temperatures rose and the next morning dawn featured a bright sun glistening on 6 inches of soft new snow. Dad and I headed for a favorite ridge along Boatlanding Road and slowly stalked our way along an old skidder trail. It was about 8:30 when the deer blew at us from a second-growth fir and alder thicket, so close I nearly jumped out of my skin. I saw a doe crow hop through an opening and spotted antlers as a second brown form followed.

Swinging the scattergun to my shoulder I snapped off the safety and pointed toward the next sparse portion of green just as the first doe moved through, and when a head with horns appeared, I cut loose a swarm of buckshot and then another as the buck made a leap. Quickly moving 25 yards to the open space, we found holes in the trunks of three birch and maple trees as high as we could reach and as low as a foot off the ground. The snow was littered with pieces of tree limbs and fir bows the wide pattern of lead pellets had sheared off, and best of all, we found hair and blood.

Less than 60 yards away we found my five-point buck sprawled down and out just in front of a blowdown. Five distinct wounds could be seen in the neck and front shoulder. Dad complimented me on my shooting, then kidded me that I’d probably receive a bill for stumpage from the landowner for all the damage to the surrounding trees from my multi-pellet rounds. There’s no doubt in my mind that my chances of bagging that buck in the dense cover would have been slim with my rifle. Sometimes more is better, and I’ve proven the worthiness of buckshot, slugs and sabots in a good shotgun and thick woods several times since that teenage adventure.

Shotgun selection

Fate dictated my first deer hunting foray with a shotgun, but most sportsmen will experience a bit more leeway in making that decision. The first step is realizing that unless you’re hunting large fields or clearcuts exclusively, a high-powered, long-range rifle topped with expensive optics just isn’t necessary. Consider for a moment how far away the last deer you shot was standing; how about the average range of the last five deer. Most Maine whitetails are shot at distances under 100 yards, and for stealthy woods-stalking outdoorsmen, it’s closer to 50 yards.

Over the years the venerable old .30-30 Winchester has likely put more venison in the frying pan than any caliber. This is not to say large-caliber long guns aren’t necessary, only that at moderate yardages other firearms such as a good shotgun will certainly do the job. Consider also that a high-powered bullet can be deflected off target by striking the smallest limb, while heavy shotgun slugs just plow on through. And when brush is truly dense and the shot is less than 50 yards, even if one or two buckshot pellets are deflected or strike a tree, there are half a dozen more projectiles left to get the job done.

In several states deer hunters are required to use a shotgun, in fact there are a few urban-edge areas in southern Maine that mandate shotgun-only hunting for whitetails. Safety for the other hunters, as well as nonhunters in the area, is the basis for shotgun seasons, based on the premise the shooter must be closer to his quarry for exact identification and a clear, clean shot. Another consideration favoring shotguns for deer is the fact that many sportsmen already own a scattergun for upland birds or waterfowl.

Shelling out upwards of $1,000 for a top-rate rifle, scope, and other long-gun accessories just doesn’t make sense compared to buying buckshot or slugs for a shotgun that’s already in the rack. Even spending $200 for a second rifled slug barrel for an existing shotgun provides a less expensive but very effective option. For youngsters, ladies and novice hunters, buying a shotgun provides a dual-purpose firearm for feathers or fur, and often it’s easier to find a shotgun to fit small- framed hunters than to locate a youth model rifle. If recoil is a concern, 20- and 16-gauges have accounted for a lot of deer at 50 yards or less.

Shotguns have taken on a new look and a new life since the shiny, blued-barrels and wooden-stock models produced by all firearms manufacturers up through the 1980s. During the 1990s and into this new millennium, stealthy, black, glare-free finishes, multiple camo patterns, synthetic stocks and fore-ends, 31/2-inch shells, fiber-optic and red dot sights, and efficient recoil reduction systems have put an all new face on scatterguns. A growing selection of ammunition with extremely improved projectiles further increases every shotgun’s capabilities, a factor we will discuss later.

Step one in selecting a shotgun for deer is to decide if a multi-purpose smoothbore for birds and big game fits your needs more than a rifle-barreled slug gun. Either model will prove less expensive than a comparable fully outfitted rifle. Next it’s a matter of selecting the action you’re most comfortable with, in most cases auto loaders and pumps are far more favored than bolt actions, double barrels and single shots. Finally, and just as important as the other factors if not more so, select a gun that fits. If necessary, get a competent gunsmith to alter a favorite shotgun stock to achieve a custom fit. The resulting ease of mounting and perfect sight picture will be worth every cent in personal confidence that you’ll hit where you’re aiming.

For most sportsmen the all-around perfect package will be a 12-gauge semi-auto with 24- or 26-inch barrel, topped with fiber-optic sights on a smooth bore and open sights on a rifled slug barrel. Synthetic stocked to reduce weight and dark camo finish, such as the Advantage pattern, to eliminate glare are pluses, and if the gun is chambered for 23/4-, 3- and 31/2-inch shells, it’s all the better. Add on a sling and either a red dot or a 1-to-4X variable power scope and whitetails beware.

Ammo options

Scan the buckshot, slug and sabot selection at the local sporting goods stores and the range of manufacturers and diversity of types will make your head spin. Here are some criteria to assure the most effective and dependable gun and ammo comb. Although the renownly accurate sabots will work in a smoothbore, buckshot or traditional slugs, often referred to as Foster-style slugs, are just as lethal. When still-hunting heavy cover where shots of 50 yards or less are probable, three rounds of double-ought buckshot will cut quite a swath.

When hunting open forest or small clearcuts, Foster-style slugs are the way to go. Plenty lethal out to 100 yards, the accuracy and trajectory of this huge lead pumpkin ball dictate 75 yards as a more dependable range. Open-sight smoothbores are easily capable of 4-inch target groups at 50 yards, and swat a buck solidly with a 1-ounce soft lead slug and normally it will be knocked to the ground where it stood. Foster-style slugs are efficient in smoothbore and rifled barrels. Brenneke slugs offer minimal recoil, a good choice for lightweight guns, and Hevi-Shot slugs provide excellent accuracy and deadly downrange power. For years Remington slugs have served me well while Federal Tru-Ball slugs yield 50-yard groups from a smoothbore that will match sabot rounds from a rifled barrel.

Serious shotgun hunters using rifled-barrel slug guns topped with a good scope must use sabot slugs to achieve maximum results. Sabot slugs are encased in a plastic sleeve which engages and molds itself to the rifling as the projectile spins down the shotgun barrel. These grooved twists impart a stabilizing spin that will assure 4-inch, five-shot groups at 100 yards from many modern shotguns. With proper optics, premium sabots and a rifled barrel, lethal accuracy at 150 yards is easily achievable on big game with a shotgun. Sabots offer better accuracy, notably less bullet drop, improved down-range energy, and therefore higher hunter confidence and eventual success ratios compared to buckshot and traditional slugs.

Regardless of how much Maine hunters love their deer rifles, or how entrenched in tradition these guns have become, sooner or later some location or situation may be better served with a shotgun. Shotguns and big-game loads seem to improve yearly, so effectiveness shouldn’t be an issue. Scatterguns may not be for every whitetail enthusiast, nor are they perfect for every deer hunting scenario, but for some sportsmen, some styles of hunting, and some habitats, they are better suited and more dependable than a rifle. Maybe you’re one of those outdoorsmen hunting one of those locations, think about it.

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached via e-mail at bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com