What's the effective range for 12 gauge 00 buckshot on deer?

Should you target the heart, or are neck shots okay at close range?

I had to get a new nuisance permit for deer. I have deer eating my fruit trees and saplings within a few hundred yards of neighbor's properties. What distance, shooting at a downwards angle, is safe from 00 traveling that far?

At times, the deer are coming within a few feet of my house. I could hit them with a 6' stick from my bathroom window. I can yell at them and they will just stare blankly at me. They are not often giving me the shooting angles I feel comfortable shooting in, when they are doing the damage up close.

Will 00 ricochet off of ground like a hayfield?

I think rifles and slugs could go farther than I feel comfortable with. I can legally use any round and harvest 8 deer, 24/7.

I might have to bait them to give me an angle that is safer. I am seeing deer in broad daylight, even mid day and at night. They have cost me thousands this year.

Keith

Can you use a bow

25 yds hits a silhouette of a human body. What about a 17 cal, w/fmj in the head? Better range, put it in the ear canal, will drop like a ton of bricks.

Buckshot will bounce around like ping pong balls.
Range I would not feel comfortable beyond 40 yards for buckshot,slug 60-70 yards.
A 20 g slug will go right thru a deer sized animal.
I have killed a truckload of beaver with 00 12ga buckshot.
Take a few shots to pattern your buckshot.When the pellets spread to 8-10 inch pattern thats your good effective killing range.

Killed a buck with 3" 00 buckshot that was standing broadside at just over 100yds. 2 of the 9 pellets punched right thru his ribcage. No clue where the other 7 pellets went.

This was with a 12 ga modified choke with just a bead for aiming. Bead and barrel view covered up nearly entire deer sight pic.

Stupid of me to fire on that spike buck that far, but a 17year old kid does dumb stuff sometimes...lol

Best to pattern to see how far it'll hold tight enough to be effective. In a good patterning gun/load combo, check out federals flitecontrol loads or hornadys similar versatite, I would have no problems reaching out to 45 yards. But a poor pattern at that range might scatter pellets over the entire length of a deer.

Also be aware that the shot will carry much further than you might think and far beyond "effective" range. My brother caught two pellets of 00 at 125 measured yards. One through his calf muscle that was stopped by the denim of his pants as it exited his calf, the other by his foot as it was stopped when it cracked the outside bone of his foot.

As for placement, anything in the front half is going to put it down if you get a good pattern. Buckshot will chew up the lungs/heart if a rib cage hit but I've seen them run spitting blood. Even a gutshot is going to be lethal but you might need to follow the buzzards to find it. I like a square on break down the shoulder shot. Take out the running gear and get some of the lung/heart that way. Dont care for neck shots as they tend to go down but bounce back up.

Came up buckshot only deer drive with dogs so I've killed my share with 00. But I long ago switched over to slugs, if used a shotgun, for deer for better range and more effective accurate through and through shots.

…. Or just quit overthinking everything and kill the dang deer

#1 buck give better patterns and more pellets

In hindsight, I've had to help bloodtrack more buckshot hit deer than any other. That might be due to the far more common use of buckshot but I don't think so. One thing I do like about buckshot is it's ability to break all sorts of peripheral things like legs. I recall one raking shot dad made on one facing him that broke the back hip. Another that a buddy hit low and broke the onside shoulder and shattered the offside foreleg, he then shattered the onside back hip as it was going away. That one was an easy track.

Large caliber air rifle is your best option. Head shot drops them fast. Little noise compared to a shotgun or rifle.

22lr aim between the eyes
Sight it in with CCI mini mags hollow points

It will go around 400 yards with the right skip off a pond, thats going off childhood memories of shooting my dads chicken barn from way further than I thought I could.

I wonder if Goose loads would be suitable at close range? My dad once thought he would "sting" my moms goats when they got out and at around 70 yards it did more than sting them. I would guess a good BB load at 20 yards or less would end a deer pretty quick.

Baiting in deer and using a nuisance permit just doesn’t seem right.

Why?

I've killed dozens and dozens of deer with buckshot. I feel comfortable up to 45 yards if I have a history if decent patterns.

Have you ever heard of fraud? Same concept.

Good farm dog goes a long way for critter deterrent.

buck is effective as far as you have a pattern

the problem is it is lethal way past where you have a pattern and you have very little control over where it goes , skips , bounces or ricochets.

when you start shooting suppressed you realize how much stuff will ricochet off a hay field 22lr subs for sure.


one of the safest things you can do is change your angle like a tree stand , roof top and a fast varmint type bullet

22lr wouldn't; be bad if you can shoot them at the base of the ear , poachers favorite spot , one pop and they drop.
at night walk with a red headlamp and blind and shoot with a weapons mounted bright white light.

if you know you have good down angle and will hit the deer in the shoulder with a slug they can also be good

without seeing your place 45 or greater degree down angle is one of the safest things you can do with a light fast bullet that is a lot more likely to go in and not come out.

a 223 55gr soft point down through the top of the ribs will likely be found on the other side under the hide. not a guarantee but it isn't often they come out.

baiting to get an angle you are comfortable with is also worth it to be safe.

3" 12g 00 I have has 15 .33 pellets. 2 3/4 has 9.

Never had a shotgun that would pattern 00 buck worth a hoot. All of my shotguns did much better with #1 buck but that’s hard to find these days for some reason.

My livestock guardian dogs appear to believe the deer are a type of goat. The dogs don't mess with the deer and the deer have no fear of the dogs.

Keith

I've considered buying a crossbow for a use case where one is shooting from an elevated position, there is no backstop for shooting from the ground with a firearm, and neighbors or livestock are just over a 1/4 mile away.

Think ridge tops during firearms season with deer traffic that is consistent. A year round tower blind in such areas would work well, I would think. It is one of the very few reasons I'd buy a crossbow. Every year I've watched deer in this spot, nice bucks, but with a firearm the chance of skipping a round or if you miss not accounting for the bullet in a backstop is a no go.

It might be an idea for your nuisance permit.

Buckshot is a crap shoot, some guns will pattern tight most don't seem to, from what I've seen keep the range as short as possible, like under 40 yds, but YMMV....
baited in close and a 22 to the head has killed a lot of deer...the pro deer exterminators use a 22 suppressed magnum over bait and pile them up....most of the regular nuisance guys I know now use a 20 gauge slug....at night with a light

Why don't you PM the OP and get his address?
Maybe make a sizeable donation to cover his losses?

He said baiting to get the right angle, not baiting to draw more in

OP I would go with a .22Mag and headshots if they are that close

I would go with a 22 mag HP. Head shots only. Knew a guy who used a 22 hornet for his permit deer. Years ago up in the Cleaveland area there was a guy trapping deer in one of the city parks. He was using a 330 with an apple on the trigger, set up in a tree. Took a while but the park rangers finally caught him. Herter's used to sell deer traps. They were fairly strong traps with real high jaws.

I hate buckshot.I would say nothing past 15 yards.

The effective range of buckshot outperforms your pattern. You can kill coyotes at 100 yards but you are lobbing them out there. It'll smoke any close range deer I'm sure. I'm not sure 3.5" are worth fooling with but I've shot a lot of them. Seems more handy to have more qty 3" rounds in the mag tube. It was common to stagger my shells. i.e. the last couple shots were 00 assuming I needed the range by the time I got there but primary was actually copper platted BB, for yotes. Truthfully F and T shot outperformed 00. I have some 3" F mags I bought a case of 20 years ago. I'll be sad when those are gone.

Tighter choke isn't necessarily better. They bunch up, deform, and begin to flair coming out. I like the Carlson coyote chokes. If you call them they know the patterns well enough to suggest one for your shotgun.

Target area probably depends on range. Id think up close brain stem would be pretty effective but if it was out further typical boiler plate shots taking out the lungs would be the way to go. 3 or 4 .22+ cal chunks of lead passing through lungs and heart is 3 or 4 times more effective than an arrow I'd think. With 3" @ 15 pellets per at close range I'd think you'd be pretty effective.

22 mag pistol might be fun too and may not have the negatives of a full out rifle.

Suppressed rifle after dark would be ideal I'd think. Thats how the states do it when they get serious about it.

I like the quote that "pistols put holes in people, rifles put holes through people, and 00 buck throws body parts on the floor."

Keith effective range depends on the gun and gow well it will pattern different loads. Every gun i have shot it in its been very close range. But my cousin had one he had set up for shooting it anf it smoked targets 80 yards away.

I suspect the way your place dropes off in the valy behind the house you can shoot about anything you want and be safe just pick your area you dont take a shot. I cant remember where the neighbors houses were.

Im thinking your leaning more at a target of opertunity vs wasting time staking out for them?

PM Sent

In your situation I’m going to make the following recommendations

Kicks coyote choke ( designed for #4 buck)
3” #4 buck either copper coated or Tungsten

Keep shots under 40yrds ( I can kill coyotes out to 70yrds with no problem).
I would target the junction of the neck and body. Use a fast handling pump or auto and if he doesn’t immediately hit the dirt hit him again till he does!!

Using this setup I kill very large wild hogs at 40yds and under with one shot. I let a group get in close and got all 6 hogs 40 to 200 lbs with 6 shots. On deer this would be extremely deadly within range and I feel you should be safe just shoot at a downward angle. All the pellets should be in the dirt by 150 yrds.

00 will carry some ! If you go that route be careful. With the extra weight they are going to have some range to them!

Lastly pattern your shotgun and add some type of scope or at least open sights to make sure your pattern is centered on target.

Have fun !!

22Mag. First nowhere near the noise level. Second choice 222 with a factory 50 grain hornady SX . NO EXIT. My son killed his first 5 deer with it. Lung s to head that deer is dead .Question . Why even consider 00 buck. You know at that range 50 yards or less #2 birdshot will drop them in their tracks.But the roar of a 12 gauge and the local PD will be there every time you shoot after dark.

Heck they kill 14 ft gators with a 22 mag. TONS of hogs and cows been killed with one as well.

Know a guy that would bait and shoot big bucks out of his bedroom window....First time he used a 22 mag, the buck dropped like a rock....went outside to collect it and it was gone!

According to him a 22 mag is useless. According to me, learn to shoot and not hit them at the base of the antlers, lol

I don't see a problem with baiting under these circumstances. Deer are no different than any other vermin when you have crops getting devastated.

This exactly. Deer are nothing but tasty rats in my book.

Nuisance guys here just drop them and let them lay....in this heat they melt away in a few days....I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do that....

I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is. Do you live in the middle of town or something?

I would bait them to get them into the safe shooting lane, use a .22 LR or Mag, only shoot the doe's they are the factory's. Hope you can butcher and enjoy if not landfill. Clean headshots with a .22 will leave no waste. Mark the X between eyes and ears, that;s the sweet spot.

wws

Have you considered using single ought or #1 buck?

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/cySkCWC0bpA?is=YpK24ck1p3Za4my1[/video]

The above video is from 17 years ago when I lived in NJ he dropped in his tracks at 35 yards

I remember something about the poacher using snares, not 330's.
Had a buck caught and people saw it, reported it, and officials sat and waited for the guy to show up.
Had a rash of deer snares in Medina county around the same time.
Found some on my trap line, huge loops, 2 feet off the ground and about 4 foot high. Never a tag either.
Obviously not a coyote snare, set in deer trails.

i never had a deer sit still that long if I had a tag

only when I didn't

I realized I might see more deer if I stopped shooting the first one in range

why not shoot them both had the time ?

This was during 6day buck season I didn’t have a doe tag. Here’s another small buck at 45 yards and I was about 25+ up a tree [video:youtube]https://youtu.be/pa8bjSYIPOo?is=d_tRG-XgN_94RnBg[/video]

and the 3 run down the drive way when you shoot

is that your house?

we have to wear orange

I have shot a few from a tree stand I should have been more patient but quiet on opening morning here isn't going to last long so shots are taken a little faster.

had to use nothing but slugs for a long time here. they do drop a deer in a hurry when you get a good shot on them that breaks shoulders or neck.

I do have Orange on just a vest if you watch on the second video. Not my house that’s the work shop . Unoccupied when I’m hunting

I wouldn't care if it was your mothers house and she was sitting at the window. you weren't shooting at the house.
we did a lot of threading the needle hunting I have totally shot between the house and the shed to get a deer.

I could see where my cousins were.

people get bent out of shape if your not shooting 180 degrees from everything when a lot fewer degrees will more than suffice.

Never used 00 buckshot, knew a few in Michigan that used it, but in Ohio it was illegal to hunt with.
After reading some replies, it seems it could be dangerous in a populated area.
It would be like shooting 9-12, 22 rounds that can spread out quite a bit, and go a long ways.

22 250 Is the round I heard was a poachers choice. Because it shot flatter and had a longer range.
I know farmers wouldn't let people hunt woodchucks with a 22 , but would a high-powered rifle, because the bullets would bust up when they hit the ground or rock.
Maybe like you say, shooting down on them would be the better idea.

Until the 1970's we could only use buckshot for deer and bear here in NJ, most of us still use it. In your case Keith, with not the time or expense to pattern your shotgun with all different loads and makes of buckshot shells, keep your shots to 35 yards or less. with buckshot divide the deer's body in half and then aim in the middle of the front half. Forget neck shots just go center chest. Buckshot can ricochet but loses much power and velocity if it does so.
I know this is a little off topic but buckshot will really put the stop to a bear. Have shot quite a few with it.

Pattern with different ammo but I kill hogs regularly at 40-50 yards with #1 buck also use Winchester varmint x lead bb due to our wma regs . Lead bb at 30-40 will drop them 50-60 you gotta look a bit

With buckshot price/quality matters for patterning. Cheap lead without buffering is going to deform on its ride down the barrel and fly wide. Copper plated, better yet nickel, hardened and packed in buffer with good shotcups has the best chance of flying straight. IMO, you start there before even considering which choke, especially with large shot which doesn't always react the same as smaller bird shot when squeezed.

I agree my gun likes Winchester super x I wasted a lot of money on federal that didn’t pattern worth a darn I do like a full or extra full but every gun likes a different ammo/ choke combo. That’s where shotguns get expensive but once you get a combo you like it’s worth every penny