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