The pack of hounds has turned and sound like they are coming toward the hunter who leans tighter against the big oak tree at the fence corner. Yes, they are coming in full cry. Suddenly hooves are splashing leaves within earshot of the hunter and he readies his gun.

An antler cracks against a low pine limb and the hunter flips off the gun’s safety and starts to raise it to his shoulder. Before he brings it to eye level the buck charges into view; 60 yards 50 yards; now he is broadside at 45 yards. A steady swing just ahead of the buck’s chest and the buckshot fly on their way. The buck doesn’t stagger as it disappears into thick brush. “One shot, that’s all I got,” thinks the hunter. “And he didn’t fall. I wonder if I missed him.”

This is such an oft repeated episode on dog drives for deer that it is more the norm than the unusual. After the shot, the hunter in this true-to-life story reacts predictably if he or she is inexperienced in the use of buckshot on deer. Even if the hunter knew a good sight picture (aim) existed before the shot, and a good swinging follow through like he always does on flushing quail and doves, he immediately starts to doubt his shooting. Why?

Simple answer; because the deer didn’t fall at the shot. Quail fall at the shot of a shotgun, doves fall, ducks fall, squirrels fall, rabbits fall – everything he has shot with a shotgun falls. But as he is about to learn, deer don’t fall. That is they rarely fall when hit with buckshot at 45 yards unless a central nervous system organ is struck solidly or a broken leg causes a stumble, and then they are up again and running like Satin is behind them.

 

Big Expectations

 

With a super magnum load of 000 buckshot, a deer should fall, reasons the new hunter. So I must have missed, is the next thought. Our hunter goes to where the buck was at the shot and finds twisting hoof prints in the mud, but no blood and no hair that would indicate buckshot entering the deer’s body. He is woods-wise enough to follow the trail the buck took when he departed. Fifty yards out he finds a speck of blood. Soon there is more, and shortly there in the trail lies the buck – very dead. He was dead 8 seconds after the shot, but he traveled 75 yards.

Tragically, deer have been lost because inexperienced hunters don’t know buckshot. With a significant amount of hound hunting for deer hereabouts, many hunters find themselves afield with shotguns in the deer woods. Plenty of the hound hunters are old timers who have seen the evolution of shotguns and buckshot shells  through most of half a century and they know a lot about how they will perform. For the new hunter who suddenly finds himself or herself packing up for a dog hunt at a club that allows only buckshot, here is a little background and a few tips about shotshells for deer.

A buckshot shell contains from 9 to two dozen heavy round pellets. A typical 3 inch magnum 000 buckshot shell will have 10 pellets inside. The 000 is the largest buckshot available and this is an impressive load for today’s shotguns. For comparison, we shot deer in the 1950’s with 2- 3/4  inch paper shells loaded with nine 00 buckshot over a fiber wad and sealed on top by a rolled crimp and over-shot wad that stayed in the way of the shot as they flew out the barrel.

Now we have a wadless crimp ahead of the shot which are cushioned by powdered plastic, hardened by a coating of copper, and pushed with a collapsing over-powder wad all to reduce deforming the shot which would make them sail off course. And the shell body is tough plastic with just the right give to it and a thickened base that won’t leak powder gases. They are about as good as buckshot shells can get. So why do so few deer fall at the mere sound of these mighty shells?

Two reasons; the velocity of each pellet is about half that of a typical rifle bullet and the round lead pellets do very little expanding once they strike the animal – that is they provide only a minimum of what we call shock effect. And while we are knocking buckshot, they make a poor entry for effecting a blood trail and usually don’t exit the animal, so bleeding is further restricted. These admittedly troubling details are provided to make clear what to expect when you shoot a deer with buckshot. Don’t expect the deer to fall.

 

Hit and Run

 

Better yet, expect it not to fall, because it probably won’t. Mark the spot where the deer was at the shot and where it was last seen, immediately, before excitement plays tricks with your memory.

Listen for the deer to fall and mentally mark that spot if you hear it. Then start tracking and if your shot was true you will find a blood trail, although it may not appear for many yards, and then the deer. But you may cover a hundred yards or more before finding blood and the deer may be two or three times that distance farther, although most well hit deer will be closer.

Thick underbrush and briars can make for some tough searching, but here is where a hunter proves his mettle. Don’t give up until you determine the shot was a definite miss.

More than once I have taken hunters back to where they said they missed with buckshot and recovered their deer by doing some careful tracking. 

Don’t expect too much of your buckshot shells. But don’t sell them short either. They are good game getters, they are just subtle about it.