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I hunt in many areas where it's not legal to use slugs. I also hunt in areas that are pretty densely wooded. This has forced me to use buckshot over the years and I am absolutely convinced that it is effective up to at least 50 yards. I lost one of the nicest deer I have ever seen shooting slugs. Afterwards I noticed that I had chopped down several small pines trying to shoot through them to the deer. Had I been shooting buckshot I would have gotten that deer. After 40-plus years of hunting deer under these conditions and ranges I will take buckshot any time over slugs at ranges of 50 yards or less. I hear a lot of people say "Oh don't use buckshot, use slugs". That tells me either that (1) someone is just giving what they think is the politically correct answer and/or (2) that they have never tried buckshot at all or at least not given it a fair chance. Get some buckshot and try it out at ranges up to 50 yards. Don't just restrict it to 00 buckshot, also try some 0, 000 and no. 1 (my personal favorite). If your shotgun has screw-in choke tubes try modified as well as full. Sometimes I have found, particularly with larger buckshot sizes, that modified will actually give denser patterns than full choke. I think you may be surprised just how effective buckshot can be.
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