Friend of mine is just wrapping up a 35 year career as a senior fish and wildlife technician with the DEC. During that time one of his primary duties was dealing with nuisance wildlife. He has also acted as "agent" for landowners with permits to cull large numbers of deer where they are doing agricultural damage, orchards, whatever. In the course of his career he's shot a whole bunch more deer under a whole lot more conditions and restrictions than most of us face, in a whole lot more ways. He has told me that, within the effective range of a particular gun and load (usually about 30 - 35 yards) absolutely nothing bang-flops deer like buckshot.
