My uncle was a forester with a timber co. and fed his crew a lot of deer from Polk Co. big thicket country. He had a single shot break open Win. FC that he killed several deer with at over 80 steps. I heard one was at 110. Having habit some buckshot experience, I figure the hounds affected the recovery. I switched to using 23/4 short mags due to poor penetration of buckshot and it seemed to help.
There were a lot of deer lost in those days to bad shots, buckshot, and running deer in timber. Only the hounds made it a viable activity IMO.
Well dog hunting was not allowed statewide where I lived . A lot of of deer were wounded when people did not realize the limitations of a shotgun. For the most part we hunted from the ground , rarely from trees and usually had 30 yard shots if that for the most part.
