Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Safety: Rifle vs. Slug gun

I'd like to start by saying this is the best site I've found for hunting and shooting. I've never posted mostly because most everything I needed to know has been covered! I would like to ask a question now though.

I'm from the southern tier of New York in Steuben County and have always had to hunt with slugs. I've never liked them much because of inaccuracy, weight("most" guns designed for slugs seem to be quite heavy), and recoil. I've always wanted to be able to hunt in my own state with a rifle but never thought it would be possible until last year. The bill to allow hunting with a rifle in Steuben County died right at the end of it's cycle and we had to use slugs or a muzzloader again last year. It's up for approval again this year and would love to have it approved, but a few people I talk to are opposed to it being passed.

Whenever I encounter anybody in NY that is opposed to the rifle law their main reason for opposition is safety. They all say that slugs are safer because they don't go as far. This seems to be the only reason I've heard. I have found most hunting incidents happen at close ranges or are self inflicted. I've also found while lookin at statistic that the major reason for less accidents is hunter safety programs. There are sharp drops in accidents in the years following the implementation of hunter safety courses required to get a hunting license. I've only had the chance to look at NY and PA, but would think other states have had the same results.

There are many people on this site with many years hunting experience. So, in your opinion, do you think rifles are any more dangerous than slugs and why? I feel you will see no difference and maybe even a drop in hunting accidents if anything. Thank you.

I do some of my hunting in Montgomery county NY, Until two years ago it was a slug only area. When much of eastern NYS changed from slug to rifle I didn't see much of a difference (except that finding a used rifle in a gunshop got a lot harder). I think that with two years to go by one can say that the switch to rifles certainly wasn't the claimity some predicted. In fact if my recolections are correct I think its gotten safer and safer to hunt in NYS during my lifetime.

If I wanted to develop evidence supporting allowing rifles I would look carfully at the accident statistics in the areas that changed over to rifle two years ago. I expect that one could put together a pretty good presentation based upon that data.

good luck

It's been shown in the the areas that switched to rifle in NY no more accidents than slug,actually less I believe.It's the operator of the firearm,not the firearm that causes the hazzard.I also believe Steuben County rual enough that it shouldn't even be a queation.Welcome to the Campfire glad to have you here. I hunted Steuben county for many years,around Addison.

Parts of Wisconsin are the same - shotguns only durring gun deer season. Personaly, I think they suck for deer. No range and inaccuracy as you say. The state wants hunters to take quick and humane killing shots. My rifles will do 1 MOA if I do my part. My shotgun with slugs?? - At times, I can't even hit a paper plate at 50 yards. I refuse to hunt deer with it.

You'd think there would be exceptions for folks who hunt their own land, or hunt from elevated stands ie shooting down toward the ground. But, these laws are one size fits all. In the shotgun only deer zones here, while the season is open, you can't even possess an uncased rifle.

There are slug gun avalible that are very accurate,If you can't hit a plate at 50 yards you need to find a different slug or new gun.Mine is capable of 3" 5 shot group at 200 yds

There is more than a little stupidity involved with the shotguns only deer hunting DMU's. Consider this: during the summer we can hunt varmints with rifles in the very same territory. Hell, you can hunt coyotes in these areas AFTER deer season closes. Look to find instances where a bullet from any hunting rifle did damage to a residence ot outbuilding in any zone in the state. I suspect there are not many if any at all-at least accidental anyways.

At night!

Yep, that is true. But since I prefer to hunt with rifles in the rifle zones, it has made it easy to skip shopping for a rifled slug barrel.

People have this crazy notion that if they allowed rifles then everyone would have holes in their houses. I don't think rifles are more dangerous than slug guns. It's the shooter who's the problem not the gun or load. I'm in nearly the same boat as you.I hunted my entire deer hunting life in the Southern Catskills, last year I was finally able to hunt with a rifle though. They changed the laws in many of the lower eastern NY counties
. It's like taking candy from a baby compared to slug guns. I also noticed ALOT more hunters in the woods as a result. Also since they went from Monday opener to Saturday opener the woods got flooded with hunters. Truth be told I hate that. I prefer the Monday opener. I don't like the woods flooded with inexperienced hunters that shoot at sounds or that unload their gun into the air when they see brown. Those are the jerks that prevent the rest of the counties from going to rifle. A few bad apples spoil it for us all. The only thing the DEC wants is to sell more licenses. They could care less if we get our deer and they certainly could care less to make it easier for us by allowing rifles everywhere. I am very bitter at being forced to use a slug gun all these years, it has cost me more than a few trophies that I could have dropped with any rifle. There are 3 ways most hunting accidents happen 1. Hunter falls out of tree. 2. Hunter gets killed because partner tripped and blew him away cause his gun was loaded and no safety.3.Hunter hears a sound and shoots at the sound killing one of his buddies or relatives on the other side of the bush . Now does it matter if he had a rifle or shotgun in any of those instances.NO IT DOES NOT!! Dead is dead slug or bullet and none of those instances involve distance.

Gotcha

Thats why I like it in my area,deer live and get a chance to reach maturity

My son lives in NC. Some places you pay to hunt require the use of elevated stands so shots are fired at a downward angle for safety.

My son lives in NC. Some places you pay to hunt require the use of elevated stands so shots are fired at a downward angle for safety.

Thank you for the replies. Those are my thoughts exactly! It's the operator, not the gun and hunter safety courses seem to be helping. There's a meeting at the Steuben County courthouse in Bath, NY on March 6th at 10am to discuss this. I think there's enough interest to have this pass, but I would like to be able to back up my opinion when a I do encounter a person opposed to this. Slug guns are getting more accurate and there's always inline muzzeloaders, but it's nice to have the choice.

I'm going to try to get information from the DEC in Avon about hunting accidents by county. Hopefully I can put together enough information to have an informed opinion on this. Pennsylvania puts all this information on their website. They have twice as many hunters and about the same number of accidents. They also break it down even farther, it's kinda interesting.


dvdegeorge,
The area I hunt borders Addison in Lindley. We are only a few miles from the town of Addison. You're definitely right, it's more than rural enough. Most of Steuben County is the same.

That was going to be my point. With the new slugs and rifled barrels, slug guns are now nothing more than a rifle with a plastic case instead of brass.

I wouldn't go quite that far,but point taken

Expensive,hard kicking, very tough for youngsters and the ladies.However, I think the worst thing about the typical slug load is that they ricochet VERY badly and show me some pee wit that will be unsafe with a rifle and they'll be even more dangerous with the shotgun because in their little brain its " Eureka! Shorter range means its safer to take those skyline shots or shots toward the road or house etc.I've seen it here in the shotgun areas in Pa.BVAD idea...

Wow, I grew up a couple counties north of you. We killed a lot of deer, and at ranges out to 200 yards, with nothing but open-sighted Ithaca Deerslayers. I can hunt with a rifle anytime I want to now, and still sometimes pull out the slug gun for old time's sake. My freezer is still pretty full...

Let's see about Ithacas...lightweight, point well, accurate even with "Foster" slugs, big holes in both sides of the deer without bloodshot meat, keeps the emphasis on hunting rather than shooting...

I'm not sure you're really gaining much by the changeover to rifles, except that I believe in one's freedom to choose. For that reason, I would try to get the law changed, as I thought they did in Cattaragus County last year. As for more effective hunting, that is doubtful IMO.

I agree that shotguns are probably no safer than rifles. You could even make an argument that the greater precision of a rifle should increase safety. Hunter safety classes and general good gun handling habits are the keys to increased safety.
That said, I enjoy my slug barrel. I frequently take it as my "spare" rifle instead of my Remington 14 .35 Rem. which is my more usual spare. They have about the same accuracy, and the 12 ga. slug is sort of a poor mans big bore rifle. So, I like slugs just don't make them mandatory.

What I don't get here in Michigan, is you can use a pistol to hunt deer, But not rifle even if it is chambered in a pistol caliber. So I can hunt with a 500 S&W revolver, but not a Ruger 77-44 go figure!!!!