Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game For those who are living in non-rifle zones. What do you use?

Just curious as to what is your favorite or most effective fodder for those of you who live in "shotgun" or "non-rifle" zones? I live just on the good side of the line here in Michigan and there is always rumblings of moving the line farther north. I have shot deer before with a 12ga rifled slug and it has dispatched them quite quickly and effectively. Just wondering what has been the best stuff for those of you that can't use a rifle.

I'd use my ML way before I'd ever go to a shotgun. There would be a major uproar if they ever tried to move the line this far north though.

I'm thinking I would do the same. Either the .50 cal Hawken or just stick with the recurve for the two weeks. Before that would happen I would just head back to the U.P. and hunt with my dad. I doubt the line would make it across the bridge.

I am stuck here, about 30-40 miles below the line.
Having moved here from CO, I have had to rethink my non-rifle battery. After 3 seasons here I think I have it covered.

I hate slug guns and they have more or less given me fits (save a few) but we drive/push a few times during the year in MI and IL so multiple shots can be helpful. So picked up a Moss 500 rifled/cantilevered 12ga (LBA, 3lb trigger) and it shoots well enough for 125 or so yards with SSTs and Win DualBonds.

If on a stand or overlooking a field in a blind I prefer ML. Used TC Encore in 2011 for a 246yd doe kill and 2012 saw a 220yd 6pt grounded (TC Impact). Both ML's used BH209. I have now moved to a smokeless Savage ML 10, will use BH209 in MI and "Lil' Gun" in IL. I definitely prefer ML over slugs.

In 2010 I ran a H&R sidekick ML and it did alright on a doe at 30 yards w/ XS ghost ring sights.

I also have a S&W 629 6.5" 44Mag w/ 2x Leupold for kicks. Dropped a doe this year around 40 yards.

I miss using a rifle here, but ya make do!

Out of curiosity, is the push to move the line from anti-hunters or is there some justification for it, like rifle accidents?

Not really. The line was established I believe over fifty years ago and it was based on population density at the time. Needless to say things have grown in the past fifty years and there has been some studies done but nothing ever came of it. It's kind of funny though I'll have to admit. I live in a subdivision of 40+ homes and walk down my drive with my '06 over my shoulder, cross the road and go deer hunting on a private 120 acres. The area is fairly populated and I hunt out of a tree stand so the bullet lodges firmly in the ground after the shot. I have seen little to no increase in hunting accidents and in fact I believe they have gone down as far as accidental shootings but falling out of trees has gone up.

I like my crossbow a bunch. Easy to shoot, quiet, accurate, and deadly. What's not to like?

I have talked to guys in PA who use slug guns with scopes and
they love them.

I grew up in OH and always hunted slug gun, muzzy, or hand gun.

I was one of them.

My first decade (or more) of deer hunting was done with a scoped Ithaca Deerslayer.

This was way back when you had to have somebody drill and tap a shotgun, as nobody scoped them back in the '70s.

In typical PA deer woods, I never felt handicapped with slugs, and killed many-a-deer over the years with that Deerslayer.

Mine's a Mossberg 9200 with a cantilevered bbl and Leupold 4X. For the hunting I do in IN it has been quite sufficient since my longest shot has been 65yds. Mine likes a variety of sabotted slugs, but I've been using Lightfields the past few years.

Remington 11-87 Slug gun with a Leupold VX3 2.5x8x36!

I was surprised the other day how accurate a 870 LE magnum was with rifled slugs. I had to put down a wounded doe that was standing roughly fifty yards out in a field off the road. She had been bumped by a car and was obviously sick. Given the set up, a 870 pump vent rib and a bead with rifled slugs I didn't expect it to be a one shot deal. However the slug flew true and hit her right where I was aiming, dead solid in the shoulder taking her down and out immediately. I know she was already compromised but I was impressed that at fifty yards the old pumpkin ball rifled slug hit dead on where I was aiming. Not that I'm giving up the old '06 but I think with a cantilever scope mount one could manage fairly well if need be.

round river rock and a blue suade tennis shoe tongue.

muzzleloader

I made the switch from shotgun slugs to a muzzleloader here in Iowa and am very glad I did. Better accuracy would be my number 1 reason.


ddj

I moved all my hunting from Ohio (shotgun only) to Kentucky (anything goes) in 2001. I really loved the change, but I still try to bring out the Rem 1100 and the 2 3/4 sluggers for at least one morning trudge. At short range, say inside 50 yards, the combination cannot be beat.

What irks me about shotgun slugs is that it often takes a substantial effort to get from 50 to 100 yards and 200 yards can be a real chore. One lot of slugs will work another won't. One slug works in this gun, but not that one. The slugs are expensive and the recoil is usually substantial. I was lucky. Back in 1985 I got my 1100 and put a rifle-sighted deer slug barrel on it, and fired some Remmie Sluggers through it, and got them all touching on a pie plate at 50 yards. I never went looking farther, at least for that gun.

In 1996 I got a Mossberg 500 with a rifled slug barrel. The 500 was a scratch-n-dent at Dicks. The barrel was mismarked at Walmart. I put some Brenneke 2 3/4 slugs through it and got them all through the same hole at 50 yards. Again, I never tried to do much else after that.

I use a truck......to drive myself to a rifle zone.

Around my house and the neighborhood, (10) acre parcels. I use my bow. Quiet, no fuss, and no one needs to know.

IM a handgun Guy. 44 with a 6" bbl. Scoped with a Burris 2-7. I feel comfortable out to about 150 yards with a good rest. If you need to shoot farther than that my rig isn't the answer. I suppose the 460 sw could extend that a bit.