first year of deer hunting

[broken_line]

so this will be my first year of slug hunting. do i need sights on my 870? what would be the farthest i should shoot? and neep help on feild dressing.. thanks!

[picksbigwagon]

wow, where to start.........

You need to get familiar with your 870 and the way it shoots slugs. I would use the improved choke and try a couple different brands of smooth bore (rifled) slugs. Do not shoot the expensive sabot slugs. My buddy uses the winchester 3" slugs in his smoothbore (bird barrel). Another friend really likes the federal tru-ball slugs. Try a couple different brands and see what shoots best.

sights: my friend uses the magnetic turkey sights on his slug gun and is pretty accurate with them out to 100 yards, but he has put in a lot, A LOT of time sighting his in. My other friend uses the bead on the front of his bird barrel and knows how far to aim off to make the slug go where it is supposed to go. but he limits his shots to under 50 yards.

you can look online on how to field dress as well. If you have ever gutted a trout, it is kind of familiar, but I would read up as much as possible on how to do this and maybe hunt with someone who has done it a few times before. You tube would have vidoes on this process I am sure, but I would watch a couple of them to make sure you have a good idea what to do. A super sharp knife is necessary....

read the deer hunting rules every night so you know what to do and what you need to take along with you and how and where to tag your deer.

Others will pipe in here, but starting here is a good first step

[ribsey_77]

make sure you pattern your gun. what type of cover are hunting. remember standing still/walking is different that running. its tough to tell you how to dress a deer on here try to watch a video on-line i would think there should be one somewhere. distance depends on your confidenance at the range. i used an 870 for years with just the plain 28" barrel took deer at 75 yards no prob. never need to take a longer shot. good rest your choice shoot straight good luck

[96trigger]

sight in the the gun, get confident out to 40 yards, and hope for shots closer than that. 15years ago, the majority of people were using thier bird barrels and beads to shoot foster slugs. Try the Federal true balls, the brennekes, winchesters, and Remiingtons. One of them should shoot well out of your gun. Also, do NOT have the full choke in when you shoot slugs, you should really use the IC or mod. If you can get 5 shots in a pie plate at 50 yards, you are doing very well. If not move closer and find what your range limit is.

[heat checker]

Just use the bead and figure out how high or low at various distances. Should be able to smack the end of 6x6 at 100 yds pretty regular once thats figured out. I have better luck shooting the cheap slugs than the more expensive ones. Field dressing- Start with deers head on an incline(for drainage), slit belly SKIN from enderneath(blade up), cut down to pelvis(natural musle separation between hams), split pelvis(old knife smacked by rock or a small hatchet works) DO NOT CUT INTESTINE. From there, I go to work on the other end, splitting ribs to the bottom of throat, start cutting the membranes holding the vitals from ribcage and roll them out as you go. Most important- DO NOT PUNCTURE URINE SAC OR INTESTINES. When starting the first cut(belly skin), grab skin and pull away from body .

[bottom-bouncer]

do not gut your deer in this manner do not!!!! it is not necessary to break the pelvis just stick a finger in the rectum and pull it inside out and then cut around the out tissue if this seeme difacult the sell a little tool called the but out works wonders, second do not open the deer up all the way to its throat cutting from the bottom of the ribs down toward the pelvis is plenty cut around the diaphram reach up in the body and cut the wind pipe. you do not want to open the deer up anymore than you have to all your doing is creating a bigger hole to let in bacteria when you are dragging it out of the woods second you should avoid cutting any organs but if you do no big deal just rinse out the body cavity as soon as you can.

[LOTWSvirgin]

Bom bouncer is right thats the best way to do it

[picksbigwagon]

I second the butt out tool, it works really well, and a hagens bone saw will make quick work of the pelvis and rib cage too

[Finlander]

I have shot my 870 many years and found the Remington Slugger 3" 1 ounce shoots the best. That has a 1,700fps. Heavier slugs

(1 1/4 ounce) don't shoot as good and they make you flinch more.

I use the improve cylinder choke.

I used to use just the front bead only that worked good for shorter distances, but then I went to a side reciever mount that I put a 4X shotgun scope and now am accurate to 100 yards.

Good Luck!

[heat checker]

Number one priority in gutting an animal is cool down of the carcass. Bacteria will double every 20 min in ideal temps.Guessing the inside of a deer qualifies at live body temp. To me, this means open it up as far as possible for optimum cooling. To each his own I guess. Sounds like there is a more "advanced" method of removing the anus than the one I use. The butt out or finger method sounds alright. Brings up a question though as I've never tried them- what happens to the portion of intestine that is still connected to the stomach organs, does it pass back through the pelvis into cavity?

[96trigger]

Quote:

Brings up a question though as I've never tried them- what happens to the portion of intestine that is still connected to the stomach organs, does it pass back through the pelvis into cavity?

Yes.

[heat checker]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of trying to get intestine out in one piece- there by avoiding contamination?

[slabchaser]

these guys have given you a lot of good information. I would recomend not taking a shot over 50-60 yards unless you had a lot of time to practice.

[birdsbucksnbass]

I would just add one thing to what is already said. Because a slug is relatively slow going down the barrel and because of the length of the bird barrel, you will have to pay attention to the way you hold the gun. The gun start to recoil before the slug leaves the barrel. So you should hold your gun in practice the same way you will when you hunt. For me this is usually with a hand firmly on the forarm to control muzzle jump. It is possible that if you switch positions you will miss high or low, so just make a mental note of what is most confortable and what will be best for your hunting style and stick to it. Good luck.

[BLACKJACK]

broken line, your max shooting distance should be the distance where you can put 3 slugs into a pie plate, whether thats 30 yards or 60 yards. You want a killing shot, not a wounded deer running around. Don't get in the habit of some guys that think because they can see it, they can shoot it, the slug has killing power out to xxx yards, thats how you end up with deer running around with shot off legs. Go for a killing shot. Also sighting in slug gun hurts, that recoil packs a punch, just remember when you're shooting at a deer you won't even feel the recoil.

When I gut a deer the first thing I do is cut around the rectum, pull it out a couple of inches, and tie it off with a piece of string. Then when I have most of the guts out, I can pull that string and colon out from the inside, no cutting of the intestine, no [PoorWordUsage] on the meat.

How does that Butt-out tool work?? Sounds to me like it would break the intestine/colon as you're pulling it out and would spill [PoorWordUsage] all over the inside of the deer!!?

[picksbigwagon]

blackjack, actually the buttout tool cuts the intestine from the inside out, right at the rectum, you then pull out 6-10 inches of intestine, tie it off and cut it from the tool. It works really slick, if you don't twist it too far. I have used it on 6 deer so far (last 2 years) and it is really slick.

the pointy parts on the tool cut the intestine as you pull the tool out.....

[96trigger]

I might have to get one. They are cheap and sound like they might even work.

[Finlander]

The Butt-Out tool is the best thing since sliced bread!

When you don't have to cut the pelvic bone it makes dressing the deer faster and easier!

Plus you don't have to spread the hind quarters out and ruin the meat there because you don't need to slice the skin off (the pelvic bone area) leaving it open to bacteria!

[picksbigwagon]

I still split the pelvis with my bone saw, the other essential tool that makes it out in the woods with me.....besides a sharp knife or two

[DooWap]

I shot my first deer with a smoothbore shotgun, it definitely does the job. However I like to approach it like archery hunting more than rifle hunting. Try and put yourself within 40 yards of the deer before taking the shot if you can. A smoothbore shotgun isn't an extremely accurate weapon (I think I'm probably more accurate with my bow!!) so you want to make sure you're not stretching out shots.

Next year you might want to look into investing in a rifled barrel, however your set up will do fine for this year as long as you shoot it properly.

[deets22]

i agree. if you plan on slug hunting more in the future a slug barrel would be a good investment. you can find one with rifle sights on it for about $150 or less.

the butt out tool sounds awesome. i usually just cut aroung the anus real well and then ensure that it can be pulled back through the pelvis. i dont pull it through until i roll the whole gut pile out to minimize contamination. it seems that just like there is more than one way to skin a cat there are alot more ways to pull the butt out of a deer.