Shotgun deer hunting

[Hungryman]

For the deer season opener I will be in northern Minnesota until the first Tuesday. I've never hunted with a shotgun before and depending on my luck up north, I would like to keep hunting the north Metro (Carlos Avery WMA). I currently have a 12 ga Benelli Nova pump, so my question is, what needs to be done to my shotgun so that I can use it for slugs? I don't want to put to much $$$ into it like a new barrel. Is there a different choke to put in it? It already has a modified choke in it.

Thoughts?

[ac777]

Use the same barrel put an improved cylinder choke in, or if you have a cylinder choke that would work too. Buy a few different varieties of slugs and find out which one shoots best in your gun. Just don't buy Sabots though, those are for rifled barrels. You should b accurate at least up to 50 yards if not more, but that's where I would start the sighting in from. Have fun hunting

[fr0sty]

Smooth barrel? I have a super nova with a smooth barrel. I shoot federal truball slugs out of it. I emailed federal to ask which choke works best. They said to use a modified choke. They shoot great out to 50 yards, which is what I practice at.

They cost about $4 to $5 per box.

[Steve Foss]

Ditto what others have said. Fifty yards over the sights on a ribbed barrel is about what you can count on. When I was doing it, I thought in terms of bowhunting when setting up around trails to make sure I'd be close enough. Also, a 2 3/4 slug with a light load will have a ton of knockdown power at that range and will be significantly more accurate than 3-inch mag slug loads. Kicks less, too.

[walleye101]

I grew up shooting deer in Southern MN with slugs. Moved north 15 years ago but still use my old 1100 rem on deer up here. I've had guys see my shotgun and try to loan me a deer rifle like I'm some sort of hardship case. Fact is I prefer the shotgun/slug.

As Steve said, the slug has a ton of knockdown power. A different thread went on and on about who has rights to a wounded deer that runs off to be shot by another hunter. I thought of posting about using a slug gun, problem solved, but figured I'd come off like a smart @$$.

Actually my own 10 acre woods is adjacent to 30 acres owned by a serious anti-hunting neighbor. Excellent deer habitat and 3/4 refuge. But I don't need the hassel of poking a hole in a whitetail and having it run over there to die.

[Chef]

I used to shoot the brennike slugs accurate to about 100 yrds. out of my old Mod. choke BPS. They spin when they come out of the barrel and fly more true--at least for me they did.

[Tom7227]

If you can you should buy three or four different brands of slugs and using a bench and some sand bags test them out and see what works best in your gun. you won't know until you try this and the differencs can be significant.