Is a .410 Shotgun Effective for Deer Hunting?

[skfullgun]

There was that time, many years ago, probably back in the 1970s', I took down a rabid 14 point buck, at 200 yards, with my custom built famous gunsmithed H&R 410 shotgun, with a Zeiss 6 to 24 power scope on it, using some Super Duper Game Getter slugs.

One shot! Through the tailpipe of the deer! And that rabid deer never even knew what hit him. Dropped him on the spot, field dressed, processed and wrapped and all I had to haul out of the woods was 250 pounds of venison!

True story folks. Happened many years ago on our East Texas family plantation. When I got home, Daddy started up the pit for a family BBQ, and StepMommy started frying up venison steaks for the hundreds of people that showed up for the family shindig. My Daddy and all my uncles got right toasty on all the corn liquor that Daddy made in his still out in the barn too!

Y'all just ain't any kind of hunters if you can't take down a deer with a 410! Y'all need to leave this deer hunting to us country boys and stay in them cities with your big guns. Country ain't no place for city folk, I tell ya.

That boy sure can spin a yarn!

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Is there a special permit required to kill 25+ deer in a year, or how is this done?
Is it for culling purposes?

 

[Hoji]

Is there a special permit required to kill 25+ deer in a year, or how is this done?
Is it for culling purposes?

MLDP was how I was killing 100+ a year

 

[ZX9RCAM]

Ah, so it was for culling purposes.

 

[Hoji]

Ah, so it was for culling purposes.

More like eradication

 

[satx78247]

Is there a special permit required to kill 25+ deer in a year, or how is this done?
Is it for culling purposes?

ZX9RCAM,

In Northern VA (and perhaps in other places) & especially in the chartered City of Richmond, there are so many deer that they "strip the parks & urban/suburban private property of everything edible".
(I know of ONE area in Alexandria that has about 300 WT per SQUARE MILE.)

The VWPD & some cities/counties issue DEPREDATION PERMITS that have NO "bag limit" to archers/crossbow hunters.
(SOMETIMES, IF there are NOT enough archery/crossbow hunters available, a FEW jurisdictions have issued SHOTGUN ONLY permits for the parks, with the requirement that shooting is ONLY from elevated stands with #1 Buck or smaller shot.)

Fwiw, I've been "back home in God's Country" since FEB 2011 but I still get requests from 2 cities & some counties to get my Depredation Permit REISSUED.
(Even with an "aggressive program" of "culling the excess", keeping the population of WT down to "a manageable level" is NOT easy.)

yours, satx

 

[jrbfishn]

Ah, so it was for culling purposes.

More like eradication

I used to talk to several ranchers in the area that collectively had 200 or more Management tags. Trouble is, they wanted someone that would pay them to use them.
I even offered to buy them ammo of their choice and they could let someone they trusted to shoot them and bring them meat back. Nope.
Oh well.


Sent by an idjit coffeeholic from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[hornetguy]

Aren't 410 slugs 1/5 oz? That calculates out to about 87.5 gr, if my third grade math is correct. That's a little less weight than a .380 bullet, and a slightly larger diameter. Granted, it is moving faster, but I don't think that would make a lot of difference.
Personally, if it was all I had, and I could get within about 20 yards, I might try it.
Again, personally, you should save them for the jackrabbits, and no, I've never shot a deer with a 410.

 

[gll]

Aren't 410 slugs 1/5 oz? That calculates out to about 87.5 gr, if my third grade math is correct. That's a little less weight than a .380 bullet, and a slightly larger diameter. Granted, it is moving faster, but I don't think that would make a lot of difference.
Personally, if it was all I had, and I could get within about 20 yards, I might try it.
Again, personally, you should save them for the jackrabbits, and no, I've never shot a deer with a 410.

This seemed to me more like a could ya, rather than a would ya, question from the beginning, so...

More like 110 grains if 1/4 ounce, which would make the ballistics 9mm like... I've killed 2 hogs cleanly, recently, with 115gr FMJ 9mm at ~50 yds. Don't deer go down easier than hogs?

TEST:.410 slug vs.9x19mm,etc...

Some time ago I took a bunch of books and catalogues to the range and tested penetration for several different calibers/styles/barrel lengths. Now, before you get started, I never claimed any of this was terribly scientific or exact. This is just Yours Truly ballparking some quantities...

www.gunrightsmedia.com

 

[oldag]

I would not use a .410 for deer, but then I also wouldn't use some of the tiny rounds some folks use either.

 

[Axxe55]

That boy sure can spin a yarn!

I can spin yarns just as good as some others can! Difference is, I don't try to lead others to believe mine are the truth!

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

I would not use a .410 for deer, but then I also wouldn't use some of the tiny rounds some folks use either.

Tiny rounds? 5.56 is a tiny round! I'm not a deer hunter and no inclination to shoot any more than the 1 I killed in '79. I've used a 410 for turkey and quail, but that's it. Not a good deer choice for sure! The question is effective enough? Sure depending on the load and distance as any firearm would be!

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

That's like seeing ultimate hog hunter ammo. Advertising, advertising and more advertising? Put enough out the to get people to believe it, so it must be true? Ferrel hogs are plentiful where I live and downed may with 22wm and 5.56.

 

[TEXAS "All or nothing"]

I'm sure the American Indians killed countless without a compound bow also and no buffalo gun on those massive animals.

 

[Jreed6741]

With proper shot placement, a . 410 shotgun will have no problem bringing down a deer, especially when the animal is within a reasonable range. Many hunters have killed good-sized deer with a . ... Shot placement is especially important when hunting with a smaller bore shotgun

 

[Coyote9]

What are your thoughts on a .410 for deer hunting? Leave a comment below!

No and likely illegal.

 

[mongoose]

I'm sure the American Indians killed countless without a compound bow also and no buffalo gun on those massive animals.

And how many Buffs were maimed and crippled by the American Indian using primitive weapons. With today’s modern weapons there is no excuse for an unethical kill or maiming.

 

[Wolfwood]

With proper shot placement, a . 410 shotgun will have no problem bringing down a deer, especially when the animal is within a reasonable range. Many hunters have killed good-sized deer with a . ... Shot placement is especially important when hunting with a smaller bore shotgun

After watching the dude kill a bear with a blow gun I'm gonna have to agree.

Most guys are not proficient enough. The most experienced firearm hunters I know stick with a 30 caliber corelokt.

 

[satx78247]

I'm sure the American Indians killed countless without a compound bow also and no buffalo gun on those massive animals.

Texas All or nothing,

YES, our Amer-Indian ancestors killed a great many buffalo/bison without compound bows or what "modern people" would call "suitable firearms" (By the early 1820s there was a lot of BROWN BESS & other "military surplus" flintlock muskets in Indian hands & the smooth-bore ,72 caliber musket was well-liked as it was CHEAP, easily reloaded from horseback & at the close range where it was used VERY effective against game animals & human enemies.) BUT in the vast majority of cases such hunting was from the back of a running "buffalo pony" & from VERY CLOSE RANGE.
(The buffalo hunt in the movie DANCES WITH WOLVES is quite accurate as to the method/range where Plains Indians hunted/shot buffalo in the early-mid 19th Century. = Often the range from hunter to target was measured in FEET rather than yards. - Either an arrow, a lance or a ,72 caliber round ball, fired into the heart/lungs/liver of a buffalo, was effective at that close range.)

yours, satx
member, Pamunkey Nation

 

[satx78247]

And how many Buffs were maimed and crippled by the American Indian using primitive weapons. With today’s modern weapons there is no excuse for an unethical kill or maiming.

mongoose,

I won't bore everyone by repeating the same info here but you should read post #39. - NO, at the VERY CLOSE RANGE where most Plains Indian hunters hunted/killed buffalo from horseback there were NOT many animals wounded/maimed but not quickly/efficiently killed.
(Despite what "Injun-HATERS" say, our A-I ancestors were NOT "blood-thirsty red savages".)

yours, satx
Pamunkey Nation