Buckshot, legal or not?

[Iglow]

Safety concerns don't hold water, high powered rifles can kill a mile or more away with chancy shooting. Buckshot would be the safest of projectiles from any gun. As for illegal deer dogging, who is gonna worry about buckshot laws but still go to the trouble of keeping dogs? Nobody. Anybody that has deer dogs ain't gonna be prevented from using them by buckshot laws. I can't think of anywhere in this state you could get away with dogging deer for long without getting caught right off or having the dogs shot across property lines or killed on the road. Maybe in bear counties in the east but I would think they wouldn't waste their time on illegal deer and chance losing their dogs. It seems the Twra would recognize that buckshot would be perfect for a lot of the short range suburban deer hunting that goes on these days but what do I know.

 

[Rancocas]

Buckshot when used properly is a great option. I personally prefer #4 buck. Wish I could use it for coyote and deer here.

I grew up in New Jersey where only buckshot was allowed for deer hunting. Now, I'm told that muzzleloaders are legal there too.
Within its limited range OO buckshot is devastating. I have taken several deer with it, at ranges no more than 30 yards, and they dropped in their tracks.
However - Long ago my Dad saw a group of three deer at about 75 yards. Two does and a buck. The buck was in the middle. Dad shot at the buck, but the last doe dropped. One buckshot pellet had hit her in the head. The buck and the other doe ran off. The shot spread that much in just 75 yards.
My uncle shot at a buck in a thick southern New Jersey cedar swamp. The deer disappeared. When he went to check for signs of a hit, he heard moaning. Checking, he found a man further beyond where the deer had been. One buckshot pellet had struck the guy in the neck. My uncle carried him out of the woods and to a hospital. Uncle Frank lost his hunting license in New Jersey for 5 years because of that.
Having been a law enforcement officer and police firearms instructor for many years, we used 12 ga. shotguns on our raids. We tested both OO and #4 buckshot for penetration and spread at different ranges. We found the #4 buck inadequate for our purposes. Sometimes at only 30 yards it would not fully penetrate a heavy winter coat. I think #4 buck would be great for coyotes at close range, though.

 

[TheLBLman]

Buckshot would be the safest of projectiles from any gun.

Very untrue.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I too wish we could use it in TN. In pine plantations, cutovers, and thickets where the longest shot is 30 yds and a single projectile is easily deflected, OO thru a modified or even cylinder choke is absolutely terminal. I killed truckloads of deer as a kid/young man with buckshot…drt.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Safety related regulations need to make sense and not have outs if they do make sense. In the case of buckshot, there is a out for its use in TN. You can use buckshot hog hunting on landowner permits but it isn't safe for deer on those same lands

 

[Boll Weevil]

^This. Exactly.

 

[Omega]

I don't like buckshot for deer, wastes too much meat. I don't care that someone does use it if it's legal and they want to, but for me I avoid slugs and buckshot if at all possible. For home defense, most certainly, for large game, not so much. There are a few military bases that mandate shotgun only, some slug only and others allow buckshot, never liked it, used it, but never liked it.

 

[scn]

Safety related regulations need to make sense and not have outs if they do make sense. In the case of buckshot, there is a out for its use in TN. You can use buckshot hog hunting on landowner permits but it isn't safe for deer on those same lands

It isn't hog hunting. It is hog eradication that doesn't require the legal ammunition.

The eradication permits also allow a host of other things that are illegal in sport hunting.

 

[TheLBLman]

The eradication permits also allow a host of other things that are illegal in sport hunting.

Yes, even spotlighting at night for pigs is a legal eradication tactic?

 

[PickettSFHunter]

It isn't hog hunting. It is hog eradication that doesn't require the legal ammunition.

The eradication permits also allow a host of other things that are illegal in sport hunting.

Well everyone that does it calls it hunting, I assure you that.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Yes, even spotlighting at night for pigs is a legal eradication tactic?

Yes. Most use night vision though. I'm just getting in from a night of hog hunting…err eradication

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Bottom line is, I can go out on November 20 with buckshot and hunt err eradicate hogs on a given tract. If I were to shoot a hog, it's legal. If I shoot a deer on November 20 with buckshot on that tract, it's illegal. If I use a rifle for the deer, it's legal. As a Certified Safety Professional, that makes zero sense

 

[Iglow]

I guess all the came up cause I was watching Capt Buster and Wade just waylaying deer with buckshot on Bubba Roundtree Outdoors over at South Carolina and got to wondering why every other Southern state allows it but we don't.

 

[Benelli 4 Life]

It was legal in Bledsoe County for a long time too

 

[Farm manager]

You won't find this from TWRA but….. buckshot is in fact legal in one county that I know of in Tennessee for deer hunting. Counties can circumvent the TWRA through Private Acts, Cumberland County did just that.

I was visiting legislature to show support for a snaring regulation change several years ago. The Wildlife committee passed a ruling, that session, that prohibits the use of buckshot and overrides private acts statewide. I suspect that it passed the full legislature but didn't follow up. I scolded the TWF rep who was with us for not making the sportsmen of TN aware of the changes.

 

[Farm manager]

At one time, many years ago, buckshot was thought to be more apt to wound deer. I heard that from the deer project coordinator. He had an experience of shooting some buckshot that had been wet or was ancient and the shot just barely cleared the barrel.

 

[timberjack86]

I used to read on Tn Deer it was because of wounded deer. Shot my 1st deer with Buckshot in La. Legal there because the swamps are so thick . I know plenty of deer survive Buckshot and plenty you better have a good dog to track. Cataulla Curs take down and finish off wounded Deer there . Not sure about current laws but mid 80s it was. Not a fan.
If it is not listed as Legal Means of take its not legal. A knife is not legal.A club is not legal.
https://www.eregulations.com/tennessee/hunting/manner-means/

Plenty of deer wounded by arrows, also plenty of turkey wounded by tss. We as hunters should know our limitations before we squeeze the release or pull the trigger.

 

[timberjack86]

I grew up in New Jersey where only buckshot was allowed for deer hunting. Now, I'm told that muzzleloaders are legal there too.
Within its limited range OO buckshot is devastating. I have taken several deer with it, at ranges no more than 30 yards, and they dropped in their tracks.
However - Long ago my Dad saw a group of three deer at about 75 yards. Two does and a buck. The buck was in the middle. Dad shot at the buck, but the last doe dropped. One buckshot pellet had hit her in the head. The buck and the other doe ran off. The shot spread that much in just 75 yards.
My uncle shot at a buck in a thick southern New Jersey cedar swamp. The deer disappeared. When he went to check for signs of a hit, he heard moaning. Checking, he found a man further beyond where the deer had been. One buckshot pellet had struck the guy in the neck. My uncle carried him out of the woods and to a hospital. Uncle Frank lost his hunting license in New Jersey for 5 years because of that.
Having been a law enforcement officer and police firearms instructor for many years, we used 12 ga. shotguns on our raids. We tested both OO and #4 buckshot for penetration and spread at different ranges. We found the #4 buck inadequate for our purposes. Sometimes at only 30 yards it would not fully penetrate a heavy winter coat. I think #4 buck would be great for coyotes at close range, though.

Hence the knowing your limitations, No one should every take a shot at 75 yards with buckshot! Sorry to hear about the man that got shot.

 

[Rancocas]

Hence the knowing your limitations, No one should every take a shot at 75 yards with buckshot! Sorry to hear about the man that got shot.

Oh, all that happened back in the early 1960's. We were using paper shotshells back then, too. 2 3/4 inch with 9 double O buckshot pellets.
My Uncle Frank was the real backwoodsman. He never saw that guy before the shot, but lost his license anyway. So, he crossed the Delaware River and began legally hunting in Pennsylvania. He often took me with him.
Dad was a casual hunter but a dedicated fisherman.
Anyway, I think OO buck is fine for deer, but only within its limitations. I would not use it beyond 30 yards.

BTW Timberjack, you look a lot like the insurance claims adjuster that came to assess the storm damage to my barn. He said he lived in Polk Co. I don't remember his name.

 

[Antler Daddy]

Buckshot doesn't seem very sporting to me. I think most people would exceed its lethal yardage. I really don't want 9 pellets spraying towards me.

Even where legal, I doubt it's used much outside of deer dog drives.

My .02.