Newbie hunter

[Guest grays]

So I got into hunting this year and gone a couple of times on a friends farm property with a rifle. Today after church I decided to go over to my papaws and check out his land. I found some rubs and stratching on the ground. The problem / question is I don't have a great backstop since its on a ridge top I have heard of people using a shotgun for deer hunt but have no idea about slugs / chokes any of that stuff Any advice would be appreciated

I have a benilli nova pump 12 gauge thanks

[mike243]

Well I prefer to hunt looking down the ridge as opposed to looking up when possible.trees make a fine back stop as long as they are big enuf and  thick. slugs can be shot in any shotgun barrel but improved seems to be what they recommend. stay away from saboted loads as they are made for rifled barrels. shoot it at 50 & 100y to ck accuracy .good luck and keep the shoots under 150y as its got a rainbow trajectory and takes some practice to hit consistently past 100y  

[peejman]

Well I prefer to hunt looking down the ridge as opposed to looking up when possible.trees make a fine back stop as long as they are big enuf and  thick. slugs can be shot in any shotgun barrel but improved seems to be what they recommend. stay away from saboted loads as they are made for rifled barrels. shoot it at 50 & 100y to ck accuracy .good luck and keep the shoots under 150y as its got a rainbow trajectory and takes some practice to hit consistently past 100y  

 

 

No, a stand of trees does NOT make an adequate back stop.  I had bullets bounce off my house and my neighbor's house that were fired into a large brush pile about 1/4 mile away.  Dirt makes a good back stop. 

 

I find the hunting guide somewhat confusing with regard to shotguns.  It says you can't use No. 4 or smaller shot, but doesn't say either way on bigger shot.  You can use slugs.   

 

http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/huntguide.pdf 

[Omega]

So I got into hunting this year and gone a couple of times on a friends farm property with a rifle. Today after church I decided to go over to my papaws and check out his land. I found some rubs and stratching on the ground. The problem / question is I don't have a great backstop since its on a ridge top I have heard of people using a shotgun for deer hunt but have no idea about slugs / chokes any of that stuff Any advice would be appreciated

I have a benilli nova pump 12 gauge thanks

Are you stalking or using a stand?  I find that in areas that have no clear backstop its a good idea to use black powder rifles or shotguns with slugs, but the best is to shoot from an elevated position so you will be firing in a downward angle into the dirt.  If you use black powder, make sure you have the distance beyond the target, at least a couple of hundred yards.  They have less range than centerfire but can still reach out, so if you don't have that then stick with the shotgun.