I’ve noticed there are a few hunters here and I would like to ask a few questions. In the last month or so I’ve decided to purchase a gun and start hunting. My grandmother has 17 acres that I think would make good hunting land. It was clear cut about 10 years ago and is now mostly thick brush. Im in central alabama by the way. I think there would be plenty of rabbits and deer on the land. I decided I will probably buy a single shot 12 or 20 gauge shotgun. I plan to use slugs for hunting deer and and not sure which load would be best for rabbits or squirrels. I think a single shot will suit my purposes fine right now as i dont know how much ill get into hunting and i would like to keep the initial expenditures as low as possible. I took a hunters education class years ago and I’ve fired a few guns before so as far as safety I’m ok. I think a single shot shotgun would suit my purposes fine right now and offer enough versatility - the only limitation i could see now would be skeet shooting or certain types of bird hunting. Anyways, not so much questions…more of a discussion. I’d like to hear about your hunting stories or advice.
Hi Matt, you’re probably better off with a single shot or lever action .22 for rabbits and squirrels although if you’re going to run rabbits over dogs I like a nice high brass Pheasant load of #6 shot. In a shotgun I think a nice pump gun is a better deal than a single shot. You can hunt everything with one gun if you get a nice Remington with a 24 or 26 inch barrel. Ducks, doves, and quail are good eating and you can use the same gun for them also. Get an additional barrel and you can also shoot skeet, trap, and sporting clays all with the same gun. I would use a 24 or 26 for birds and a 30 incher for ducks and clay shooting, except for skeet, where the short barrel can help if you’re smooth.
Hello Matt, If you set on a single shot, may I suggest getting something like a Thompson/Center Encore Hit the play tab in the top center picture after the intro loads. With just the change of a barrel you could have a 12 or 20 gauge shotgun, 86 different centerfire calibers or blackpowder. It really is a complete gun if you set on a single shot. Also the Knight KP1. With just the change of a barrel you can shoot .50 slug for deer, 17 HMR or .223 for varmints, also .243, .273 or .30-06 centerfire for deer… As far as just a shotgun, my favorite all around shotgun is a Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag 12 gauge. It will shoot anything from a 2 3/4" shell all the way to a 3 1/2" shell. I use this shotgun with the standard 28" ported barrel for hunting dove, quail, chucker, grouse, pheasant, ducks, geese, turkey, rabbit, squirrel, and occasionally I hunt deer with it. I shoot trap & skeet with it as well. All you have to do is change the choke tube for various game. For deer you either use buckshot with the standard barrel or if you want to shoot slugs, get a rifled slug barrel. I use the 3 1/2" shells for turkey, ducks & geese where the extra range is great. If you hunt waterfowl, it is safe for steel shot.
Yeah those thompson/center guns are nice, but out of my price range. From what I’ve read, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you can shoot rifled slugs from a shotgun with a modified choke with out risking damage to the shotgun. I know this isnt the optimal solution or whatever but from what I under stand it will work. As far as accuracy I understand non rifled slugs (sabot?) are good for rifled barrels or chokes and rifled slugs are good for non rifled chokes? I don’t think i’ll be taking any shots over maybe 30 yards. so super accuracy isn’t that necessary. And I will shoot some before I go hunting to find out what my capabilities are with a particular gun/ammo combo. The land where i’d hunt has some water on it…a small pond, and a friend was telling me that all the new growth since the land was clear cut would make for a good spot for deer. He was saying something about the deer bedding in that type of land or something… You guys know whether that makes sense? Oh and another thing. Any recommendations as far as a good spot to sit - you know, should I go by the pond or should I go a couple months in advance and look for tracks or something - I know rabbits have little paths they follow - not sure about deer though. I won’t have a deer stand. Maybe in the future, if this season is enjoyable and I kill something, I might looking into building one. I just say that in case you have any advice for shooting from the ground. Here’s a link to a gun I’m looking at. Honestly, I know some guns are considered better than others, but I haven’t been able to find and negative reviews of any of the inexpensive single shot shotguns.Remingtom SPR100I may just visit my local pawn shops for something even cheaper used. Or I may visit the local Bass Pro Shop. Thanks Guys
Yes, thick areas are preferred by deer to bed down in, they feel safe but only if they have good exits. But you should be able to just walk around the area and find out if the deer are hanging out there. Look for trails in and out of the thick growth, look for deer beds. Also look for signs around the pond. Find areas that look like they have a lot of deer traffic. You don’t won’t to sit close to the beds, but rather in an area where you can ambush them coming or leaving the beds or feeding areas. Just find a nice tree to sit up against and something soft to sit on. One thing you might want to do is find the area you want to sit during your season and make sure you have some shooting lanes. Cut branches down if you have to. You can make a ground blind out of these branches to help hide any movement you might make. I have hunted that way many times when I’m hunting on land other than the ranch. Depending on the laws in your state you can bait the deer but this is not the way I like to hunt. I like ‘fair chase hunting’. You could also throw out a few mineral licks around traffic areas. Make sure to buy some odorless laundry detergent made for hunters for your hunting clothes, these can be found online or hunting store. I recommend buying a complete hunters package including no scent detergent, deodorant, shampoo etc. You don’t won’t ANY unnatural scents on you when your deer hunting. Deer have an extreme sense of smell and just using regular shampoo can ruin a hunt. Also want an odor neutralizing spray for yourself when you get out of the car. Spray yourself down completely including bottom of boots etc. before heading to your hunting spot. Then use a good cover scent for your area. Like the areas I hunt I have a few cover scents I use that are natural to my area like cedar, pine, acorn, earth. Reapply as needed throughout the day. Scent is your biggest enemy when deer hunting. If your lucky enough to hunt during the rut, pick up some rattling sticks to attract the bucks. And you might consider a doe estrus scent to use. As far as building tree stands, wood pallets work great for a base to start with. On my ranch I have 7 stands strategically placed that are made with a pallet as the base. I also have 4 store bought ladder stands scattered around. The pallets are great, if you find the right tree you can just throw it up there, wiggle around a little till it sits level, throw in a few nails then just start adding on. On all the pallet stands I just throw plywood down for a floor & use old carpet to quit the wood when you walk on it. I use boat style swivel seats on the stands. Throw up a few safety/gun rails and your set. That Remington look nice and should be just fine. There’s not much to a single shot to go wrong anyway. I have one single shot. Its a New England Firearms model Pardner in 3 inch 20 gauge. It looks exactly like this one below. Its a great gun and extremely inexpensive. I bought it back around 1995 for around $90 new. And as cheap as it was, its very high quality. I have put a lot of rounds through this and its never failed and still looks as good as when I got it except for a few dings in the stock. Its a great for small game. This one I can buy different barrels including centerfire rifle but I have never bothered because I already have a few other shotguns & rifles. Bass Pro is a great place. When I visit my dad in Missouri I make sure to always stop by the original in Sprinfield since he lives only 1 hour away. I can spend all day there and not see everything. I usually go through a lot of scratch as well. Luckily they are finally building 2 fairly close by here in CA. One will be about 1 1/2 hours away in Sacramento and the other will be about 2 hours away in Manteca. There is a Cabelas about 2 hours away in Reno but I don’t like it as much. Its still nice though. Pawn shops are great for deals as well. I got a Winchester model 90 lever action 30-30 in like brand new condition for $150. This thing looked like it maybe had 1/2 a box of shells through it if that. 
Thanks for all the great info.This is just the kind of stuff I have been looking through various forums to find out.
Speaking of little single shot guns, a few years ago I picked up a Rossi Combo from a private party at a gun show in phoenix. 12ga and 22lr. paid $125. The barrel change takes less than a minute. I have never acutually hunted with it, but I was impressed at the range. The notched hammer becomes the rear sight when the gun is fully cocked. So you can’t get a sight picture with an uncocked gun. Nothing like squeezing off the perfect shot, on unsuspecting game with no chance the gun will go kaboom. I’m not familiar with a lot of guns, but I think you should look at the Rossi Combos if you can’t go Thompson… Plenty of bang for the buck!
Matt, THis is a kit I would suggest picking up. This is the same one I get & has everything you need. Scent Elimination Kit
Getting ready this weekend (the 16th.) As archery season opens.
I can’t wait until October when I am a true blue Alaska resident and won’t have to pay an arm and a leg to get my license. I haven’t been able to hunt or fish for almost a year now. But come October 17 I’m picking up my tags and loading my 12 gauge with sabot slugs and hitting the timber. Actually, I’m kind of glad I have to wait until October, otherwise I’d have to be hunting the alpine right now, and I just don’t feel like lugging a black-tail carcass around in thin atmosphere, haha.
I just bought a New England Firearms Parder single shot 12 gauge. I bought it at dicks sporting goods. The gun, 40 all-purpose shells, 15 remington “slugger” rifled slugs and a canvas case cost me 155$ out the door. Question, I guess to Trout since you have one of these, its says 3", is that the max length of shells it will shoot? can I fire 2 and 3/4" out of it. (i hope sop since thats what I bought) Now I just have to get my license in order and I can start hunting rabbit Oct 1 and Deer Nov 22.
Yes, the 3" is the max shell you can shoot. So you can shoot 3" and 2 3/4"
great, thanks for the info!
Matt. what choke size does your barrel have?
Modified
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I’m probably gonna start after Thanksgiving. I just need to go get my license. I shot a box of all purpose shells and about 5 slugs out of my new shotgun. That little shotgun tore my shoulder a new butthole. Me and a bud went to an area way out in the sticks where locals seem to gather to shoot targets and what not. Some kid pulled up in his 4 wheeler after we started to just check us out. He was young but you could tell hunting was his life. He had some kinda 3" high power buckshot shell that he gave me to shoot in my shotgun and the thing nearly tore my arm off LOL. I’ll stick to the 2.75" slugs. I was accurate about as far as I thought I’d be 25-30 yards. I hope I bag a deer this year. I’m hunting for pleasure sure, but also for the meat. I don’t how much meat can be harvested off a deer of course that depends on the size but with ground beef at like $3 a pound any size deer will be nice.
True dat
I think I’m the only hunter in the world who doesn’t hunt deer. I stick with squirrels, rabbits, and pheasant. I shoot the squirrels and rabbits with my Ruger 10/22 and the pheasants with either my 12 or 16 gauge side by side shotguns. The 16 early in the season and the 12 later. Matt - a shot a few 3.5’" shells in my 12 gauge, just to see what it’s like. Now, they’ll tear your arm off.
If you want to feel a hard kick from your shotgun, try the winchester supreme 3.5" turkey loads. Those will kick your shoulder into next week if you don’t brace the gun right. Matt, even if you get roasts, stew meat, chops, steaks & a couple pounds of salami you’ll still get around 15-30 pounds of burger (depending of deer size) just from what’s left. I’ve got plenty of meat this deer season from 2 medium size bucks, our deer season ended Nov 2nd. Should last a few months. Plenty of burger, I like to make the jerky out of burger also good in chili and spaghetti. Up next for me is quail, dove & turkey hunting which are all open this month. Hopefully I’ll make it out to where I go pheasant hunting as well because thats the only thing we don’t have on the ranch. Have to drive about 2 hours to hunt pheasant. I get all the squirrels & rabbits I want right in my yard. Already have taken 7 squirrel this fall alone, they were all trying to steal my apples. Its going to make a great winter stew.