Dean,

We tried to tell them that for sixty years. Even put in regulations rifles had to be cased to an elevated stand at least ten feet off the ground. Refused to listen. Then on the last day of deer season about five years ago a deer ran between two hunters and a single buckshot pellet to the head of one of the hunters put an end to a young life. I have had a guy shoot uphill at a running deer and put pellets in the tree above me, and the only reason he did not shoot the third shot was I yelled. And I was in a tree stand. He was on posted land so I thought I was alone on a windy day. He blamed me because he said he did not see my blaze orange on his way into the posted land (my back was to the tree).

Each part of the country has it's own unique way of hunting. In some areas the topography dictates what will work and what will not. In areas of low deer numbers dogs, driving and bait will not do, deer numbers will not stand it.( Maine) In the south with no winter kill, vast areas of impenetrable swamp and low hunter numbers the deer can sustain the methods used. I hope to sit on the kitchen steps of Hampton plantation in SC and re-read Rutlige's Christmas hunt. In his time and place it was THE way to deer hunt and still seem to be.

I have one of those ZH 10 ga's with 32 inch bbls I bought in 1990 or so, the first year the Feds came out with the lead shot ban on waterfowl and I didnt want to shoot steel in my Model 23 Win. The ZH weighed around 10 1/2 lbs as I recall, and had over 40 points restriction in both barrels. I took it to a Denver gunsmith who agreed to a step by step choke reaming process to get it to pattern well with steel, for the same price he charged for a one time ream per barrel. He reamed it .005 at a time, then I would take it to the range on the weekend, shoot a couple of patterns, and take it back to him on Monday. We reamed it down to 24 points before the patterns started to develop any consistency. Perfect round 58% with 1 5/8 oz Steel BB's and 73% with Steel T's. Think we may have taken it down another 3 points to 21, but that gave no more improvement. Never did shoot the gun with T's at geese, because the steel BB's were so effective at my max range of 50-60 yards or so. Most shots were 25-50 yards over decoys, and the BB's dropped them like flies. The gun cured me of stopping my swing--those barrels just kept moving. Paid $300 for the gun in 1990 and another $90 or 100 for the choke reaming. We used to lay out in the corn or wheat fields under a white sheet or a large piece of burlap, depending on the cover. The gun got more than its share of mud and dirt exposure, but never failed. I quit hunting geese in about 2000, and still have few boxes of the Federal 1 5/8 loads in the cabinet, along with the mighty 10 ga. and 9 dozen G&H Magnum decoys in my friends barn. One of these days I'll have to do it again, just for nostalgia's sake, before I get too decrepit. The gun is sort of clubby when compared to a Parker, but it sure did the job.

My neighbor who taught me how to shoot when I was a kid and he is the coach of the local 4H skeet team , has a buckshot pellet in his neck from where a another hunter accidentally shot him . Luckily it was just that one stray pellet that hit him .

He was clearly in the wrong , the thing they drive into your head in hunter safety course is never fire at something you cannot see or dont know what it is .

We had a fellow on a quail hunt once shoot someones house that bordered the plantations property , to make matters worse it was a police officers house . The guide not even 5 seconds before told the hunters not to fire in that direction . I never understood why we was hunting on the perimeter of the property anyhow as we had 3,800 acres .

Here is your chance to pick up one of these mighty tens for an estimate of $400-$600.

http://www.kramersales.com/kramer/wp...UN-CATALOG.pdf

Item 274
Spanish Royal Crown 10 ga Magnum Dbl #46159; 10 ga. 31 3/4" bbls. Blue
bbls. Blued finish & silver engravedreceiver. In very fine, like new condition & rubber recoil pad isdeteriorating. (245) 400.00 - 600.00274

Im looking at a old Parkers that just showed up for 900$ .
Im not sure but it looks to have a 5 stamped on the barrel lug where it usually says 3 . I emailed the seller asking for a better picture .

was looking for big bore shotguns today..there was listed a 8 gauge double barrel with 39 inch barrels for sale..it was listed at 1700 hundred dollars...this really got me excited kept reading it had done been sold about 6 months ago...i did not need that gun but if it had still been for sale my wife would have been mad at me...this gun had modern steel barrels...charlie

A. Rutledge is one of my favorite outdoor authors of all time. I dearly love his writings, as it describes hunting in the South as I have known it. However .....

I have lived in "deer dogging" country all my life, on the edge of the Savannah River swamp. Hunted with dogs for many years, which requires using blue whistlers (buckshot). Finally gave it up (buckshot) when I realized just how inefficient it is. I once shot a big buck facing straight towards me at about 30 yards with 00 buck. He wheeled and ran, leaving only a few droplets of blood. Saw him the next year near that area in a 'bean field, but couldn't get a shot. The third year I killed him with a Model 99 .300 Savage. When I skinned him I found three of the buckshot encased in a clearish gristly substance, only about an inch deep, under the skin in his fore-chest.

Anything that can't penetrate any better than that is not for me, tho' I killed many deer with it in my life. No more.

Though not a legal caliber, and I don't hunt deer anymore, I'd sooner shoot them with a .22 Magnum than buckshot. At least I can put it exactly where it needs to go to do the job. Buckshot go where they want to go.

SRH

Charlie ive been browsing a getting another 10 ga sxs for awhile now and havnt found any that stood out until recently . It ifs still for sale I may be able to pick it up in a couple of weeks . Sometimes if you can find someone selling from their personal collection they are priced alot better than buying from a vintage sxs dealer .