20 gauge slug gun vs. 350 Legend

geda said:

Like I said second , third and even more shots on additional deer lets me fill up my freezer faster. I can not think of any hunting situation in which a full muzzle blast has any benefit. As an example in 2018 about 5 minutes after harvesting the two largest does in a group with suppressed supersonic 300blk my bonus 12pt walked over to check them out. Could that have happened without the suppressor? maybe, but I like to think the suppressor improved my luck.

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Sorry, was just joking.
I've done the same with shotguns and muzzle loaders.
I believe deer often mistake gunfire for thunder. It seems to me, what makes deer take off after a shot is when the shot deer takes off running. Just a theory of mine.


A four consecutive cold bore shot group @ 100 yards, shot approx 15 mins. apart from my 220

450 bushmaster is not killing deer any faster than the 220....same bullet....faster yes, but through is through. Make the argument for more energy downrange, but I doubt anyone's shooting their 450bm 300 yds. Lower recoil is another argument for the legend. I'm not recoil sensitive, but I can definitely make faster follow up shots from 1000ft-lbs less muzzle energy (450bm vs 350 legend)

geda said:

Like I said second , third and even more shots on additional deer lets me fill up my freezer faster. I can not think of any hunting situation in which a full muzzle blast has any benefit. As an example in 2018 about 5 minutes after harvesting the two largest does in a group with suppressed supersonic 300blk my bonus 12pt walked over to check them out. Could that have happened without the suppressor? maybe, but I like to think the suppressor improved my luck.

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Yes it happens, especially if you shoot a hot doe.

How many times have you heard someone say "I got down walked over, and seen a big ass buck come out"

Ive witnessed that more than one time both sika and wt especially when the ruts on. They could care less if a fire truck was in the woods sometimes.

outrider58 said:

Sorry, was just joking.
I've done the same with shotguns and muzzle loaders.
I believe deer often mistake gunfire for thunder. It seems to me, what makes deer take off after a shot is when the shot deer takes off running. Just a theory of mine.


A four consecutive cold bore shot group @ 100 yards, shot approx 15 mins. apart from my 220

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I tend to believe this also. I’ve had deer that when shot, run, hit the ground, and thrash a bit. I’ve watched them all run, but when one is on the ground, I’ve seen the others run back to investigate.

geda said:

I can not believe no one else thinks about the suppressors, they make everything so much more pleasant vs a slug gun. 30-50yd is the perfect environment for a suppressor. In my experience at 30-50 yards a suppressor with supersonics will distort the sound enough that the deer have no idea what is going on. They will scatter a few yards and be alert but there is a good chance you will get a second shot at another doe if that is your thing. At the long end over 100yd it is going to sound like a 22lr or less, one of the deer will fall, and everyone else will get back to munching on soybeans.

Being AR oriented, almost every bolt action and upper are threaded and ready for a suppressor. This is a huge cost savings over trying to piece something together from a normal hunting rifle. Ease of suppression for hunting is the primary reason I started buying 300blk(3x), 450bushmaster(1x) and 488 socom(1x). After my first hunt with a 300blk I never looked back.


My advise for the straight wall county thing would be to get a bolt action ruger american or similar in .350 legend or .450 bushmaster along with a Silencerco hybrid or Griffin Bushwhacker. Cost would probably be $1300ish for the suppressor and $500 for the rifle.


Edit: When I think shotgun counties I think places like western howard with crazy deer density but where you are always within ear shot of horse people and a subdivision. Keeping the lowest profile possible is the game to play.

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That's where I am at, though I can't really use a rifle for deer hunting. Just too risky. I've got plenty of safe shooting directions, but with 4.4 acres, my safety zone is about a 20-30yd semi-circle located on my back porch. Talked to all relevant neighbors and they are fine with me BOW hunting deer. I am fine with a 22lr on squirrels on the ground, ground hogs (in trees, just kidding), fox and other small varmints. Pretty much anything a 22lr is reasonable for. Finally got a can to use more powerful ammo than quiets. A couple neighbors are fine with me using a gun for some stuff. But I am just not comfortable shooting anything more than a 22lr. Lots of rocks in the ground and I'd be devastated if I put a .350 or something down range and it ricocheted off a rock in the ground and hit someone's house or similar. Thick woods, but late season all those leaves are off the trees and its still only 120-150yds of woods to some other people's houses (back yard is a valley down to a creek, then up the other side to other people's houses).

I'd be comfortable with bird shot too, but not exactly quiet...

Fortunately that same valley and creek in a nice rural/semi-suburban neighborhood makes a perfect funnel for all the deer moving through everyone's back yards in and out of the state park half a mile away. So bow works just fine. If I COULD responsibly use a muzzleloader I certainly would. Not sure I'd actually use a rifle if it was safe.

Now if I had a lot more land...

ChrisD said:

I tend to believe this also. I’ve had deer that when shot, run, hit the ground, and thrash a bit. I’ve watched them all run, but when one is on the ground, I’ve seen the others run back to investigate.

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Honestly that's half the reason why now when I shoot a deer, unless I am REALLY only looking to take that one deer, I carefully reload trying to be as low profile as possible (most of my deer are taken with bow or muzzleloader) and then try to calm my breathing and heart beat and wait. Even if it dropped right there. Give it 10 minutes at least. Make sure no other deer are coming in.

This past season bow hunting my side yard I heart shot a doe and she ran down to my creek (dropped right before she went over the lip fortunately). Give her 15 minutes as I hadn't seen her drop, but it sure sounded like she ran and then flopped in to something. Found her, went inside to grab my field dressing kit, dressed her out, dragged her out, etc.

I pulled game camera photos later and low and behold when I'd gone down to the creek to find her and admire her I had 3 other does that came in to my meadow just 60yds up the hill where I'd shot her. They hung around for a couple of minutes and then took off (probably heard me poking around in the woods below them). If I'd waited around 5 or 10 more minutes I probably would have been dragging two does out of the woods.

Now my 10 minutes of waiting wouldn't have been enough in that case.

My buddy has a couple of times taken a shot on a deer and either hit it or missed and it took off. Gets out of his blind/shooting spot to walk over maybe a minute later, hears a noise looks over and there was a herd just out of sight from when he was sitting in his blind because he basically took a shot on the lead deer. If he'd just sat his butt in his blind another few minutes, the other deer probably would have walked in to his field of view.

Same thing checking game camera photos and sometimes observing in the field. Most times if its multiples coming in, its easy to notice that. But I've had plenty of times where all I can see is a lone doe, or earlier season a lone buck, but then coming up 50-100yds behind that deer are the rest. Like the one deer is pulling point. Doesn't mean a clear shot on the first deer is a bad idea, but it sure as heck means you should sit your butt tight and move as little as possible in case the rest are coming in in a couple of minutes.