Fortunately, the number of shotgun only states is falling fast. At least for me. But if you are a “rifle guy” and the rules and regs require hunters to use a shotgun; think about skipping the 12 gauge and going straight to a rifled 20.
This H&R 20 gauge loaded with copper-solid sabots is easily a 75-100 yard gun. And with some practice and decent optics, I know guys taking them out to 140 yards and beyond. Hell! There is one maker who is guaranteeing a 20 gauge MOA at 200 yards! But for me, 140 is about max.
Right now, those who hunt out West are thinking anything under 300 yards isn’t really far at all. But east of the Mississippi, many states don’t afford any hunting shots beyond 150 yards. As such, it is not unknown for said states to restrict hunting to shotgun or pistol caliber carbines.
Ohio and Indiana have been shotgun states for many, many years. Only over the past 18 months have both opened up hunting to “some” rifle calibers. But if all goes well, we might see restrictions loosened even more!
Many of you know I am fairly new to the hunting scene. Freeze is our resident “Great White Hunter”. So the shotgun thing was quite a steep adjustment for this dyed in the whole rifle guy. So much so I kind of fought it. After some research, I figured out a rifled 20 gauge behaved more like a rifle than a shotgun at East Coast engagement ranges. As you can see from these pics shooting steel, it works well.
But with the changing winds at the DNR office, maybe these will be the very last photos I ever post shooting a 20 gauge slug-gun? Fingers crossed.
Marky
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