SteynOnline is hosting a discussion of whether shotguns can be used for deer hunting. The occasion is the John Kerry quote about 'crawling about on his belly' with his trusty 12-gauge. Mark's British readers are highly suspicious of the concept.
Well, never mind what posture he adopts to shoot: check out his choice of firearm. He refers to "my trusty 12-gauge". This would be what we in England call a 12-bore shotgun. Now, I don't know about Massachusetts, but in England and Scotland deer are stalked and shot with a rifle fitted with a telescopic site, and I can't believe it is any different in the U.S....Uh-huh. Look, it's obvious that Kerry hasn't done any deer hunting -- that business about crawling about on his belly gives him away. But come on -- Ya'll ever heard of a little invention called "buckshot"? What kind of "buck" did you think they meant?I just have two questions:
(1) Can (or should) you take deer with a 12-gauge shotgun?...Good God, Mark, you missed a big one! You must not be a hunter either, or surely you would have said something about the larger faux pas.
No, you don't crawl around on your blinkin' stomach to hunt deer... but you also NEVER use a shotgun, because 1) it's illegal everywhere, and 2) it doesn't work worth a damn. If you did manage to hit one with your 12ga, most likely it would only wound the animal and you'd never catch up with it....Almost nobody hunts deer any more with a shotgun, certainly not by choice....
Let's hope John-boy isn't out hunting deer with a 12 gauge, even if on his stomach. It is illegal to do so in every place I've heard of; you use a shotgun for birds, not large game....
Only a complete moron would hunt deer with a shotgun WITHOUT USING A SLUG. Nobody on the face of the planet (that I have ever heard of) does that....
Fortunately a couple of his readers finally set him straight, rather late in the Saturnalia.
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