Buck Shot Hunting 12ga

The situation, I shot my 12ga 00 buck 3.5in mag (18 pellets) at 35 yds aimed at the bullseye. Of the 18, only 3 hit the target. The closest shot that hit was 4 inches away from the bullseye, while the next pellet was 7 inches away, and finally the 3rd pellet 10 inches away. My question is, Will these 3 of the 18 pellets penetrate at 35 yds and be enough to kill a deer if I were aiming in the lung area or will they not penetrate at a 35yd distance and have a deer run a mile? Rules here are to use buckshot only. Thanks

The way I read it... is in a 10 inch circle 7 pellets hit the target. 3 in the bulls eye and so on. I think 7 pelets will kill the deer long as they don't get stuck in the shoulder. I would not be real happy with the results though. I don't know much about shooting 00 buck so you might wait for someone more qualified.

What shotgun are you shooting and what is the choke? Also what brand of shell are you shooting?

Curious though... where are you hunting that you can only use buck shot?

What kind of choke are you using? I have been shooting 00 buck all of my life and have killed many a deer with it. The longest shot was about 60 yards. Also make sure you really put the bead on the bullseye. Lot of people are under the impression you have to aim as well with a shotgun...which is totally false. JMO.

Hey folks,
Well, I have a story that relates to this topic from about 3 weeks ago. I was sitting in a makeshift ground blind with my 12 gauge pump and 00 buckshot. Instead of having my extra full choke in, I accidentally left my improved cylinder choke in the gun. Where I hunt, as long as you have a tag, if it's brown, it's down. The landowner wants as many deer taken as possible. I called a small buck in with "the can," which is that call that makes the doe estrus bleats. Once he got into an opening in the cover at about 40-45 yards, I shot. He jumped and flipped around like he was hit. We gave him about 10 minutes before we started looking. He went about 30 yards. Only one pellet hit him, but that pellet went behind the shoulder through both lungs. Since then I have repatterned the gun with Hevi-shot buckshot and can keep 8 out of 12 pellets in a ten inch circle at 50 yards. So I would advise you to use as tight a choke as you can and pattern the gun! Mine shoots this buckshot load about 4 inches high at 50 yards. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was using a brand by federal with a benelli super nova 12ga (bird gun). I went out and shot an 8pt buck at 27 yds with this round. 7 out of 18 pellets hit this buck and knocked him down. 1 pellet went right though the heart and penetrated through. 3 other pellets hit through the rib cage area as well. I guess i now know what 00 buck is capable of. Thanks.

it depends on each gun, my uses 00 with a modified choke better than any other choke. ive always thought of it this way, if one pellet hits where you are aiming then it should be a kill.

I would suggest patterning it with several different loads starting in much closer. Maybe start at 10 yards. If the shotgun has interchangeable choke tubes, try different chokes with each load.

Every shotgun is a law unto itself and will probably like a different load.

Frankly, at 35 yards I'm not surprised the pattern is loose.