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Been searching for a definition of what makes a shotgun legal to hunt deer with in southern MN. All I found so far is that it has to be larger than 410.

Am I missing anything?

Does it have to be a smooth bore or rifles is OK too? Saw some nice Monte Carlo stock 870s but I guess it would make it tough to switch to a regular bead barrel...

Thanks all!

You can do smooth or rifled bore, you can even use brass hulls and essentially make a 1oz slug precision rifle like Pete did.

It's one of the stupidest laws we have because you can use a .50BMG to hunt coyotes in the farm zone if you want, but god forbid you should use a lever action .30-30 on deer...

gun_fan111v2 wrote:Been searching for a definition of what makes a shotgun legal to hunt deer with in southern MN. All I found so far is that it has to be larger than 410.

Am I missing anything?

Does it have to be a smooth bore or rifles is OK too? Saw some nice Monte Carlo stock 870s but I guess it would make it tough to switch to a regular bead barrel...

Thanks all!

Where did you get that .410 is not legal? I have the regs book right here and do not see that. Have known several folks that swear by .410s for deer.

Rifled and smooth bore are both ok. Just be sure to get the correct ammo for each.

Holland&Holland wrote:

gun_fan111v2 wrote:Been searching for a definition of what makes a shotgun legal to hunt deer with in southern MN. All I found so far is that it has to be larger than 410.

Am I missing anything?

Does it have to be a smooth bore or rifles is OK too? Saw some nice Monte Carlo stock 870s but I guess it would make it tough to switch to a regular bead barrel...

Thanks all!

Where did you get that .410 is not legal? I have the regs book right here and do not see that. Have known several folks that swear by .410s for deer.

Rifled and smooth bore are both ok. Just be sure to get the correct ammo for each.

It might have said 410 or higher - don't remember exactly.

How about ammo. Are slugs the only option or is buck shot legal as well?

Buck shot is illegal. Somewhere else in the law there is the specification that it has to be a single projectile.


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FJ540 wrote:You can do smooth or rifled bore, you can even use brass hulls and essentially make a 1oz slug precision rifle like Pete did.

It's one of the stupidest laws we have because you can use a .50BMG to hunt coyotes in the farm zone if you want, but god forbid you should use a lever action .30-30 on deer...

A Winchester 94 30-30 is illegal??

BigBlue wrote:

FJ540 wrote:You can do smooth or rifled bore, you can even use brass hulls and essentially make a 1oz slug precision rifle like Pete did.

It's one of the stupidest laws we have because you can use a .50BMG to hunt coyotes in the farm zone if you want, but god forbid you should use a lever action .30-30 on deer...

A Winchester 94 30-30 is illegal??

It is in the "slug zone", but .300 Win Mag in a pistol is fine. It's just stupid.

LumberZach wrote:Buck shot is illegal. Somewhere else in the law there is the specification that it has to be a single projectile.


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Thanks. I saw that but the section mentioned nothing about shotgun so I did not want to assume.

shooter115 wrote:

BigBlue wrote:

FJ540 wrote:You can do smooth or rifled bore, you can even use brass hulls and essentially make a 1oz slug precision rifle like Pete did.

It's one of the stupidest laws we have because you can use a .50BMG to hunt coyotes in the farm zone if you want, but god forbid you should use a lever action .30-30 on deer...

A Winchester 94 30-30 is illegal??

It is in the "slug zone", but .300 Win Mag in a pistol is fine. It's just stupid.

Any rifle is illegal in slug zone. Is that what the OP was getting at? No rifles in slug zone for deer but rifles are OK for other game? I've never heard slug zone called 'farm zone', but the statement makes more sense from that perspective if that's it.

Rifles are illegal, but shotguns with rifling and rifled slugs are not. More non-sense that exists, I believe, because no one has really looked at these regulations in a long time and the equipment has evolved beyond the basic that was around may years ago. I have always been curious, as others have said, that its shotgun only for deer, but blast away with high power long distance rifles at PDogs or Yotes. The logic just isn't consistent.

logic rarely pertains to anything government.

Cost, usually stops me from shooting P-Dogs with my 50. But, one round can often take out a whole town

BigBlue wrote: I've never heard slug zone called 'farm zone', but the statement makes more sense from that perspective if that's it.

It's the line between the prairie and deciduous forest transition that differentiates the rifle and shotgun zones. You say slug zone, I say farm zone.

yukonjasper wrote:Rifles are illegal, but shotguns with rifling and rifled slugs are not. More non-sense that exists, I believe, because no one has really looked at these regulations in a long time and the equipment has evolved beyond the basic that was around may years ago. I have always been curious, as others have said, that its shotgun only for deer, but blast away with high power long distance rifles at PDogs or Yotes. The logic just isn't consistent.

The slug zone regulations have less to do with safety than they do with herd protection.

With the amount of hunters and the relatively small amount of cover, the herd could very quickly be decimated by rifle hunting. Slug hunting has kept effective range relatively short. The evolution of slug technology is changing that to some extent, but its still mostly an under 200-250yd game.

As for oytes, the density of hunters is not 1/100 compared to deer season. It's simply not a fair comparison

i wasn't aware we had p-dogs in MN, could you point me in he right direction? Would save me hours of driving.