Whitetail Hunting photo
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Ithaca Gun Company, which operated in New York for over 100 years, is now in its second set of owners in Ohio after moving to Upper Sandusky in 2005.

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The gun in the picture is the DeerSlayer III, which features a heavy, fluted, free-floated 26-inch rifled barrel fixed to the receiver. The checkering, satin urethane finish and bluing are all very well done. It has a very nice 5-pound trigger that feels lighter than it really is.

I was sighting this in the day I took the picture. At 50 yards every slug hole touched. The heavy barrel and a soft recoil pad combined with the good trigger make the DS III very pleasant to shoot inasmuch as slug guns are ever pleasant to shoot.

At nearly 10 pounds with a scope on top, the DS III is not a gun for deer drives. It’s made to be hauled to a treestand and shot deliberately and accurately at deer. At $1,189 the DS III is not cheap,* to put it mildly. I keep telling the Ithaca folks to make a matte finished version with a black plastic stock. It wouldn’t be good looking but it would be practical and could sell for less.

*if you want cheap accuracy, the H&R/New England Firearms single shot Ultra Slug Hunter is the deal.