RE: Of slugs, scopes, and sights
The H&R's are nice for the money, but heavy and only give you one shot unless you are quick at reloading. I doubt it would be very fun on a drive or stalking deer. You would get tired of carrying it very fast I think.
As far as what type of sights that really depends. How well do you shoot with what sights and what kind of distances do you plan on shooting? I like scopes or red dots, I just seem to shoot better with them than I do open sights. But if you are talking shorter distances and are good with open sights they can be plenty accurate and fast to use. Not to mention pretty simple, which is sometimes good when hunting.
If you were talking tree stand or blind hunting only I would really suggest the H&R for the money. Or the savage bolt action is really nice if you have the money. But when you throw doing drives or possibly stalking I would be looking for something different.
My suggestion would be the mossberg 500 or field grade 870 combo. If you want a scope get the cantilever barrel option. Good fiber optic sights would be nice to if you are comfortable with them. If you go scoped get a low power scope. Like 1.5 to 2 power on the lower end. Or just a fixed 2 power if you can find one. And look for one with a good field of view. Normally longer eye relief scopes give up some field of view as a trade off. At least the ones I have looked at recently. A quick look at Cabela's website or something simular would let you know. Also if you are thinking of shots inside of 100 yards, like 50 to 75 yards and in I would look for a scope with the parallax set at around 50 yards. Some companies will reset them at your request as well.
Either of these guns can be had fairly cheap and are plenty accurate from what I have seen if mated with the right ammo. And the pump would be a bit lighter and offer you an easy follow up shot if you needed it. The lower power scope would make it easier to aquire your target when rushed, as would the larger field of view. And don't get the cheapest scope you can find either. If you do it may fog up or fail on you at the worst time. Stay around the 100 dollar mark or up and you should be ok. That's only my opinion though, and they vary greatly on optics. Mostly it depends on your income from what I have seen.
Or if you have the money get a good auto, they are even better for drives if they function good. Plus they seem to ease the recoil a bit as well.
The only reason I don't suggest the Nova is because all the ones I have looked at were noisy, and from what I understand they are not very versitale as far as barrel swaps and the such. I would check the cost of the barrels first. Nice guns though, silky smooth action. I think they are great for water foul, but for deer or turkey I passed on one.
Paul