Gentlemen,

I have seen lots of great advice and figured I would give my 2 cents. I live in SE VA and here our county is shotgun only. We use buckshot when dog hunting but when we climb a tree, most of our hunting group does it with a 20 ga slug gun. I have a single shot NEF Laminated Stock Special Edition. It only set me back $200 and the thing is a tack driver. I shoot Federal Barnes Expander slugs, 3", out of it and have never lost a deer. I do use a 3-9X40 Leupold RIfleman, but with high rings. If the deer is to close for the 3X, I just look down the barrell. I even killed a coyote running last year with it. Just wanted to mention my setup but to each his own!