Nomercy

I agree, shotguns are invaluable small game hunting tools, I love taking .410' s after any and all small game species, and yote hunting with 12ga' s is a blast (quite literally). However, the limited range of shotguns eliminates them as " ideal" varminters, a bolt action .22-250 with open sights and quick d-tach scope mounts holding a high powered glass can handle any range from 10 feet to 500yrds or so. Even a mild tempered .22lr has the same range capabilities as most shotguns, if not better (slugging for yotes not included, which isn' t very nice for smaller game). Being in the woods is kind of irrelevant, regardless of whether you have a serious varmint rifle (high powered centerfire) or not, almost ALL hunters have a .22lr, which can handle any distance a shotgun can without having to worry about shot rebounding from surrounding trees. Open sights on a high powered centerfire also gives great results in the brush, so I wouldn' t go as far as to say that a shotgun " rules the roost" in the woods. High magnification glasses can be a pain when you take them in the woods, but I' ve used a 4-16x32 for years without any problem, 16x for LONG shots, and 4x for in the woods.