Here in KS, buckshot is illegal, I don' t really want to dive into a debate that is off topic here, but I agree, it is as it should be here in KS, buckshot just isn' t good for how people hunt anymore, i.e. at longer ranges everyday, at very close ranges, it is incredibly devastating, but at those distances, each pellet is kind of like a .32acp round, at close range, yeah, 6-9 .32acp rounds will kill a deer, so will buckshot, but too many people try to ' stretch their chokes' . Also, I will second the ' high adrenaline' point made earlier, when they get running from dogs, tearing a hole with a slug is great, heart' s pounding and all that, but a bunch of little (comprably) holes aren' t very effective, if you break a bone, they MIGHT go down, but doing that with buckshot isn' t likely, when their heart is pumping, even bleeding out of a slug wound can take a long time, but the hydrostatic shock that the slug made upon impact was the real killer. See how much farther you can run after someone knocks you senseless, and you finally realize after sprinting 50yrds that you' re bleeding terribly, part of your lung is now relocated to the outside, and you now have 5 tiny hearts instead of one.

If your club would allow it, I would probably opt for the semi-auto rifle, with a LARGE front objective, say 42mm at minimum, 2.5x-4x glass (not a variable power, but a fixed in the range from 2.5-4x). I would prefer a lever gun actually, but that' s just me, it' s almost as fast, and you don' t get crapped on all the time for going out and ' spraying and praying' like so many semi-auto shooters are blamed for all the time.