RE: I need a little help here..
How about a muzzle loader set-up? lots of fun shooting and depending upon the season where you hunt, might give you a few more days to hunt deer. here in Alabama, the last 5 days of "archery only" are now open to ML hunting. I hunt in Arkansas too, and they have had several days of ML only. With $500 you could buy a darn good rifle, and maybe some ML "stuff" too.