You guys are sure injecting a lot of extra words into what I have said and creating more than necessary after I explained to the OP why I said what I did! Yes, I'm 65 and started hunting when I was 5 years old and took one of the first NRA safety courses ever offered. I took another course with my stepson many years after that and the rules hadn't changed in all those years and still haven't. I have not said I have never screwed up, but I have also never bent the rules for when I pulled the trigger like one of you suggested. I have also never said I don't condone the use of buckshot. I used it some, as well as slugs, years ago here in southern MI before muzzleloaders became popular and were legalized down here where centerfire rifles aren't allowed for deer hunting. All I have stated in my posts is to be sure of your target, surroundings and background, as well as patterning your gun and knowing what it will do with a particular load. All of those things are fundamentals that ANYONE should have learned BEFORE they go into the field. Sorry that I take this so seriously and have continued posting on it. I feel even sorrier that the kid says all he is interested in is killing the deer because that's not what the outdoor experience is all about! I'm also sorry for anyone else who has come on this thread and told him he did a good job just because he killed his first deer. I thought I ended this thread with that last post trying to briefly explain to him why I posted and wishing him happy holidays. Now I get up this AM and you guys have come on here and are the ones busting balls over nothing that I even said or insinuated!!! Let the thread die, because if the OP and those that have read this thread did not understand the message by now then it's probably useless!