I want to thank you all for your suggestions. Wow, thanks a lot! The tree limbs are definitely an issue, as I live in the mtns of Tennessee. I also hunt in upstate SC...both are very wooded areas, so long shots aren't usually an option. Y'all have given me great info...really. Now I can weed out all the other guns I had read about....I was on serious (pull my hair out) information overload.
In response to having a mentor...not really...sort of? My neighbor has tried to teach me a few things and let's me shoot his big guns for fun. I still have the option of using the neighbors .270. It's long and gets heavy after a while, but do-able