RE: guns, gear,help!
 

Hey, Jordan!

For doves and quail, plus possibly other birds and small game in other locations, you can't go wrong with a 20-ga. shotgun. Get one that is light & handy chambered for the 3" shell, and with choke tubes you can unscrew and replace with others as needed. The Remington 870 is a great gun, as are their 1100 types. Fast & easy to get on target. The Mossberg 500 is also quite satisfactory! The fact that the Army issues the Mossbergs to the troops when a shoitgun is needed tells you that it is very good!

You can most definitely use a shotgun for all deer hunting except long, cross-beanfield shots.

For shooting across fields, you need a rifle that will give you the ability to shoot deer etc. at relatively long ranges, but can be used in the brush as well. For this purpose, I'd recommend the 7mm Remington Magnum or the .270 Winchester. Both roundshave heavy-bullet loads available for shorter ranges, andlight, fast loads for cross-field shooting out to 500 yards or more (not that I recommend taking such long shots!!). There are no flies on a good .25/'06 either.

Good luck. Let us know how your hunting adventures turn out I started hunting deer (in North Carolina at Fort Bragg) at age 13, and was 21 before I finally got one-in New Mexico! So never get discouraged!!

RE: guns, gear,help!
 

alright thanks for all the help guys, now my main concern with that mossberg 500combo is the accuraccy factor, and how solid it is? now if that is a factor would that same shotgun be good for close range deer, quail pheasant, duck, dove hunting and in what 20 gauge or 12 guage?

RE: guns, gear,help!
 

The Mossberg is plenty accurate. I have a Mossberg with both barrels. When i was in the USMC we were trained to shoot Mossberg 500's because they weregetting rid ofthe Remington 870's if that tells you how solid they are. Its more up to you in what you want for gauge. I like a 12 gauge and being you want ot hunt ducks i would choose a 12 gauge but for all the rest a 20 would be plenty of gun.

RE: guns, gear,help!
 

Honestly, I would decide on which type of hunting you are going to be doing the most of and get a firearm specifically for that purpose and get the other firearm for Christmas, birthday, etc... If you are going to be deer hunting more (very likely) I would get a good solid bolt action rifle first. If you are going to be doing more bird hunting then go with the shotgun first. The combo shotguns are fine but they are a compromise and don't do either type of hunting as well asa firearm dedicated for the purpose would.

At 16 years old you probably don't have a pile of cash dedicated for hunting. It can be expensive and you may not be able to afford to do all of it right now so concentrating on one will allow you to do it better than the others. Besides I am sure that you have friends or relatives that would let you borrow a firearm if you needed to.

Deer hunting -a solid bolt action rifle like a Remington, Savage, Howa / Weatherby vanguard (same gun different name), Tikkain a STANDARD cartridge like a .270, 30-06, .308, 7mm-08 and put a $200 - $300 scope on it like a Bushnell 3200, Nikon buckmaster, Burris fullfield II.

Bird hunting - you will much prefer a semi auto over a pump. You don't have to break the bank to get one either. Stoeger makes dependable semi autos for $400.

If you still want to go the rout of the combo gun then the Mossberg is a very dependable shotgun. Don't worry about the 835 because if you can't kill it with a 3" shell then you can't kill it. ;)I would definetly get a 12 gauge over a 20 gauge. The sheer ammount of available types of ammunitions is reason alone and it is cheaper to shoot 12 gauge shells then 20 gauge shells. Accuracy with a slug out of a 500will be about 100 yards or so andpossibly to about 150 yards.

As for camo you can get army BDU's and they will work well and they are cheap.Personally Iwould look atone of the leafy, full bodysuits. It is one garment that you can wear absolutely all year long for every type of hunting that you might be doing and you can wear it over any type of clothing from shorts and a T-shirt in theearly seasonto full winter clothes in Janruary.

RE: guns, gear,help!
 

alright now that ive pretty sure im gunna be going the 12 gauge shotgun route , what the next step, im thinking finding places to hunt and people to hunt with right? how do i go about that, i live in ayden/grifton north carolina. with the shot gun id also be hunting deer with a deer slug or sumin bc right across the feild my buddys got a stand set up in the woods but he only hunts deer and doesnt even do that as intense as id like too. all help is very appreceated. thanks guys.
also how do you scout deer and ducks. and quail

RE: guns, gear,help!
 

Well your getting a gun so the next step is to practice with the gun all summer to be sure your not going to wound an animal. Ive been hunting for a few years and still go shoot atleast once a month. I shoot plenty good enough for hunting purposes but im never good enough. If i can gain 1/4" of accuracy that is that much less chance of me wounding something. Find someone that is willing to tech you things and wont mind you going on a few hunts with them even if they are doing the actual hunting. You will learn alot that way.