Buck F
NES Member
I have decided to go deer hunting. As a bit of background: I used to hunt waterfowl, upland bird & small game back in the day (like over 20 years ago). I'm a go along for the ride hunter, I go w/ friends to enjoy the time more than I'm out to harvest meat although I do enjoy game meats. I have hunted deer a few times in upstate NY w/ a rifle years ago, never saw a deer. Now I'm planning on going hunting w/ my brother in law who's an experienced deer hunter, he bags a few deer every year during a variety of seasons (muzzle loader, bow, shotgun, rifle). He lives in NH and has access to private property in NH, MA & VT. He and I have bonded since my sister passed a year ago and we have been talking about going hunting for years. It's happening this year. Shotgun season in either MA or NH.
I bought a shotgun, Mossberg 12 Ga 500 Field/Deer combo that comes with a 28" smooth bore and a 24" rifled barrel w/ cantilever optic mount (went back & forth on the iron sights or the optic mount barrel). Basic, entry level, I know. I had a 500 back in the day before I moved to MA. I like the modularity of the 500, the safety on the tang and the price point. I also ordered an 18.5" barrel for home defense although I generally prefer a rifle platform for that.
Now debating what kind of optic to use. I usually run red dots on the rifles, have a low end 4x scope I bought to play around with punching holes in paper but wouldn't use that for hunting. I guess I like the wider view and shorter length of the red dot, don't really think I need much in the way of magnification for a less than 100yard shot. But I see a lot of people using scopes and wondering if I should get a scope instead. I'm not spending a grand on glass but I'll spend a couple/few hundred on a lower end Leupold or Vortex. I looked at the Vortex Crossfire II at BP, it's about as large a scope I'd want to mount on a shotgun.
Thoughts & insights are appreciated.
I bought a shotgun, Mossberg 12 Ga 500 Field/Deer combo that comes with a 28" smooth bore and a 24" rifled barrel w/ cantilever optic mount (went back & forth on the iron sights or the optic mount barrel). Basic, entry level, I know. I had a 500 back in the day before I moved to MA. I like the modularity of the 500, the safety on the tang and the price point. I also ordered an 18.5" barrel for home defense although I generally prefer a rifle platform for that.
Now debating what kind of optic to use. I usually run red dots on the rifles, have a low end 4x scope I bought to play around with punching holes in paper but wouldn't use that for hunting. I guess I like the wider view and shorter length of the red dot, don't really think I need much in the way of magnification for a less than 100yard shot. But I see a lot of people using scopes and wondering if I should get a scope instead. I'm not spending a grand on glass but I'll spend a couple/few hundred on a lower end Leupold or Vortex. I looked at the Vortex Crossfire II at BP, it's about as large a scope I'd want to mount on a shotgun.
Thoughts & insights are appreciated.