[crowbeaner]

I've been hunting since I was 10 years old (about the time Moses parted the Red Sea) and it is about the only time I get to get out of the house for a few days sans wife every year. I hunt anything that walks, flies or crawls, and I use bow, ML, rifle, and shotgun. I used to use a Redhawk, but circumstances now dictate otherwise. If the only way you can hunt deer in Illinois is with a shotgun, don't feel bad. The southern zone here is pretty much shotgun or ML only except for a few enlightened counties where the elected officials and DEC have worked together to make rifles acceptable for hunting. I've killed more deer of both sexes with a shotty than with a rifle, and I've dragged quite a few out to the car. Don't sit home this season; if you have to use a SG then by all means do. Just find out what load yours prefers, and buy your license and go. WEAR BLAZE ORANGE if hunting public land where neophytes and bubbas abound. I have yet to see a deer in orange unless it was dead and the hunter/huntress was dragging it out. I hunt public land every year because some borders cropland that feeds big, fat deer. Venison is hard to find at your local Walmart Supercenter; it has 25% protein and little if any cholesterol. I'm waiting for early bear to open this year; the springoff wants to see if we can take a bruin; only God knows why.