Less than a week until gun season

It's less than a week until deer gun season here in the good old Buckeye State. It's my favorite time of the year...better than Christmas.

Though I've had good success in archery season this year, my real love is gun season.

Since Ohio is a shotgun-only state, I'm left with a choice between a few guns for opening day. I've got a scoped Remington 1100 that shoots 3-4" groups at 100 yards, a Marlin bolt action slug gun and an 11-pound H&R "Super Slugger," also complete with scope. I think the weighty one is the most accurate (with the rifled barrel drilled from a 10-gauge barrel blank) but I like the idea of the quick followup shots from the 1100. The synthetic-stocked 1100 is also a lot lighter to carry the 3/4 mile back to my stand.

I like the new Winchester Partition Gold slugs, though at $11 for a box of 5, they're a little pricey. You can't argue with a Partition bullet and 1900 fps from a shotgun slug, though. It also makes you wonder how Ohio can persist in this shotgun-only lunacy - you're allowed to use shotgun slugs going 1900 fps, muzzleloaders which are clocking 2700 fps, but are prohibited from using rifles (many of which are under those speeds.) Of course my own favorite deer rifle, a stainless, wood-stocked Weatherby Mark V in .257 Weatherby, is checking in at around 4,000 fps.

Time to clean the guns and pack the gear bag - deer season opens Monday.