Karam is one of the few shotgunners in his group who uses a scope. He feels that it's been instrumental in improving his kill ratio. "I admit, with open sights shooting at moving deer like we often do in a drive, there's a tendency to pull the trigger whenever anything brown gets close to the front sight," he said. "It's not easy to find a moving deer in thick timber when you're using a scope. But when you finally get on it, it's because you're actually on target and aiming, and not just waving the end of the gun in the general direction of the deer."

Karam acknowledges that his scope offers the potential for long-range accuracy, but opts to sight his gun to be dead-on at 50 yards. "That's the average shot we'll take in the timber, so there's no point in having it zeroed out to 100 yards," he said. "I practice ahead of the season and have a good idea of how high to hold if I'm shooting at more than 50 yards."

SECOND CHANCE FOR SHOTGUNNERS
The shotgun is the weapon of choice for many hunters because of the camaraderie associated with the traditional block-and-drive tactics employed during our two primary shotgun seasons. Groups of hunters who hate to give up that fellowship have a second chance to travel to southern and northeastern Iowa to use shotguns during our special January bonus season.

Iowa's special January bonus antlerless season runs through the first part of January in several northeastern counties and most of the southern two tiers of counties. You can buy tags to hunt antlerless deer with shotguns, muzzleloaders and centerfire rifles.

"That late season is actually one of the good times to hunt in public areas down here," said IDNR wildlife biologist Chad Paup. "All the crops are out of the fields, it's colder, and deer move into those public areas because the public wildlife areas have better cold-weather habitat. There aren't as many guys hunting, too, so it's a good time to use a shotgun from a blind or stand and hunt solo.

"A lot of people get all excited about the chance to use centerfire rifles during that late season. But if the truth be known, a lot of guys come down and use their shotguns. It's tough to beat a shotgun for deer hunting in the sort of terrain that Iowa has."

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
To contact Rodney Hughes at Midwest USA Outfitters, call 1-888-530-8492, or go to the Web site www.midwestusaoutfitters.com.