I've taken a few deer that would have been impossible to kill without a shotgun. Sometimes when hunting a piece of thick property that is holding deer the hunting pressure can make them go nocturnal. If we don't stir them up they stay bedded until after dark.
My brother and I will take turns doing man drives. The stander gets up in a high spot overlooking the exit we predict the deer will take. You can take a rifle too but you had better be holding the shotgun and be ready. The deer come out like lightning bolts and if you are holding anything other than a shotgun the odds are way against you.
