As mentioned, disagree on the learning and it making you a better hunter.
It wouldn't take long before the misses would have you quitting.
My perspective doesn't change, in that for a one gun battery I would come up with something other than the .410. Dad started me with and old SxS 12Ga something that reliably worked and a German 98 8mm, that he worked out a stock for. Got two bangs max out of the shotgun and 3 or 4 out of the 98. We didn't sneak up on much other than Squirrels. Rabbits were taken on the run and Pheasants on the fly-who would have thunk, that could be any kind of learning curve
- behind a neighbors pack of Beagles. Deer were everywhere at the time and the 98 was an excellent option for sneaking up on them. Although the truth was it wasn't all that hard, because practice was easy, repetitive and frequently successful. All three being basic to learning.
To answer your question: A beater Ithaca 37 16gauge.
I did my share of missing and I didn't quit, so that doesn't hold water, so to speak.
I admitted that the .410 wasn't the best shotgun, but that's what I had, so I had to learn to use it. And I'll say it again..... I think I'm a better hunter because of it.
We too sneaked up on squirrels, ran rabbits with dogs and sneaked up on them, hunted quail with a dog or walked them up, sneaked up on ducks and jumped them up, dont have pheasants, and didn't have deer until I was 13 yrs old. By the time we had a deer season, 3 whole days that first year, killing one wasn't that hard..... sat still, be patient, and be quiet. Didn't have to take a 100 yd shot with a rifle, didn't have a rifle, so I used what I had and it worked fine. Dead is dead.
I would have liked to have had a pump shotgun. I could have went Bang-Bang-Bang and bought a lot more shells. But, I had a .410 and I learned to make my one shot count, most of the time.
