That’s a really nice gun there. A 45-70 may be a little overkill. I just want to make sure if I hit a buck in a bay situation that it puts a serious hurtin on him……even if I hit him in the hind quarter or the guts. I want it to hit him like a mack truck. I don’t always have a “good” shot on these bay situations and I have to take the shot I’m given once I spot the deer. If the deer sees me and the hunter then they’ll bolt…… so you can’t dilly dally around a lot trying to get a perfect shot. They're dang near always holed up in some kind of thicket too so you may be shooting through briars and saplings. My only concern is the recoil of the 45-70…..I’ve never shot one so I don’t know what to expect. I still want o be accurate with my shooting.

The next thing I’ve got to decide is whether or not I want to mount a reflex style sight on it or just go with iron sights. I think a reflex style sight would be nice but the iron sights are much more fail proof in a situation like this where we’re tracking for miles across swamps and creeks and everything else.