Quote Originally Posted by JimmyHAD View Post

One more comes to mind... Greg LeMond had won a Tour De France and was hunting when a family member mistook him for a deer. He shot him in the stomach with a 12ga deer slug. Not only did LeMond survive but he came back to win the Tour 2 more times.
They were turkey hunting and it was bird shot. He still has 37 pellets in his body. If it was deer slugs he wouldn't be around.

All calibres have pros and cons, there is no best calibre if there was there would only be one.

Best advice is get a gun you like and enjoy shooting, that way it will hopefully encourage you to practice and practice lots, because the stopping power of a missed shot is nothing.