I' ve hunted with an ar15 in 450 bushmaster the last several season's in Ohio . Currently I'm building a 350 legend upper that will hopefully be ready for this year. As far as triggers the geissele ssa-e is the best I've used but the rock river varmint and the Schmitt nickel boron two stage are...
I also use the eberlestock recon and its been a fantastic harness. If you decide to add some pouches later
you have a very modular system to work with .
I have a badlands diablo vt that ive used in that role for a few years now and i love it . It has a lot of pockets to keep your gear organized and has a internal frame that keeps the pack off your back for air flow . The regular price is $289 but discounts can be found , I think I paid around...
I've been using an ar15 in 450 bushmaster the last several years for whitetails. I built the gun myself and i've never weighed it, currently its wearing a leupold 3 - 9 . I enjoy hunting with it and i'd say my only complaint would be when its down below freezing that aluminium forend sure gets cold.
The deer are not comfortable with your set up , try to move it into an area with more cover around it and they're more likely to start hitting it in daylight . Also like stated above try to find how they're getting to the corn and hunt the travel routes leading to it.
I have had a leupold vx II 3-9 on my tc encore ml for 7 years now and it has held zero so far. I cant say i was in a situation yet where 3 power on the low end was to much magnification .
I hunted for years with slug guns in ohio until they finally changed the law to include straight wall as well. In my experience the single shot guns were the most accurate such as the tc encore and h&r . I will say i'm more confident taking a 200 yard shot with my ml then any of the slug guns i...