I used to have to same dilemma and as a poor college student in Alaksa I used to carry my heavy Stevens 311 12 bore, and have a light Mosin-Nagant carbine slung on my back. Man that was heavy...

Years later, with less energy and slightly more money I've more on to an old Merkel drilling in 16/16/7x65r. If you want the drilling to handle well the 16s and 20s handle better than the 12s in my limited experience.

Its been my go to gun since I got it!