So I will be primarily hunting in the north woods of wisconsin. Mostly deer and coyotes. I'm lucky if I find a clearing longer than 100 yards. The short barrel will be for ease of carrying as the woods are very thick.

From the articles I've read, .308 hardly loses velocity per inch cut. And since my shots will be so close, I seriously doubt the minimal loss of velocity from a short barrel will matter.

But more importantly, I love the look of carbines so I would like to have one.

As for the noise, we use electronic ear protection and since we hunt from the loft of my garage it won't be an issue. We've shot .308 strikers at tagets without any issues with noise (to us).