They look nasty, to be sure. But they are very shallow and almost always non-lethal. Hunting hares in Michigan, it was always fun when one would pop up right under your feet and make a break for it. Often we'd hit them in the head at a distance of five yards or under. IIRC, we'd use about a #4 or #6 bird shot on them, and it would only take the near side of the bunny's head off. The back side would still be intact.
Not impressive, not enough to reliably put someone down. Buckshot, slugs or don't bother.
You should check out some decent electronic muffs. They've got two microphones (sometimes more), one on each side, so they're stereo. If you turn them up, they work like a hearing aid (so you can double-up on hearing protection and still hear range commands). If we ever meet up at the range, I'll let you try my Howard Leights (can be had as cheap as $40) and you can decide for yourself.
They're in your house when they should know that you're there, too. I'll avoid it if possible, but I'm an "assume the worst" kind of guy.
