KRal
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,030
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Post by KRal on Jun 24, 2023 9:49:19 GMT -5
I prefer taking game with a handgun. I was also an avid bow hunter for many years, but lately, I save all my opportunities for handguns - it just stirs my soul. I haven’t used a rifle is 33 years.
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Post by sixshot on Jun 24, 2023 12:28:19 GMT -5
I can't ever remember a time when I didn't have a bow, they were always recurves, from the time I was little up until 10-15 years ago when I sold my 78 lb. Black Widow. It was getting impossible to hunt, it had turned into a track meet because my part of Idaho had been turned into a favorite spot for Utah & Washington hunters. Can't blame them but I just gave it up. I had gave up rifles long before that, hunting with a rifle was like kissing your sister, the challenge had been gone for a long time so the Ruger #1's & customs were sold & it was handguns only & the old spark came back. Living in a hunters paradise it was always easy to find game, plus I was an hour from Wyoming, just over an hour from Utah (pay back) 2 hours from Montana, and I could hunt deer, antelope & elk in 4 states every year if if I wanted to. Utah being the exception on elk. But I could make up for it with fishing!! I'm only 3 hours from Nevada but getting a tag there is pretty tough, even for residents many times so I don't go there but they have some awesome deer there. Since I almost always carry 2 revolvers I usually have the bases covered, having a 41,44 or 45 on the belt or in a Barranti chest rig & then I usually have my scoped 357 Maximum, the best deer hunting revolver ever for long range deer, sticking out of my backpack. Lately it has been the Miha 357 Carbine HP scoring all the touchdowns but last year it was the excellent Bradshaw/Martin bullet weighing 194 grs with my alloy that did the trick at (I think) 143 yds. Regardless of what you use, trust yourself to leave the rifle home & make it happen with a six gun, it's a great feeling for sure & if you need a few cast bullets to get started send me a PM & I'll ship you some of Callshot's, he has plenty!
Dick
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Post by bigbrowndog on Jun 24, 2023 13:47:40 GMT -5
Eggs zakly, you don’t NEED a rifle for 100+ yard shots just a good gun, good load, good rest and good skills
Trapr
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Post by parallaxbill on Jun 24, 2023 15:19:59 GMT -5
"LEAVE YOUR LONG GUNS AT HOME!" In my area, this is a good subscription to only seeing 125 yard deer. Take a long gun suitable to that and you only see 25 yard deer. OR, have a newer acquisition that you want to "blood" and you don't see anything at all, at any distance. I've two that have that malady, for several years now. What can I say, other than it started with city folks around here and as long as they try to deer hunt, it continues to be like that. That's been my experience with a very few exceptions in 38 years of deer hunting.
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Post by cas on Jun 24, 2023 16:18:00 GMT -5
I try to take at least one deer a decade, with what doesn't even enter into it.
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Post by parallaxbill on Jun 24, 2023 17:08:00 GMT -5
I like hunting deer with whatever and usually something different each trip whether rifle handgun or crossbow. All are satisfying in their own right. Same with the shooting matches that I participate in regularly.
Here in South Carolina we can take 5 bucks and 5 does in the upstate and our season runs from September 15th through January 1st, so there are many opportunities although I rarely kill more than 3 deer, which provide all our needs for the year.
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Post by leftysixgun on Jun 24, 2023 17:39:17 GMT -5
I am wanting to try and take my first handgun deer with my .45 colt blackhawk this year. I’ve got my load worked out and have been practicing. I can’t wait to see what the results are like!! It’s kind of difficult to find videos of anyone deer hunting with a “plain ole” 45 colt revolver. Hahaha, I dont know what bullet you are shooting but you shouldnt be disappointed with your first handgun deer with a good ole 45colt! It does a fantastic job! Even at the old blackpowder velocity levels of yester-year! VERY under rated cartridge. Send me a PM of your specific 45colt load and gun.Id like to know what youre shooting.
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Post by leftysixgun on Jun 24, 2023 17:45:21 GMT -5
I do more coyote hunting than deer hunting, so still use a rifle. But, I do enjoy taking game with a handgun! Whether it be squirrel, rabbit, deer, hog, ground hog, etc. I prefer to use a handgun, but sometimes and the given situation dictates a rifle. And, there are some rifles I own that I still really enjoy....mostly “old school” stuff.
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Post by jfs on Jun 24, 2023 20:20:36 GMT -5
***** marlin35.... your operative word is PRACTICE. In this realm there is no such thing as “plinking.” Sight time and trigger time are serious business. Style of hunting, environment & terrain, and skill factor huge. Stand hunting----ambush style----hunting doesn’t require the stamina and marksmanship skill, nor woodcraft of pursuit hunting----still or tracking----which involves decisive offhand skill. Man is a better ambush predator than pursuit predator. Take a few cues from the bow hunting, pretty much exclusively an ambush game. But di not shirk offhand practice. David Bradshaw "sight time and trigger time are serious business"... Remember trying to put a finisher into a blesbok that was stock still about 20 yards after my first shot and jerked the trigger causing the bullet to hit 10 feet in front of me when the PH looked at me and said "you missed".... I could have crawled into a mongoose hole..... Sight picture, trigger squeeze and breath control.... These words were passed onto to me from a old time handgun hunter...
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brant
.30 Stingray
Posts: 343
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Post by brant on Jun 25, 2023 9:12:07 GMT -5
I have places to hunt that I use a rifle only and others that I use handguns only. I do consider a successful handgun hunt special but I am a rifleman to the bone.
You may be surprised at my rifle only spots. Maximum shot is about 40 yards. Small clearing in a horrible thicket. I don’t want to have to track or recover a deer in that mess. I have blinds made of natural materials with permanent shooting rests. These places I will only take a 40 yards or less standing still neck shot with a rifle that I know shoots to the spot at that range. If those conditions aren’t met, I don’t shoot. Last year I got an 8pt with my cva 44 magnum with my wife watching. He never took a step. She was tickled!
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Post by boolitdesigner on Jun 27, 2023 14:53:43 GMT -5
You guys that don't need a rifle need to try shooting thru heavy cover.... no holes to shoot thru unless you can see the hole (it's not visible to the naked eye or low power scopes). We have all kinds of terrain here and can have long open shots and some you can't shoot thru.... very close together to each other. Just where the deer decides to loiter is unpredictable too.
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Post by bisleyfan41 on Jun 27, 2023 16:25:32 GMT -5
Hunted with handguns since I was 12, shooting various yard varmints with Pop's Blackhawk and .38 wadcutters. Been deer hunting with handguns exclusively since about 1994 or so.
Since then, I've been fortunate enough to get at least 1 deer per year with a variety handguns. Usually get 2 or 3; most in a single season was 6. That was a one-off depredation hunt on a farm that was overwhelmed.
This doesn't include the various foxes, raccoons, groundhogs, rabid possums,feral pets, and a crow or 3.
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Post by LeverGunner on Jun 27, 2023 21:52:55 GMT -5
I've not taken a deer with a handgun yet. I have hunted some with my 44 Special Blackhawk. Last year, on the last day of gun season, I had my handgun in hand, and was walking slowly down the jeep trail that goes to the back of my land. I sensed something and looked to my right. There were 2 does standing there, probably about 20 yards. I considered quickly whether to take a one handed shot, which I know I could have made, but I elected to take a step backwards in order to make my position more favorable and take a 2 handed shot. When I stepped, the does scatters and I didn't get a shot. I have regretted not taking that one handed shot, because I am practiced enough I can make such a shot... oh well, I'll get more chances. It was a heck of a fun day and hunt. Probably a better story like this than if I'd gotten one clean on handed.
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Post by Big Bore on Jun 28, 2023 5:55:45 GMT -5
I’m a 99.99% handgun hunter. Still own a few rifles, mainly levers, but never hunt with them. But…I’ll never say never in terms of hunting with one again. I’ll also not make any apologies for how we primarily hunt in Texas (box blinds/feeders), but I’ll also concede it isn’t a challenge to ‘tag out’ with my handguns every year.
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jgt
.327 Meteor
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Posts: 782
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Post by jgt on Jun 28, 2023 6:33:11 GMT -5
I have always loved handguns and it has been my primary weapon for most of my life. Revolvers were the first custom guns I commissioned built. But, I will never rid myself of the rifles I do own. I have a couple of bolt actions and the rest are lever actions. With eyesight beginning to wain as the years go by, I am now dependent on scoped firearms to hunt with. For me a handgun with a scope is unwieldy enough to choose a scoped rifle instead. I am not knocking those that like them, I just take a different path.
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