first was a 8 point whitetail at 80 yards with 14in contender in 35rem 200 gr round nose with a tasco pro point red dot. that was back in the early 90's. even mounted the deer still have head on wall today.

First big game was a hog with an S & W Model 27 8 3/8" barrel with open sights (wish I could still see that good).

Antelope buck with a TC Contender, Super 14 7mm TCU, Hornady 120 grain spire point at about 125 yards

my first was a 4 pt buck with an iron sighted ruger 44 magnum. my dad said that thing want kill no deer i showed him .I ve loved it every since.

cow elk running at 40or so yards. taurus 454 RB with hornady 240 gr bullets at 2000fps. hit her running away in front of the right ham and she noseplanted and skidded forward and kicked a few times then died. i found the bullet under her hide in front of the brisket in the hide.

Eh, that's pretty much the same answer as me. Except I'm still stuck with the same setup and you've progressed to all the cool toys. LOL
Mike

That was in 1986.
I don't have to put up with all of the restrictions that you do.

I can't remember if it was a squirrel or groundhog, but either way ,they were taken with my Ruger Blackhawk .357 magnum shooting 125 gr. softpoints

A woodchuck with a Dan Wesson 8" VH-shrouded .44 Mag.

The first critter of any significance was back in the mid-80's ... a doe with a newly introduced S&W Mod 657 with an 8 3/8" barrel and iron sights. I was shooting a handload comprised of a Sierra 170 gr JHC and Blue Dot powder producing a MV of about 1550 fps.

Within 10 minutes of that kill I had two more does on the ground. Lots of dragging was done that cold morning and I was hooked on handgun hunting.

my first handgun kill was a little six point buck with a 30-30 contender. It was funny. I shot at him chasing a doe and missed. He came back looking for love in just ten minutes and I didn't miss the second time.

Colt King Cobra 357 magnum, antlerless whitetail deer. Shooting Remington 180 grain bullets.

Whitetail doe, with a T/C Contender chambered in 7-30 Waters, in 1989.

My first kill with a handgun was a 7ft chicken snake that was eating our eggs on my Granny's farm with an old Ruger Bearcat. She still has a picture of me trying to hold that thing up. I think I was maybe 7. I used that same little pistol to dispatch some more pests that kept trying to eat our chickens and eggs.

Coon,coons,and more coons.Traded a 357 Rossi to my uncle for a S&W that was built like a 44mag,but was a 22lr.It was handy trudging through the swamps down here behind hounds.Changed to a smaller single action don't remember brand but it took coons easily.

Big game,doe 357 magnum about 20yards maybe that was 94 or 95.

Groundhog with a Ruger Blackhawk .357. First big game was a whitetail doe with a S&W M57 .41 magnum.

My first animal was a rabbit with a Ruger Goverment Mark II with open sights. My first big game animal was a wild hog at about 40 yards with a Freedom Arms 454 field grade with a 4x Leupold scope.

A 140# boar hog with a M669 Taurus .357 scoped with a Simmons 4x Pro Hunter in '97, I think.

Fox squirrel H&R model 999 22cal

My first animal was a sickly cottontail with a Desert Eagle in 44mag.

First big animal was a white tail doe with a TC Encore in 375-06 JDJ

3 point Oregon black tail buck in 1977. I was hunting rabbits with a Belgian-made Browning Auto 5 shotgun and an iron-sighted 10".357 Herrett Contender in a TC cross-draw holster when I jumped the buck from a brush patch. I drew and made a one-handed (left-handed) uphill running shot at about 25 yards. The load was 25 grains of 4227 and a Sierra 125 gr. JHP, which was intended as a varmint load. Ended up with poison oak on my hands and arms as it dropped from that shot into a big patch of it. The bullet punched a clean hole behind the left shoulder, broke a rib, and exploded into shreds of copper and bits of lead, some of which peppered the offside (right) shoulder. Picking the copper and lead out of the meat when I butchered it was an added bonus to the poison oak. Not hard to remember that one!

Whitetail spike buck
Ruger 44 Bisley open sights
About 40 yds
Factory Winchester siver tip 350 gr Hp.

Oct 29, 2011, Whitetail doe. Ruger SBHH in 44mag with bushnell elite 2-6. Shot was 56yds, and the doe went down right there, using factory loaded hornady 300gr xtp. Im looking for a single six hunter now, to satisfy my small game hunting needs.

November 15, 1995. 3 point Whitetail buck taken with a Ruger SBH .44 magnum wearing a 3x Burris scope. 60 yards with a 240 grain Hornady XTP over a healthy dose of W296.

Squirrel
Jennings J22
probably about ten yards on the fourth or fifth shot.
Winchester bulk ammo.
I was about 14 lucky to hit the squirrel and even luckier to get off more than two shots in the j22 without it stovepiping.

Hi Boot,
I'm up the road from you a piece in Dawsonville. We have squirrl season until the end of Febuary if you want to get together, let me know. I've a few squirrl ready guns if you need one.

Dogsbreath

(Sorry for the thread highjacking)

I was using a 629 and dropped a doe at 50yrds with open sights.

My first handgun kill was some unfortunate bird probably in my back yard about 50+ years ago with my Crossman pump .22 pistol. I remember the load well, it was a .22 Crossman pellet backed by 10 pumps, 2 over recommended, and the shot was taken at 20 to 30 feet. Fortunately for me and my future firearms this tendency to overload the pump did not carry forward to my later power burning firearms!

First small game animal was a woodchuck with my match 1911 shooting a Lyman semi wadcutter in front of 7 gr. of Unique. First big game animal was a doe taken with my 3 screw flattop .44 shooting a bullet I cast from a mold I had made in machining course I was taking. The bullet was a pretty close copy of the RCBS 250 gr Keith bullet and probably pushed by .22 gr. of 296 or H110.

Amazing I can remember those loads but I have been married 43 years and am still not sure of what day of the month we were married on and what what what's her name's birthday is!

Hope she isen't reading over your sholder. :-)