 Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
#162292
08/31/2015 9:05 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80
Coyote50
OP
journeyman
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OP
journeyman
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80 |
The first time I took a handgun big game hunting I took a T/C Encore pistol in 500 S&W along with my rifle. I told myself anything inside 75 yards (was in a stand with a rail) and I'll use the handgun anything longer I'll use the rifle. Well a little buck shows up right about at 65 yards give or take a few (no range finder at that time). I had never hunted big game with a handgun at the time so even though I know it would have been an easy shot I used my rifle. I guess I sort of had an epiphany that day that to truly commit to using a handgun for big game I have to leave the rifle at home. Now living in a different state with goofy antler laws and a million GMUs each with different regulations I find myself hunting deer in the early archery season so I can get meat in the freezer again. Last year my wife and I each ate tag soup. To clarify the modern firearms season is three points on one side or bigger to be legal, early archery is the same but antlerless deer are also legal. It's hard where I hunt to even find a legal buck let alone take one with a handgun. I wish they would allow handgun hunting during the muzzleloader season and just call it "alternate methods" or something.Perhaps I'll give elk and bear a rip with a handgun if I get a deer in the freezer.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162293
08/31/2015 11:51 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 117
rob-c
member
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member
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 117 |
I love archery have been doing it for many years, gun hunting was getting boring and easy even with my 870. so last year it was archery and pistol from now on. shot my first deer with my Blackhawk last year now I look forward to gun just as much as archery.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: rob-c]
#162295
09/01/2015 1:58 AM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556
junebug
Gun Slinger
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Gun Slinger
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556 |
At some point you have to commit and leave the rifle at home, even if for only half the season or for a weekend . You bowhunt so use your bowhunting stands and methods.If not succesful on deer with your handgun, think I would try a hog hunt or two before I tackled bear or elk just to get your feet wet so to speak.Tag soup does taste awful but most of us have had it at one time or another.Good Luck to you and your wife this season!
Bow season starts here the 5th of Sept.
junebug
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: junebug]
#162320
09/01/2015 3:12 PM
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 246
Spencer
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 246 |
I too have committed to bow and handgun only. Even when still hunting. The only time I use my shotgun is when we do drives on the last day of the season.
NRA life member
Let's go make some memories
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162330
09/01/2015 5:30 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,669
Chance Weldon
Distinguished Expert
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Distinguished Expert
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,669 |
I sort of had an epiphany that day that to truly commit to using a handgun for big game I have to leave the rifle at home. ^This.^ Like you, I'm trying to challenge myself to leave the rifle at home for the entirety of the deer season. I came close last year, but eventually fell back on a rifle towards the end of the season. This year will be different. I've practiced to ranges far beyond what I was comfortable with last year. More importantly, in case I can't get within close enough range for my 460 revolver, I'll have the 300 Win Mag Encore to back me up. This year, the rifles stay home. Come on, November 21st!
Formerly TN Lone Wolf
"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." - J.K. Rowling
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162332
09/01/2015 5:32 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,669
Chance Weldon
Distinguished Expert
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Distinguished Expert
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,669 |
I wish they would allow handgun hunting during the muzzleloader season and just call it "alternate methods" or something. Oh, I'd love that. Our muzzleloader season starts two weeks before gun season, and it tends to overlap with the majority of the rut. I can't even begin to count how many deer I've had within handgun range during muzzleloader season.
Formerly TN Lone Wolf
"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." - J.K. Rowling
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Chance Weldon]
#162337
09/01/2015 6:40 PM
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Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 860
karl
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 860 |
I'll be in the stand this fall with my 30-30 contender, my buddy will be using my shotgun while his son uses his, so there won't be other options. I've been putting in lots of range time and even done some shooting with the Contender and a 17 HMR barrel from the stand just to get a feel of things and check my precision from field shooting positions. This will be my first time hunting with a handgun (excluding p-dogs with the 17 barrel) and I'm getting excited. It helps that longest shots one could expect to make in the area are ~100-150 yards.
So much more fun getting ready for dear season then last year when I was using the required shotgun with slugs. When was the last time you went to the range and sent 50 slugs down range for deer hunting practice  I just loaded up another hundred practice rounds last night.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: karl]
#162339
09/01/2015 6:48 PM
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Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 312
SEAK
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 312 |
Just sell all your rifles and get another handgun.
Enjoying to circle of life
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: SEAK]
#162341
09/01/2015 7:07 PM
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 6,963
KRal
Shootist
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Shootist
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 6,963 |
Just sell all your rifles and get another handgun. I like your way of thinking. 
It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but only 3 for proper trigger squeeze.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: KRal]
#162359
09/02/2015 1:34 AM
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,048
wvhitman
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,048 |
No rifle since 1978. Never regretted it for a second.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: wvhitman]
#162375
09/02/2015 2:54 AM
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Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 601
PsTaN
addict
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addict
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 601 |
I've been handgun hunting for the last 2 years with my Glock20. During that time I've hunted rifle/black powder maybe 4 times. My issue was I wanted a little more range and thump when the rut hits here in SW Alabama during January. Well, I solved that problem with my Super Blackhawk Hunter. The Ruger will be my constant companion from here on out .... Least until another big bore pistol comes to my collection.
PsTaN
-Smith & Wesson Model 69
-Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter
-Encore Pro Hunter
"Hold your horses, the elephants are coming, and out stamped Alabama"
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: PsTaN]
#162376
09/02/2015 2:59 AM
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Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 3,006
Zee
Shooting Expert
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Shooting Expert
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 3,006 |
There are too many guns in this world to limit myself to one type. I pretty much like them all.
"To Hell with efficiency, it's performance we want!" - Elmer Keith
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Zee]
#162386
09/02/2015 8:21 AM
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Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,209
REDHAWK1954
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 2,209 |
My hunting is focused on Whitetail deer here in North Carolina. I have killed mature bucks with bow, rifle and muzzleloader but only does and young bucks with my revolvers.
My goal this year is to kill a mature buck with one of my hunting handguns. I plan to hunt with both my Blackhawk 357 mag, Redhawk 44 mag and my new CVA OPTIMA V2 muzzleloader pistol. I may carry my rifle on a few hunts on my son's hunting club because he has asked me to but plan to carry one of these handguns only any other time.
Michael Joe Moore
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: REDHAWK1954]
#162392
09/02/2015 12:44 PM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,512
Ernie
Distinguished Master
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Distinguished Master
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 5,512 |
Not sure if I have ever taken both a rifle and a handgun with me for big game.
I have taken both a revolver and a SP with me for flat land hunting.
In the mountains, I only have one on my person when hunting.
When I choose a weapon, I am content to use use and accept it's limits.
Ernie the Un-Tactical 
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Ernie]
#162397
09/02/2015 1:44 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 4,669
Chance Weldon
Distinguished Expert
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Distinguished Expert
Joined: Sep 2013
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You know, toward the end of last season, I decided to take a rifle along with my 460. Got this buck on December 31st.  Guess which weapon I used. Hint: it wasn't the 460. It was a win-lose situation. On one hand, venison is venison. On the other hand, I'm now three and a half years into handgun hunting without a single handgun kill to my credit. Although, to be fair, I would have ended my gun season without any kill at all had I not taken the rifle. To this day, there's no way I could make a 280 yard shot with my revolver.
Formerly TN Lone Wolf
"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided." - J.K. Rowling
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Chance Weldon]
#162399
09/02/2015 2:19 PM
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 920
billa
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 920 |
All good comments to an interesting post. Speaking for myself, I made the commitment to handgun hunting at age 20 (1979) due to the added challenge it offered over the rifle. I was a competitive IHMSA shooter at that time and I had confidence in my guns and my skills at the reasonable distances for my style of deer hunting. I had already taken most game with a rifle or shotgun and I desired the extra challenge and enjoyed the novelty of it. I determined that I would rather not kill with a handgun than to make a kill with a rifle. In 1980 I bagged a small 3 point buck with my iron sighted, RSB 44mag - broadside double lung. I was hooked. That little buck was a huge trophy to me and it still is. To me, any game taken with a handgun is a great trophy by my standards. It is how I measure my sport. I truly love hunting with a handgun. Each of us hunt for our own reasons and have our own goals. To each his own as long as you respect the outdoors and truly appreciate every animal that you take. By the way... I like venison, and all other wild game meat. Its a great feeling to fill the freezer.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,... "
Matthew 28:19
Handgun hunter since 1979 - haven't used a rifle since!
HHI member #992, NRA, SCI.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162421
09/02/2015 11:20 PM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 335
S.B.
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 335 |
The first time I took a handgun big game hunting I took a T/C Encore pistol in 500 S&W along with my rifle. I told myself anything inside 75 yards (was in a stand with a rail) and I'll use the handgun anything longer I'll use the rifle. Well a little buck shows up right about at 65 yards give or take a few (no range finder at that time). I had never hunted big game with a handgun at the time so even though I know it would have been an easy shot I used my rifle. I guess I sort of had an epiphany that day that to truly commit to using a handgun for big game I have to leave the rifle at home. Now living in a different state with goofy antler laws and a million GMUs each with different regulations I find myself hunting deer in the early archery season so I can get meat in the freezer again. Last year my wife and I each ate tag soup. To clarify the modern firearms season is three points on one side or bigger to be legal, early archery is the same but antlerless deer are also legal. It's hard where I hunt to even find a legal buck let alone take one with a handgun. I wish they would allow handgun hunting during the muzzleloader season and just call it "alternate methods" or something.Perhaps I'll give elk and bear a rip with a handgun if I get a deer in the freezer. To me anyway, going hunting with only your handgun means you are a handgun hunter. I know some like to carry both but, doesn't that change the equation some? Steve
"The Original Point and Click Interface was a Smith & Wesson."
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: S.B.]
#162467
09/04/2015 12:01 AM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556
junebug
Gun Slinger
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Gun Slinger
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,556 |
I've never felt handicaped by my choice to hunt with a handgun. I have never regreted my decision to hunt this way.
Have deer gotten by me because I couldn't catch up with them as they walked thru the woods with a scoped handgun,hell yes. They won that round,and several more. We eat the deer we kill,but I don't have to kill deer to eat. I'm just a poor working stiff but for what I spend on shooting, gas, license fees, food plots, farm maintinance and all the other stuff that goes into deer hunting. [deer meat is Damn expensive.] I could stay home and eat steak every meal. I hunt with a handgun because I choose to,its who I am. Sometimes I win sometimes the deer do. I'm OK with that.
junebug
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: junebug]
#162480
09/04/2015 1:10 AM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80
Coyote50
OP
journeyman
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OP
journeyman
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80 |
Well I dropped a doe with a bow opening day so there is meat in the freezer for sure. This means that any other hunts I do this year I will take only a handgun.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162482
09/04/2015 1:23 AM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 9,608
s4s4u
Shootist
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Shootist
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 9,608 |
Well I dropped a doe with a bow opening day so there is meat in the freezer for sure. This means that any other hunts I do this year I will take only a handgun. Congrat's! I wish we had that luxury, but it's been 1 deer per year lately regardless of method.
Rod, too.
Short cuts often lead to long recoveries.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: s4s4u]
#162497
09/04/2015 4:21 AM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80
Coyote50
OP
journeyman
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OP
journeyman
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 80 |
It is one deer here as well but I still have an elk tag, bear tag and cougar tag as well as an invitation to deer hunt with a buddy in the next state over.
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Coyote50]
#162501
09/04/2015 10:35 AM
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 246
Spencer
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 246 |
Wow, one deer a year. I feel fortunate. I can get a buck with the firearm, A buck and doe or two doe with bow/muzzleloader, and I also have two DMP (deer management or doe permits) for a total of 5. So can my son and daughter. We can also sign over their DMP's to another person. I travel down my valley to town and in late winter when the deer start to yard up. it's 5 miles down the west side of the valley and of course 5 miles back the east side. we would count 200 deer in the farm fields when we did the 10 mile loop around the valley.
NRA life member
Let's go make some memories
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Re: Commiting to a Handgun When Hunting
[Re: Spencer]
#162513
09/04/2015 6:34 PM
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,155
Gregg Richter
Distinguished Expert
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Distinguished Expert
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,155 |
I enjoy hunting with all types of weapons, (bow, revolver, single shot, cross bow and rifle) and have taken deer and elk with all of them except the crossbow and antelope with all of them except crossbow and bow... And I enjoy black powder rifle and pistol for elk as well...
When I choose one and go hunting with it, I am happy because I am hunting and I accept whatever happens.
However it has been many many years since I have used the CF rifle on anything other than coyotes and other varmints...
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