Oh I had to kinda walk the bullet up to the dog. It was not my intention to imply any great prowess. But, I'm getting better.

Practice makes perfect. Dogging is a great way to practice with reactive targets. Take your 44 dogging too! When you connect it tends to be spectacular. Post some pics!

Good to hear you're back at it. It can definitely take a while to build enough confidence to take a big game animal with it. Heck, it took me years to finally connect on anything other than a paper target with a pistol.

I'm nit really a lurked since I posted s bunch when I first got into handgun hunting, but have been pretty quiet since then - just reading and learning. Cant wait for hunting season to start- going to try and get an iron sight deer with my EAA 10mm.

Besides the 10, I have a CVA .243 pistol and a Ruger SRH 454.

I guess I am a lurker,I love to read your stories,I just don't respond much,I joined Back in 2008,stopped hunting for a few years,going to hunt squirrel and white tail this fall,you guys are the only people I know that handgun hunt,any suggestions on how to get any of my hunting friends to try handgun hunting,they think I'm crazy, thanks

Ha, I've been the lone handguner in our deer camp 100% for more than 2 decades and they still think I'm crazy.....

I've never gotten to take anything big with a handgun, just smaller stuff that would maybe be considered pests. However I've had a love for big bore revolvers for a good number of years and I've had .41's, .44's, 45 Colts, 454's a 500 S&W once but my only big bore revolver now is one I just recently purchased, a 6" BFR .475L/480R.

I don't get to hunt much, but hopefully one day I'll be successful and get to go hunting more. I like reading on here not only to learn, but to live vicariously through you guys like in some alternate reality, I got to hunt more.

Handgun hunting is not for everyone.It takes a large amount of determination and perseverance to become proficient with a handgun.For every round my son and I, and most of the people on here fire at game several thousand practice rounds go down range.We love to shoot and do so year round to stay proficient.About all you can do is show people that you are dedicated,serious, and confidant with your choice of firearm and let the results speak for themselves.

Very well said.

On 2 days this week I went shooting with my SBH just fine tuning zero and checking a new load. Last week I was doing the same with my Glock 20 ... next week it's Encore's turn. A trip to the camp to shoot is an awesome day!!

I honestly believe I'm the only dedicated Handgun Hunter in this county. In fact, I've had more than one situation where I was asked point blank "are you really killing those good deer with a pistol?" A guy told my Step-Dad he'd let me shoot at him at 100 yards with just a pistol ... to which my Step-Dad responded "you really don't want to do that!" LOL

I honestly believe I'm the only dedicated Handgun Hunter in this county. In fact, I've had more than one situation where I was asked point blank "are you really killing those good deer with a pistol?" A guy told my Step-Dad he'd let me shoot at him at 100 yards with just a pistol ... to which my Step-Dad responded "you really don't want to do that!" LOL [/quote]

People are always skeptical about things they know nothing about. Offer to take him shooting ,then show him what pistols are capable of doing.Have a good friend who had a warped stock on his rifle and could not get it sighted in. He swore up and down it was not the problem. I stuck a paper match between barrel and stock and in three shots with him shooting convinced him. He believed you couldn't hit at extended range with a handgun either. Three or four shots at 150 yds. and he just said damn! I didn't believe you. Now he doesn't question why I always hunt with a pistol. Some people you just have to show to get the point across.

Same here. I love the looks I get when I bring a deer to the check in station and mention I got it with a handgun.

It is plumb foolish that some "uneducated" people think that we are "stuntmen." Yet they don't think twice about folks that hunt with a "stick and string."

Yet, what is kinda funny is that some of those outrageous "hollywood" handgun shots they see made on the bad guys seem to be believable!

Hello,
Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. Ruger has staked their notoriety on building extreme, dependable guns at a sensible cost throughout recent years. ... You can't show signs of improvement support on strength than yet, maybe shockingly, the Super Blackhawk (SBH) isn't simply intense, it can likewise be super enjoyable to shoot!

Guncritic
https://www.guncritic.com/

In the right hands you have all the practical range of a rifle in a package that weighs half as much and is more fun to shoot and carry what's not to love? Lol

Where I hunt here in Ohio I have to intentionally set myself up to shoot over 150 yards anyway unless we got a decent snow on

That's true in a lot of locations here in Pennsylvania as well. Most of the places I hunt rarely offer a shot much past 100 yards - ideal places for handgun hunting in my opinion.

I have discovered the same thing about my shooting distances here in the Missouri Ozarks.
My stand behind the house on the lease has a maximum shot of about 115 yards.
My stand on the South West side of the property has a maximum range of again around 115 yards.
The stand on the South East side of the property my brother hunts has a maximum range of 135 yards.
The wife's Platform Stand on the North East side of the property has a maximum range of probably 250 yards, but you would be shooting back towards the house, and the small lot we put the horses in during deer season. That puts us back to around 150 yards as the maximum in a direction safe to shoot.

I stay amazed how limited most people you encounter think you are with a handgun. I shot a couple rounds at the 200 yard steel in front of a couple rifle shooters the other day. I asked if they could see where I hit. One of them said he saw dust fly below the target, and thought I hit the bottom of the steel with the other shot. I did not think so. I took a couple paint cans down range and repainted the target. When I looked at the target two new splash marks were in the center. After repainting I made one more shot in front of the rifle shooters on the 200 yard target. At the shot the RED Dot went BLACK. I then moved to the 300 yard steel and dinged it twice in the center.

I handgun hunter off and on for years. I have several nice rifles that I liked to hunt with also. That was the reason for the off and on. I started with Contenders in the early 1990's. My first deer barrel was a 7x30 Waters. Then Mark Hampton ordered me a 6.5X30 JDJ, and a 375 JDJ from his friend JD Jones at SSK. Then I picked up my 35 Bullberry barrel from Bullberry Barrel Works. I am now on my second 480 Ruger Super RedHawk. Then we have the CVA Optima Muzzle Loader and a Scout 357 Maximum, and another 357 Maximum Contender barrel.

Then I decided to go bigger and got an Encore Action, then a 260 Remington BullBerry barrel and a 7.62x54R MGM barrel.

Now my problem is deciding which handgun and barrel to hunt with. I have not taken a rifle out in years. I had to decide that I was a handgun hunter, and hunt only with handguns. Thinking back over all the years of deer hunting. Very few deer were taken with a rifle that I could not NOW have made that shot with a handgun.

I really like spending a couple months before season giving the handguns a real work out. Working up loads, casting bullets, etc. You can get way more enjoyment from your hunting handguns than just hunting with them a few days. Then we have hunting site preparations, work on stands, etc. that is also part of the hunting experience.

We like to hear about your hunting preparation. Food Plots, Stands, Rests, Reloading, Wildcats. You name it we enjoy reading about it if it involves handgun hunting.

The better written the story, and the more details given the better. Your hunting story's are even better when we can visualize the hunt from the story you write. We are not all natural writers like Mark Hampton, but give it a try you will keep getting better with your stories.

Bob R

I am new to this site but not to handgun hunting. I'm 67 years old and been handgun shooting and hunting for years. I've hunted deer, groundhogs, crows, fox, coyotes, etc. Never joined a site before but this one seems different. Nobody seems to think they are an expert on every aspect of hunting and reloading like I've seen in others. People seem to want to help and encourage others. Howdy to y'all !

Welcome RAW. I think you described this group very well.

Typo I was talking to RSW.

RSW: I HAVE INCREASED MY KNOWLEDGE IN MANY WAYS ON THIS FORUM.

I only joined a few months ago and found this place to AWESOME. Great folks that are willing to share their knowledge with no pretense whatsoever. I have learned a bunch and hopefully have provided info to help others as well. You will be hard pressed in this day and age of the "social media quagmire" to find a better bunch of folks sharing and caring about what they love to do.

Just my 2 cents

Time to give this thread a bump, and come out of the shadows. I have lurked here for a couple years, and still lurked after registering a couple months ago. C'mon lurkers join me with all the rest here.

I'm a major lurker! I've probably been lurking here for about 10 years. I really enjoy reading the post and successfull hunts. I'll never be able to do some of the hunts that you all do; However, I like living vicariously through all of you. I'm a reloader, I load rifle and handgun cartridges. I've never killed an animal, other than rimfire, with factory ammo, I reload all my stuff.

I've been handgun hunting all my life, mostly small game. I was raised hunting snowshoe hares with beagles since I was 8, I'm 37 now. I do most of my hare hunting with a Ruger 22/45 and a ruger single ten. I don't take enough pictures. But here are some with my best beagle tank. These were shot with my 4 inch single ten, the one I'm pointing at was an eye shot at 30 yards.
https://i.postimg.cc/5tMQspc9/48982a03-874f-458a-b2a8-ad1588d42f8f.png

https://i.postimg.cc/zGhRw6cP/c44bef55-1758-47de-a268-6f47198548ff.png

I've also had some luck with predator hunting with a handgun.
This is a bobcat that I called and shot with my ruger 22/45 at about 15 yards in the right eye.

https://i.postimg.cc/ryhWqS4g/FB-IMG-1551973977911.jpg

This next one even though it was a very sick coyote, was blind in both eyes and full of porcupine quills. This is my best bragging shot. I called it In and yes hit on first shot, i was in prone position, and coyote was shot through the shoulders at 105 yards, ranged it with finder after it was dead, with my 40 s&w 180 grain gold dots reloads,Glock 27. I was probably very lucky but I'll take it!
https://i.postimg.cc/QxwTTh0T/FB-IMG-1551974220832.jpg

I've shot bigger moose with my rifle but this is my only big game kill with a handgun. A small bull but shot on last day at 12 yards with my M29-3 8 3/8" using 240 grain xtp reloads. Only weighed 700 lbs but what a rush. If I get drawn this year my next Maine moose will be with a handgun again. Hit him in the neck dropped in his tracks.
https://i.postimg.cc/CLz85zH0/FB-IMG-1551973791274.jpg

I'm still after my first Maine buck with a handgun hope it goes 200lbs be my third patch if I do.

Don't know how often I'll post but I'm always lurking. Great forum and cool group of Joe's.

I've done my share of lurking, I just recently joined the forum. I used to belong to HHI back in the 90's when I first got the handgun bug. I enjoyed reading "The Sixgunner" and now I enjoy reading everything on the forum. Most of my hunting is whitetails here in NY, and the occasional black bear. However I did make it to Alaska to hunt caribou with my FA 454, and my 305gr BRP handloads.. I began my handgun hunting with a Smith 629, 8 3/8" bbl. But that was just the beginning because pistols are like potato chips, can't have just one. After that I had John Linebaugh build a 45 with bowen rear sight and an Elmer Keith front sight with gold bars, then a FA 454 topped with a 2x Leupold, 20 years later I added a Glock 20, 10mm topped with an RMR. Now I got bit again and I found out that MR's BFR are now being made in 500 Linebaugh, always wanted one of those, but they were a little steep for me going the custom route. So, I now have one on order so hopefully in 2-3 months that should be coming in. That will be topped with an Ultra dot Matchdot II.