This something I've been working on for the past several months. I would like to wish everyone good luck and let me know if you have any questions. I will be updating the pages as this moves forward.

Handgun Hunter Magazine has established a Handgun Hunter Of The YearTM award and will be presenting it for the first time on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at the Dallas Safari Club's annual convention and expo in Dallas, Texas. Kicking off the "DRUMBEATS" program for 2008, a distinctive bronze statue will be presented to the recipient of the award during the exhibitor's banquet on the first evening of the convention. The individual selected shall be an avid handgun hunter, an active participant in preserving wildlife and habitat through wildlife management activities, a supporter of hunting and shooting sports, and a contributor to the sport of handgun hunting. This award is meant to be achievable by any individual regardless of means. The award judging period shall be for the 18 months prior to the close date. This year the deadline for applications is Dec. 1, 2008. The award period shall cover the time from May 1, 2007 until December 1, 2008.

Handgun Hunter Of The Year Award details

Gary,
I think this is pretty cool.
Thank for your efforts in this area.
I have seen things like this in the past (never knew the details or the process) but I never thought a person would put themselves up for the award.
I assumed I would put a person up I knew for consideration.

Well this one is a little different than most awards - it's not going to be a popularity contest. In part, that's what killed the outstanding american handgunner award of several years ago.

Sounds like a good thing Gary!!

From that perspective, your way of doing it makes a lot of sense.
As mentioned in my first post, I was ignorant of the process and didn't realize it became political.
I appreciate the explanation.

I like the way you set it up, I'm not familiar with the previous award mentioned but it seems like so many awards become political popularity contest as you and xp said. You should have a category for overkill just in case I get charged by another badger this year and smokem with the 475

. lol I figure I'll kill something bigger than a coyote one of these years.

Maybe they will have a category for squirrels or turtles. LOL

only if you use your 358x444

358x444... Isn't that an offhand hummingbird round?
;-D

I'm sorry ptb your right, the 375x444 is the squirrel round, my bad.

By the way, I do think an award like this is a good idea.
I'll be very involved with my daughter and son being first year hunters here in Cheeseland - BUT - will be very interested in the outcome.

Gary,

would you elaborate a little about what happened to the Outstanding Handgunner award? I thought it was still up and going.

in response to ptb on whether or not this is a good idea, I think it can be an excellent tool to bring our sport more into the mainstream but I understand concerns that people have anytime awards are given in relation to hunting but I trust Gary and the panel he has selected to put ethics above all else.

"...put ethics above all else..."

That just about says it all.

I am new to these forums and really am curious as to the answer of my next question.
But wapitirod's statement of "bringing our sport into the mainstream" is interesting to me. Is that the goal?

Welcome aboard and nice to have you here PTB.

Absolutely - that's the reason for the existence of this entire site.

Here is an excerpt from the case study I'm presenting to the industry on this award and I've just added it to the award page online.

Challenge
Handgun hunting has not yet achieved mainstream status like bow hunting or black powder hunting. These other methods of hunting have roots in traditions that span hundreds of years, even though they too have evolved dramatically in the past thirty years. Many persons involved in the shooting sports or hunting by other methods are not aware handgun hunting is a challenging and viable sport.

Handgun hunting is a relatively new sport only becoming highly feasible in the late 50's and early 60's with the introduction of more powerful handguns and cartridges. It wasn't until the 70's and 80's that optics began to catch up with the capabilities of the guns and elevate handguns to the status of a primary hunting firearm as opposed to simply a "back-up" gun or tool used to quickly finish otherwise mortally wounded game from very close range.

Hunting with a handgun is every bit as challenging as hunting with modern archery gear and more challenging than hunting with a modern muzzleloader. Handgun ownership and the popularity of handgun shooting is experiencing dramatic growth. Handgun hunting is a sport on the brink of exploding in popularity if managed properly but one currently suffering from a lack of exposure in the mainstream.

Strategy
Create an annual award program as a way to educate and appeal to a broad audience to promote the sport of handgun hunting as a highly rewarding and challenging, mainstream method of hunting.

And once again Gary is doing a great job at trying to expand the sport of Handgun hunting. Here's to you Gary! Glug Glug Glug!!!

X2

another point on the mainstreaming of our sport is that alot of non hunters and shooters out there see handguns as non essential weapons only used for killing people they do not see the sporting side of handguns whether it be hunting or competitive shooting. I think by mainstreaming the sport and holding ourselves to a higher ethical standard than most we can do alot for not only handgun hunting but hunting and second amendment issues as well.

Gary this is nice, as since I can not hunt with a bow this year, or maybe any other year for that matter, my handgun will serve as my way of the challange I so desired bowhunting. Last year I hunted totally by bow, and will say it was a total challange and what a rush man.

I look forward to all my hunting this year for black bear, whitetail and even my elk with my handgun.

Gary,
I would imagine some of your selection committee would be up for the award themselves.

My guess is some of them do all of their hunting and varminting with handguns.

What Wapitirod wrote is very true and a problem for us. I just had it come up the other day from someone who I had always thought was a pretty reasonable person. The statement they put forth was, "We all know that handguns only have one use and that is murdering people. Self defense numbers can not compare to the murder numbers."
I pointed out that I hunt with a handgun and had him in my office to show him photos from this site and the bragging... oops, I mean testimonial page from MOA guns.
His comment?
"Well there are always isolated cases of misuse of a tool.."

So yes, we have an uphill information battle ahead of us.

ptb

A couple of questions. It states Mule and Whitetail are the only ones that are scored. Does Black Tail fall under Mule deer?
Do the animals taken apply to game animals that are in North America only or is it open to those that can go to Africa and hunt/harvest multiply exotics too? Or for that matter Exotics that are taken from ranch hunts in the U.S.A. as well? Not that I'm going to Africa or anything, just curious.

Any big game animal counts for something including hogs. The point values are weighted to help level the field as much as possible with an emphasis placed on taking a free-ranging whitetail or mule deer. The selection committee figured that nearly everyone, unless you live overseas, has the opportunity to hunt either whitetail or mule deer. I think you raise a good question about blacktail and think we should probably include them with whitetail and mule deer as one of the deer that can be submitted for score. That may be something that needs to be re-evaluated. We could have simply stated "deer" but of course that would have included moose, etc. from the biological point of view.

Gary, This is an idea that whose time was due. Unlike the original outstanding handgunner award , with Elmer Keith being its first recipient, this award places emphasis on the handgun hunter. I believe that JD Jones recently said that there were not as many high profile handgun hunters taking magnificent trophies around the world as there were in the 1970`s
and '80s that gave our sport the needed publicity. This awards program will go a long way towards giving handgun hunting the respect it deserves. What I really like is that the winning of this award is within the mean`s of every member of our group.I am behind you 100% and look foward to seeing the winner of the first Handgun Hunter of The Year. Sincerly, James

I think you should consider the idea of having different game categories to the award. I really don't think that someone living in the west doesn't have an advantage or a guy that lives in the east. Sure the guy in hte east may go on a hunt of a life time, but that is the extent of that.

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. Should we condsider this award like a once in a life time, good kill (lucky?) or a life time of hunting accomplishment?

Having different categories for the award would complicate things considerably and really isn't the point of the award; there are so many species - where would the line be drawn? This isn't a big buck or big elk contest or a big "fill-in-the-blank" contest. There is always someone who will have somewhat of an advantage because of where they live, what kinds of properties they have access to or even how well they shoot. That's why there is a cap on the number of points for any given species.

I won't say that it's a once in a lifetime achievement but it is sufficiently difficult to have some meaning. Not everyone would have a chance of winning it depending on how their hunting seasons go and what opportunities they can take advantage of. It also only considers a relatively short time period (18 months) as compared to a lifetime.

If it was a lifetime award how would many people would be eliminated because they only started handgun hunting a couple of years ago? Remember the goal for the award is to, "Create an annual award program as a way to educate and appeal to a broad audience to promote the sport of handgun hunting as a highly rewarding and challenging, mainstream method of hunting."

The biggest challenge I'm facing right now is getting industry support for it. The major manufacturers all seem to be focused on tactical and they don't seem to be putting much emphasis on hunters; which I think is a huge mistake. It's also a tough time of year to launch something like this because most budgets have already been allocated.

Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but this award appears to be just like any other award along the lines of P&Y, B&C, Longhunter, etc. and I consider those award orgs to be nothing more than "pat-myself-on-the-back, look-what-I-did, I'm-the-best-hunter-there-is" awards. Take the following example:

Person A:
Person A is deeply involved in organizations such as DU, RMEF, Phesants Forever, etc. and donates a great deal of time laboring for these causes. He donates what little money he can, but the amount is small because of his lot in life. He does likewise with 4H and is a hunter safety instructor and an NRA certified firearms instructor. He donates his time to these causes esp. for children looking for an outdoors role model and during his hunter safety instruction he takes a little extra time on the handgun part just to provide more info on his passion. Person A get to do some hunting and manages to harvest a pretty nice 130" whitetail with his Ruger SBH and is tickled with his success.

Person B:
Person B has no worries when it comes to money. He can and does travel quite a bit, hunting alot of various species, both on game ranches and private land. He can pay for the best outfitters and his trophy wall shows it; including the 180" Kansas monster of his dreams. He made it to Africa and managed to take several head of plains game as well as a nice buffalo. Person B periodically sends checks to a few conservation orgs, but his "busy" schedule prevents much if any hands-on help. He is likewise happy with his success.

IMO, Person A is much more deserving of this award as I believe his work will have a much bigger impact on future generations of handgun hunters. However, Person A stands no chance at winning this award due to the "inches" and "points" accumulated by Person B.

Person B's "score" according to the judging criteria will smoke Person A. Person A does so much more to further the sport, but there are relatively "few" points awarded for his work. There is too much emphasis on animals killed than deeds done. And animals killed requires nothing but money. Person A, the rightful winner and a man of modest means, will lose every time. But then again, he may just be happy with that, content in his contribution.

Please don't take personal offense as none is intended. This is only my opinion and is probably slanted by my ABSOLUTE DISGUST for record books and awards for game taken.

Ok - so how would you change the criteria keeping in mind that we want to show handgun hunting is a viable and challenging sport?

that is a very good question idea would be good input you must
have some idea?

how about only allow animals killed within a persons home state, that will take most of high rollers using outfitters from having an unfair advantage but then you do have the difference between a Kansas buck and say a Florida buck for whitetails, and in the Blacktail category you would only have CA, OR, WA, and Alaska and the Sitka Blacktail are diminutive even in Blacktail circles which also brings up that putting Blacktail in with mulies isn't fair because a 120"+ Blacktail is the trophy of a lifetime and I have 2 1/2 year old Mulies that score that much. The only really fair way as far as the animals themselve go is to consider each entry individually taking into consideration it's geographical location i.e. a 130 buck out of florida is much more of a trophy than a 140 out of the midwest. I guess it all depends on how much time and effort your willing and/or able to put into judging the animals. The bottom line is there is no way to be a 100% fair 100% of the time you can only do what you can.

That's a hard question to answer. I've been thinking about it ever since I first read the post. I hated to post yesterday without some sort of advice, but felt maybe there were others out there with the same concerns who may have ideas as well.

The only thing I can come up with would be instead of caps of 50 "points" in the two areas concerning involvement with conservation organizations and hunter/firearm safety groups, etc., let the panel of judges determine from each candidates "resume" how many points to award in these areas without a limit. Or maybe, here's where you give the judges those 100 or 200 or ? discretionary points to award instead of in the "difficulty of the hunt" area.

Like I said, I was NOT trying offend anyone with my comment. And believe me, I don't have all the answers. I'd just hate to see handgun hunting taken down the same old road of "whatever it takes to make book" that the other organizations have gone down.

P.S. Gary, IMO, you'd be one of the 1st to receive this award in my book of those on this site. All that you've done with this site, the magazine, keeping us informed of legislation, as well as other stuff we don't even know about. And this opinion of mine is based none-what-so-ever on which animals you've killed or how big they were. I think the other stuff is much more important. Chances are, though, Person A might not really care to be "awarded" anyhow.

You didn’t offend me one bit. In fact I would rather you state your opinions than keep them bottled up. It is hard to put criteria on promoting handgun hunting. Whether it is shooting turtles for your Nabors or problem pigs and beaver for the Game Warden. I always turn heads when I go to the gun range but how much it influences or how to measure that is ?????? I know that I like my short barreled configurations and I will continue to use them frequently!

bisleyfan44, I don't always agree with your opinion but you always bring valid points to the table. This is a forum and the exchange of information and opinions is it's primary purpose. The fact that we can exchange these opinions without arguing and harboring bitterness that is often associated with them, is what makes this the very best forum on the web (along with Gary's hardwork and dedication to the site and it's members). I do however agree with you about the scoring method. Many of us can only hunt in our own "backyards" and the Promotion of Handgun Hunting should be the primary reason for the award. Being as Gary is the creator of the Handgun Hunter of the Year Award and therefore is ineligible, I say he is "eligible" for the "Handgun Hunter Enthusiast Award". Now let's all get together and set the criteria for this award as well as a prize. My email address is public on this site for anyone who needs it.

DDawg,
What do you mean you don't always agree with me? Don't you know I'm right ALL the time;>) LOL
All kidding aside, thanks for the kind words. If everyone's opinions on at least some things weren't different, the world would be awfully boring.