Just thank God and a lot of brave soldiers that you live in a country that allows you the freedom to hunt,and to choose what you hunt with.An open sighted revolver is always on my hip,along with something else in my hand or on a sling. The other one will be a singleshot,scoped revolver, boltaction or cannon breech in one of several calibers. If I walked into the camp of anyone here I would expect to be welcomed as a Handgun Hunter an equal. Would I be welcomed in Yours?

So, at what point does it become handgun hunting to you?

Absolutely Brother!

Like several have said before me, I'm a hunter first and foremost...that predominantly uses handguns to chase my quarry.

And the more I can carry, the better.

Its really simple....if you hold it to shoot with your hands, its a handgun. If you hold it against your shoulder with a stock, its a rifle.
There is really nothing to debate imo. There are only variations of style with each.

I do things i like. I would expect anyone else to do the same.

I remember a time when inline muzzleloaders were considered "non-traditional" and therefore non-sporting. Now most people use inlines.We have seen the same with crossbows, compounds, etc. In my house are mounts killed with every legal type weapon. I enjoyed every hunt. So, the real question is this: Does venison taste differently when killed by this or that?
By the way, I like you all no matter what you use.

As I said in my earlier post:

QUOTE: "Now, having said that, I believe that each one of us, as an individual, needs to define in our own way what "handgun hunting" truly means to US, and if we are comfortable with it, go for it."

I am anxious to see Rmagnum1183 answer TN Lone Wolf's Q.

But as I see it, we are all here together, hopefully covering each other's back in this unsteady and dangerous political battle

RE: FIREARMS.

And, truthfully, I DO use and ENJOY all types of weapons to hunt with, including bow (yes Ernie, mine has cams! Sort of, and also has recurve limbs

If you are interested to find out WTH I mean, please Google "Oneida Eagle")

as well as rifle, revolver (some scoped but mostly not), muzzleloader (both rifle AND pistol), and even crossbow. I find special enjoyment in each type. After all, I am HUNTING.

And if a long range specialty scoped pistol works for you as handgun hunting, that is fine. I am the one I described as using that special front rest, on a specialty scoped pistol, while shooting with a member here, although I did not try to shoot an antelope with that rig. I am also the one I described as shooting a mule deer (and elk for that matter) with a revolver at 45 yards. I like it all.

JMHO

PS: OK now, what

about those Magnum Primers???

The first time Gregg shot one of my XP's, he set-up on the hood of my Tahoe with a bi-pod and a small field bag at just over 500 (closer to 550 yards I think).
His first shot was so close to the bull, and he made this comment, "That's not possible."
I said, "It is too, you just did it, now do it again."
And he proceeded to shoot even better.

I apologize if it seemed like I was being confrontational with my question. I'm just wondering where he draws the line. If a rifle round in a 15" Encore is out, would a JDJ round in a Contender be acceptable? Even though they're bottleneck rounds, they were designed for Contender handguns. Or is he just a revolver kind of guy? (Which I can completely understand)

TN lone wolf.. simple when you have a Rifle that you can convert into a "Hand Rifle" that's what I think crosses the line from Hand gun to Hand Rifle . According to a poster if you hold it with your hands and not against your shoulder yur handgun hunting ..Example... Am I handgun hunting?

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[img][/img]


Guys mind you im not hating on anyone and their hunting preference.. im just trying to have a debate and discussion on everyone's opinions

Without confrontation, there is no resolve.

Nothing wrong with a little friendly disgusto on occasion. Being afraid of confrontation is one thing I feel is killing this country.

Man up and argue once in awhile. We can't be touchy feely ALL the time!!

:-)

RMag,

I'm guilty of the one in the middle (see above):

Those particular kinds of handgun were designed for a different kind of prey than I normally hunt .The good guys and girls that have to use them are surely hunting dangerous game and hunting it is. Their game can will and does shoot back and I don't expect them to use my singleshots, bolts or cannonbreech to hunt with,but I would PROUDLY HUNT WITH THEM AND HAVE THEIR BACK ON ANY HUNTING TRIP they wanted to go on.They are WELCOME in my camp anytime and have been told so many times.I would feel right at home with any of the three handguns pictured.

I own these two.





And the ATF considers them "Handguns".

I reckon so. 😋 you just have ugly handguns. 😝😂

Handgun, rifle, shotgun, handrifle, WHO CARES!! They all go bang, so I like em all!!

I like you.

I like all of you. Except that you guys have gotten me so thoroughly addicted to handgun hunting I'll probably never escape its allure.

I don't know if someone already made this point. The same argument could be applied to rifles. I want to use a .54 cal flintlock with open sights and someone else chooses to use a .408 CheyTac with a high power scope. Both are considered legal to use here in rifle season. Just because I'm making the hunt more challenging with my choice of weapon does not mean the other guys weapon choice is not valid. Its a choice I made. I'm not going to have an elitist attitude just because I want to limit my effective range or the other guys weapon does not appeal to me. I'm just happy I live in a country/state where I'm allowed to hunt with whatever weapon I choose. Well almost, I still can't use my atlatl here for game animals.

Well said

Well for me...I own both revolvers and single shots. Both are handguns. No shoulder stocks. Both have pros and cons. Which gun goes out is determined by where and what I'm hunting. Neither style is easy as compared to a rifle. If in doubt try getting a big encore steady in the field. You wiggle with it as bad as a revolver. I like to limit myself to about 60 yds with my sbh. I'd say about 200 yds with my 308 encore on animals.

As the tools of hunting have evolved over the centuries, so have its definitions. And its purposes. And its participants. I can see both sides of the question this thread presents, and can identify with both sides.

I frankly do not like the modern 21st century society I find myself in today, and it's swiftly declining array of values and morals trouble me. Greatly. So I find myself holding on to the past a bit more as I grow older, going back to the old ways, the old tools, the old definitions. This is mostly, I think, a futile attempt to stop the unstoppable, or at least remain above it.

We are surrounded by compromise and cheating in America today. It is rampant in all realms of our society, from politics to religion, from business to sport, from marriage to ... gender identity.

If I am not careful, I will start to get suspicious of all change, of all growth, of all things modern.

The OP's question was legitimate, in my opinion, as it is always a good idea to question, to be careful, to learn and to endeavor to not be found among the cheaters of our world today.

However, the answers were also correct, in that they have assured the OP that the different methods and tools used were NOT cheating, and assuring him that we here on this forum are a community of honest sportsman that have carefully weighed our methods and tools, and have merely evolved along side of hunting itself, using the tools that best suit our physical abilities, our unique geography, and the particular game we are hunting.

So, its all good. We continue to watch over the sport that we love to make sure we are not sucked into the morass of immorality that pervades our society, as we continue to learn, grow and evolve in ways we can cleanly, humanely, honestly harvest the game that God has so lovingly and generously provided.

(I cant help it, I've been a preacher for 20 years!)

Briarhopper
Very well said!

Indeed

Nice. Like that one Briarhopper.

I Idaho, the only problem is if you want to use a rifle cartridge in a handgun, you have to hunt the rifle season. If you use a round originally developed for a handgun, you can hunt the rifle season and the short range weapons season also. So to extend my hunting I opt for the revolvers. Just my choice.

By all means use what you need, to extend your hunting time in the field

Of course there's a difference between using a rifle cartridge in a handgun over using a revolver but either one takes lots of practice, experimenting & dedication. If the AFT says its a handgun, then its a handgun, use it & have fun without worrying about what someone else thinks or says. Its our sport & its grown so much in the last 20 years that no one could have predicted the amazing popularity of handgun hunting.
Because of that we have better scopes, better barrels, better bullets, etc. We all know better equipment makes for a more enjoyable hunting experience whether its a single shot or a revolver.

Dick

I think briarhopper said it best.



NOTE: This is not directed toward anyone in particular.

On the other hand, there was one word used in this thread that makes me cringe every time I hear or read it in relation to hunting:

I absolutely deplore that word when used by one hunter to describe someone else's hunting methods. You see, long before I discovered handgunhunt.com, I regularly visited some of the hunting related pages on Facebook, such as Legendary Whitetails, Chasing Trophy Whitetails, and Deer & Deer Hunting. Every fall, hundreds of people posted pictures of their kills, and the administrators would sometimes repost some of those pictures to the main page for everyone to see. Unfortunately, absolutely anybody could join and post, from hunter to non-hunter to anti-hunter. Now, fortunately, the anti-hunters were quickly banned if they caused trouble, but unfortunately it was some of the hunters who caused the most trouble. As more and more people joined these pages, you would see more and more types of these people posting.

There was once a kid, who looked to be about 15 to 16, that posted a picture of his first buck. However, his rifle was in the picture, and there was a guy saying (paraphrased) "Come on, a rifle? You're old enough to pull back a bow!"

There was one guy who started a big argument by posting "Use a gun if you want to kill a deer. Use a bow if you actually want to hunt them."

God help whoever posted a picture of a crossbow killed deer, even if they were young, disabled, or hunting during a gun season.

Then, there were those traditional bow elitist types that knocked everyone else.

Just about anyone was fair game for another hunter to denigrate and disrespect. Most people, myself included, just ignore those naysayers. However, the common theme in all of this was people attacking other hunters because they perceived their method as "cheating", even if that word wasn't explicitly used. In today's world, we are constantly under attack from the media, anti-hunters, and sometimes even non-hunters. We know we're under attack, the non-hunters know were under attack, the media and anti-'s especially know we're under attack. How does it look when, on a public website frequented by millions upon millions, we attack each other?

Look, I don't have a care in the world if other people are impressed by my hunting methods or not. But to call my (or anyone else's, for that matter) completely legitimate, legal, ethical, and in my opinion challenging method of hunting cheating is something I won't tolerate.

I repeat, this is not directed at anyone in particular. I don't believe anyone here has dismissed any form of hunting as cheating, and for that, I thank all of you.

Well said, Chance!

Agreed! I'll also add; "I" don't do any hunting for the challenge. I hunt for the excitement, enjoyment and the love of eating them critters (At least the edible ones). If I hunted for the challenge, I'd hunt public land with a knife.

Very well said, Chance. I agree 100%

KRal, I second the motion.

If we engage in hunting simply and only for the challenge, where do we begin to get out of balance and start taking more chances of unethical and irresponsible shots, resulting in more wounded and lost game? We have to keep a balance. That's where Chance's elitist naysayers came in. It became all about the challenge, often with no respect for the game itself that was harvested cleanly.

I believe we need to define challenge or at least discuss it here. A lot of us find hunting IS a challenge, and the weapon type determines some of the challenge no matter what weapon is chosen. Rifle hunting (even) has it's challenges, to each their own.

I do not believe there is anything wrong with considering hunting a challenge.

As far as taking "unethical and irresponsible shots," that is always a hunters choice no matter what reasons he has for hunting.

As for me, I both hunt for the excitement and the meat, as KRal says, and for the challenge.

Adding to Gregg's comment for better defining the "challenge" associated with ethical, honest, respectful, law abiding hunting as it applies from the dictionary definition of challenge-
"The difficulty in an undertaking that is stimulating to one engaging in it." Thats the challenge of hunting to me. I am not competing with other hunters for a competitive goal or a defined prize putting the end before the means but only answering the challenge within myself. The stimulation and interest can be defined as excitement, satisfaction or whatever. Regardless of the recreational activity you engage in, if its not stimulating or somewhat exciting (i.e. Challenging) you will tire of it and lose interest.

you guys crack me up

this is getting out of context, I originally asked is it fair to say Im racing my Honda civic vs another Honda civic but mines has a Lamborghini engine in it.

and the Same applies to Bullets and gun types,
If you own a SRH in 44 mag then someone comes with a Tc contender with a .308 you already lost the "Handgun hunting Title IMO.

Again this is not a bash, go hunting bear handed if that's what you like im all for it. This was just a conversation starter that its starting to get people offended.

There is not a single person here who can justify my Honda civic argument. I just thought the same applied to "HANDGUN HUNTING" can you REALLY and I mean REALLY say Im handgun hunting if your u sing a .308 round? while oh lets say James is taking game with a .41 magnum? as he posted not to long ago?

AGAIN not bashing or trying to insult anyone this is mere a question that obviously has a lot of answers and discussion potential

Yes. If you use either, you're handgun hunting in my opinion. They're just different types of handgun hunting. Really.

A car is a car. A handgun is a handgun. We can slice it finer and say Hondas are the only real cars and revolvers are the only real handguns. NASCAR used to be stock cars. Go to Daytona and peek under the hood of one of those cars. Its still a car race!

If somebody tries that they are going to have a broken gun.

That said, if any gun can be held and fired with one hand and has no shoulder stock as per ATF definition, it is a handgun.

Does the fact I can fire a 45 Colt in a levergun make it a "rifle round"?

thadf: OK so I figure that means that we are amusing you!

I agree with the OP we are getting off track, but this has become a very interesting (and still staying friendly!) post. As a Mod I do not see anything wrong with it at this point...

Having said that, I would politely ask you, thad, what do you mean!

Why rifle rounds? Because they work....plain and simple...and I like them 😜 I've used them to kill a lot of game, and Ive shot them all with a handgun 😉 fair...WTH...where does fair even come into the equation? This is almost as retarded as the dumb*** what if topics....what if you are in Siberia and its snowing, and you have the flu, and you left your shoes at home. What gun would you use? None of them.....my butt would be at home? SMH....go hunting, have fun, but this is nuts.....😂

I don't think the Honda Civic comparison is a valid analogy to different types of handguns. It's more like asking "If you rechamber your 357 Magnum Contender to 30-30 and compare it to a regular 357 Magnum Contender, is your gun still a Contender?" To which I would say yes, it's still a Contender, and yes, it's still a Civic, even though you've upgraded their power.