COOL!

I seriously didn't know ya had a Ruger book! Oops!!!

James, just read this. Wow, sad time for sure. I still have all the copies I ever received. JD did my first custom handgun I own. And several of my contenders. I am doing my best to recruit more hand gunners. Been pretty successful so far. My daughter has become a fair handguner. Hoping she bags her first deer this year with her 357. Going to have some custom work done on it for her after the season is over. Keep the tech lit gentlemen.

Good to hear!!!

Havent checked my mail box. in a week Sad news indeed. I my self had hoped to grace the pages of The Sixgunner some day. but with 3 kids and limited time to hunt I was not able to make it happen. I look forward to reading the last issue tomorrow on my day off.

I don't think there is a decrease in the amount of hand gun hunters. There may be a decrease in the number of customers he deals with. Personally I have introduced several hunters to our sport and am working on some more. I think hand-gunning is safe.

It was indeed sad news to read about the end of HHI and the Sixgunner. It is even sadder to read the comments on the HG hunting and shooting sites like "I always meant to join, but never did" or "I always wanted to write a story and have it published, but I was too busy". No offense intended to anyone, but this is an object lesson that failure to act can have unpleasant consequences. Hopefully, that will not be the case in the upcoming election.

Unfortunately, we saw the signs and knew that this was coming. I remember joining HHI in 1997, I absolutely loved reading about all the handgun hunts in The Sixgunner. I will miss it, but hell, I miss all the magazines and books about handgun hunting

I haven't been online much in months so this is the first I've heard of this. That's too bad. I'll take some blame in this. I was an HHI member for a while and let my membership lapse. Around that time issues of the Sixgunner were pretty small so I didn't feel like I was getting as much as I used to. The magazine was member driven and I never tried contributing an article either so I'll take a little more blame. Its one of those things you take for granted assuming its always going to be there.



I applaud your effort to get people involved in handgun hunting. I do think numbers are down in all methods of hunting that increase the challenge/difficulty of hunting. I do not hunt exclusively with handguns. I enjoy hunting with traditional muzzleloaders (both flintlock and cappers) and traditional archery (longbows/recurves). I even hunted rifle season a couple years ago with a scoped 375JDJ carbine.

I've introduced quite a few people to handguns, traditional muzzleloaders and traditional archery. They always have fun shooting them but if they decide to pursue hunting opt for scoped inlines, compound bows or scoped rifles. This is not meant to insult anyone who hunts with any of those weapons (myself included on the recent use of a scoped rifle) hopefully I can explain my point.

The impression I usually get is that they like the idea of a challenge but they don't want to put the effort into developing the skill it takes to become proficient with them. They aren't willing to pass on shots that are outside the limitations of those weapons. It seems that success at all costs is the name of the game now. I think hunting shows on TV are partly responsible for this. Years ago it seemed like these shows tried to show ethical behavior and shots. When I dumped those channels about a year ago it was not unusual to see people taking "hail marry" shots at game and admitting it. I did a post here about a show "Meet the McMillans" that was the last straw for me. I see a lot of younger hunters today that mimic this behavior. They would rather risk wounding an animal with an iffy shot and losing it than passing on a bad shot. Being able to get their hands on that animal and getting a "hero" pic to brag about is all that matters.

Now that people are mad at me about my inline/compound comments let me explain. I have nothing against either of these weapons. The problem comes when people start turning them into long range weapons. Muzzleloading and archery seasons were meant to be primitive seasons. In many states they take place during the elk rut, etc when animals are often very active and easier to stalk within close range of.

I'm not a snob with the weapons I choose to hunt with. I would rather someone use a weapon they are comfortable and proficient with. The problem comes when those primitive weapons are turned into "long range" weapons. I've seen people on TV and know a couple guys who take 100+ yard shots on game with compound bows. Even if a shot was perfect at release, the animal can easily take a couple steps by the time the arrow reaches it resulting in a gut or rear ham shot. Just because they can do it on the range doesn't mean its a good idea on game. The same is true for people using pelleted sabots and optics to make a muzzleloader equal to a scoped centerfire rifle. People want the luxury of hunting additional seasons but don't want to accept the limitations and the challenge of "short range weapons".

Sorry for a long drawn out rant!

"The impression I usually get is that they like the idea of a challenge but they don't want to put the effort into developing the skill it takes to become proficient with them".

pab, I`ve seen the same..... This is why I end my post with:
"Handgun hunters HAVE to be good".........

Yup. And if someone is too lazy to get proficient, they should find a new hobby like needle point or basket weaving.

I don't have a problem with folks using whatever is legal for that state/hunting season.
I don't have a problem of whether they kill at short medium or at distance.
The only problem I have is when someone isn't proficient or safe at what they are using and at the distance they are using it at.

yeah....or use a rifle!

LOL just kid'n.

I agree fully with what Ernie said.

Agreed!