In the summer of 1986 I was in middle school and I purchased my first Guns and Ammo magazine. Ross Seyfried had an article inside talking about the 500 Linebaugh. I remember a beautiful Bowen custom revolver pictured in the article. I was hooked, I immediately subscribed to Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times, and American Handgunner. I purchased Hunting for Handgunners by Larry Kelley and JD Jones and read everything else I could find on the subject.

I mowed lawns all summer to earn money to "buy" a big bore revolver. After much research I bought a 7.5" Ruger Redhawk. I followed that up by adding a 41 and finally a 357. I practiced shooting those revolvers every chance I got.

At the time I had never actually been on a deer hunt. In 1988 I got my first deer and wild hog at the family ranch. I had the revolvers with me but I used the rifle. Ironically for the next 13 years I used the rifle for my hunting, although I continued to love big bore revolvers. I bought a 6 inch Freedom Arms 454 field grade in 1999 while in Graduate School. I mounted a 2.5-8 Leoupold Scope and practiced all the time. I finally got my chance on a hog hunt in Shackleford County, Texas. I killed 3 hogs on that trip with the Freedom Arms and I have been lucky enough to take a number of deer and hogs with various revolvers ever since.

In 2009 I was able to take 4 water buffalo with a Ruger Redhawk in Australia and felt like a had come full circle from that middle school boy way back in 1986.