Enjoying the thread and posted replies.

No handguns in my family background, not even a bow hunter till I screamed my way onto this rock.

I shot a 178lb 8 point the first hour of the first day we COULD hunt with handguns. A Smith model 29 out of a tree stand with iron sites. Pretty cool!!

I shot a few more with a Python then contenders then went totally traditional bowhunting for some time. It's still right up there on my "I just gotta do this" list.

Shot a lot of varmints with centerfire rifles but grew bored there too after a while.

When I lost my "killer spot" where I had hunted 32 years and could about tell you what deer was gonna be where and when, I found myself taking back seat hunting all the other areas, where permission could be gained at all, to the other hunters already hunting that area.

I consider it "bad form" crowding other hunters even if they don't plus I simply don't WANT others around me for the obvious multiple reasons.

It has put me out away from cover further than normal and LOTS of deer meander around at 150 yards or more where most here wont shoot at em.

I sat there last fall watching a parade of deer crossing one field and realized they WERE in SP range if I would train myself for it and do my homework.

So yep, I'm a "newbie" to SP hunting but in a short week of owning one........IM HOOKED!!

A kind soul here is helping me re-set up with some affordable reloading equipment and I'm looking forward to a summer of fun practicing and working loads.

This is the FIRST TIME in my almost 58 years I'll be looking forward to FIREARM season more so than archery!!

I must say I'm envious of those of you that have a family history and training using them. As I was with traditional archery, I'm on my own BUT....since the "invention" of the internet..........I now have YOU guys, and very much appreciate that added bonus.

So I guess my reply would be "It's a "new" way to add an additional way to hunt whitetail that happens to fit the bill in my area, and ,of course, more personal challenge". (I'll be "different" from most here too. ONE PERCENT of the deer harvested in IN for 2009 was with a handgun.)