By nature, handgun hunters tend to be self-challenging. Afterall, most of us have taken to pursuing game using pistols and revolvers out of some sort of self-motivation. Motivation coming from one or a combination of things.
The majority of us probably started off thinking something like: handguns are dang cool, and it would be awesome to hunt with them. So, at some point we just had to try it.
Other of us may have moved from hunting with a long gun to using their handheld cousins in order to improve and test our hunting prowess – driven by the need to stalk well within our quarry’s flight zone in order to make an effective and clean killing shot.
There are also a number within our ranks who simply became “bored” with rifle marksmanship and decided to tackle the challenge of being accurate and precise with firearms that require a greater level of consistency in hand placement, body position, gun handling, and shot follow through. Then working to push past the limits of what most riflemen believe could be accomplished with a handgun.
A few of us were maybe trained to use a handgun as part of a job; or maybe found our way into handgun shooting sports. These experiences and pursuits eventually evolving into recreational plinking and hunting.
All of our stories are different, and you may not fit any of these categories. Ultimately though, I think for every handgun hunter it comes down to a place in our hearts that knows, for whatever reason, that handgun hunting is just “it.” A great and fun way to hunt. One that challenges and satisfies a certain need within us.
With most hobbies or sports, as one becomes more proficientthere bubbles up a desire to push the envelope, so to speak. To set and reach goals or benchmarks that require developing more muscle & muscle control, skill, and perhaps expertise. Things that motivate improvement.
While I am definitely no expert hand gunner or handgun hunter, I have been at it long enough to desire to challenge myself to achieve some handgun hunting goals. One of these was to take, in a single hunting season, the annual trifecta of Wyoming big game (pronghorn antelope, deer and elk) with one revolver using iron sights.
To meet this challenge, I needed a handgun with the range to take antelope, flexibility to harvest deer, and tissue damaging ability to bring down elk. Filling this bill in my head was a single action revolver chambered in .454 Casull. A cartridge that I had a number of years of experience with, having used it to harvest a number of big game animals over the years, albeit with scope attached.
Having set my hunting goal for the upcoming fall, I needed to prepare. I decided to use a 7 ½” BFR chambered in .454 Casull. In order to gain more proficiency, I practiced for and competed in the iron sight division of the Handgun Hunters Competition. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. While developing loads, I found the factory installed front sight was too tall. I could notget the rounds on target at the ranges I needed to (50 to 150 yards). They hit too low. Contacting Magnum Research, they quickly (and without charge) sent me a shorter sight. And, you guessed it Goldilocks, that one was too short. It was then that I learned about Fermin Garza and his awesome, custom front sights.
Spending well over a half an hour talking front sights with Fermin, not only did I learn more about front sights than I thought possible; but he instructed me on how to determine the height and width of the front sight that would fit my needs. After putting the too tall sight back on the revolver and slowly filing it down as I tracked my hits, I found the perfect height. Then another phone call to Fermin and further discussion about sight width considering my eyesight and age. That allowed me to decide on the width of my new front sight. It showed up in the mail shortly thereafter, and was perfect. What a difference it made in sight picture. To the point that I was able to fire a couple of three round groups at 150 yards that printed within a three-inch circle, with most of my other groups going about double that.
The load I used for the Handgun Hunters Competition was a 250 gr. Hornady XTP at moderate velocities for a .454 Casull. This helped maintain some consistency over the course of some 60 plus rounds, and it didn’t leave my hand punished too badly. But, for the hunting season I wanted to go to a 300 gr. bullet at the maximum speeds a .454 can push them.
With a 300 gr XTP load developed, more practice under my belt,and three hunting licenses in hand, late September finally rolled around. The first hunt would be for antelope. The hunt would also be my son’s first antelope hunt. After focusing on him and his hunt, where he did a great job of stalking and harvesting a somewhat non-typical prairie goat with a single shot from his Ruger M77 compact in .243 Win.
I then set out with my hunting partner to put an antelope within range. As they say, “Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut.” It didn’t take us long after parking and hiking a short way to get the drop on a buck at a bit over 200 yards. Doing the hands and knees crawl for about 60 yards or so and then sliding into a belly crawl for another 50, I reached a good shooting position. My partner ranged the buck at 93 yards. Resting the butt of the revolver on my Cole-Tac bagfrom the prone position, a single round from the .454 dropped the buck almost instantly. Then to my surprise, as I had no intention of trophy hunting and didn’t take time to judge the buck, he taped out at some 82 inches of B&C measurements.One down, two to go.
Close to a month later, I was back in the Black Hills guiding one of my supervisors on a cow elk hunt and packing my own cow tag and the trusty BFR. We managed to sneak to the edge of an opening harboring a nice herd of cows and calves, with a few bulls sprinkled in. He set up a perfect rifle shot and dropped a cow right there. The herd mingled and elk looked different directions trying to figure out what was happening. Since they didn’t run off, I belly crawled to a nearby tree and ranged a cow who had settled down:123 yards. I placed the Cole-Tac bag against the right side of a big pine tree and assumed a kneeling,right barricade firing position. The shot flew, followed by a distinct “meat report.” The elk started to move directly away from me into some downed timber. Another round went her direction. A couple more steps and she crumpled. What a hunt. What a trophy! The boss and I proceeded to take photos of a very memorable hunt, quarter the two elk, haul them out on my flatbed pickup, and call it a wonderful day. Two down, one to go.
It was a few more weeks until deer season opened in my local general license area. Finally, in the middle of November, I was able to get away from work and hunt. The heat and dryness of September in the high Wyoming desert had passed into wonderful fall weather in October, and then to the cold and snow of November. On my second day of hunting, after being busted a number of times by mule deer, I slinked up an old stock dam within 25 yards of a two-year old, buck. This one is in the bag I thought. Nope – can’t tell you what I did, or what happened but my shot was far enough off target that I only hit the front edge of a front leg. Off the buck bounded with a bit of a limp. I did due diligence trying for over an hour to follow him up and take him cleanly. But, I never could get close enough. This was a definite low point in my “hunting career.” Back in the same area the next day, I saw that buck about 400 yards away – and he saw me. Well, to my “gladness” he bounced awaywithout much trouble – convincing me that while I blew a shot, he would be fine. A few more hours of still hunting put me at 65 yards from a nice mule deer buck – one still in the velvet in mid-November of all things. This time I placed my Cole-Tac bag and revolver atop a downed tree and methodically made my shot. I focused on my front sight, squeezed the trigger oh so slowly,and then consciously concentrated on my follow through. The buck lurched, bounded a couple of times and crashed into a fallen tree. The fall broke one antler and from it a little blood oozed. It had been a bad EHD (epizootic hemorrhagic disease) year, and this buck had survived an infection. But, it had affected his testicles and altered seasonal changes in testosteronelevels. The result was a set of antlers that didn’t harden. He measured 25” wide, a great buck and a really cool oddity. He was definitely one of the best I’ve been blessed to take.
My dream of harvesting an antelope, deer, and elk in one season using one iron sighted revolver had come true, and it came through in spades: three awesome hunts and three wonderful trophies. I was ready to settle in for the winter and enjoy the harvest from an incredible fall.
Want to help support and grow HHA? Visit our shop at https://handgunhuntingafield.blog/shop/