Handgun Hunting Afield

Ohio’s weeklong deer gun season took place the week after thanksgiving, as it does every year. Each year I make my way to the Appalachian foothills of southwest Ohio, where I’m lucky enough to have access to a few hundred acres of private land to hunt. The land is leased by myself and about 12 other hunters, most of whom were already there when I arrived Saturday night. After an evening of bow hunting and a late night of poker, we woke up early Monday morning and headed out to stands and blinds spread around the property.

This year I brought two revolvers to camp with me, a Freedom Arms 454 and a Model 97 in 41 Magnum. With a Burris 2-7 scope shooting 300 grain XTPs, the 454 has proven to be very effective and more than capable for the occasional longer shot that may arise in a clear cut in the woods. Topped with an Ultradot, the 41 makes an excellent stand hunting weapon especially in the choked woods of southeast Ohio. This year I chose to try Cutting Edge 135gr Raptors.

The woods were abnormally quiet on Monday morning. There weren’t even squirrels rustling in the leaves. Around 9:30, about 2 1/2 hours after the opening of the season, I caught sight of a deer about 80 yards out. As it came closer I saw the telltale poofy hair of a button buck on the top of his head. Not long later, I caught sight of a line of 3 more deer following him. The next deer headed towards me was a young doe, followed by two mature does. As they made their way closer I slowly and carefully prepared to shoot. I looped the strap of my bitty bag around my middle finger and positioned the bag on the outside of my hand. I carefully brought it to rest on my stand’s safety bar, timing my movements when none of the eight eyes in the woods were on me. Finally, as the first mature doe closed to within 20 yards and turned broadside, I cocked my revolver and shot, placing a 135 grains of copper in the crease right behind her front leg.

Immediately all 4 deer took off along the trail from which they came, the doe I had just shot included. As she ran down the path, seemingly unphased by the bullet I was confident I had just put in her lungs, she paused to look behind her. I took this opportunity to shoot her again, putting my second bullet about 5” forward of the first into her shoulder. This time she stumbled and ran another 10 yards out of sight.

At this point, the waiting game began. I felt confident in both of my shots, but her reaction left me unsure of the outcome. After sitting at the base of my stand for half an hour, I walked to where I shot her the first time. There was no blood to be found. I proceeded down the trail to where I shot her the second time, and once again found no blood. Starting from the point where I lost sight of her I began walking in circles, and found her piled up about 25 yards from where my search began. After field dressing her I found two well placed entry wounds, but no exit wounds. The two bullets had done massive damage to her lungs, and either shot likely would have killed her. Had I not kept sight of her as long as I did the lack of blood would have made for a difficult tracking job. Overall, my first experience with the 135gr Raptors left me somewhat disappointed. I’ll be revisiting my load in the future, and may switch to 180gr Raptors next year.

With the help of a friend who was hunting in a nearby stand we loaded the dressed deer onto a 4 wheeler and returned to our cabin. Upon arrival, we found another doe already hanging on the meat pole. Another member of our group had shot her about half an hour before I spotted my first deer.

The rest of the week was, for me, uneventful. Two large bucks made their way to the edge of a food plot I was sitting over on Tuesday night, but quickly returned into the woods never to be seen again. I passed on two more mature does and spent several hours watching button bucks feasting on acorns and food plots.. Over the course of the week two more deer, a doe and a spike, were brought back to camp. When we parted ways at the end of the week our total harvest for the year came to 10 deer, which will be evenly divided amongst all of us after muzzleloader season in January.

I’m often asked why I choose to hunt with handguns, or how I got started with handgun hunting. For me it was never really a conscious decision. When I found myself owning a revolver well suited to big game hunting I saw no reason not to hang up my rifle. A handgun is undoubtedly more convenient for stand hunting. I don’t have to worry about securely tying a rifle or shotgun to a rope to pull it up into the stand or try to climb a ladder with one hand occupied. In much of the eastern US a handgun hunter will find they’re at no disadvantage compared to a rifle hunter. Shots are often close (I’ve taken more deer inside of 20yd than past 50yd), and a novice handgun hunter can reasonably take large game at 50-60yd. While stand hunting for eastern whitetail may not be as glamorous as chasing elk in the mountains or antelope in the great plains, it can provide an excellent and accessible opportunity to get into handgun hunting.