deer hunting with a pistol
 

I have never hunted deer with a pistol, but was curious who of you had. I am interested in getting in to it, so was hoping you could provide me with some pistols that would be good for whitetail hunting.

thanks

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

Never taken one with a pistol, mostly because Im not loyal to it, but I have a Super Redhawk 44mag with a 2x Leupold on it that is a tack driver. Im going to finish out the season with it with me...along with the rifle of course lol

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

Ok so maybe tack driver isnt a word to be used for pistols, but it's very accurate imho....from a rest, 1.75-2.00 at 50yds.

It has a 7.5" barrel, they make it in a 9.5" too I think. Very use friendly, light recoil as far as a 44 is concerned. It's heavy though. I love shooting it.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

ruger super redhawk. i have a red dot on mine and shoot hornady 240gr. xtp. all i can say is practice, practice, and practice some more. get a good shooting stick.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

I was told that if you want to take a deer with a pistol, you can never carry a rifle or shotgun with you, as you will always use the longun because of ease and convienence. After 5 years of carrying a 44mag and muzzleloader at the sametime and harvesting 8 deer (none with my pistol) I can understand the rationale.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

Taken two so far. One with the SRH in the picture and one with my dad's Taurus .44. I hunt with them like I do with a bow.


The contender is going with me on the two day hunt here in a week. The open sited smith will go with me when we are driving deer to my little brother. Mainly because it's easy to carry when I'm crawling through briars.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

I've got a contender like that in 30-30 that I've taken a few with.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

I have killed a doe with my blackhawk in 357,but I think this is the minimum for a deer pistol,I have killed a few groundhogs with it out to about 90 yards off of bags,I am looking to get a contender before next year.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

Got a doe this year with my Ruger Security-Six .357, 4 inch .

Got it from a treestand at 20yds.


I never took a deer with a handgun until this one. I expected a tracking job but instead she just dropped in her tracks. Took out both lungs.

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

ruger redhawk 7 1/2'' stainless with a tasco pro point,handloaded 240gr xtp hornaday bullets pushed by 22grs of 296 powder:)sweet load.
1'' groups off rest at 50yrds,have taken4 deer here in ohio with it in the last 10yrs.hard 2 put down the long gun,but after i get my 1st one either a with my bow or shotgun, its 44mag the rest of the time.
i'll be using it on are 2day shotgun season the 12/20 an 21 have one tag left an 2 in the freezer,8pt with the crossbow an a big doe with my new 20ga mossberg slugger.i used my 44 the all last week when i was walking
wheni sit with my 44 i do hunt morelike am bow hunting,2 of my kills were under 15yrds/1 at about 40yrds an my longest was just under 75yrds none of them droped in there tracks but none run over 50yrds an 1 drop in sight
shoot shoot an shoot some more get 2 know your gun and it will do 4 you what u want it 2 do
mrtwister

RE: deer hunting with a pistol
 

Like others mentioned, I carried my handgun (Tauras M44) around for years while hunting with a rifle / shotgun and never used the handgun. For the challenge I decided to use the Handgun exclusively during the 06 season.I was still hunting some hardwoods along the edge of a powerline. When I saw this dude, he was looking directly at me. He wasstanding in the powerline 35 yards away at last light. We locked eyeballs for 60 seconds and he looked away. I slowly unholstered my 44mag, raised it, and pulled back the hammer. To took one step quartering away and I drilled him in the front sholder.

The deer dropped in his tracks.I got no exit wound and not a drop of blood. I couldn't hear a thing for the rest of the night (ported barrel) and had ringing in my ears for a week. While it was fun and an added challenge, I decided to sell my 44mag. I have no interest in handgun hunting. I still have a couple pistols, but they're not for hunting.