Do you take a pistol or not?
10-20-2017, 09:12 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Norther IL, but want to leave
Posts: 38
Do you take a pistol or not?
During deer rifle season, do you take a pistol, or only use the long gun? I really only use the 30-06 to shoot deer. I finished a deer with the 44 mag pistol once, when it was feet away from my tree stand. The scope wasn't working well on a moving target at that range. A Ruger SBH is 3 pounds and that's a lot of weight to save at the end of a long day dragging/skidding/wheeling deer back to camp. Do you take it hunting, or leave it at home?
10-21-2017, 05:24 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Martin, TN
Posts: 854
I only hunt with handguns. Typically, I carry either my 14" S&W Model 460 or my 300 Win Mag Encore handgun as my primary hunting rig, with a 41 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk on my hip for close range shots. I've never had to make a finishing shot, thankfully, but that 41 would be more than adequate.
10-21-2017, 05:35 AM
#5
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
I carry a pistol only if I am hunting with it. I see no reason to tote the extra weight and very very few people practice enough with a pistol to be good enough with it to protect themselves from something like a bear etc...
Face it if you can't kill it with a rifle then you ain't going to kill it with a pistol. I grew up in country with a lot of bear and cougar and I never saw an instance in which having a pistol would have been any benefit. As always, feel free to disagree and if you want to tote an extra 3-4 lbs around every day, have at it. Not a big deal if your hunting style is sitting in a stand but if you walk and hunt like I do, I don't want the weight.
Face it if you can't kill it with a rifle then you ain't going to kill it with a pistol. I grew up in country with a lot of bear and cougar and I never saw an instance in which having a pistol would have been any benefit. As always, feel free to disagree and if you want to tote an extra 3-4 lbs around every day, have at it. Not a big deal if your hunting style is sitting in a stand but if you walk and hunt like I do, I don't want the weight.
10-21-2017, 06:13 AM
#6
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 14
I carry a pistol only if I am hunting with it. I see no reason to tote the extra weight and very very few people practice enough with a pistol to be good enough with it to protect themselves from something like a bear etc...
Face it if you can't kill it with a rifle then you ain't going to kill it with a pistol. I grew up in country with a lot of bear and cougar and I never saw an instance in which having a pistol would have been any benefit. As always, feel free to disagree and if you want to tote an extra 3-4 lbs around every day, have at it. Not a big deal if your hunting style is sitting in a stand but if you walk and hunt like I do, I don't want the weight.
Face it if you can't kill it with a rifle then you ain't going to kill it with a pistol. I grew up in country with a lot of bear and cougar and I never saw an instance in which having a pistol would have been any benefit. As always, feel free to disagree and if you want to tote an extra 3-4 lbs around every day, have at it. Not a big deal if your hunting style is sitting in a stand but if you walk and hunt like I do, I don't want the weight.
I'm not sure the type of places you all hunt, but I go miles into the woods and into places that most likely wont see human foot prints until I return the following year. To not take a pistol would be moronic on my part.
What if I fell down the mountain side and injured myself, forced to spend the night in the woods and possibly on the ground. What happens if you lose the long rifle during the fall? If something crazy were to happen and I had to run from someone/something I'm dropping the long rifle and covering ground while still having my pistol for protection.
Further more, if you're not taking it because you don't think you are good enough with it, then my recommendation would be to practice more.
If I'm hunting in a more populated area then I might not carry my pistol, but in the very remote areas I hunt, I actually worry if I don't have it on me.
10-21-2017, 07:45 AM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
I'm a firm believer in redundancy and Murphy's law "whatever can go wrong will go wrong". I want a backup whenever possible. People write policy from behind a desk, I ignore it when it has to do with *MY* survival. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
If it ever does get tooth and nail, I want a backup and a pistol can be handy in close.
I had a frisky young Bull Red Deer play hide and seek with me in a Pine forest for around three quarters of an hour. Best guess was he had just lost a fight with a bigger Bull, he was frothy at the mouth and decided to take it out on me. All I had was a pistol with me, I didn't have to use it, but it was nice to know it was there if I had to use it.
A pistol isn't the tool of choice, but it is better than nothing and "beats the heck out of grabbing your crotch (paraphrase) and yelling bang, bang, bang" (quote from SSG. McKinney Drill Sergeant U.S. Army).
Quote. "In Ohio it would be illegal to carry multiple "Hunting Instruments"... So, you have to choose one or the other." IMO some fat arsed bureaucrat sitting behind a desk wrote that one. I wonder if he would rethink it if he was libel if my rifle jammed or miss fired, I didn't have any backup with me and got savaged by some wild animal? Bureaucrats write nonsense laws all the time, like no rifles with bayonet lugs or flash suppressors.
I was walking a fishing trail through thick brush near a pond, going back to my truck after a fruitless morning of hunting and came face to face with a young Buck (under six feet). That Buck could have done many things, he decided to put his head down and come in crotch high with his antlers. I was walking with my rifle un-slung and using the barrel to part the branches in the brush. I used my rifle barrel to push him back twice and the third time, with the Adrenalin going, I beat him half to death with my rifle barrel. He eventually staggered and went to his knees and I shot him through the neck. I found out later I had fractured his skull with my rifle barrel. Stuff happens, pistols can be handy. Pure instinct saved my testicles that day.
If it ever does get tooth and nail, I want a backup and a pistol can be handy in close.
I had a frisky young Bull Red Deer play hide and seek with me in a Pine forest for around three quarters of an hour. Best guess was he had just lost a fight with a bigger Bull, he was frothy at the mouth and decided to take it out on me. All I had was a pistol with me, I didn't have to use it, but it was nice to know it was there if I had to use it.
A pistol isn't the tool of choice, but it is better than nothing and "beats the heck out of grabbing your crotch (paraphrase) and yelling bang, bang, bang" (quote from SSG. McKinney Drill Sergeant U.S. Army).
Quote. "In Ohio it would be illegal to carry multiple "Hunting Instruments"... So, you have to choose one or the other." IMO some fat arsed bureaucrat sitting behind a desk wrote that one. I wonder if he would rethink it if he was libel if my rifle jammed or miss fired, I didn't have any backup with me and got savaged by some wild animal? Bureaucrats write nonsense laws all the time, like no rifles with bayonet lugs or flash suppressors.
I was walking a fishing trail through thick brush near a pond, going back to my truck after a fruitless morning of hunting and came face to face with a young Buck (under six feet). That Buck could have done many things, he decided to put his head down and come in crotch high with his antlers. I was walking with my rifle un-slung and using the barrel to part the branches in the brush. I used my rifle barrel to push him back twice and the third time, with the Adrenalin going, I beat him half to death with my rifle barrel. He eventually staggered and went to his knees and I shot him through the neck. I found out later I had fractured his skull with my rifle barrel. Stuff happens, pistols can be handy. Pure instinct saved my testicles that day.
10-21-2017, 08:23 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
I carry a pistol every day. Period. That pistol/handgun choice changes accordingly with my environment for the day.
I'm generally a weight weenie when it comes to my pack hunting gear, meaning I carry as little as possible, and try to buy gear which is as light as possible, but I've generally considered - if I'm worried about 3lbs of revolver, I could just as easily pick 3lbs out of my 200lb body weight to lose.
I'm also quite confident in my practiced ability to run my revolvers/pistols fast and accurate...
When a guy is considering whether he's capable of deploying his handgun defensively, he also has to ask himself the following question - when's the last time he ran his RIFLE fast? Being fast and accurate with a handgun doesn't come for free, but neither does such with a rifle.
More often than not, I'm hunting with A handgun, but it's generally a long barreled scoped revolver or specialty pistol, so when hunting in bear woods, I'll carry a defensive revolver as well, just as a guy might with a rifle.
I'm generally a weight weenie when it comes to my pack hunting gear, meaning I carry as little as possible, and try to buy gear which is as light as possible, but I've generally considered - if I'm worried about 3lbs of revolver, I could just as easily pick 3lbs out of my 200lb body weight to lose.
I'm also quite confident in my practiced ability to run my revolvers/pistols fast and accurate...
When a guy is considering whether he's capable of deploying his handgun defensively, he also has to ask himself the following question - when's the last time he ran his RIFLE fast? Being fast and accurate with a handgun doesn't come for free, but neither does such with a rifle.
More often than not, I'm hunting with A handgun, but it's generally a long barreled scoped revolver or specialty pistol, so when hunting in bear woods, I'll carry a defensive revolver as well, just as a guy might with a rifle.
10-21-2017, 02:04 PM
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
For the past 42 years I've hunted in grizzly country, and for many of those years either a Ruger SBH .44 or a 1911 .45acp was on my hip. The holsters and bluing for both of those guns show a lot of wear. I have shot two black bears with those pistols, but the only grizzly encounter I had, firing two .44 mag shots over his head at 10 yards didn't phase him, but bouncing a rock thrown at him ran him off.
For antelope hunting on the eastern plains I'll usually carry a Ruger Single Six .22, mainly for snakes or a badger.
One antelope hunt I saw 3 badgers, including one looking at me out of his hole only a few feet from me, and I didn't shoot any of them. Since I decided that I wanted a badger mount, I haven't seen a one.
I also sometimes carry my .44 with me while pheasant hunting during deer season, but I have yet to shoot a deer with it.
One time we were hunting pheasants in the brushy creek bottoms of north central Montana. All morning I had strapped my .44 on before each drive, then took it off driving to the next draw. The next draw looked short so I left my pistol in the truck. As I entered the thick brush and trees at the head of the next draw I could smell a buck. I stopped at the edge of a small opening, and about 20 yards away stood the largest, heaviest horned 5x5 Whitetail that I have ever seen. We just stared at each other for about 30 seconds before he calmly walked away.
I practice shooting at least two cylinders and two clips through each of three pistols every Wednesday afternoon when I go to the range. I also enjoy shooting station High 8 Skeet targets with my .44 magnum shot loads.
For antelope hunting on the eastern plains I'll usually carry a Ruger Single Six .22, mainly for snakes or a badger.
One antelope hunt I saw 3 badgers, including one looking at me out of his hole only a few feet from me, and I didn't shoot any of them. Since I decided that I wanted a badger mount, I haven't seen a one.
I also sometimes carry my .44 with me while pheasant hunting during deer season, but I have yet to shoot a deer with it.
One time we were hunting pheasants in the brushy creek bottoms of north central Montana. All morning I had strapped my .44 on before each drive, then took it off driving to the next draw. The next draw looked short so I left my pistol in the truck. As I entered the thick brush and trees at the head of the next draw I could smell a buck. I stopped at the edge of a small opening, and about 20 yards away stood the largest, heaviest horned 5x5 Whitetail that I have ever seen. We just stared at each other for about 30 seconds before he calmly walked away.
I practice shooting at least two cylinders and two clips through each of three pistols every Wednesday afternoon when I go to the range. I also enjoy shooting station High 8 Skeet targets with my .44 magnum shot loads.