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?

In Ohio it would be illegal to carry multiple "Hunting Instruments"... So, you have to choose one or the other.


-Jake

I take a pistol with me for multiple reasons.

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.

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.

If 3-4 pounds makes that much of a difference then its time to get in better hiking shape or drop some other gear imo.

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.

I only carry a handgun during black powder season for a quick finisher, if needed. So far I have not needed it. I only hunt in the Midwest but if I am out and about in the woods I am armed.

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.

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.

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.

A ccw does not count as a "Hunting Instrument." And is perfectly legal to carry. That's why it's worded that way.


I never knew of this law until I was checked by a game warden while carrying a shotgun and an 8" barreled 44mag revolver. Thankfully, he let me off with a warning as long as I promised to choose on or the other when I got back to my truck. ( I had just started police academy and I was sweating bullets worrying I had messed up my career choice before getting a chance to even start it...) But, I was let off with a warning.


Again, a ccw is perfectly legal. Key word is "hunting instrument"


-Jake

And before this turns into a spitting match with rule infractions... I can assure you all that if anybody is qualified to speak on the three topics of: defensive shooting with a pistol, physical conditioning, and mountain hunting... it's Flags...


We all have different opinions on topics like this. Feel free to disagree, but keep it respectful please.


-Jake

Sorry if I offended anyone, the situation is what upsets me, not any individual. I'm from California and they keep passing laws that just make me shake my head and say WTF. I came to the conclusion long ago that many bureaucrats sit behind their desks and dream up these unnecessary and sometimes seriously stupid regulations just to get their name on some new bill or regulation, to justify their existence. They sure don't write many of these regulations from experience.

Many of these regulations are borderline nonsensical and have way more to do with image and preconceptions than they do with reality.

Example, How in the world is putting a knife on the end of a rifle going to make it any more lethal than a rifle? Though if you were between a rock and hard place and ran out of ammo, it does beat using your rifle as a club.

Or in the case of Bocajnala's example, how is carrying a pistol going to give you any sort of an edge while hunting? IMO it is much more likely it might save your bacon some day, than give you a hunting edge.

I never used to take a pistol with me hunting until I was out with a master hunter (many decades ago) and we walked up on a severely wounded Red Deer, he lowers his rifle from about ten feet and shoots the finishing shot. That bullet went through that Red Deer, hit a rock and passed within inches of my head. Since then I've carried a pistol with soft nose bullets.

And as far as the extra weight goes, one of my Boots weighs more than a pistol does. There are many lite weight boots available, I'm older than dirt and still wear the heavy boots. I've had a rock fall half up my foot and break bones, I've broken an ankle. I'll make the sacrifice of a little extra weight for the additional safety.

I can take one or the other when I hunt and that's good enough. And weight enough.

We are going to have to agree to disagree here. I won't post again on this thread.

I always carry a pistol.

I always carry a pistol also but then I've carried one for my entire LE career with a shotgun and trunk rifle available as needed. I don't feel comfortable not carrying and have been glad I was carrying a few times. After all of these years, I don't even notice the extra weight. I was a PMI in the Marines and a Range-master with a Sheriff's Office and DA's Office. You get lots of time and ammo to shoot when you're the teacher and I took advantage of it. As always, YMMV but each person needs to make that decision for themself. It's a good question to ask and everybody provides good reasons for carrying or not which helps the OP make his best decision.

I do. I even carry while upland hunting.

I've seen multiple Mountain lions on my place, I won't head into the woods without a sidearm anymore.

I have a ccw, don't hardly ever carry, do have one in the truck at all times, along with an AR, if things turn nasty I'll reach for the AR, not because I'm not proficient with a handgun, I just have more confidence with a rifle.
RR

The OP's question was whether we do carry or not, not whether the high and mighty say we should - because there's no straight answer for it. Flags doesn't, and he's plenty salty, and buffybr does, another guy plenty salty. I don't usually carry a tent when backpack hunting, preferring a tarp and a bivy. One of the guys I hunted with when I was growing up spent 50+ yrs hauling a 7lb tent (maybe heavier, it was a monster) with aluminum poles into the field on his back... neither answer is really wrong. Living in flatlands at 1,350ft, I can't simulate altitude and elevation gain, so i have to keep my wits about me any time I get over 6,000. I've ran 20+ miles per week for most of my life, finished 14 marathons to date, completed 3 50mile trail runs, done months on months of hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, etc. but there's no making up for living low and hunting high... great shape is relative, but I've never struggled to keep my pace as long as I remember my moutain step when my breathing gets fast.

No sense in getting all bent out of shape about any of it. The question wasn't whether you think it's a good idea or not, it's whether you carry or not.

Same here now, I once was chased by a rabid skunk just before small game season came in, that won't happen again.

In VA. we can carry with a CCW permit in addition to your hunting weapon. I'm retired LEO, so it just comes natural.

My revolver is always by my side, not for finishing off……but to fill the freezer.

When I was deployed in Viet Nam in 1969, the only weapon that the Army issued me was a 1911 .45 acp. I wasn't in a combat role, but I did travel a lot all over the III and IV Corps areas.


One of my Sergeants was great at scrounging, and it didn't take me very long to get a M-16.

My trainer taught me a rifle is your primary weapon, a pistol is for reach out and touch me distances, then your knife, then your teeth. He also taught me the only time you are in real trouble, is when you run out of options, like when it goes click with no bang. I was bright enough back then to recognize good advice when I heard it.

That's an awesome picture bucktail.

-JaKe

Awesome buck! What revolver were you shooting?

I'm hoping to get my first revolver kill this year.

How do you keep the deer from hearing the cocking of the hammer and the indexing of the cylinders? Great picture Bob, thumbs up

That is a Smith 629, using 240 gr. A-Frames. What pistol did you pick up?
Pulling the hammer real slow is quiet, practice it while watching football on the lazy boy, preferably when Packers are losing.

for years when I was young and foolish, I carried my 357 along with my long gun. Eventually I realized the foolishness of it, after realizing that for crying out loud, I can finish a deer as cleanly and quickly with my rifle, certainly my rifle has more oomph for any other wayward critters/ unpleasant encounters, and also was at hand. Even being in good shape, the extra wt of the revolver and belt, etc. was significant at the end of theday, esp. if dragging something out. For that matter, the very full day pack that accompanied me is down to only a knife, cord, compass and fire starter. Less does become more.

I've got a S&W Performance Center Model 460 using 200 grain Barnes XPBs for the medium ranged shots and a Ruger Blackhawk chambered in 41 Magnum using 250 grain WFN hardcasts for archery range shots, neither of which have seen much action yet. If I have to cover a larger field where 150+ yard shots are possible, I'll trade the 460 for my 300 Winchester Magnum Encore handgun.

Illegal here in illinois

Couldn't have said it better.

The only reason Ive ever thought about it is because Ive thought about taking a deer with a pistol if the opportunity presents itself but I don't want to not have my long gun.

I guess I'm more likely to take a long gun when pistol hunting than take a pistol when long gun hunting.

I guess I did have a dangerous encounter with a deer where I rattled in a mature buck. He came in through cattails/high weeds and charged close enough I could have touched him. I can't imagine a scenario where I would have dropped my shotgun and reached for my handgun but I reckon if your going in for days a backup is not a bad idea...Specially in bear country. Deer is about the most dangerous game where I live and even at touching distance I didn't really feel like my life was in real danger. There was a split second after we seen each other that he was still in fight mode as we stood there face to face but he quickly went into flight mode. Was definitely an awesome experience and I never did shoot the deer..

Last year I carried a S&W model 28 in a cross draw position because I was sitting in a blind. This year I will carry a Glock 23 on my right hip because I expect to be sitting in several positions. Either one is with me wherever I travel.

I don't expect to take a deer with either handgun, but I do carry in the woods. In tight quarters I will prefer them as a primary weapon.

BZimm