First Deer with a Handgun

[lokidog]

This year I have a bunch of meat in the freezer from a moose so I was wondering if I should even get out and hunt.  The consensus on that topic seemed to be get out there and give the meat away if I got one.  Well, getting one isn't much of an if out here so I decided to challenge it up a bit.  I dusted off the old 1860 Army .44 and did some target shooting.  Five inches high at 5 to fifteen yards with a .451 ball.  Yeah, I know, they are designed for a .454 but i had a box of the smaller ones that someone gave me years ago so figured I'd see how they shot.  Completely acceptable accuracy, in my book.  I figured I would keep the range to ten yards or less due to the low amount of energy produced by this round.

My other challenge was going to be to get a deer with my 9 year old in tow.  Challenging because of the extra person and close range as I was not using a blind, and because he has a hard time sitting for more than about an hour and a half.

Opening morning, we sat 5 to 7 yards off the trail where I shot two with a bow from a treestand last year (both 7 yard shots).  We were a few minutes later than I had hoped getting in there and bumped a deer on the way in.  We saw no deer until we walked through the neighbor's yard on the way home where we saw four does and four fawns.  The one doe without a fawn was not in range.  the next morning we saw nothing after sitting in the downpour for about two hours. 

Sunday evening we moved to a different location, tried rattling a little and got winded by a deer ten yards behind us over a berm that we never saw.  Just before dark we saw two deer about 90 yards out that looked to be bucks by their size, but I forgot my binos.

Monday evening we moved nearer to where the two bucks were seen.  As we approached the spot, we could see a buck eating an apple I threw out earlier in the day.  We circled to try to get close but he blew out when we were about twenty yards away.  We saw no other deer that evening.

Tuesday evening, we got there a little bit earlier, put our apples out stomped on some to spread the scent and waited.  It was really windy blowing into the trees behind us.  I stood up to look over a little ridge we were next to and upon sitting down saw a deer looking at me from about 20 yards back in the trees, doe.  She stared for a while, the boy fidgeted a bunch, but she could not see him from her position.  She finally turned as if to walk away and I saw she had a fawn with her.  As I was trying to point her out through the trees, she turned and came back, watched us for a bit from about 15 yards and then walked directly across our scent trail to circle around us.  About ten minutes later, they were just over the hill eating some of the apples I had put out at 7 yards.  They eventually caught me taking some video of them and trotted away.  Right at dark we saw another deer, probably a buck, across the way but spooked him off.

So, Wednesday evening my boy decided he did not want to go out.  I told him that he knows that if he doesn't go I'll have one come by...  he says yeah he knows and good luck.  So, with only myself to contend with, I move to a different spot where I am much more in the open but where I have seen bucks come from across the road.  I put my apples out at 10 yards down along the hill I was laying on, one at 4 yards in front of me on a stick, and I tossed one out, trying for ten yards but it rolled to about 13.  About 20 minutes before the end of shooting time, I hear a deer walking where we had sat the first night but coming my way.  I turned the camera on and sat there waiting.  Eventually, a fork came walking by at 5 yards but was still covered by miscellaneous branches.  Before he cleared them, he turned away slightly toward the 13 yard apple.  At about 7 yards I aimed at the bottom of his chest (remember shoots 5 inches high) just behind his front leg and squeeze the trigger, BOOM, smoke everywhere.  The deer runs, swing with him, squeeze, popBOOM, more smoke.  It looked like his leg was broken as he ran but I could not see where he went into the trees.  I looked at where he was standing but saw no sign of a hit.  I went across the clearing to see if there was blood in the tall grass that he ran into, nothing.  I called home and had my boy get ready to come help me look.  We looked for about 30 minutes, finally my boy says "Dad, is this blood?"  He's five steps behind me.     Sure enough, he spotted a tiny drop of blood on a leaf that I missed.     We looked for a while longer but saw nothing besides a doe and fawn that walked to within 15 yards of us and the flashlights.  So we headed home to hopefully let him die out there if he was not already.

So, after a mostly sleepless night, and a lot of what ifs, I dropped my daughter at the dock for school and got in the woods at 8:30.  No more blood to be seen by daylight so I just started hiking around looking, and looking, and looking.  After about an hour I was  about as far as I could go when I saw two fresh tracks of a running deer in the dirt.  The deer here mostly run when near a road but have very little reason to do so otherwise so I followed the game trail, such that it was.  It went into and around a big pile of trees that had been cut or pushed over but not removed.  I heard a noise ahead and readied the shotgun hoping to see a limping deer, nope, just a doe at twenty yards.  She eventually filtered off into the brush so I checked the area where she had been, nothing.  I then went to circle back around the heavy area when lo and behold, I see the gray of a deer behind and under one of the downfalls.  I lean down and yep it's him, but he's looking back at me.  I ready the gun in case he decides to take off and slowly move in closer.  He is obviously weak so I work in and pin him down and finish him off, I hate this part.    

So, one hour of searching and 250 yards as the crow flies, I notch my tag.  It turned out that I did shoot too far back with him still walking and I broke his left hip.  So, a couple lessons learned, hunting with a pistol is a challenge, get a pistol that I can put more powder in, a single shot would be fine, wait for the deer to quit walking and be more broadside, and don't give up looking if you hit one.

Thanks for reading.

[Bigshooter]

Nice job.

[D-Rock425]

Awesome

[TeacherMan]

Very cool didn't know you could hunt with a black powder hand gun. Good job!

[Broken Arrow]

Talk about a challenge! Nice job.

[Atroxus]

Wow, very nice job! If you find you don't have enough room in the freezer I would be willing to take some of your older stock off your hands. 

[Rooster1981]

great job on not giving up looking for your deer 

[crazysccrmd]

Was it legal? Not questioning your integrity, just maybe my reading of the regs. I'd considered hunting with an 1858 Remington but under muzzle loading regs it says 8" barrel and 45+ grains of powder. Since it was modern season did it just require a 4" barrel and greater than .24cal?

Damn cool either way.

[carpsniperg2]

Cool congrats man!!!! I love hunting with a handgun!!!

Yes it was legal per modern firearm rules.

[whacker1]

Very cool, and here you weren't going to go out.....

[Atroxus]

Was it legal? Not questioning your integrity, just maybe my reading of the regs. I'd considered hunting with an 1858 Remington but under muzzle loading regs it says 8" barrel and 45+ grains of powder. Since it was modern season did it just require a 4" barrel and greater than .24cal?

Damn cool either way.

Correct me if I am wrong, but that looked like a black-powder revolver. I would think it would be covered by modern firearms regs since it is loaded from the cylinder not the muzzle right? 

[lokidog]

Was it legal? Not questioning your integrity, just maybe my reading of the regs. I'd considered hunting with an 1858 Remington but under muzzle loading regs it says 8" barrel and 45+ grains of powder. Since it was modern season did it just require a 4" barrel and greater than .24cal?

Damn cool either way.

I did not hunt ML season so did not look at those regs.  I assumed that it was legal as it met the barrel length and caliber requirements for a handgun.   I did a bunch of online searching and saw a large number of successful users of this gun on deer sized game.  I would, however, probably not recommend it and will stick to some fun target shooting with this gun in the future.

[denali]

nice job,, that kale thief is still lurking somewhere ?

[lokidog]

Oh yeah, that bugger is still out there.  I had the fence open last night but no takers.  We'll save him for Weathergirl's late archery season.

Here's the video, such as it is, of the shot last night.  There are about 5 minutes of waiting at the beginning.

http://youtu.be/sn3ziyT4xpE

Watching this slowly I can see the moment he turned more to his right but I think I had already started pulling the trigger.

[Gutpile]

Really awesome!!! Black powder too?!?!?! Your cool factor went up 10 fold. 

[Sagebrushwilly]

I'm going to throw a wrench in the gears on this one.  In the regulations under
"Equipment and Hunting Methods", they are describing the legality of the weapon
and not exceptions regarding hunting seasons.  Using a muzzleloading rifle during
the modern season eliminates some restrictions but still requires the basic rules of
the weapon.
Under Muzzleloading Regulations it states that "A muzzleloading handgun used for
big game must be .45 caliber or larger.  Your .44 is not legal.
A .32 caliber muzzleloading rifle used during the modern season would be legal
using the definition of having a  larger than .24 caliber, but does not meet the
muzzleloading requirement of .40 caliber or larger for deer hunting.

[coachcw]

the projectile is still .45 so what the hell .

[carpsniperg2]

I am not 100% sure about that. I don't see it that way looking in the rules. If you can change to a enclosed break weapon and use 209 ignitions. I do not see why the rules of muzzle loader season apply to the modern season If it's a handgun meeting the rules listed to be used during the modern fire arms season. I don't see how they could hold you to the regulations used to govern muzzleloader season.

[lokidog]

the projectile is still .45 so what the hell .

 

[crazysccrmd]

Your .44 is not legal.

They are technically .45cal pistols. Back in that time the bore was measured as diameter between lands, now it is measured as diameter between grooves.

[Atroxus]

I am confused. I though on black powder revolvers that you loaded the cylinders....how are they considered muzzle loaders?

[crazysccrmd]

I think it's the difference between cartridge and powder. The state lists cap and ball black powder revolvers under the muzzle loader regs (pg 74).

[Michelle_Nelson]

NICE!

[ing]

Nice! I hope I get a chance at a buck with my pistol in Colorado this year.

[dbor]

Good for you... that is sooo cool...

[gasman]

Looks like you got your self a new gun rack for that pistol 

[boneaddict]

I think its awesome and wouldn't hesitate for a second to use that firearm.   WAY COOL!

[Blacklab]

got her done!!!!   

[RB]

Right on! 

[lokidog]

I was actually impressed with the penetration as the ball went through the hind quarter, broke the bone near the hip and entered the gut cavity mostly in one piece as there were only a couple noticeable shrapnel injuries.  Not sure where the ball ended up as my metal detector did not beep.  Hopefully the guy butchering him will find it and get it back to me.  Had I made a better, broadside, chest shot, I think it would have had a good chance of passing through.

Looks like you got your self a new gun rack for that pistol 

Yeah it was funny how the lop-sidedness fit the gun perfectly.

[Biggerhammer]

Now that is just way cool! Well done!

[spur_ride]

Way to go, congrats! Awesome to see it done with a cap and ball gun. 

[wt]

That's a great accomplishment! Not to be gory but when you "pinned him down" what implement did you use to dispatch him?

[singleshot12]

Looks like you got your self a new gun rack for that pistol 

I always enjoy your stories and pics, good job

[buck man]

That is awesome. That is a fine pistol .

[lokidog]

That's a great accomplishment! Not to be gory but when you "pinned him down" what implement did you use to dispatch him?

Knife.     At least it was sharp.  The last time I tried that I got kicked a bunch by a doe that I had shot in the head with the .50 cal.   

[CoryTDF]

You made the right call giving it the night to rest. If you would have gone after it in the dark you would have lost it for sure. If you make a questonable shot it is never a bad idea to give it the night and go back in the daylight. Pushed deer often mean lost deer. Fine job and cool buck.

[Huntboy]

Congrats.

[Ripper]

Congrats Ed, good story. I'm glad you decided to hunt. If you have too much meat in your freezer, I'd be glad to take some off your hands. I'm here to help!

[Kowsrule30]

Way cool.. Congrats!!! 

[runamuk]

Looks like you got your self a new gun rack for that pistol 

thats what I was thinking.....

congrats....

[TheSkyBuster]

Great Job,  Nice Buck. I know how tough it can be.  I just got back from San Juan trying to fill my "2nd deer antlerless tag" with my 10mm auto.  It was alot harder than I imagined, there are a ton of deer there but getting within handgun range and getting a clear shot took me 3 full days and that was to bag a little doe.

[GreginWA]

I am no hunter, but I thought baiting was illegal??...

I see that apple

I think there is some weird reg someone was saying... You can "feed" deer, but cant hunt until like 3 hours after? I am SURE this is wrong or off in some way...

[deerslyr]

I am no hunter, but I thought baiting was illegal??...

You summed it up in your first four words, prepare to insert foot 

[xbow]

Love it! Nice write up and way to give it the night.

[Kioti]

Nice hand gun...very nice....
Good story and what a memory with your son, and the fact you got one...nice..