Favorite sidearm while hunting?

G

Guv

New member
So those of you that hunt, what are your favorite sidearms when you go hunting, I hunt mostly deer and hogs.
Beretta 96 INOX, 155 Silvertips
M66 S&W 2.5", 158gr Speer SP, BlueDot, 357 magnum handloads
 
I also hunt with my sidearm, 6" 629 with a 2x weaver. If i'm just walking through the woods randomly, I carry my GP100 with a .357 load.
 
It depends on what I'm hunting.
If I'm deer hunting with a rifle I'll sometimes carry a Ruger 6 7/8" MKII 22 in case I run across some nice squirrels or a Fox

If I'm hunting small game with a 22 rifle I'll carry a DW 6" 44 mag, or a Taurus 6", 669C 357

I often see deer at close range while squirrel hunting, and killed my first handgun deer with the DW 44

Other times I'll carry both a 22 rifle and handgun, and choose which to use based on how close I can get

Occasionally I'll do the same with deer sized calibers so if one comes close to the stand I can use a handgun

It just depends on what I grab on the way out
 
This year since I have multiseason deer and elk plus a bear tag I opted to carry my Uberti Walker. It is plenty powerful to drop anything in Washington except moose and there aint no moose around here. I have been hunting some nasty brush and some days that is all I carried.

I have other handguns but for example yester day....I had to run my disabilit scooter I use a modified Zooma four miles in from the road closure with a small pack as I had been hunting the day before with someone and hee needed some gear so after I freighted in charcoal and a lantern I found out that he had wimped out. I still had a four mile hike ahead of me to a group of meadows down a trail that had not been cleared in several years.

I stashed my pack with my scooter and took a minimum of supplies in my coat pockets with just the Walker as a 50 foot shot would be long distance even in the meadows.
 
I no longer hunt. When I used to hunt I only carried a shotgun or a rifle depending on what I was hunting.

I can understand those who hunt with a handgun or those who might be out for several day and carried along a handgun.

Otherwise, why would you need a second firearm? I guess in some places you might desire to carry a round or two of buckshot or slugs if you were bird hunting with light shells. :confused:
 
no more

I occasionally aspire to taking a deer with a handgun, and when that itch strikes, I tote either a 629 Mtn in .44M, or a Glock 20. But I quit carrying both a handgun and a long gun at the same time quite a while back.....to much dang stuff to carry.

I do quite a bit of bow hunting for deer, and have taken to slipping an older Ruger Bearcat into the pocket of my hunting trousers (legal here in AL if one is otherwise legal to carry an SD handgun). Pretty easy to tote. No real thought for it as an SD gun, and I don't intend to pop any small game, but I've carried a firearm on my person for so long that wandering about with out one, and only the bow, feels odd. I suppose one could signal with it, and extra ammo is easy to carry too.
 
I don't really have a favorite, John Taffin wrote about the perfect packing pistol I pretty much adhear to that most of the time and have a bunch of guns purchased under the guise "this one is a PPP".
The last time I took a 6" model 14 smith loaded with +p 158 gr LSWCHPs.
 
Model 43 S&W.
Accurate, light to carry with an ammo wallet (that also contains my license), and best of all, it has never been needed.


JT
 
Only thing I hunt for anymore is birds. Carry a Smith 625 mountain gun in .45Colt when Grouse hunting just in case something wants to make a snack out of my springer spaniel or me.
 
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