Elkwhisper
Well-known member
Earlier this summer I did a little gun trading and ended up with a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Mag...... I mounted that sucker up with a VX-3 2.5-8 scope and had big plans to shoot something with it this year. Rifle hunting in general has started to become kind of anti-climactic for me, so I have been focusing on notching tags with the stick and string, but the challenge of hunting with a handgun kind of appealed to me.
I filled the majority of my tags (2x elk, antelope, deer B) during archery season, but ever since rifle season has started, I added the .44 Mag to my gear. Idea being if I can get a big buck inside of 50-60 yards I will stick an arrow in him, and anything between 60-100 yards would be a candidate for the .44.
Well last night I snuck out for a quick evening hunt to see how the rut is progressing, and before I could even get to my hunting spot I saw a flock of about 35 turkeys on a state chunk..... I figured "what the heck" and took off on a belly crawl to see how close I could get. I ran out of cove at about 80 yards, so I got a good rest and let it rip with pistola.... Turns out 240 grains is in fact adequate for turkey...... and I have officially joined the ranks of successful handgun hunters.
The rest of the night was pretty amazing as well..... I watch a rut fest like none I have seen before. I watched 14 bucks harassing does, fighting, chasing, lip curling and trying to mount up. I manage to slip inside 100 yards of the biggest buck right at last light, and was just cocking the hammer, when he decided to go into an all out battle with another good buck. He ended up chasing the other buck off and away from the does, and didn't come back to his ladies until after dark........ I have all week off next week, so hopefully those bucks don't wear themselves out before then.
Good Hunting!
Elkwhisper
I filled the majority of my tags (2x elk, antelope, deer B) during archery season, but ever since rifle season has started, I added the .44 Mag to my gear. Idea being if I can get a big buck inside of 50-60 yards I will stick an arrow in him, and anything between 60-100 yards would be a candidate for the .44.
Well last night I snuck out for a quick evening hunt to see how the rut is progressing, and before I could even get to my hunting spot I saw a flock of about 35 turkeys on a state chunk..... I figured "what the heck" and took off on a belly crawl to see how close I could get. I ran out of cove at about 80 yards, so I got a good rest and let it rip with pistola.... Turns out 240 grains is in fact adequate for turkey...... and I have officially joined the ranks of successful handgun hunters.
The rest of the night was pretty amazing as well..... I watch a rut fest like none I have seen before. I watched 14 bucks harassing does, fighting, chasing, lip curling and trying to mount up. I manage to slip inside 100 yards of the biggest buck right at last light, and was just cocking the hammer, when he decided to go into an all out battle with another good buck. He ended up chasing the other buck off and away from the does, and didn't come back to his ladies until after dark........ I have all week off next week, so hopefully those bucks don't wear themselves out before then.
Good Hunting!
Elkwhisper
