One of my goals since the age of 13 when I read a Field & Stream article on handgun hunting has been to take a whitetail with a handgun.
About 5 years ago, I started to get a little bored with rifle hunting because, essentially I felt that if could see them, they were dead. My ol’ Remington 740 ought six took no prisoners at anything under 250 yards and apparently I have the one 740 in 1000 that shoots lights-out even at those distances. In 20 seasons, I had never had a deer walk away after the ol’ 740 barked.
So that got me thinking it’s time to up the game and do what I’d promised myself I’d do 25 years: Switch to the handgun. I bought a T/C Contender and eventually settled on the 7-30 Waters as my deer cartridge of choice.
For me the learning curve on deer hunting with the handgun was steep and rocky. The biggest thing was the realization that handgun hunting has a lot more in common with the bow or muzzleloader than it does with the rifle. I knew that I’d have to get closer, which was the whole point of the challenge. What I didn’t fully understand was the extent to which the entire setup like stand location and other factors needed to be changed to maximize the chances of a calm, controlled shot.
Offhand shooting is possible, but in hundreds of rounds of practice, I found that I had discipline myself to 50 yards at the outside because beyond that I’m not yet consistent enough.
And there were a few setbacks and “equipment malfunctions” along the way. 
The first 4 pointer that walked out in front of me 4 years ago would have been in the freezer except that the gun went click instead of bang. Yes, I know, the devil is in the details. Nobody told me that hammer extensions are great until the gun gets chilled and then that little extra weight is just enough to make the gun fail to fire. Yeah.
So fast forward to last Sunday. The stand was right, the conditions were right, I was seeing deer, and most importantly I had the mandate from the landowner: Kill a deer for me.
The ranch manager has 4 children to feed and with 1000 head of cattle he does not have time to hunt anymore. He also feels that there are too many deer on the spread by historical standards. Naturally, it’s not good for landowner relations to pass on 4-6 deer per day when he said he wants one in the freezer, so my father and I decided to leave the breeding-age deer alone and take out one of the immature bucks as we had seen plenty on the trail cam.
Sunday morning, I finally got my chance. On a stand that sits in some incredibly thick bottom brush next to a peat swamp, I had 2 deer come through early. One was a larger buck, but I could get no clear shot and he would not oblige by coming onto a shooting lane.
I was somewhat deflated after that deer left, but less than 10 minutes later I hear another deer coming directly behind me. I turned and as far in the distance as I could see–which is only 30 yards, I picked up movement and the deer was coming quickly.
There was no time to use the binocs as the deer was moving just short of a trot, obviously trying to get away from something and to someplace safer and it was in a hurry. Not a great scenario for a handgun shot.
I picked up the deer in the scope at only about 30 yards and hello there! It fit the bill as our immature shooter, so I decided this was the one to harvest. I set up on the rail and picked a marker tree that was in a clear spot in front of his path of travel where he would emerge broadside. Then I waited.
Those 20 seconds that it took for the deer to come into the clearing took about 4 hours and then it was over in a second. Deer! Steady! Let half the breath out! Hold!
Squeeze. . . . . . . . . .
Boooooooooooooooooom!
Then there’s that other fact of handgun hunting with a centerfire cartridge like the 7-30 Waters: Recoil and muzzle blast are significant.
And so is the terminal performance of the 7-30 Waters pushing a 120 grain A-Max bullet on top of 35 grains of Varget. The deer literally fell over sideways in its tracks like a pop-up target.
As it turned out, I made a good choice for meat as this deer is an absolute porker. The ranch manger tagged him and had him in the freezer Sunday night and on the dinner table on Monday. He had about an inch of fat on his rib cage; obviously the acorns and farm crops have been keeping him well fed.
I know it’s not a big buck rack-wise, but to me this deer is an accomplishment as a longtime goal. It’s amazing how as a young hunting-crazed kid, I picked up and held onto this notion of handgun hunting for so long. I’ve never been clear on why the challenge of doing this is so appealing, but it just is. And I plan to continue until I find Mr. Brutus, and I know he’s out there.
Grouse
Congrats! 
