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Can You Hunt Varmints With Handguns?

Didn't take a great number of what's typically considered 'varmints' I guess, but did a whole lot of hunting of game animals with handguns, most often Thompson Center Contender in .357mag. Over some years probably a couple dozen White tailed deer, and more feral hogs than "Campbell's" has pork & beans.

Always thought about going for some big game like brown bear, moose, etc ....... or maybe even some exotics like big cats with handguns. Just never could make it all happen. Oh well !!!! It's been a pretty good run anyway !!! (y) (y) (y)
 
Annihilator said:
Good article, can you hunt varmints with a handgun, did this years ago when I had my TC contenders.

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I have used my single-six .22LR and I have used my Security-Six .357 a few times just for fun on Groundhogs. I always made head shots but never took a shot over 25 yards either. I used them to practice my stalking for deer hunting.
 
I've never cleared anything off the land with a handgun, but I have used handgun calibers in lever-actions. I have no doubt that handguns could get the job done, but the varmints I encounter are usually just too far away for me to feel confident that I could hit them with a handgun. Maybe one day I'll give it a try, but not until I'm convinced that I could consistently hit the vitals with the first shot.
 
wmg1299 said:
I've never cleared anything off the land with a handgun, but I have used handgun calibers in lever-actions. I have no doubt that handguns could get the job done, but the varmints I encounter are usually just too far away for me to feel confident that I could hit them with a handgun. Maybe one day I'll give it a try, but not until I'm convinced that I could consistently hit the vitals with the first shot.
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A very admirable position to take !!!! So many will stretch their limited abilities to the point of wasting not only their time but the resource as well. Kudos to you !!!

One of the things we tried to stress in our Hunter Safety programs, and especially to the youngsters, was to not exceed their talents and abilities.
 
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I shot a mouse one time with an antique single shot pistol shooting 22 short. Little bast*** kept jumping over the traps set around his hole in the baseboard.....in the living room. Got him with the first shot. That was back in the late 70s, my wife still has not forgot or forgiven me for that one. :oops:
 
jumpinjoe said:
Was that before or after he came through the cat door? Asking for a friend! LOL!
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The cat door was a flap I had cut and hinged in the wooden garage door, and the cat's bowl was in the garage. The first time it happened, I had gone out to grab the broom, which hung on a set of hooks right next to the door from the house into the garage, and thought I saw the cat eating next to my foot, then did a double take when I saw the cat sitting on the seat of the riding mower in the corner! It was a possum, chowing down, and then it looked up and started hissing at me! I opened the garage, and chased it out with a broom.

The second or third time this happened, the possum went up under the car, so I backed my wife's car out. THEN it went up under the deck of the riding mower, which was parked in front of the car, in the corner of the garage. So, I push the mower out from the corner, and the sucker STAYS under there! I got it all the way out into the driveway, and couldn't get it out. Now I am thinking - this thing HAS to go. This is a safety issue. I don't want the wife, or the 2 or 4 year old walking out this door and being bit by a rabid possum!

I RAN upstairs - this was about 10:30 at night and the wife was in bed, and I shuffle around in the closet and come out with my Ruger Mark II in hand, and the wife is freaking out, wondering what is going on - I tell her "it's that dang possum again!" and run back downstairs. Remember - 10:30pm at night, maybe 11pm, kids are asleep, wife is in bed. Black lab is wanting to follow me out, but I'm not having that.

I LIFT the riding mower up off that stupid possum (I was young and strong at the time), and roll it out of the way, and its stubborn, staying put, hissing at me - not wanting to budge. I took my shot as it started to finally move, and it was not a clean kill, and the thing is still moving around. I realized that this was probably NOT legal, and it was VERY loud. This was in a neighborhood in Cobb County Georgia, on a 3/4 acre lot, give or take. I was in the county, outside the city limits of Marietta, but didn't want the cops coming. Or my neighbors!

So I finished the task by whacking it multiple times with a shovel, then clean up the mess, toss it in the trash, hose the driveway down, then go upstairs and slip into bed, after putting the Ruger away.

I've since trapped similar creatures, and released them miles away from here, on the other side of the Tennessee river. That said - there is an armadillo that if I ever see, is getting the shovel treatment. Where I am today I *AM* inside city limits, and there are laws against shooting inside the city limits. I'll pump up the pellet gun a bunch, or trap things here.
 
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