BigGameHoundsmen.com

Rufus,

As for myself I pack a Handgun everywhere I go with my hounds or if my boys are out with the dogs I make them take a pistol even if you are not planning on harvesting anything. You never know what the next trip might bring and the situation at hand may call for a need. Of course a rifle for most is much more accurate but for exteremly close range I prefer a pistol and I like 9mm or 357 for my pistols , for the pure fact if I need it I want some stopping power I am not concerned about the hide of the animal at that point I am concerned about my hounds and myself or who ever is with me.

Kevin

I pack an 8 3/8th" S&W 44mag. I shoot it to the tune of a box a month, and I have very little problems threading a needle with it. For years I shot all my Bobs in the head with a S&W 48k in 22mag. Half the fun was calling your shot before pulling the trigger. I will say this, 9 out of ten people I know would have to prove to me they could shoot straight at a distance with a pistol before I would allow them to carry it with the intent to harvest.

Like krk said, I pack mine all the time too, If I'm heading to a tree after dumping on a really nice track, I take a rifle, but I don't leave the road without that pistol ever. I have seen bum shots that didn't allow a follow up from the rifleman, but the pistol got em when they hit the ground. Plus, I live in the land of wolves.

Keven glad you got the 222 shooting well. This is still one of the best benchrest cartridges around although the PPC type took over but really most triple deuces shoot better than most guys can hold. My Dad and all his cronies were big bench shooters back in the day and they all had to have their special reload they felt was the best. My dad used 20 Gr. of IMR 4198 and a 50 Gr. Sierra and he could pop asprin tablets all day long at 100 yards. I use BLC22 nowdays because it flows a little nicer and this little gun likes it. I know it is fashionable now days to have a really hotshot varmint gun for coyote calling. Most use the 22-250 which is one of the best, some the Swift, the 204 the 223 and others. Nothing wrong with any of them I have killed a ton of fur with all of them. Well not a ton with the 204 but enough to know it is not my idea of a coyote gun for long range.For calling we use to slow the 222 down and work up a load that was just about equal to the 22 Hornet and this was excellent for fox, bobcats and close coyotes that came to the call. No hide damamge and you could stick it right where you wanted to and they werte done. I have seen a lot of guys blasting away at coyotes way too far to really call that shot and using very explosive bullets in the hotter 22's. Lots of pelt damage, and when you are selling fur all that sewing is not fun and sure cuts down on the furbuyers check.

I was out in my shop last night working on another pet rifle you don't hear a lot about these days but still a very good and versatile round the 257 Roberts. It will do anything the 243 or 6mm will do on the light end and you can also throat it out a bit put a 117 or 120 Barnes X bullet in it and whack and stack the elk about as well as a 270. that's covering a lot of ground. The one I am working on his a Pre-64 Custom Model 70 barreled by famous Gunmaker Dale Goens. I glass bedded the recoil lug and first third of the barrel and free floated the rest. Lightened the trigger a bit mounted a good Redfield solid base and rings and a good Widefield scope on it. Even though the barrel is pretty light with 90-gr. Barnes x and a pretty snappy load of IMR 4350 kicking them out there over 3200 FPS. It is holding 3 shots into about half an inch. But it heats up pretty quick after that. That's good enough for me with that gun If the coyote is out there a pretty good ways and the wind is blowing I will still knock his socks off with this, and although it will excit it won't blow a real big hole because the Barnes hold together well. If it is a big muley buck or a pronhorn on the menu , it's light out, and if I am elk hunting I doubt it would be my first choice, but with the good Barnes bullet I just hold for a high shoulder spine shot and they drop kicking.

Another oldie but goody!

just wanna say thank you for all the great advice, dont know where i would of gone to learn more on this this sport if it wasnt for for all the
houndsmen willing to share there knowledge and experiences it almost seems unfair to ask, but i will be a better dogman for it THANX all your advice is well taken.

IMO any high velocity cartrige is overkill. I would guess I see around 70 dead cougars a year and I can honestly deer guns are good cougar guns. It is hard to beat a 30 30. I have seen incredible damage from 44 mag. as well. The wrong bullet can make an exit hole as big as your fist. I brought home two cats from Canada last year that were destined to hang on a nail due to unreparable bullet damage. Many outfitters encourage their clients to bring their fast flying big game rifles. Cougars are thin skinned are are seldom taken at more than tweny yards. Do the math. I would discourage anyone to use a .243, 25-06 or any ceter fire with comparable balistics. .357 mag is a better choice for hand gun. Cut hair and blown hide that comes with a large broadhead or fast bullet create real problems for a taxidremist. Bad angles can destroy a cougar in the blink of an eye.

My daughter killed a nice tom using a 22 mag. She was comfortable shooting this gun and was not afraid of it. She made a nice shot right threw the lungs and the cat expired real quick. There was no damage to the hide.

We spent some time shooting the gun and she learned where to aim for a good hit. Maybe this little gun will not work for everybody but it sure worked nice for her. She used a ruger 22 mag topped with a 4x scope.

That's what I like to hear. I realize some places where rimfires are not legal I would encourage the min. gun you can shoot well with and still feel comfortable that you will not put dogs at risk.

Yaak,

You Da Man!

Dead right, and a 357 mag handgun in a good shots hands is just a good sensible choice, and even better is a 357 mag. carbine . I carry both 4" model 66 shoulder rig. A Model 92 Rossi 16" barrell little light sling on it, and can hit a golfball every shot at 50 yards so it is hard to beat. Some dudes come with me and after a couple of shots with the little Rossi they are ready to go, and then they try to buy the dang thing from me. LOL!

I think I told this story but I saw a first time lion hunter go out with a green guide locally and the finally ended up getting a nice tom up . This guy was as nervous as a duck in the desert, and he ended up shooting that beautiful tom 7 times with a 22-250 around the edges and then the guide killed it I think with a 44 magnum.Why hell there wasn't enough left to make a decent mount!

I have a Rem. model seven & a 10" contender barrel in the duce for sport hunting. Not a option here in oregon any more. So I use a 22mag handgun or a Ruger lever carbine in the same cal for all the damage work.

The winchester or federal solids work the best for me in the 22 mag. I stay away from the new reduced weight go fast 22 ammo that is the rage right now.

Robin,

I hear you on the hyper velocity low weight 22 mags. I was up in the Big Horns a few years ago on one of our varmint rifle excursions. We were hunting rock chucks and there were pelnty of them around including a good crop of half grown whistle pigs. Well they hadn't been banged away yet so they were a little dense so I decided to creep in close and use my little custom octoganal barrled 22 mag. I had bought some of these lightweights to try. Well I was very disappointed in the performance of these rounds. If the grass was a bit high and they encountered a few blades of grass they would never make it to the target. Pfft! the bullets were gone! If they did make the target the central nervous system had to be hit to make a clean kill. The varmints have a little more resistance than a prairie dog but not a lot, but even though close it wasn't too good. I went back to the standard CCI Maxi Mags and rolled them over proper.

I actually was getting quicker kills with standard 22 LR hollow points as long as the range was not stretched. A full grown marmot is a pretty tough customer at times so I generally opt for a centerfire. It is excellent practice for the mountain deer,elk or sheep hunter. Doping the range and reading the wind as well as assuming shooting positions that are less than ideal on uneven terrain.

I hear you on the practice thing Mike, can't do enough in my opinion.

The sportsman of this country could save a ton of money and take way more game if they would hone their shooting and woodsmans skills instead of buying the newest trinkets & high priced gear we get bombarded with.

just my 2 cents

Shot my first cat with a 222 worked great! Just bought a .223 the other day and will be working on some reduced loads for it. Should do the job. Nice not to blow them out of the tree, just poke a hole in them and let them fall out on their own.