So, I hunt on a friend's property near Chehalis, WA. I hadn't hunted for twenty years but the deer were eating her crops and she has 44 acres fenced with a stout six-foot fence, posted 'No Hunting' so I was reasonably sure no one would shoot at me, which is why I quit hunting twenty years earlier. It had gotten to where every time I went out a bullet would come so close that I would actually hear it passing...
Anyway I had just gotten a nice old Model 28 S&W with a six inch barrel and a custom grip. Usually at about 8am if I am getting no action in the blind I leave the rifle and take a walk around the property. Since it's very close terrain and thick brush on much of her property I like to use a handgun for these 'walking hunts.' The gun was new to me so I thought that I'd better see if I could shoot it well enough to take along.
I found some nice 158 grain soft-points (I forget the brand) and headed to the range. The gun is a wonderful shooter and I decided to try an 'acid test'. I borrowed some masking tape from the RO and made a fist-sized patch of tape near the lower right corner on the back of a silhouette target and ran it our to 25 yards.
At that range the tape is indistinguishable from the tan background of the back of the target. The theory is that I can't see a deer's heart in the brush either- In both cases I would have to shoot where I knew the target was without actually being able to see it. I was able to put four out of five bullets on the patch of tape, and the fifth was touching so I figured, "good enough!" and took the big revolver with me on the next hunting trip.
I did wind up pointing it at a deer at ranges from 30-40 feet, but with the deer screened by tall grass and light brush I was never able to determine if it was a spike-buck or a doe so I held my fire. We played peek-a-boo in the brush for maybe ten minutes before the deer noticed me and bolted. Very frustrating!
Anyway I had just gotten a nice old Model 28 S&W with a six inch barrel and a custom grip. Usually at about 8am if I am getting no action in the blind I leave the rifle and take a walk around the property. Since it's very close terrain and thick brush on much of her property I like to use a handgun for these 'walking hunts.' The gun was new to me so I thought that I'd better see if I could shoot it well enough to take along.
I found some nice 158 grain soft-points (I forget the brand) and headed to the range. The gun is a wonderful shooter and I decided to try an 'acid test'. I borrowed some masking tape from the RO and made a fist-sized patch of tape near the lower right corner on the back of a silhouette target and ran it our to 25 yards.
At that range the tape is indistinguishable from the tan background of the back of the target. The theory is that I can't see a deer's heart in the brush either- In both cases I would have to shoot where I knew the target was without actually being able to see it. I was able to put four out of five bullets on the patch of tape, and the fifth was touching so I figured, "good enough!" and took the big revolver with me on the next hunting trip.
I did wind up pointing it at a deer at ranges from 30-40 feet, but with the deer screened by tall grass and light brush I was never able to determine if it was a spike-buck or a doe so I held my fire. We played peek-a-boo in the brush for maybe ten minutes before the deer noticed me and bolted. Very frustrating!
