Anyone ever shoot a deer with a pistol?

[chadly]

I've been thinking of this the last five years or so and a couple of weeks ago picked up a Smith & Wesson 44 magnum to hunt deer.  It was used and came with a red dot scope.  I finally got to the range yesterday and shot it.  I was shooting 240 grains.  My intent was to shoot 40 rounds but after 14 shots I quit.  I was shooting about 3.5in groups at 40 yards so I was satisfied with pattern and my hands could not take any more abuse.  I'm not wimp but I can still feel the recoil today.  We can use a pistol in our late muzzle loader season which is the end of December.  I plan to take it and a muzzle loader.  If I can get a deer inside of 40 yards I'm going to give it a try.  Outside of 40 yards and the Remington m700 gets its turn.  So who has shot a deer with a pistol?  Please share your caliber and your experience. 
Blessings.
Chad

[silvestris]

I shot at one once with a TC Contender in .30 Herritt.  I wouldn't do it again now as I am afraid I might kill one and then what would I do.  I think I might load up a few rounds for plinking.  It was a fun gun to shoot. 

[SinGin]

I shot one a few years back with a 9mm Beretta. He came right under my stand and I shot him right in the spine

[mwr]

I have shot a lot of deer with a pistol, Encore, 444 marlin, with Thompson scope and 44 mag, with Thompson scope. Never tried a red dot. I always carried a stick, and if I could lean up against a tree
I could shoot the center out of a clay almost every time at 40 yds.  It is a lot of fun. Hornady LEVERevolution  44 Remington Magnum 225 Grain Flex Tip is what I used in 44mag.

[The Cohutta Strutter]

Hi Chad. I've taken one in my youth with  a S&W .44 Mag. I was foolish in the fact that I did not wear any hearing protection and I can assure you I lost some hearing that day. Saying this as a reminder to wear some type of hearing protection while hunting. As far as the hunt it was pretty exciting. I had set up down in a drain with pretty much only my head showing. I was looking back up to the side of a ridge where a well used trail was located. I see a buck coming along on the trail and when he gets nearly parallel to me he then turns and comes straight my direction. Well, that's when I open up on him. I fired 3 times hitting him with every shot. He could not make me down in the drain and kept coming my direction even while I was shooting him. He never made it across the drain and dropped in front of me. I was using the open sights on the gun. I would not hesitate to use a handgun to hunt with again at the ranges I'd feel comfortable shooting at. Good luck with your endeavor. Strutter...

[Devastator]

Have killed 2 doe with my Dan Wesson 41 mag.I use Win.240 grain platinum tip.

[BigMick]

Shot one with a Ruger Blackhawk .357 Magnum once.  Small doe at about 30 yds.  Dropped where she was standing

[hunter22]

I have killed a couple bucks with my TC Contender and one with a Remington XP-100. Both those pistols are scoped.

[njdevilsb]

My dad killed one with his 44 Mag a few years ago.

[Cut N Run]

I killed a small buck with a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Magnum in 1981. I was set up behind some low growing cedars beside a draw across from where a feeder creek ran into the draw.  He ended up coming down the main draw beside me and I had to let him walk past before I had a clear enough shot through the cedars.  I had slightly quartering away shot on him, about 28-30 yards.  He went less than 50 yards and piled up.

Jim

[chadly]

Thanks for sharing your hunts.  The guy I bought the gun from said he shot three deer with it.  He said the first one he had no hearing protection and regretted it.  After that he kept one ear plug in at all times and put the second one it after he spotted a deer.  I cant wait to give it a go.

[crow]

Plus one on wearing ear protection, the .44mag is the only gun that I've shot at game and minded the noise

my buddy plays bluegrass banjo and couldn't hear certain notes for over half a year after shooting a deer with his .44mag (no hearing protection)

hunting with a handgun is a fun challenge, I hunted with a ruger redhawk iron sights .44mag for a couple of years and shot several deer, a black bear and a hog with it.

bear and hog was with 300gr. cast, deer was with 240 gr.JSP
the bear went 13 yards one lung and the arteries over top of the heart, the hog went right down with a broken neck
the deer went 40-60 yds. with lung shots

ground hogs are also fun with a handgun

[chcltlabz]

I used to hunt a lot with my TC Contender in .35 Remington.  Its a so-so rifle cartridge, but makes a great pistol cartridge.  I shot Single Shot Pistol handloads out of it for deer, and shot .357 hollowpoints for plinking and groundhog hunting.  I got pretty good with it.  I killed 3 deer and more chucks than I can remember with it.  Shot 1 deer at right around 100 yards.  Off a good rest, it was a legitimate 150 yard gun, probably more in the right hands.

Sadly, I live in slug territory now, so it sits in the cabinet.  Every once in a while I throw the .22 match barrel on it for some plinking, but with .22 rounds harder to come by than an a-bomb, I haven't done much of that anymore.  My wife used to shoot pennies with it at 25 yards.  Deadly accurate.

[misfire]

I always carry my Smith model 29 44mag. I swear by the Eldorado Starfire 240gr ammo too. I shot a buck once with that round at 10yds. The round entered just behind the right shoulder.  I cut the skin in the opposite shoulder and got the round just under the skin. Weighed it at 237 and perfect expansion

[allaboutshooting]

There was a late season "antlerless only" handgun season many years ago in Southern Illinois. I've never been so cold in my life hunting. I shot one with my S&W Model 29 with a 6.25" barrel. I also carried that gun several times when I hunted deer in Indiana but never took another shot at one with it.

There were several times when I could have shot one with that gun from my blind but I guess once I'd done it, I did not see any reason to do it again.

Thanks,
Clark