Just recapping one of the most fun seasons I’ve had in a really long time. I’m a dedicated handgun hunter and have been for over 20 years now. Like many, as my eyes have gotten older I’ve shifted over to red dots and scopes on my handguns. It’s just a natural progression of life, but my preference was always open sights if at all possible. Well over the past year, I’ve been introduced to custom sights and even fiber optic sights – the key for me was widening the gap between the front and rear sights. Once I was turned on to that, it was amazing at how well I could see open sights again. So…my goal for 2024 was to hunt the entire season with nothing but open sights on my revolvers. Now it’s no secret that in Texas we typically hunt over feeders and although I will never apologize for that, I’ll also contend that it isn’t really a challenge to fill your tags in Texas with an optic-topped handgun. And this is why I was really excited for this past season.
My season started out in Colorado with an over-the-counter tag. My hunting partner and I did not draw New Mexico, and we didn’t draw Wyoming, so our backup plan with Colorado OTC for elk. And although nothing was harmed that week and all I really saw was a plethora of orange vests in side-by-sides, I still had a great time hiking the San Juans with a revolver in tow. The pic below shows me with my BFR in .454 with a scope on it. I did in fact start out with this as planned, since this hunt was for elk and I was expecting to take longer shots. After day one I realized the area we were in was heavily wooded and the longest shot I was likely to encounter was about 75 yards. So I hunted the first day of my 2024 season with an optic, and then that was it. After this I switched by my BFR in 500 JRF with open sights, and never looked back.
My Colorado elk hunt ended right at the beginning of our general season in Texas. I got home from the elk hunt late on a Wednesday night, and was back at my Texas lease Thursday night. Well, I had an unexpected surprise when I got home! My youngest daughter (22 years old) called me and said ‘Dad would it be okay if I came to the lease with you this weekend?’. Man I tell you…I jumped on that like someone offered my a new FA for $1000. Of my two girls, this is the one that loved to actually pull the trigger when she was growing up and has probably killed 10-12 deer/hogs since she was nine. But as it happens, young girls turn into teenagers, and young teenage girls sometimes develop other interests and hunting took a backseat. So she hadn’t been to the lease with me in several years and I simply couldn’t wait to spend time with her again at the ranch. I took it further and asked if she wanted to hunt and to my delight, she said ‘yes, if that’s okay’. Me being thrilled was a huge understatement. So a late night run to a local store to buy her a hunting license, digging her rifle out of the safe (Winchester M70 in .223), and then a scavenger hunt through my ammo stash for some ammo. She got there early enough on Friday and was able to shoot a few times to make sure all was still good. And all was still good. We hunted all weekend with minimal animal sightings – very hot even for Texas. But alas, on Sunday morning this old 9 stepped out at about 75 yards and Lauren made a perfect shot. The deer ran about 20 yards and called it quits. Incidentally, this buck weighed 174 lbs., which is absolutely huge for our part of Texas. Dad’s heart was full to say the least. That was opening weekend, and to be honest I didn’t need anything else from this season.
However…I DO like to pull the trigger myself and the following are the animals I was able to take with open sight revolvers. All were kept, processed, and are in my freezer now. We’ve already been able to share much of this meat with friends and family, which is also very rewarding to me.
First up was a 90 lb. sow hog taken with my BFR in 454 Casull and 250 grain XPB.
Next was a doe, using the same gun and load – BFR 454/250 XPB
After that came a second doe, with my FA M83/.41 mag shooting 210 grain Aframes.
Animal #4 was a really nice, old 7 that weighed 150 lbs – also big for our ranch. FA M83/.41 mag with an Aframe.
Next up was my 3rd and final doe. This was taken with my BFR in 500 JRH and 275 grain XPB.
And then finally, I broke out my favorite of all revolvers -my FA M97 in .41 magnum. I had this gun chopped down to 6” this past year, added a 2Dogs front sight, made some grips out of sheep horn to match a Ralston knife, and was shooting a 180 grain XPB reload. Killed this 10 right before Christmas and punched my final tag for the season.
Thanks for indulging me!
My season started out in Colorado with an over-the-counter tag. My hunting partner and I did not draw New Mexico, and we didn’t draw Wyoming, so our backup plan with Colorado OTC for elk. And although nothing was harmed that week and all I really saw was a plethora of orange vests in side-by-sides, I still had a great time hiking the San Juans with a revolver in tow. The pic below shows me with my BFR in .454 with a scope on it. I did in fact start out with this as planned, since this hunt was for elk and I was expecting to take longer shots. After day one I realized the area we were in was heavily wooded and the longest shot I was likely to encounter was about 75 yards. So I hunted the first day of my 2024 season with an optic, and then that was it. After this I switched by my BFR in 500 JRF with open sights, and never looked back.
My Colorado elk hunt ended right at the beginning of our general season in Texas. I got home from the elk hunt late on a Wednesday night, and was back at my Texas lease Thursday night. Well, I had an unexpected surprise when I got home! My youngest daughter (22 years old) called me and said ‘Dad would it be okay if I came to the lease with you this weekend?’. Man I tell you…I jumped on that like someone offered my a new FA for $1000. Of my two girls, this is the one that loved to actually pull the trigger when she was growing up and has probably killed 10-12 deer/hogs since she was nine. But as it happens, young girls turn into teenagers, and young teenage girls sometimes develop other interests and hunting took a backseat. So she hadn’t been to the lease with me in several years and I simply couldn’t wait to spend time with her again at the ranch. I took it further and asked if she wanted to hunt and to my delight, she said ‘yes, if that’s okay’. Me being thrilled was a huge understatement. So a late night run to a local store to buy her a hunting license, digging her rifle out of the safe (Winchester M70 in .223), and then a scavenger hunt through my ammo stash for some ammo. She got there early enough on Friday and was able to shoot a few times to make sure all was still good. And all was still good. We hunted all weekend with minimal animal sightings – very hot even for Texas. But alas, on Sunday morning this old 9 stepped out at about 75 yards and Lauren made a perfect shot. The deer ran about 20 yards and called it quits. Incidentally, this buck weighed 174 lbs., which is absolutely huge for our part of Texas. Dad’s heart was full to say the least. That was opening weekend, and to be honest I didn’t need anything else from this season.
However…I DO like to pull the trigger myself and the following are the animals I was able to take with open sight revolvers. All were kept, processed, and are in my freezer now. We’ve already been able to share much of this meat with friends and family, which is also very rewarding to me.
First up was a 90 lb. sow hog taken with my BFR in 454 Casull and 250 grain XPB.
Next was a doe, using the same gun and load – BFR 454/250 XPB
After that came a second doe, with my FA M83/.41 mag shooting 210 grain Aframes.
Animal #4 was a really nice, old 7 that weighed 150 lbs – also big for our ranch. FA M83/.41 mag with an Aframe.
Next up was my 3rd and final doe. This was taken with my BFR in 500 JRH and 275 grain XPB.
And then finally, I broke out my favorite of all revolvers -my FA M97 in .41 magnum. I had this gun chopped down to 6” this past year, added a 2Dogs front sight, made some grips out of sheep horn to match a Ralston knife, and was shooting a 180 grain XPB reload. Killed this 10 right before Christmas and punched my final tag for the season.
Thanks for indulging me!
