Jim Taylor
Handgun Stuff
Thursday, June 04, 2020, 08:02

RIMFIRE .22'S AND DEER

I had killed my deer earlier in the season, and now was guiding several friends in search of a deer for them. I had set them off around the edge of a large canyon while I waited in the main campsite. A few hours passed and I heard a shot, then several more, then a final one. The shots came from a direction different than my friends had gone, but I decided to check it out. I had only a Ruger Single Six .22 with me, not wanting to carry anything larger at the time.

I walked about 3/4 of mile off through a Mesquite thicket toward the direction I figured the shots came from. Going through a clearing I could see a hill in front of me about 400 yards off. I thought I could see something so I glassed the hill through my binoculars and could make out a person standing on the hillside. As I got closer I recognized a friend from Church. I had not known he was hunting in the area where we were. From his hand signals it was obvious he had fired the shots. As I got closer to him he signaled me that the deer was someplace down in front of him on the flat, and that it was wounded. I worked my way slowly to the area he indicated and began to search the brush. As I came up over a little rise I noticed a small wash in front of me quartering off to my left. As I got within 25 or 30 feet of the wash the deer rose up out of the wash like a ghost out of solid ground, and tried to drag itself off. I fired a .22 into the side of it's head, but apparently I shot too low as the deer did not fall but stiffened itself and turned away from me. I shot again, this time into the back of it's head, and it dropped immediately.

It turned out that my friend had been hunting all day and seen nothing. He did not figure there were any deer in the area at all. Leaving his ammo in the truck he walked over to the small hill and went to sleep. When he woke up there were deer all around him! He panicked and shot at the buck that was nearest him. In fact he fired all his shells, hitting the deer once in the foot and once in the pelvis. When he realized he had no more shells with him he REALLY panicked. My showing up, even with a .22 was an answer to his prayers.

QUICK-DRAW

I started learning how to draw a single action fast when I was still fairly young. I practiced for hours with an empty gun when I could not get on to the range for live-fire. I would stand and draw and snap over and over, pointing at some target or else trying to outdraw the ugly dude in the mirror. Eventually I got to where I could pull a six-gun fairly well. At least I felt I could. I had nothing to which I could test my speed against in those days.

Then one day I was walking out in the hills, talking with a man who recently had begun to shoot with my dad and I. He was a top shooter in the Army Marksmanship Unit and could really punch bullseyes, but had never done any other type of shooting. He was fascinated at how Dad and I could shoot shotgun shells out of the air. Well, we were walking through the desert, and I had on a 7 1/2' Ruger Blackhawk in .30 Carbine. It was in the holster and the holster was tied down. He was carrying a S&W Model 19 in his hand. As we walked along all of a sudden a Jackrabbit busted out from underneath us and raced directly away from us. Without thinking ( it was pure reaction) I jerked the Ruger and fired two shots, hitting the fleeing jack in the back of the head with the second shot. My friend never fired a shot even though he had the gun already in his hand. He just was not used to "reaction shooting". The next time we got together to shoot he was practicing drawing and shooting as well as aerial shots.

AERIAL SHOOTING

Dad started me aerial shooting when I just but a young lad. He always was a good aerial shot with a pistol and I wanted to be also! He started me with a 5 gallon bucket lid. He would spin it up into the air and I would shoot and shoot. Eventually I started hitting, for with the slow loads I was using you could tell if you were shooting over or under. After the 5 gallon lid became too easy he went to smaller and smaller ones until I was shooting shotgun shells out of the air. After some years of this I found it quite easy to shoot things in the air, even with full-power loads. I used to use the .22 pistol and shoot shotgun shells with it. Or the .45 Colt and shoot golf balls. They are REALLY fun to hit in the air! If you make a square hit on one it will zoom of out of sight at high speed.

Aerial shooting paid off for me when I got my first turkey. I had hunted the birds for several years without any success. This season I had gone out and we had busted some off the roost just before daylight. After sunrise we started calling and here comes this young hen, looking for the rest of the flock. She ran right up to me so I raised up and shot her with my .45 Ruger - IN THE LEFT LEG! I shot again and missed, and then shot again and hit her in the right leg. My gun was shaking so bad I could hardly hold it! The bird took off and flew right over my head about 20 feet up and I raised up and shot her one-handed, right through the breast. She hit the ground dead about 50 feet away.

It was the worst case of "buck-fever" I have had since I was a little kid and shot my first rabbit. But the aerial practice did pay off.

SINGLE ACTION

Some years ago I acquired a Colt New Service in .45 Long Colt. It had once been a .455 Webley but had been converted. I carried the big old thing in my car a lot. One day I was riding down the road with my sister and a coyote crossed in front of us. I stopped and hopped out with the Colt, intending on shooting the coyote. It had been standing about 15 feet off the road in some brush, just watching us. I walked toward it and as it ran I shot at it. It twisted and turned through the brush, all the time wringing it's tail like a bronc as I shot the whole cylinder full at it, never hitting it once! As it ran off I walked back to the car and my sister who was laughing at me. Later on it came to me I had fired all 6 shots single action, thumbing the hammer back for each shot. It proved you only do what you practice.