Here's my friend from Denmark who loves to hunt with a handgun when he visits. He stalked and took this javelina a couple of weeks ago with a Ruger Blackhawk Hunter .44 Magnum -- one shot, of course!

Nice! That's an interesting trophy for a guy from that part of the world. I killed my last one with a .357 Mag, so I can appreciate the fun he had on that stalk.

Great doings, fine picture.
Congrats to the fellow.

Thanks for sharing. Always good to have others shooting handguns where they may not be able to in their home country. How is that in Denmark?

George

Nice harvest. Going by that little-kid grin, it looks like he had a great time.
Friend Jim Taylor recently shared a memory of taking a javelina with his Remington New Model Army percussion revolver many years ago.
Whenever I see a javelina thread, I think of our departed friend Randall Weems, Crazyhorse Consulting. Wish I had done a hunt with him.

Congratulations to the shooter.

I used to hunt javelina on the Hart Ranch (now Clayton Williams) out by Kent, Texas. The purpose of the hunts was always mule deer, but we would run into squadrons of javelina frequently. I used my scoped S&W Model 57 (.41 Mag) whenever possible.

At a distance I found javelina challenging. I think "stupid", or maybe "confused", is a better word whenever you could bust them up at close range. It was like they never knew which way to run. It wasn't unusual to kill multiple animals before they finally broke contact.

To me, a feral hog is much smarter and more challenging. I've yet to shoot a feral hog with my .41, but I'm still hoping.

Ken, taking delivery Monday of a Blackhawk, 6 1/2, in .41 Magnum, and hope to do the same thing.

Never shot javalina with a hand gun but shot them with my .218B and .256 Win!

Did shoot a couple of hogs with my Ruger .45 Colt using 255gr. Lead and 10gr. Unique.

Last one I caught in the left side ribs. The bullet exited out the right ear----VERY GOOD penetration!

Velocity app. 950-1000 fps! NO NEED for a magnum.

Hip

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Always good to have others shooting handguns where they may not be able to in their home country. How is that in Denmark?

Private possession of handguns is essentially illegal in Denmark. The only way to have one is to belong to a shooting club, as my friend does, and shoot it only at the club. Can't be fired elsewhere, which eliminates hunting, of course. But he enjoys handgun hunting so much that he sent me the funds to purchase the Ruger .44 and asked me to keep it for him here so that he can hunt with it when he visits. It's his third time to visit and hunt with a handgun. He has taken a "Texas Dall" sheep, a couple of does, and numerous jackrabbits and cottontails with a handgun, all but the sheep with one shot. The sheep was dead on its feet with the first shot but he put a second one through it for insurance. Come to think of it, I don't think he has missed a shot at an animal yet.

quote:

Nice! That's an interesting trophy for a guy from that part of the world.

As a matter of fact, he's now taken a total of five of the little buggers on his various visits, which must make him the record holder in Denmark for the number of javelinas taken. He has a mounted Javelina head in his trophy room and delights in puzzling his guests as to just what it is.

Very cool, congrats to your friend!

Bill, my first .41 Mag was a Ruger Blackhawk. (That was in my cowboy phase.) The second year I had it I killed a mule deer buck with it in the Sacramentos of southern New Mexico, south of Weed. Thought I was a real stud.

The problem I had with the Blackhawk was the size of the grip. It didn't extend past the meaty part of my hand. I made the mistake of sitting my hand on a fence post to steady a shot once and when it went off, and I stopped jumping around, I had a nice blood blister on the meaty part of my palm. I traded the blackhawk in on a S&W Model 57 and entered my Dirty Harry phase.

quote:

The problem I had with the Blackhawk was the size of the grip. It didn't extend past the meaty part of my hand.

I have an Old Model Blackhawk in .45 Colt/ACP 7.5" barrel. I put a set of the old "Herritts Shooting Star" grips on it which extend the grip area by a half-inch or so. Have taken deer, turkeys, and various other stuff with it. The extended grips certainly improve its handling qualities.

I also have a New Model .45 Colt/ACP with the 4 5/8" barrel. I obtained a Super Blackhawk grip frame for it which makes it handle much better than the short frame of the regular Blackhawk.

A nice javelina.

Ken, I have medium-sized mitts and the regular X3RED frame works pretty well for me, unaltered.
My widowed great-great grandmother and eight of her nine surviving kids built a cabin in Perk Canyon very near Weed in 1885, but traded it for sawn lumber to build the first frame house in La Luz in 1887, so the kids didn't have to ride so far horseback to go to school.

Growing up Texas had no season on Javalina, Now last I heard its a six month season..They are hell on fresh cut ceder posts and plastic water pipe lines. I shot them for dad at 25cents each and killed literally hundreds of them, mostly with a 22 rifle both shorts and LR. and with a Hi-standard 22 pistol, and an assortment of other firearms..All in the Trans-Pecos of Texas, and Big Bend National Park area..

you guys can probably get a good deal on Javalina hunts South of Sanderson or Marathon. South Texas and West Texas, take a little time out and go visit those big West Texas ranches and talk to the ranchers, many will tell you where to look and might even take a few hours to show you around..Thats what I used to do, I was glad to have company and speak English before I forgot how!

Ray, I keep saying you need to write that memoir. Seriously. Many of the things you have done and seen are gone forever.

Perk Canyon! Wow!

Can't tell you how many mornings in the 60s that I watched the sun come up over those mountains while I waited for the biggest mule deer in New Mexico to step out of the tree line.

Never happened. But about two hundred yards up from me one year I heard a shot and about an hour later moved that way to find two Houston hunters sitting in their vehicle beside a very big bodied mulie with the biggest rack I'd ever seen in the Sacramentos. They were embarrassed to admit that neither one of them had brought a knife. I lent them mine, and judging by the time and skill displayed, I would say that was the first deer they had ever gutted. (I wasted a lot of hunting time, but I wanted my knife back.)

You should write your family's New Mexico history.