This may seem like a silly question, but I just got my first hunting pistol and was showing it off to my brother. He asked me a very practical question which I had not considered. How do I cock the single action pistol without a deer hearing me at close range? Is there a trick to doing so quietly? Thanks, CC

I use a mouth diaphram Turkey call to diguise noises when I Bowhunt.Maybe that would work for you.Also seems to me when you cock a single action if you press your thumb hard dowm on the Hammer while cocking,they are not so loud. Finger off trigger please!!!

I don't know if it's the same on a single-action, but I can cock my Super Redhawk quietly if I gently pull the trigger as I bring the hammer back. Of course, one needs to be awfully careful when doing this.

The second option, which I like better, goes something like this:

*click*
Deer: "What was that noise?"
*BOOM*

Don't wait till the last minute .When you first see or hear a deer cock the revolver. Use your other hand to cover the hammer that will reduce the sound a bit.If you're really carefull you can jold the trigger back as you cock .Then with hammer held all the way back , release the trigger.I have a DA but if there's a lot of activity I cock the revolver and hold it with my left hand with fingers around the trigger guard and thumb under the hammer.You can safely carry the gun this way also.Do all this with gun pointed in a safe direction !!!

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Don't wait till the last minute .When you first see or hear a deer cock the revolver. Use your other hand to cover the hammer that will reduce the sound a bit.If you're really carefull you can jold the trigger back as you cock .Then with hammer held all the way back , release the trigger.I have a DA but if there's a lot of activity I cock the revolver and hold it with my left hand with fingers around the trigger guard and thumb under the hammer.You can safely carry the gun this way also.Do all this with gun pointed in a safe direction !!!

This is exactly what I would suggest. Don't wait till the last minute to cock it. You hear something off in the distance, carefully cock your revolver........

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Don't wait till the last minute .When you first see or hear a deer cock the revolver. Use your other hand to cover the hammer that will reduce the sound a bit.If you're really carefull you can jold the trigger back as you cock .Then with hammer held all the way back , release the trigger.I have a DA but if there's a lot of activity I cock the revolver and hold it with my left hand with fingers around the trigger guard and thumb under the hammer.You can safely carry the gun this way also.Do all this with gun pointed in a safe direction !!!

That is what I do also.

Several years ago, I hunted whitetail in Missouri's Ozarks. I used an extensively modified stainless steel Ruger Blackhawk NM, 6.5-inch barrel, .357 magnum. Grip modifications required a two-handed hold. I hunted on the ground -- laying on the ground for nearly the entire day.

My first shot was at a buck munching acorns, his nose in the leaves. The distance was not more than three yards!!! I sat up, cocking the revolver as I did so. The buck didn't know I existed.

My conclusion: With practice an animal's reaction time to cocking-shooting is insufficient for it to do anything.
***
Parenthetically, I learned that 158-grain JHPs at three years do not penetrate more than 1.5 inches into a whitetail buck's neck. The next season I used an original Pasadena Automag, .44 Automag.

Hunted from ground blinds or ground hides with a handgun exclusively for 13 years. Never can I say was an animal run off by the sound of the clicks of cocking the gun. My max range was a self imposed 30 yards or less.

i like sgnt. sabre's reply
click
'what was that'
BOOM

thats been my limited experience, they can lift their head and look at me, but by then its too late. just like flipping a safety on a rifle. deer can jump a bowstring, not a .44 at 25 yards.

Thanks for the input. I've been bow hunting only for the past 7 years so I've gotten used to moving a bit at go time, but pretty quietly. Was worried about the noise, but it sounds like you've got it covered.