How do you guys handle your hand guns while sitting in the tree stand? I would think that when game close by it is scared away from the cocking sound. What do you do especially when hunting with a single action?

I have never done a stand but have stopped at a likely area and just waited to see if anything promising comes along. When I'm sitting down behind some cover, I cock my 475 and lay it in front of me while waiting. I found that if you cock your revolver when you see the game arrive, it'll be the loudest cla-clicking noise you've ever heard.

I am not sure really. I don't remember ever paying attention to the sound of the hammer cocking.

I have only shot two deer with my ruger 41 mag and they were both 110 yards so I wasn't concerned about gun noise.

Closest I have been to deer is about 20 yards and they did not spook to the hammer cocking.

Some of our whitetail hunting is done in a woodlot where the range to target is as often measured in feet as in yards. We can usually see the game at far out as fifty yards but can safely wait until the deer comes within 25 yards, or closer. If I am still and can see that the deer I want is coming my way I cock the hammer (this can be an issue for me with my flintlocks and other hammerguns as well) when my sights on are target. If I still have stalking to do the hammer stays down. I plan to use my S&W M629 Mtn. Gun this year so I will practice my double action shot in case the venison making is up close and personal. Good hunting!

When I sit in a ground blind or similar, then I cock the pistol when I get situated and either hold it with wrists on knee's or lay it on my day pack next to me as long as I'm alone so I don't have to worry about anyone else accidentaly setting it off.

duk, it is not a good idea to cock a revolver and leave it that way. What would happen if it was bumped and fell. It will also weaken the mainspring. I have cocked mine on many deer at very close range and never spooked one or had any even look my way. If your gun is noisy, just hold the trigger back when you pull back the hammer and ease the trigger foreward while holding back the hammer. This gets rid of all the clicks. I cock mine slowly and it is quiet, don't yank the hammer back.

If I am shooting a gun with half-cock. I will put it on half cock when I get in the stand.
If I am shooting a new model Ruger. I cock it when I have lined the gun up at the intended game animal and ready to shoot.

Deer seem to be more scared of movement than noise, so cock after you are pointing the gun at them and are in shooting position.
I have never had a deer, hog, bobcat, or coyote run off from a hammer click.
A crow will, but how often is that a problem?

Some single action revolvers, such as Freedom Arms or older Rugers can be fully cocked (thereby advancing the cylinder) then lowered into the half-cock position. When game approaches pull the hammer back while holding the trigger in, then release the trigger so that it holds the hammer back. The cylinder is already advanced so there will be zero noise.

I just cock the gun when I get ready to shoot. That way I don't have to try and achieve half cock or worry about negligently shooting something or someone I did not intend to shoot. I've killed over forty whitetail deer with various revolvers and not cocking a firearm until I was ready to shoot has never been a problem.

I have been a hundgun only hunter since 1989 and I can't recall ever thinking about that. I guess like buying the "wrong" first hunting handgun this too is something I don't know about.

Thanks a lot for all that reasonable advice. I did spook quite some game while rifle hunting but this might have been due more because of movement than of noise. I never shot any game with a hand gun but feel that getting them at very short distances like under 20 meters is really exciting, even with a rifle.

It is very exciting, and your first all the more so. Once you have taken game with a handgun; you should be hooked for life.

When I hunt from a treestand or blind I will cock my handgun if I think the conditions will not allow otherwise,on new ruger single action the trigger has to be pull for it to fire beacause of the safety bar therefore it should not go off if it falls out of the stand, and leaving it cocked will not weaken the spring.

375, if you have a ruger, do not leave it cocked for an extended period. Their springs can and do take a set. I have had to replace many. Even the BFR's will take a set without being cocked and not fire the rifle primers in the larger calibers. If you put five bullets in a Ruger Mark II clip and leave them in for a few days, you will not fire all five. Now if you load a G.I. 1911 and leave it for 50 years it will still feed all 7.
To maintain top accuracy, I replace my Ruger mainsprings every few years.

I have to agree with the Hitman here. I cock when I am about to shoot and not before. Really never noticed that it spooked anything. However, I do it slow and I have been known to gently touch the trigger to deaden the noise as I cocked.

Hi Hitman!

A friend of mine was filming me hunting with my redhawk, when I prepared to take a doe. The clicking of the gun never fazed her, but when I shifted my hands very slightly, the quietest little crinkle from my glove brought her around. I hit her with a perfect shot

If I'm in a stand and I can hear the hogs getting close, I cock the revolver then. I don't wait till I see them because at that point there is no seemingly louder sound IMO.

Whitworth

Yes, and you are ready to shoot when a proper target presents itself.

I cock as soon as I see or hear a deer. BTW if you want to carry or hold a cocked revolver safely ,hold inyour left (or off)hand with fingers around the outside of the triggerguard and the thumb under the hammer.