[.45 AUTO]

What would be an appropiate handgun round to finish off deer, bear, etc. A simple .22 or something bigger? Also is a head shot the way to go?

[ZeSpectre]

I don't hunt so I can't give very specific advice but at least one guy I know actually uses a knife to slit the throat. It's not a macho thing, he's an old timer and he only hunts deer. I doubt he'd do the same if he hunted bear :D

[BsChoy]

I would go 357 mag, 45 acp, 10mm power route. At finishing range any of these would work.

[springmom]

Pretty much whatever you're carrying. I currently carry a .45acp in the woods with my rifle.

Springmom

[Art Eatman]

If I go to the trouble of carrying a pistol as well as my rifle, it'll be a .22. That's plenty-nuff for a coup de grace on anything I'm likely to shoot, mostly deer.

No pistol? Just shoot Bambi again, in the neck and up close toward the head. No problem...

Art

[charby]

I deer hunt quite a bit and have shot a lot of deer. Deer in Iowa are like ticks on a dog, they are everywhere. So I am allowed to take my time, pick my deer and pick my shots. Almost all of the deer I have shot either dropped in their tracks or didn't travel very far and fell.

I do occasionally shoot a deer in a bad spot and they travel quite a ways, I have yet to finish a deer of with a second round. I usually just sit and wait for 20-30 minutes and then go look for my deer. Always find them dead.

Never by any means take a knife and slit a deer's throat, they have four rather sharp hooves that will cut you faster than anything and kick the crap out of you.

I have no experience in bear hunting.

But what is wrong with using the same weapon you used to harvest the critter to finish it off if you have to? I carry a .357 magnum with me when I deer hunt in case I get an ideal opportunity to shoot a deer with a handgun, or if my shotgun malfunctions, never even thought about using it to finish game, I might if I was bear hunting.

For small game like pheasants, quail , ducks, geese and rabbits, I just ring their necks if they are still alive when my dog retrieves them.

-C

[USMC - Retired]

A knife across the neck is a good, clean, quick death. A shot to the head can be tricky if the animal is thrashing around or if the hunter is not well educated on the location of the brain which is actually quite small in game animals. Additionally, if the hunter has any intention of a mount a head shot is definately out, as is slashing the throat, in this case a kill shot to the heart'lung region would be in order. Dangerous game such as bear or big cats present problems of thier own that call for diospatching at a distance. I have cut the throat on a wild boar while hunting with dogs in Japan. One of my Japanese hunting buddies had shot the boar and the dogs had caught it and were fighting with it. A second shot would endager the dogs as would letting them keep fighting it. So, I jumped on the back and grabbed an ear with one hand and cut the throat with the other. I was actually more worried about getting bit by the dogs than thip pig. Fortunately the dogs could tell the difference between him and me! For weeks afterwards all my Japanese hunting buddies could talk about was how crazy/brave I was. None of them grew up around livestock so they don't understand how easy it is to control them by grabbing an ear. It was cool to be a hero for a while though... :D

[Desk Jockey]

I emailed a similar question to the Colorado DOW a few months ago. They told me that my .45ACP sidearm could be used for personal protection only, not to dispatch a wounded animal.

As I understand it, here you can only do that with a handgun that is legal to hunt big game - 500 ft-lbs of energy at 50 yards.

[swampdog]

In NC, a .22 lr can be used to finish off any game taken in a legal manner, except during bow and muzzleloading season.

Shooting a game animal in the head with a high powered rifle at close range can have pretty spectacular results. I usually use a .22 revolver or knife for deer. When I used to have to hunt with buckshot, this was a pretty common occurance. It can definitely get hairy when using a knife, sometimes. For some reason, they don't seem to want their throats cut. Even with both shoulders busted, a deer still has plenty of fight left in it.

I've never needed a "finisher" while rifle hunting. I have shot a couple of deer in the neck that I took with revolvers, when I got tired of watching them suffer.

Any shot that cuts the spine close to the head leads to almost immediate death. This is also a good spot to stick a blade, when they don't want to cooperate with getting their throats cut.

[Dr.Rob]

I emailed a similar question to the Colorado DOW a few months ago. They told me that my .45ACP sidearm could be used for personal protection only, not to dispatch a wounded animal.

DOW is pretty adamant about this... though I've never seen or heard of anyone being admonished for delivering a coup de grace with whatever is on hand, the point is to keep people from trying to hunt elk with a .38.

I pack a .44 mag when hunting big game.

[Bill2k1]

I use what I am hunting with, or a knife. Small stuff I just kill with my hands/foot. I just go for the fastest possible method.

[waffentomas]

I just use my sidearm, a Glock 20.

There are a good deal of bears where I hunt elk, and don't want to mess around with an underpowered handgun on my hip in the boonies, and don't want to carry a second handgun just for the purpose of a finishing shot.

Tom

[Sunray]

"...appropiate(sic) handgun..." None. Use your rifle or wait longer.
"...for personal protection only..." The rifle isn't enough?

[SHOOT1SAM]

A caveat to the suggestion of a .22:

Check your local game laws. In Idaho, it is ILLEGAL to shoot any big game animal with a rimfire, even if it's just for a finishing shot.
On the other hand, it would be legal to use a .25 automatic because it's a centerfire!! Go figure.

Sam

[redneck2]

In Indiana it's illegal to carry a concealed handgun while deer hunting.

Ross Seyfreid did an article a few years ago about using a .38 for finishing for elk. Tried to shoot it in the back of the head and the bullets wouldn't penetrate. After 5, the elk started to get up.:what: IIRC, the rifle quickly came into play.

If I'm in this situation, I've got my 12 gauge and slugs. 1 oz @1,450 fps. It it typically adequate.

[dfaugh]

Check your local game laws. In Idaho, it is ILLEGAL to shoot any big game animal with a rimfire, even if it's just for a finishing shot.

In NY it's illegal to be "in the field" during deer season with anything but a shotgun (or handgun). Gotta go with the knife method myself, although I'd prefer a .22 to the back of the head.

[DogBonz]

As I understand it, here you can only do that with a handgun that is legal to hunt big game - 500 ft-lbs of energy at 50 yards.

Just load up a few of thoes for putting down wounded deer. You may need to change your recoil spring though.

[cpaspr]

In Oregon, while you can carry a handgun in rifle season, you cannot use it to kill (legally) the game animal you have a tag for, unless you have a handgun endorsement (i.e. you are handgun hunting, not rifle hunting). And if you have a handgun endorsement, you cannot carry a rifle, since that is not what you are licensed to hunt with.

Hypothetically, you could have a deer tag with a handgun endorsement, and concurrently a tag for another game animal (for example, bear) that have overlapping seasons, and would therefore be legal to carry the rifle while deer hunting with a handgun. But if you were successful in your deer hunt and got checked by a game warden, your deer better have a hole that matches your handgun caliber rather than your rifle caliber.

And around here, for most people anyway, that means .357" or bigger for handgun (usually .41 Mag or bigger for hunting), and .308" or smaller for rifle. Game wardens CAN tell the difference.

I've only ever had to shoot one deer more than once, and then I used the rifle at point blank range. Didn't even think about using the revolver on my hip.

['Card]

If the deer is still alive, you're not going to see me going anywhere near it with a knife. That 8-pt buck has more knives on his head than you can hold in your hand, and if he decides to jump up and make use of them, you could find yourself perforated pretty quickly.

I also don't like to shoot them in the head. It just makes a mess, and if you really scamble the skull (and a .30-06 at close range will do that on occasion) it can make the deer hard to hang up later for skinning and butchering. And if you're even thinking about mounting the head or antlers, a bullet can put an end to those thoughts real quick.

So if a coup de grace is needed, I'll normally put a shot through the spinal cord right above where the shoulders attach, slightly towards the neck. Instant death, doesn't damage any significant meat, and leaves the head and cape mostly intact for mounting.

[Dr.Rob]

My point is if you bother to carry a handgun, might as well be a big game legal one.

[LAK]

A knife might be alittle risky if you do not know exactly what you are doing. Many a hunter has been seriously injured and even killed by wounded or "stunned" game animals with antlers. Even the humble whitetail.

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[MCgunner]

I always have a .22LR NAA in a folding grip on me. It has finished a couple of deer no problem. It don't take a lot of power properly applied to the brain case. Never been a game warden around to worry about even if it is illegal in Texas, but I don't think finishing an animal with a .22 is illegal. If it is, oh well. :rolleyes: I don't carry that little gun specifically for the purpose, but it sure comes in handy when I need a little gun. I've shot rabbit and snakes with it, too, even head shot a feral dog at 25 yards with it once.

For bear, I'd likely just finish him off from a distance with whatever I'm hunting with rather than get that close.

[islandphish]

I'm glad this thread is here.

Today was opening day of firearm deer season. My dad nailed a nice buck with his 30-30 and he dropped in his tracks. We went up there and figured he was dead so we went back to the truck and grabbed knives and stuff. Came back and saw that he was shot in the neck and was still alive. I had my new becker BK7 with me(gotta break 'em in). I just stabbed the deer right where you'd shoot him. He did lift his head then and kicked a bit but I came at him from the backside and he was fairly immobile. I ended up giving him 3 good stabs in the lung. He started bleeding out the mouth and we could here air escaping through the stabs.

We decided this was not to be enjoyed but was to be appreciated. This has been happening for millenia.

This deer was pretty immobile and I wouldn't reccomend this to finish all deer. Yet it worked pretty well.

WOOT! Day one and we got a nice button buck for meat and a darn nice buck for a wallhanger!

[Byron Quick]

I've never had to finish but one deer. This one ran a half mile after being shot through the diaphragm with a 12 gauge slug. I think John used a Brenneke. We had to get a dog to find it after dark.

Buck was trying to get up after being chased from where the dog first jumped it. It just couldn't go any further. John shot it twice from about three feet with a Glock 29. Georgia Arms 180 grain Gold Dots. In the neck. It was still trying to get up. The people who owned the dog thought he was missing. I took the Glock and shot the buck again in the same place. Buck finally admitted he was dead. The three 10 mm shots could be covered with a playing card.

I've known people to be severely injured trying to use a knife. Heck, I've known a guy who got bites entirely through his nail and finger bones from picking up a squirell that wasn't dead. About the only animals I'll touch without being sure they're dead are game birds. You can control the head of a deer easily. That's not the problem. The problem is their feet. Ever seen a deer scratch behind its ear with a hind foot? They can kick behind their head, too.

[Pumpkinheaver]

I have used my 1911 with hardball to finish game. My current soulution is my 2" .38 using 158 hardcast, workes great.

[JShirley]

Like Art said, the ideal place to finish a deer is a high neck shot.

If you can put it there, in the neck, where that groove meets the jaw. Instant lights out. The deer Byron is talking about was a little further away than he remembers, and the wrong angle to get the shot I like- and this was a tough buck.

John

[sixgunner455]

The only one I've had to do this on was a mule deer doe, with a 9mm 124 grain gold dot -- out of a three inch barrel. It was the only gun I had with me, as she was a cripple on the side of the road. I shot her from behind, just below the base of the skull, through the spine, and out the trachea.

Flopped over and bled out.

[cpaspr]

Current regulations for Oregon seem to have changed. Thanks for the heads up, Shotgunner60.

Allow me to add this to my previous post, since I can no longer edit it directly:

It used to be that in Oregon, while you could carry a handgun in rifle season, you could not use it to kill (legally) the game animal you had a tag for, unless you had a handgun endorsement (i.e. you were handgun hunting, not rifle hunting). And if you had a handgun endorsement, you could not carry a rifle, since that is not what you were licensed to hunt with.
________________

I guess things changed when I wasn't looking, and I didn't notice since I never actually hunt with a handgun.

[kmrcstintn]

I carry a .357 magnum revolver for the woods (PA doesn't allow semiautomatic weapons for hunting) and I carry some .38 spl leadheads during deer season just in case I have to put an animal down;

I was advised to shoot behind the ear in a downward angle toward the front of the skull for a direct brainbox shot (by other more experienced hunters); I choose the .38 spl since the magnums would most likely exit the other side with enough velocity to cause a richocet and endanger others since I don't know where the bullet would go

***addendum: I reread the thread and a high neck shot to sever the spinal cord is another viable shot and easier since the neck area is larger than the area of the head behind the ears***