Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Hangun hunting

Many here are too young to remember when handguns were allowed in the bush. We used one for signalling, and for grouse, when I first started hunting. There were very few in the bush at that time. The 44 Magnum was fairly new, and there were not many around. The big hunting rigs of today didn't exist.
So, there was no big protest, when the flower children of the day took away our handguns for hunting.
Today, it's thrown back in our faces. "What do you need a handgun for? You can't use it for hunting" is a favorite anti gun strategy.
The handguns I'm talking about, are not the easily concealable cheapies favored by the criminal element. So why not? Personally, I'd use one on my longer, steeper hunting journeys, It would be nice to have both hands free, and the ranges are generally 50 yards or less.

I'd love to carry my .454 on my hip when I'm going into my bear stand with my bow.

I'm 70 and can just remember when a handgun could be taken out. We used to use our target .22 auto loaders when running our beagles on cottontails. Even then there was considerable uncertainty about the interpretation of the rules. Much like trying to understand the 165 or so pages of our current gun control laws.

Would love to take my.22 pistol for grouse.Also larger calibre for bow back up would be great.

My dad packed a 44mag hog's leg for safety while dressing moose and whatnot, and a little .22 revolver for grouse when I was a young lad. It was probably into the 'gray area' in law by then but not shut right down yet. I hope we get the right to hunt with a handgun back too JYC so if there's anything at all you can do to stop your neighbours out there voting Liberal please do it! Speaking of which, its starting to smell like an election pretty quick here....

The .22 for grouse would be nice,however, we head shot only with a .22 and I'm not sure how far we could hit them in the head with a .22 hangun!

SA...if you had a FA .454 or even a .45 Colt you won't need a "bow"....

lol, true

Seriously though, we often have a dozen bears around our bait in an evening. They often leave at dark but not always and you never know how far they go. It can be a little spooky walking to the cut line. I carry an old .303 but its a pain.

Base of the neck works just as good and is a bigger target

Stupid laws, that dont' make sense, shoudl be ignored.....

Yep, but that shotworks best when they are walking away from the shooter-not always possible.

I've thought about carrying a .22 or .410 handgun a few times for ruffies but I've never actually done it. I've never broken a game law(to my knowledge, anyway) and I'd have trouble doing it, even if it is a stupid one.

I would not suggest to someone that they break a law..That would be *wrong*

In BC , it is legal to shoot grouse wiht a rimfire or centerfire rifle.

A rimfore pistol shoots the same ammo as a rimfore rifle....

I think it is the Criminal Code you'd have to worry about if you took your handgun into the woods. The conditions of your authority to transport permit do not allow for "strapping the hogleg" on while walking to the bear stand. Unless I miss my guess, a tree stand for any animal is not an approved range.

Wilderness Permits are available to licenced trappers and prospectors, or at least they used to be. But it would be nice to just be able to carry a handgun. After carrying one for over half my life as a LEO, ya almost feel naked without one.

You are right, I said game law. I should have said "a law while hunting game". It sure would be nice for the bear stand or, while carrying my moose rifle, to have a .22 handgun for pot shooting grouse.

I'm thinking that when we get a majority Conservative government this actually isn't all that much of a pipe dream. After the cancellation of the long gun registry the next thing to work on with Gary and Stockwell is adding hunting as an approved disiplin for restricted firearm transport permits. In BC for instance my understanding is that the BC Wildlife Federation supports handgun hunting and if the federal law allowed it I think the provincial government would follow suit.

While I don't see myself as ever being a true 'handgun hunter', it sure would be nice to have the option.

I hope you get the opportunity.. For me some of the coolest handgun hunting is the little stuff Like squirrels or even better snowshoes. Nothing like creeping around with my single six.

It would be great to go for a walk and have a 22 to pot shoot grouse and snowshoes. Maybe from there, I might get into it more. Let's hope for the best and do what we can!

So how?
Get on the phone, bug your MP. Write letters to the media, don't let them get away with printing rubish on guns.
Join a pro gun group, the CSSA, the NFA, or whatever.
D.A.T. (David A. Tomlinson) of the NFA is, from my last email to him, onside with handgun hunting, although he's currently engaged in a campaign to get women the right to carry.
Tony Bernardo (CSSA), is likely onside too, although I've not asked him.
Participate online, in forums like this one, and Canadian sites, to get ideas, and stir up opinion.
Join an email news group, like the Canadian Firearms Digest.
To subscribe, send them an email (it's automated)
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