Handgun Hunting Discussion

As I sit here with my hound, sipping good joe from my new HHI cup and looking out at a glorious morning, I think about my addiction. Don't get me wrong: I have some great rifles and shotguns. Some I have hunted with, some have been used to defend home and hearth and some have been used to enforce the law. But since my first handgunned deer in 2001, the passion for longer hunting guns has greatly subsided. I am indeed blessed to have pistols and revolvers from some of the finest custom wizards on the planet. I have Ruger 5 and 6 guns from Hamilton Bowen and Jim Stroh, semi autos from Les Baer and the Springfield Armory Custom Shop and Contenders from SSK, Mike Bellm and Jim Hendershot. I mentioned these gents in my initial intro, but felt like I shortchanged them because I failed to describe the feeling, if it is even possible, that a custom handgun brings. There is a feeling of wonder and comfort knowing that I possess an object that has been touched by a true master, one that understands the soul that is imparted into that inanimate object once the work is done. The contented emotion of sitting in the woods with handloaded ammo and enjoying LIfe as God intended. And let me not be remiss in the grips of ivory and wood by Paul Persinger, Scott Kolar, Jim Alaimo and Roy Fishpaw. They are the icing on the cake. Skeeter and John Taffin sum up these musings perfectly.

Handgun hunters are a strange lot, one I feel is shrinking as time goes by. This makes me all the more thankful for the memories, guns and grips, but mostly for the conversations with these men because they truly understand and enable my addiction. I hope that there is never found a cure.