Handgun Hunter

Having been one of the loudest proponents for handgun hunting in Washington State back in the early 1980s, I never had a problem with anyone using a handgun for big game. The late Al Goerg hailed from Washington state, and he was one of the pioneers of handgun hunting.

I bought a .41 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk for this purpose and it took a couple of years, but I finally clobbered a 2-point mule deer buck one morning high in the Cascade Mountains north of I-90 about 15 miles, back on the edge of what is now the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area.

And I was always game to try whatever came along in the realm of practicality, although my dominant right hand used to creep up and sock me in the jaw while I was sleeping, just for the sake of revenge.

The .375 JDJ is a necked-down .444 Marlin developed by J.D. Jones of SSK Industries and widely known for creating what generically became known as “hand cannons.” This particular cartridge can launch a bullet at more than 2,000 fps, and you don’t want to be shooting one of these just before performing a piano solo. I had read about this cartridge being used to take African big game, so it wasn’t as though I didn’t anticipate a nasty recoil.

Along with the gun, T/C shipped a half dozen boxes of ammunition featuring 220-grain flat point bullets. Anything on the receiving end of this brute was in major trouble, I determined.