Some Handy Handis

[petemi]

Here's some pics of the handiest of my Handis:  I only posted one Superlight, because the .243 and 7mm-08 are about the same.  I really love the Shorties and Superslights.  I wish H&R made more in a wider range.

Pete

[HWB13]

Nice Handi's Pete

[quickdtoo]

Great Handy Handis Pete!! 

Tim

[petemi]

Tim, that .38-55 with your barrel and Paul's bullets has got to get a deer this next season.  It ain't the rifle, it's the Vegetarian carrying it.    The last couple of years I've seen nothing legal, in range or shootable during rifle season.  I've gotten my deer, but always in the later ML season with the Huntsman.  We had a bad winter with a lot of deer mortality.  The survivors still don't look great.  The new fawns are arriving, but their numbers have got to be down too.  I think the wolves and coyotes had a good winter.

Pete

[quickdtoo]

Hang in there Pete, you'll find one sooner or later!! I know the feeling, last deer I got was 2010, saw nothing legal in 2011, no permits drawn last year, so I didn't even bother hunting, spent the season fishing instead!!    Maybe we'll draw permits this year!!! 

Tim

[petemi]

Ya know Tim, 20 years ago, we looked at perhaps twenty or thirty deer a day and picked the one you wanted.  Second day of the season and the freezer was full.  Today, we barely see six or eight deer all season, and when you minus out the fawns, illegals and impossibles, you've got nothing.  On the U.P, I think the State, Insurance Companies, and QDM are the reason.  The State and Insurance companies for pushing unlimited doe tags in prior years.  You could get one tag a day from August to November.  I've heard of people around here shooting 12 or 15 deer.

This food plot, QDM, ethic has got the deer's feeding regimen totally screwed up.  They bed down 100 yards from a feed plot, stuff themselves all night and sleep all day.  If you want to see deer during the day around here, you've got to go kick them off their beds.  When I was a kid in college in Maine, you could kill one deer of either sex.  I don't know if that regulation is still in effect, but it made sense to me then, and still does.

Pete

[scratchmark]

Maine is now one antlered deer a year. I think they have stopped the doe permits temporarily because of the coyotes having such an effect on the deer that yard up in the winter.I now live in North Carolina , but north anson, me. is my home town. The deer down here are friggin everywhere. Got 3 last year. 6 the year before and hope to get near that this year. It supplies the family with meat all year except this year. already running low

[cwlongshot]

Guns look great Peter!!

Sorry to hear no venison Timmy!! If we where closer I would give you some eastern corn fed!!

We also have them everywhere here! Some counties south of me are unlimited BUT one tag at a time. Bring the deer in. To check and your issues another for certain areas. We get seven tags IIRC when counting archery (4) private land (2)  shotgun state (2) no lottery shotgun state (1) But always antlered usually either sex no horns for second.

I don't remember the last time we got none or even just a few for that matter. Our place in upstate NY has less deer but we usually connect there too. Now Vermont that had a real bad winter kill three years back and that same winter a CHRISTmas tree farmer had a deer yard on his property... He shot EERY DEER IN IT!!! There was about a hundred if I remember... Locals about burned his place down!!! I have not been back up since because the local population is decimated. Just Moose there now.

We also hunt Pennsylvania and they SERIOUSLY need to shoot more does!!!! OMG the deer there is uncanny!!!! We see DOZENS every time out!!! BUT almost all are tiny 60-75# animals.

CW

[gcrank1]

Its been thin here in SC Wisconsin since out DNR really got rolling on the 'herd reduction' due to CWD fears. Not only do we see few deer, during deer season we see few blaze orange dressed hunters either out in the field or even driving around. We we had to only eat what we shoot we would be a lot lighter.

[HWB13]

In MA they have been saying for years there are a lot of deer, but I have got one with my bow, one with my shotgun (we have no rifle season) and have not pulled a trigger during MZ season ever. We get issued tags, 2 buck tags for purchase of a big game license, always get drawn for a doe tag and have always been able to get an additional doe tag from leftovers in my area.  So between my wife and I we normally have 8 tags a year.  Some of the hunters who have access to big private plots (which are few and far between in north east MA) have a lot of meat packed away.  The rest of us poor public land hunters out in the cold.

[Doublebass73]

I live in central NH near the White Mountains and the deer are hard to come by. Two severe winters in a row 4-5 years ago and the deer have been very slow to come back despite 3 mild winters in a row. One of those winters my town got 146 inches of snow. I've had 2 seasons since then where I didn't see a single deer the whole season.

We get 1 antlered only firearms tag. We can also get an any deer bow tag and an antlered only bow tag. I haven't tagged out since I moved up here in '05 although I did miss a nice 8 pointer during bow season my first year hunting here. The only people I know that consistently tag out ever year around here are people who bait illegally which I refuse to do since I believe in fair chase.

[YRUpunting?]

Nice set of shorties Pete.  My only shorty is the 300 Blackout I recently bought.  Probably be my only shorty.  Just too loud for me.

I made it to my club this afternoon with the 223 SL and a 22LR Sportster.  The last 50 yards of the 300 yard range is cut into the woods.  When I was unloading my gear I saw a fawn run across the range right in front of the 300 yard mark.  A little later before I started mom and fawn strolled back across the 300 yd mark.  Got a look through the scope and both were health and looked good.  After shooting for a while I was switching rifles and I look up and a health young buck is standing in the middle of the range at about the 125 yard mark looking at me.  I waited a minute or two and it just stood there looking at me like I was violating his space.  I shot a 22lr away from him and he scampered off, although he wasn't in much of a hurry. 

The deer population here in southern Indiana seems to continue to be growing even after years of having counties with doe limits up to 8 per season.  IN is a one buck per year state.  Couple years ago a buddy of mine had four does down at the same time with his H&R 12ga slug gun.  He was aimed on the fifth but decided against it since four was going to be enough to deal with.  He told me after the first shot he was surprised they just stood there so he kept reloading and shooting.

[hitman54]

I like your shooting setup along with the rifles. If you ever feel like coming to WV we have a stable whitetail population. I believe all total we can take a dozen or so depending on the county you live in. I had 17 in the yard last night.

[flinthead]

Sweet Handi's Pete... y'all need to come down to SC,,, we have all the deer, hogs, skeeter's, and yellow flies you want.

[Dinny]

Pete,
  That's a fine group you have there! I'm seriously thinking of trimming my Maxi myself. After shortening the 45-70 and still having fine accuracy, my confidence is high.

Thanks, Dinny

[Jeff H]

Pete, that's a nice array of what is my own ideal as far as the Handi as a project platform.
 
I have the .223 Youth Synthetic, which has the slender 20" barrel and it has me absolutely spoiled.  I have wanted a .357 in a similar length/contour but have not found one.  My 22" Max barrel is just not quite "right" - too long, too heavy for what I wanted in terms of my original idea.
 
I wish too that H&R would offer more light/short barrels and in more of the moderate chamberings.  There's a lot of decent and inexpensive bolt guns available to compete with the current Handi lineup but they can't compete with the versatility of chambering possibilities and capability for short/light light like a Handi - at least cost competitively.

[petemi]

Dinny, Accuracy is the same before they were cut in all of them.  I'm not totally sure of velocity.  I've read that even the pistol calibers fall off, but I haven't worked with it enough to document if they do or not.  Others say that drag is reduced in the shorter barrels with the pistol calibers and velocity increases.

Jeff H, I agree entirely.  I love my short and lights.  I wish there were more factory options.

Pete

[twoshooter]

I also find them very h.. convenient. I want to chime in regarding the QDM programs which PO'd me severely. The state agencies are all about money, and that comes from the high dollar hunters out for  trophies . Meat eaters don't run up hotel bills, camp fees, sit for weeks on end in trees and put out all kind of game cameras with satellite links to their home computer system. Those programs are all about producing "bone". Here at least, there is also little to no emphasis on small game, no dove, quail, rabbit, or even duck habitat maintained, just deer and turkey.
     While we are at it, just how much difference is there in " the kings deer" in England where they arrested poachers because everything belonged to the king, and here where "We all" own everything collectively as "the state" ?
  Sorry for the rant Pete. By the way, how do you keep them from getting jealous? With so few deer to shoot, do you draw lottery style, rotate them, go in order of bore size or what ?? 

[petemi]

twoshooter, the Handis fill deer tags by seniority.  Newest ones last.  The Huntsman sits around and giggles at them.  He's the only Handi ML and gets to go every ML season.........and so far he's batting 1000.  Four for four seasons.  Rifle season deer have been so scarce the last few years, I may croak before they all fill a tag.    Less than ten years ago, I could fill 4 or five tags in the first day or two.

Pete