Hunting Big Game with Airguns

I was a little slow getting into airguns. And even after I embraced them, I never entertained the thought of hunting big game with airguns. Why should I? I already hunt big game with a bow, blackpowder rifle, and center fire rifles. Why would I need to pursue deer, hogs and other big game with an airgun?

I’d shot a couple of large caliber airguns over the last few years at the SHOT Show, but the thing that flipped the switch for me was when my buddy and publisher of Texas Outdoors Journal, Bill Olson, called to offer me a hunt. He wanted to tackle axis deer and feral hogs on the Adventures Missions and Retreats ranch down near Menard, Texas, on the Clear Water Creek ranch. I joined him and bam! I was sold. All in! Airgunning for deer and hogs is wild fun. And it works! We were shooting 50-caliber airguns! Fifty caliber! And man, did they flatten deer and hogs.

What makes hunting with an airgun so appealing? Maybe because it is a short-range weapon which makes it more of a challenge? Maybe because it is something new? Maybe it’s the idea of taking big game with projectiles pushed by nothing more than compressed air? Who knows? I might never pinpoint the reason, but I now know there are many good reasons to hunt big game with airguns. Large caliber airguns!

The first plus that pops into my mind is that you can deer hunt in or near settled areas — suburbia, where it’s legal — and nobody even knows that you fired a shot. This is particularly attractive to people who live on little 5- to 10-acre ranchettes with neighbors nearby. It could enable you to hunt on the edges of small towns or even suburban enclaves even just being able to hunt near to town in general.

Airguns are also a viable option for hunting in special management units that only allow short range weapons. They have advantages over all of the other short-range weapons. They’re quieter than a shotgun or blackpowder rifle. The UMAREX Hammer has a 2-shot magazine as compared to a blackpowder being a single shot. They’re a lot more accurate than a bow and have twice the range. And there’s no powder to be dampened by rain or snow. Lastly, you can hunt around livestock and not spook them. Yeah, for a short-range weapon, airguns have a lot of advantages.

I was deer hunting near a buddy’s feedlot a few years ago. He had some 8- to 14-month-old calves on a starter program in a corn stubble field that I had to cross to get down to the river bottom where I hunted. Those calves were a bunch of drama queens and nearly spooked through the fence as I walked by. What might they have done had I shot a firearm beside them? Yet, when my airgun went off, they hardly looked up. Sweet.

When carrying an airgun I find it a lot easier to get hunting permission. Some people almost seem to pity me and willingly let me have hunting access. “Poor fool!” they probably think. “Handicapped with a silly, oversized BB gun.” I guess that’s similar to hunting with a bow. No loud reports, no fear of bullets going astray. Permission granted. And bows bring up another positive about airguns: you don’t need strong, young shoulder to fire one.

Please understand: I love bow hunting. But I’m no longer a spring chicken or even a summer rooster! Some day, if we’re lucky, we get old and can no longer pull back a bow. I don’t foresee that happening to me for a long time yet, but my old buddy Roger Ross finally encountered this problem. Roger was raised up in the mountains in the old mining town of Stibnite. He was a big bow hunter and seemed to shoot his elk every year. But age finally caught up with him and he could no longer pull his bow back. I guess he still liked hunting with a short-range weapon because he bought a cross bow and kept on elk hunting until he died. When my turn comes, I think I’ll switch to an airgun. A big one. How big? Check out the numbers on the Umarex Hammer 50-caliber below.

Grain	Material	FPS	Energy
200	Lead	1055	495
250	Lead	1000	555
275	Lead	945	545
300	Lead	930	576
330	Lead (Lyman)	935	641
350	Lead (Lyman)	875	595
550	Lead	790	705

SPECS ON THE UMAREX HAMMER

• .50 caliber big game hunting air rifle

• Precharged Pneumatic (PCP) operates with high-pressure air

• Optimal operating fill pressure = 4,500 psi

• Each shot regulated to 3,000 psi

• 3 full power shots + 4th shot at near 90% power from one fill of air cylinder

• 24 cubic inch non-removable carbon fiber tank

• 2-round chamber magazine (includes 2)

• Removable magazine means Hammer can be unloaded

• 3 mechanical safety devices

• Straight pull speed-bolt with 8 lbs cocking effort

• 2.5-lb trigger pull

• Built-in manometer (pressure gauge)

• Picatinny riflescope rail

• PolyOne designed and U.S. manufactured stock

• AR Magpul style grip

• Integrated rear sling stud

• 3 slots in forearm grip to accept M-LOK attachments

• Quick Disconnect Foster fitting for easy air-fill connection

• 43.75-inch overall length

• 8.5 pound overall weight unloaded without scope

• 29.5-inch barrel length with full-length composite shroud

• 1:24 twist rifled German-made barrel made by Walther

• Ability to easily de-gas (remove all air)

• Designed, engineered, assembled and tested in the USA