One would imagine that the sales guys at Daisy Outdoor get to have some fun shooting Red Ryders, and they do, but with the company’s acquisition of Crosman Corporation and Benjamin came another opportunity – whitetail deer hunting with a big bore airgun – the Benjamin Bulldog M457 to be exact.
In 2018, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission made certain big bore air rifles legal means to take whitetail deer during the Modern Gun Season. This year, however, big bores were added to the state’s Alternative Firearms season, which started Oct. 19 in Zone 6. Daisy Sales Manager Brad Conley happens to have a hunting lease in Zone 6, so three of Daisy’s sales team gathered there in the early morning darkness and headed to their assigned stands carrying a weapon none of them ever used in the whitetail woods.
“It’s the first time big bore airguns have been legal this early in the season and in the Alternative Firearms season, so I thought it would be a terrible mistake if the largest airgun company in the world didn’t participate,” said Joe Syring, Daisy Senior VP of Sales. “With Crosman and Benjamin coming on board with us, we now have the right airguns for the job.”
Mid-October in Arkansas this year has been warm, and Tuesday morning started out in the lower 60s with partly cloudy skies and just a bit of deer movement early. All three hunters glimpsed a doe or button buck as the sun was preparing to break the horizon. When legal shooting time arrived, however, the woods were pretty quiet for a while.
“We saw some deer before legal shooting time, but then it was just squirrels,” said Sales Manager Jeff Nachtigal, “until it started raining.”
One of the clouds over the hunting lease burst open for 15 minutes or so, and it seemed to put the deer on their feet.
“It rained pretty good for a little bit,” Nachtigal said. “Shortly after it stopped two identical 8-points stepped up the hill toward me.”
So Nachtigal got his Bulldog M457 ready.
This Benjamin air rifle is the epitome of high-power prowess in the realm of PCPs. The Bulldog features a short 36-inch bullpup configuration with a Lothar Walther barrel, a reversible side lever that accommodates both right and left-handed shooters, a muzzle adapter with M18 threads and a 26-inch Picatinny rail. This multi-shot air rifle also is very quiet, thanks to its baffle-less SoundTrap technology.
“I think one of my biggest lessons from this hunt was seeing how the deer react to the sound of the shot,” Nachtigal said. “They didn’t spook. It’s not a sound they’re conditioned to fear.”
Arkansas regulations show that all big bore airguns legal for deer hunting must be at least .40 caliber and produce 400 feet/pound of energy. The .457 caliber Bulldog, shooting a 350-grain Benjamin slug, exceeded 450-feet/pounds and produced a pass through on one of the bucks in front of the lucky Daisy salesguy. It also passed through the heart on its way out the other side.
It wasn’t a long shot – under 20 yards – but the slug smacked right where Nachtigal intended. “At the shot, the buck didn’t really spook,” he said. “It trotted a few steps at first, then just walked about 30 yards and laid down.”
The other buck didn’t spook, either. Instead, it followed the mortally wounded buck until it laid down, then began sparring with it a while before returning to within 10 yards or so of where Nachtigal was sitting in his tree and wandering away.
“When the gun goes off it’s not a blast like a firearm,” Nachtigal said, “it’s kind of a quieter ‘tinny’ sound and the deer just have never heard it. It was fun to use a different type of weapon. It packs light – you just throw a couple slugs in your pocket and go hunt.”
- Want to know if hunting big game with an airgun is legal in your state? Click here: https://www.daisy.com/airgun-hunting-laws/
- Want to know more about the Benjamin Bulldog M457? Click here: https://www.benjaminairguns.com/air-guns/big-bore/bulldog-457
Benjamin Bulldog M457 Details
- .457 caliber
- Bullpup configuration, short 36.28” overall length
- 26 inches of Picatinny rail
- Up to 3 shots at lethal power
- 3,000 psi pressure gauge
- Lothar Walther barrel
- Baffle-less SoundTrap shroud
- Reversible side lever bolt for right and left handed shooters
- Muzzle adapter with M18 threads
- Up to 760 fps
- 450 fpe