A friend was gifted a ML last year. It's a T/C Hawken in .50 cal, a very early model and possibly even a kit. It came with accessories, powder, bullets, balls and a loading card. At the range, he discovered that the Buffalo Arms Ball-et was super accurate with 70 grains of 2F. At 25-yards it left one ragged hole in the paper and at 50-yards a cloverleaf formed on the target. He aimed at a deer last season but had a FTF. Since then, he switched to musket cap nipple.
Last year's turkey hunt was unsuccessful in terms of harvest. I called in several birds for him, some arms-length and some well under 40-yards. We had ML smoothbores last year, but he just didn't know when to shoot or how to go about it since he had never hunted before.
Fast forward to this year, we tried and tried to call in a bird. After a couple of days and not even a gobble we were down to the last afternoon. I clucked and finally got a response! We quickly backed up and sat down. In less than 10-seconds a Tom turkey ran running out of the brush and stopped in the dirt path right in front of us. My friend had his rifle, loaded with the Ball-et and said he was going to shoot a turkey in the head or at the wing and pretty much insisted on using his rifle this year. He aimed, cocked and hit the set trigger. I saw the barrel moving as the bird went back to the brush line and slowly drifted away to the right. No shot! He made the gun safe and I got up and paced off where the bird stood in the trail. It was 12-FEET from us! He said he wasn't sure when to shoot or where exactly to aim so he held off.
We made a move of a couple hundred yards to a transition area with tall trees on the right and a more open brush and grass area to the left. I called and we saw a dust cloud lift and carry with the wind about 50- yards out. We waited and heard something moving. I got a glimpse of 4 big animals moving to the left and pointed to them. He acknowledged he saw them as they moved off. I clucked again and we heard kind of a "whoof" sound. Suddenly a big animal is coming right at us. My friend says, the lady said we could shoot anything on the ranch as long as it's not a whitetail, right? "Yeah", I replied. I sent a quick text to the lady and she immediately answered. This ranch has been abandoned for 5-years and the thousand acres that was once fenced in has many gaps in the old fence-line. She text, "you never know what exotic will show up so as long as it's not a cow or a whitetail you may shoot it". The animal gets within what I guess was 35-yards and turns to the right where it is broadside. I hear the hammer cock and the set trigger click. At the shot the animal drops it's head straight down, stubbles forward and stands for a second. There is a large amount of blood coming out of an obvious hole in the lungs. The animal opens it's mouth and blood comes out like someone emptying a bucket. With that, it falls and rolls on one side.
We approach and the animal is deceased. A prayer is said and we put some leaves in the animals mouth. "What is it", my friend asks. Well, the head shape and tail look like a Pere David deer, but the coloration is wrong, it should be a redder color with a black ring around it's rump. I take some pictures and text them to someone I know at the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) and coincidentally the organization is having a luncheon at the time. Meanwhile, we walk about a half-mile back to the truck to get a saw, and other tools. We got back with the truck and quickly determined we could not get this beast onto the tailgate or into the bed of the truck. We made a skid from some tree limbs and tied it to the truck to drag the animal out. At the ranch house there was a power winch that we used to lift the animal for cleaning.
We got a text back from the EWA person who asked for more photos and we sent them. The response was that this was most likely a hybrid. This person had showed the pictures around to some of the folks at the luncheon and found out Pere David have been known to breed with a Sika or Red Deer, and it was not entirely impossible that it could breed with an elk. So what we have here is a female hybrid Pere David cross. At nearly 600 pounds it very much appears like a cow elk.
The Ball-et did not exit and we found it. It looked like a stereotypical domed mushroom. Not what we expected it to look like. The lungs were nothing but jelly and the animal cavity had some blood left in it, so this was a good shot with ample "power".
It was the last day of turkey season and once again he did not take a turkey home in spite of a perfectly good opportunity. However, he shot his first big game animal and ended up with nearly 200- pounds of meat that the butcher shop turned into steaks, burgers, chopped meat, bratwurst and roasts.
He probably wouldn't mind, but I did not get permission to use his photo, so I blocked him out a bit.
Last year's turkey hunt was unsuccessful in terms of harvest. I called in several birds for him, some arms-length and some well under 40-yards. We had ML smoothbores last year, but he just didn't know when to shoot or how to go about it since he had never hunted before.
Fast forward to this year, we tried and tried to call in a bird. After a couple of days and not even a gobble we were down to the last afternoon. I clucked and finally got a response! We quickly backed up and sat down. In less than 10-seconds a Tom turkey ran running out of the brush and stopped in the dirt path right in front of us. My friend had his rifle, loaded with the Ball-et and said he was going to shoot a turkey in the head or at the wing and pretty much insisted on using his rifle this year. He aimed, cocked and hit the set trigger. I saw the barrel moving as the bird went back to the brush line and slowly drifted away to the right. No shot! He made the gun safe and I got up and paced off where the bird stood in the trail. It was 12-FEET from us! He said he wasn't sure when to shoot or where exactly to aim so he held off.
We made a move of a couple hundred yards to a transition area with tall trees on the right and a more open brush and grass area to the left. I called and we saw a dust cloud lift and carry with the wind about 50- yards out. We waited and heard something moving. I got a glimpse of 4 big animals moving to the left and pointed to them. He acknowledged he saw them as they moved off. I clucked again and we heard kind of a "whoof" sound. Suddenly a big animal is coming right at us. My friend says, the lady said we could shoot anything on the ranch as long as it's not a whitetail, right? "Yeah", I replied. I sent a quick text to the lady and she immediately answered. This ranch has been abandoned for 5-years and the thousand acres that was once fenced in has many gaps in the old fence-line. She text, "you never know what exotic will show up so as long as it's not a cow or a whitetail you may shoot it". The animal gets within what I guess was 35-yards and turns to the right where it is broadside. I hear the hammer cock and the set trigger click. At the shot the animal drops it's head straight down, stubbles forward and stands for a second. There is a large amount of blood coming out of an obvious hole in the lungs. The animal opens it's mouth and blood comes out like someone emptying a bucket. With that, it falls and rolls on one side.
We approach and the animal is deceased. A prayer is said and we put some leaves in the animals mouth. "What is it", my friend asks. Well, the head shape and tail look like a Pere David deer, but the coloration is wrong, it should be a redder color with a black ring around it's rump. I take some pictures and text them to someone I know at the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) and coincidentally the organization is having a luncheon at the time. Meanwhile, we walk about a half-mile back to the truck to get a saw, and other tools. We got back with the truck and quickly determined we could not get this beast onto the tailgate or into the bed of the truck. We made a skid from some tree limbs and tied it to the truck to drag the animal out. At the ranch house there was a power winch that we used to lift the animal for cleaning.
We got a text back from the EWA person who asked for more photos and we sent them. The response was that this was most likely a hybrid. This person had showed the pictures around to some of the folks at the luncheon and found out Pere David have been known to breed with a Sika or Red Deer, and it was not entirely impossible that it could breed with an elk. So what we have here is a female hybrid Pere David cross. At nearly 600 pounds it very much appears like a cow elk.
The Ball-et did not exit and we found it. It looked like a stereotypical domed mushroom. Not what we expected it to look like. The lungs were nothing but jelly and the animal cavity had some blood left in it, so this was a good shot with ample "power".
It was the last day of turkey season and once again he did not take a turkey home in spite of a perfectly good opportunity. However, he shot his first big game animal and ended up with nearly 200- pounds of meat that the butcher shop turned into steaks, burgers, chopped meat, bratwurst and roasts.
He probably wouldn't mind, but I did not get permission to use his photo, so I blocked him out a bit.
