1st deer with my York

[agill]

I woke up a little later than I wanted to Saturday morning and eventually got set up to hunt at 7:30 in the morning. I was watching a wooded hillside next to a pasture. The mast crop was a complete failure and I knew the deer would be feeding on grass. The temperature was 42 F. and the sun was bright at 7:30 AM. There were no squirrels to watch as I sat my rifle up against the hickory tree I leaned against and I promptly fell asleep. I woke up and looked down the hill at a deer trail below me about forty yards and saw a lone doe. It was now 8:30. It was doe day during general firearm season. I slowly reached for the rifle and aimed behind her shoulder, cocked the lock, and squeezed the trigger. The flintlock had a slight hang fire, but I followed through. The doe immediately dropped! She was still kicking so I quickly reloaded. It wasn’t needed though as I watched her through the binoculars. As I watched her expire another deer approached her. It was a small spike. He past her up after some puzzled looks and began browsing. He kept looking at her to see if she was going to follow. Then another deer, a four pointer walked down the same trail. He was a fairly large buck with antlers wider than his ears and approximately one foot high. He approached the downed doe and poked her in the hindquarters with his antlers trying to get her attention. I thought I would have some fun with my grunt call. So, I grunted and he looked up to see the aggressor. He walked up the hill a few yards and gave a snort- wheeze. I grunted and kicked the leaves. He came up a few yards more gave a snort- wheeze and made a fast scrape and horned a dead locust tree. Again I grunted and kicked the leaves aggressively. Once again he came closer. This time he was only about twenty or less yards from me. A little too close for a love crazed buck looking for a fight! I watched him look for the aggressor and let him and the spike wander off down the hill. It was now about 9:30, but it seemed only a few minutes. It was sure exciting!

50 cal.
.010 pillow ticking
Stumpy's Moose Snot
Eddie May .490 cast rb
60 gr. Goex 3fg
4fg prime

 

[lonehunter]

nice deer and rifle. sounds like a great morning in the deer woods :v

 

[rabjr]

Good eats! Grats! :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

That's a good experience, a good memory, congratulations!
:hatsoff:

 

[William O.]

I enjoyed reading about your hunt, thank you for posting it.

 

[jethro224]

Grats. :hatsoff:
Sounds like you picked a good spot to hunt.

 

[chance]

Awsome Hunt!!!

 

[GregC]

Great story.

Did you make the rifle?

 

[agill]

Thanks everyone!

Widowbender, Yes I made the rifle from Jim Chambers' kit. You can see better pictures of the process from start to finish in the Builders forum. The members here helped a lot! Just search for my posts.

Allen

 

[blueridger]

Enjoyed the pics and story. Nice looking rifle.

 

[happyhunter]

Very nice rifle. I have been looking at his Little Feller kit... someday....

Thanks for posting the story. I have not seen any deer while archery hunting this year. Bummer. I am looking forward to rifle and flintlock season. Your story is encouraging.

 

[agill]

Keep hunting! I hunted my favorite spot for 2 days and the only buck I saw was when I was gathering up my Tink's 69! I was calling it a day and gathered my stuff. As I was walking out not thirty feet from my place I sit I saw a huge buck one hundred yards downhill jump out of his bed and run off! :rotf: I never saw him sneak in, which is fine. Due to the contours of the mountain side I never had a shot from where I sat. In the past several deer were taken there. So many that I got used to taking a deer the first day. Not this year.

Allen

 

[Shane Carter]

Nice looking rifle, the doe will sure go good with some gravy!

 

[Goshawk]

Congratulations on your first with your York”¦.very nice little “meat” doe.


.690RB

 

[dbutch]

congratulations-Good shooting-How rewarding to take a deer with a rifle You Built-I'm am proud for you! Sounds like a great place to hunt.

 

[KyFlintlock]

Lovin it man! Nice work.

 

[boondocker]

Nice deer and rifle. I have had my greatest knaps in my stand, does"nt get any better than this. :thumbsup: