I hadn't shared any stories here about my firearms deer season because I had no good pictures to go with them. To tell you the truth, I didn't have much of a season to share anything about. Other than the buck I killed with my longbow at the end of October, I have not put any meat in the freezer. I won't bore you with all the details of why but I will share a comedy/tragedy tale that happened on the opening weekend of Missouri's firearms season that kind of sums it all up for me. So pull up a chair, boys and girls, I'm about to spin you a yarn.
We woke up on the opening morning of our firearms season to an inch of snow on the ground. The wind was up and I did not expect much deer movement. I had bowhunted the two days before and had seen a significant drop in movement compared to what I had seen at the end of October. It looked like all the bucks had caught their does and nobody had any reason to move around much. I hunted anyway, because you have to, and had a spike in range of my 54 flintlock that morning. I was looking for a fat, mature doe so he got a pass. I saw only three deer that afternoon with no shot opportunities. The next day was supposed to be much better, weather-wise, so I had high hopes for then.
On Sunday morning, I headed up to the ridge behind our barn where I had arrowed that buck two weeks before. The weather was prime - clear, still, and cold. I walked out on the oak flat up there and used my climbing stand to ascend a big hickory. On my right was the head of Tater Cave Holler. There is a cedar glade on the far side of that holler that deer love to bed up in. They oftentimes will come out of the glade, circle around the head of the holler, and come to me on my side of the flat. I crammed me, and all the clothes I had on, into my stand seat, poured some powder in the flash pan, and waited for daylight.
Surprisingly, things started out pretty slow. It was a fine morning, around 20 degrees, and you could hear for miles. However, about the only thing stirring around were the ubiquitous gray squirrels. There was a small den tree about 20 yards in front of me and watching the antics of them popping in and out of its various holes kept me entertained while I waited for bigger game.
Finally, at around 8:30, I heard an explosion of noise across the holler and then saw several does come running from the cedar glade with a big buck behind them. All the leaves were off so I could easily see what was going on across the 125 yards that separated me from the herd. The snow on the ground helped too. They milled around on the flat over there while I checked my gun and waited/hoped for them to move my way. I had my 54 with me, a rifle I have a mixed history with. It consistently goes off when I need it to but I have had problems consistently hitting what I was aiming at. I have killed several deer with it but I've missed at least that many at some embarrassingly close distances. Now I will admit that I am not crack shot, but I think I'm competent anyway. My guess is my problem stems from the sighting system on that rifle. I have a tall bead front sight and a rear peep sight. Shooting from a level bench, I can easily group where I want to. All the deer I've missed, though, have been from a tree stand and I suspect that the angle caused by the elevation jacks something up in the human/rifle sight interface. Okay, enough foreshadowing...
So I'm watching the deer from afar when I see one of the does break away and go down into the holler. That is fine by me. When she comes out on my side, I will put a round ball through her and be done with it. I seem to spot another deer every time I look over that direction and I am on pins and needles waiting for any of them to come visit. After 10-15 minutes, I hear that doe finally making her ascent towards me and I get ready. However, when she tops the edge of the holler, she has turned into a he. Two thoughts came to my mind immediately. 1) How did that big buck switch places with the doe without me knowing and 2) He's not as big as I thought he was but he's plenty big enough. I watch the buck do deer things from about 25 yards away and as he starts walking away I pick the opening where I will take my shot. I intentionally hold a little low because I seem to miss high with that rifle, pick that spot right behind his elbow, and squeeze the trigger.
After the smoke clears, I see the buck just standing there. I wait for him to fall over but he, instead, takes a couple of steps. I wait for him to wobble and then fall over but, instead, he takes a few more steps and looks around. Then he throws his tail up and high steps off back down into the holler. I didn't touch a hair on him!!! I stare in disbelief for a few seconds and then my surprise is broken by the other deer making noise moving around. Now is when the story gets "interesting".
So I look up to where the noise is coming from and I see that the BIG buck is still around, trying to corner a doe. They're still 100 yards away but it looks like the doe is going to come my way. I normally run a cleaning patch down the barrel after firing but, I need to load my gun quickly, so I skip that part and pour powder in. I've only shot once so the barrel shouldn't be that fouled, right? I get a lubed patch out of a bag, place it over the barrel mouth, and put a ball on top. I get my ball starter and smack it on the ball while watching the deer slowly make their way towards me out of the corner of my eye. Guess what? The ball doesn't move. So I smack it again - same thing. Did I accidentally grab a ball for my 62? I get a different ball and try again; same result. Now I see that the doe and big buck are definitely coming my way, 75 yards out. I grab ball #3, and start smacking it hard. I'm on a 2 foot square platform with a 5 and a half foot long gun, trying to be inconspicuous. The deer are looking around, trying to source the noise, as I silently cuss my situation. I guess the combination of 20 degree weather and a slightly fouled barrel have shrunk the bore I am trying to put a piece of lead down. Finally, I get ball #3 to go in and I push it down about 6 inches, the length of my ball starter.
The doe and buck are heading straight towards me now, so I hastily grab my ramrod to seat the ball. I get it in the barrel and push but the ball WILL NOT MOVE. I am using all my strength now, bouncing up and down as much as you can in a climbing tree stand 20 feet off the ground, but that ball won't budge. The doe and buck are completely oblivious to all of this as they now close the distance to 25 yards in front of me on my left. That buck is a heavy-racked 10-pointer and his nose is right on her backside. Meanwhile, I'm pulling a triceps muscle trying in vain to load...my...damn...rifle. I watch helplessly, as the pair walk by me at about 15 yards and then stop behind me to figure out what they're going to do next. After taunting me for another 5 minutes, they walk off down into the holler on that side.
I am completely shocked by what has just transpired. I can still see deer moving around me but, so what? What am I gonna do? Throw a lead ball at them? The only thing I can do is get out of the tree, go to the house, and regroup. I lower all my stuff to the ground and start climbing down. As I'm gathering up my gear and packing up my stand, I hear something in front of me. I look up to see the buck I had missed a few minutes before now pawing through the snow for acorns about 25 yards away. Nothing like a little salt in the wound, heh? He doesn't have a clue I'm there so I grab my rifle and try once again to seat that ball. It's still a no-go and after he hears all the racket I'm making he looks up with that "Where did you come from?" look and bounces off.
The end of the story is I was easily able to extract the ball from that rifle with a ball puller after I left the rifle in the house to warm up. I ran a single dry patch down it and then pushed a patched ball down the barrel with no issue. I shot the load so I could clean the gun and then hunted the rest of the season with my 62 flintlock. I still had my heart set on a big doe so, of course, all I had opportunities for were little bucks and fawns.
We won't starve this winter but the season did remind me of the ones I had as a kid in the 70's - cold weather and no deer. I'm hoping that our Alternative Methods season at the end of December will be kinder to me.
Darren
We woke up on the opening morning of our firearms season to an inch of snow on the ground. The wind was up and I did not expect much deer movement. I had bowhunted the two days before and had seen a significant drop in movement compared to what I had seen at the end of October. It looked like all the bucks had caught their does and nobody had any reason to move around much. I hunted anyway, because you have to, and had a spike in range of my 54 flintlock that morning. I was looking for a fat, mature doe so he got a pass. I saw only three deer that afternoon with no shot opportunities. The next day was supposed to be much better, weather-wise, so I had high hopes for then.
On Sunday morning, I headed up to the ridge behind our barn where I had arrowed that buck two weeks before. The weather was prime - clear, still, and cold. I walked out on the oak flat up there and used my climbing stand to ascend a big hickory. On my right was the head of Tater Cave Holler. There is a cedar glade on the far side of that holler that deer love to bed up in. They oftentimes will come out of the glade, circle around the head of the holler, and come to me on my side of the flat. I crammed me, and all the clothes I had on, into my stand seat, poured some powder in the flash pan, and waited for daylight.
Surprisingly, things started out pretty slow. It was a fine morning, around 20 degrees, and you could hear for miles. However, about the only thing stirring around were the ubiquitous gray squirrels. There was a small den tree about 20 yards in front of me and watching the antics of them popping in and out of its various holes kept me entertained while I waited for bigger game.
Finally, at around 8:30, I heard an explosion of noise across the holler and then saw several does come running from the cedar glade with a big buck behind them. All the leaves were off so I could easily see what was going on across the 125 yards that separated me from the herd. The snow on the ground helped too. They milled around on the flat over there while I checked my gun and waited/hoped for them to move my way. I had my 54 with me, a rifle I have a mixed history with. It consistently goes off when I need it to but I have had problems consistently hitting what I was aiming at. I have killed several deer with it but I've missed at least that many at some embarrassingly close distances. Now I will admit that I am not crack shot, but I think I'm competent anyway. My guess is my problem stems from the sighting system on that rifle. I have a tall bead front sight and a rear peep sight. Shooting from a level bench, I can easily group where I want to. All the deer I've missed, though, have been from a tree stand and I suspect that the angle caused by the elevation jacks something up in the human/rifle sight interface. Okay, enough foreshadowing...
So I'm watching the deer from afar when I see one of the does break away and go down into the holler. That is fine by me. When she comes out on my side, I will put a round ball through her and be done with it. I seem to spot another deer every time I look over that direction and I am on pins and needles waiting for any of them to come visit. After 10-15 minutes, I hear that doe finally making her ascent towards me and I get ready. However, when she tops the edge of the holler, she has turned into a he. Two thoughts came to my mind immediately. 1) How did that big buck switch places with the doe without me knowing and 2) He's not as big as I thought he was but he's plenty big enough. I watch the buck do deer things from about 25 yards away and as he starts walking away I pick the opening where I will take my shot. I intentionally hold a little low because I seem to miss high with that rifle, pick that spot right behind his elbow, and squeeze the trigger.
After the smoke clears, I see the buck just standing there. I wait for him to fall over but he, instead, takes a couple of steps. I wait for him to wobble and then fall over but, instead, he takes a few more steps and looks around. Then he throws his tail up and high steps off back down into the holler. I didn't touch a hair on him!!! I stare in disbelief for a few seconds and then my surprise is broken by the other deer making noise moving around. Now is when the story gets "interesting".
So I look up to where the noise is coming from and I see that the BIG buck is still around, trying to corner a doe. They're still 100 yards away but it looks like the doe is going to come my way. I normally run a cleaning patch down the barrel after firing but, I need to load my gun quickly, so I skip that part and pour powder in. I've only shot once so the barrel shouldn't be that fouled, right? I get a lubed patch out of a bag, place it over the barrel mouth, and put a ball on top. I get my ball starter and smack it on the ball while watching the deer slowly make their way towards me out of the corner of my eye. Guess what? The ball doesn't move. So I smack it again - same thing. Did I accidentally grab a ball for my 62? I get a different ball and try again; same result. Now I see that the doe and big buck are definitely coming my way, 75 yards out. I grab ball #3, and start smacking it hard. I'm on a 2 foot square platform with a 5 and a half foot long gun, trying to be inconspicuous. The deer are looking around, trying to source the noise, as I silently cuss my situation. I guess the combination of 20 degree weather and a slightly fouled barrel have shrunk the bore I am trying to put a piece of lead down. Finally, I get ball #3 to go in and I push it down about 6 inches, the length of my ball starter.
The doe and buck are heading straight towards me now, so I hastily grab my ramrod to seat the ball. I get it in the barrel and push but the ball WILL NOT MOVE. I am using all my strength now, bouncing up and down as much as you can in a climbing tree stand 20 feet off the ground, but that ball won't budge. The doe and buck are completely oblivious to all of this as they now close the distance to 25 yards in front of me on my left. That buck is a heavy-racked 10-pointer and his nose is right on her backside. Meanwhile, I'm pulling a triceps muscle trying in vain to load...my...damn...rifle. I watch helplessly, as the pair walk by me at about 15 yards and then stop behind me to figure out what they're going to do next. After taunting me for another 5 minutes, they walk off down into the holler on that side.
I am completely shocked by what has just transpired. I can still see deer moving around me but, so what? What am I gonna do? Throw a lead ball at them? The only thing I can do is get out of the tree, go to the house, and regroup. I lower all my stuff to the ground and start climbing down. As I'm gathering up my gear and packing up my stand, I hear something in front of me. I look up to see the buck I had missed a few minutes before now pawing through the snow for acorns about 25 yards away. Nothing like a little salt in the wound, heh? He doesn't have a clue I'm there so I grab my rifle and try once again to seat that ball. It's still a no-go and after he hears all the racket I'm making he looks up with that "Where did you come from?" look and bounces off.
The end of the story is I was easily able to extract the ball from that rifle with a ball puller after I left the rifle in the house to warm up. I ran a single dry patch down it and then pushed a patched ball down the barrel with no issue. I shot the load so I could clean the gun and then hunted the rest of the season with my 62 flintlock. I still had my heart set on a big doe so, of course, all I had opportunities for were little bucks and fawns.
We won't starve this winter but the season did remind me of the ones I had as a kid in the 70's - cold weather and no deer. I'm hoping that our Alternative Methods season at the end of December will be kinder to me.
Darren
. And using more lube!
