blueridger
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2007
- Messages
- 143
- Reaction score
- 44
I came across some photos of one of my most memorable muzzleloading hunts, and have attempted to post them here. My son, Nathan, was six years old at the time, and was with me. It was the opening morning of the eastern NC muzzleloader season. We woke up late that morning, and drove to a patchwork of fields and woods that I hunt. It must have been around 9:30 in the morning, and we were walking down a dirt road next to a cutover, when I noticed the head of a doe sticking out from behind a large tree stump in in the cutover.
I was carrying my 50 caliber Pedersoli, loaded with a prb and 72 grains of 3f powder. It is interchangeable flint and percussion, but I had percussion that day. The deer was about 50 yards. We stopped, and I took aim and fired. We saw part of the stump fly up, an obvious miss. Miraculously, the deer did not run off. I quickly reloaded and fired again. This time, I saw two deer run off through the smoke. We watched them run off into the woods on the far side of the cutover. Nathan expressed his disappointment to me. I didn't think I could have missed twice at that range.
We started to walk over to the stump, when a large farming combine came down the road. After it passed, we walked over to the stump, and laying behind it was a doe, with a round ball through her neck! Of course, we were both delighted, having thought I missed. We took the deer home and skinned and quartered it.
Later that afternoon, Nathan and I drove to an adjoining county, and got in a box stand. I started calling with a fawn bleat, and after about 20 minutes in the stand, a "forkhorn" came out of the woods about 200 yards from us, and into the cutover. He was heading away from us, however. At that time, I bleated once more, and turned him. Instead of coming to us, he began to circle widely. When he crossed directly in front of us, he stopped at about 90 yards, and was broadside. I carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger very slowly. The gun (with the same load as in the morning) roared and the deer fell instantly. He was dead by the time we got to him. Nathan was delighted yet again. We had a long drag back to the hunt camp, and by the the time we got there, it was dark. I skinned and quartered him by firelight. After he was in the cooler, we ate dinner by ourselves by the fire. We still talk about that hunt. No trophies or monster bucks, but one of my best hunts in my life.
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I was carrying my 50 caliber Pedersoli, loaded with a prb and 72 grains of 3f powder. It is interchangeable flint and percussion, but I had percussion that day. The deer was about 50 yards. We stopped, and I took aim and fired. We saw part of the stump fly up, an obvious miss. Miraculously, the deer did not run off. I quickly reloaded and fired again. This time, I saw two deer run off through the smoke. We watched them run off into the woods on the far side of the cutover. Nathan expressed his disappointment to me. I didn't think I could have missed twice at that range.
We started to walk over to the stump, when a large farming combine came down the road. After it passed, we walked over to the stump, and laying behind it was a doe, with a round ball through her neck! Of course, we were both delighted, having thought I missed. We took the deer home and skinned and quartered it.
Later that afternoon, Nathan and I drove to an adjoining county, and got in a box stand. I started calling with a fawn bleat, and after about 20 minutes in the stand, a "forkhorn" came out of the woods about 200 yards from us, and into the cutover. He was heading away from us, however. At that time, I bleated once more, and turned him. Instead of coming to us, he began to circle widely. When he crossed directly in front of us, he stopped at about 90 yards, and was broadside. I carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger very slowly. The gun (with the same load as in the morning) roared and the deer fell instantly. He was dead by the time we got to him. Nathan was delighted yet again. We had a long drag back to the hunt camp, and by the the time we got there, it was dark. I skinned and quartered him by firelight. After he was in the cooler, we ate dinner by ourselves by the fire. We still talk about that hunt. No trophies or monster bucks, but one of my best hunts in my life.
Link ]Link
