Ron LaClair
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20ga smoothbore loaded with 80gr 2FF 595 prb
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Buffalo with a smoothbore
- Thread starter Ron LaClair
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Wow! Did you take that bison, NWTF? I remember seeing a photo and painting of the late Curly Gostomski beside a buffalo he killed with one of his North Star West trade guns in 20 bore.
Did it take but one shot?
Did it take but one shot?
Ron LaClair
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I shot it twice but later found that one shot would have been enough
Congrats Ron :hatsoff: Great pic as well, Thanks for posting.
Brokennock
Cannon
Wow! Nicely done. What was the range? Did you sneek in bow hunting close? Would love to hear/read more of the story.
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Great pic. I bet that made some fine eats :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup:
Dispelling the myths of round ball and smooth bore effectiveness, one giant dead critter at a time.... :hatsoff:
Dispelling the myths of round ball and smooth bore effectiveness, one giant dead critter at a time.... :hatsoff:
Ron LaClair
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I'll put the story here but as this is a photo forum and it doesn't belong here then it can be moved
If you want to hunt a buffalo with your muzzleloader like early hunters did, luckily it can still be done. There are some private  herds in the west that can offer you the experience of hunting buffalo in areas where they once roamed by the millions. Game ranches in a lot of states also have buffalo that can be harvested. Noticed I said harvested not hunted. Animals kept in a fenced environment are not like the ones in their natural habitat.  It's not buffalo hunting like it use to be...not even close but even though it's on a ranch with hundreds of acres instead of thousands it can still be an exciting experience.
If you've never went after buffalo in deep snow, then you should try it. That's what I did last Sunday and it was a ball. The ranch I went to also had other animals there, Elk, deer, sheep and boar. Most of these other critters were pretty easy to stalk, or if you preferred you could sit in an enclosed blind near where they dropped off some hay and wait for the animal of your choice to come in and present a shot. If you just wanted some meat and didn't care about putting any challenge to it, I suppose this was the way to go. No sweat, no strain..no problem.
I chose to go after the buffalo on foot instead of waiting for them to come to me. Les, the rancher told me that the buffalo were pretty spooky because they had been "hunted" pretty hard. Â He said if they saw you they would take off to the other end of the 500 acres they were in. Â
It wasn't long before I was cussing myself for leaving my snowshoes home. Even though this ranch was only two hours north of my home they had more snow than I did back there. With about a foot of the fluffy stuff on the ground in the woods, it really wore a fella out in a short time. Â :
If you want to hunt a buffalo with your muzzleloader like early hunters did, luckily it can still be done. There are some private  herds in the west that can offer you the experience of hunting buffalo in areas where they once roamed by the millions. Game ranches in a lot of states also have buffalo that can be harvested. Noticed I said harvested not hunted. Animals kept in a fenced environment are not like the ones in their natural habitat.  It's not buffalo hunting like it use to be...not even close but even though it's on a ranch with hundreds of acres instead of thousands it can still be an exciting experience.
If you've never went after buffalo in deep snow, then you should try it. That's what I did last Sunday and it was a ball. The ranch I went to also had other animals there, Elk, deer, sheep and boar. Most of these other critters were pretty easy to stalk, or if you preferred you could sit in an enclosed blind near where they dropped off some hay and wait for the animal of your choice to come in and present a shot. If you just wanted some meat and didn't care about putting any challenge to it, I suppose this was the way to go. No sweat, no strain..no problem.
I chose to go after the buffalo on foot instead of waiting for them to come to me. Les, the rancher told me that the buffalo were pretty spooky because they had been "hunted" pretty hard. Â He said if they saw you they would take off to the other end of the 500 acres they were in. Â
It wasn't long before I was cussing myself for leaving my snowshoes home. Even though this ranch was only two hours north of my home they had more snow than I did back there. With about a foot of the fluffy stuff on the ground in the woods, it really wore a fella out in a short time. Â :
Ron LaClair
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I was carrying two guns just in case I needed a fast second shot. (Didn't Robert Redford do that in Jemimah Johnson?) Â I had my .62cal Jager rifle, "Ole Bull Knocker" that has counted many coups over the years including a big bull moose in 79 and my new this year .62 smoothbore, "Ole Two-Fer", the gun that took two deer with one shot just a few weeks ago.
Both guns have slings so it wasn't hard to tote both of them, in fact the smoothbore is so light that I hardly noticed the weight of it on my shoulder.
As I said the deep snow made frequent rest stops necessary so when I came out to the edge of the woods and saw a convenient log, I sit down. I reached into my haversack for my thermos of coffee and a venison sandwich. Â About half way through my lunch I looked to my right and saw some buffalo coming around the corner of the woods into the field that was in front of me. Â They were six of them kind of strung out. They were a few hundred yards away so I couldn't tell if there were any bulls in the bunch. I had already decided that I wanted a cow because I figured they'd be better eating than a bull.
I was trying to decide whether to unroll my buffalo robe that was across  my back with a tump line. The plan was to drape the hide over me and try to fool the buffs into thinkin I was one of them.   .  It looked like they might be heading in my direction so I decided to sit tight and see happened.
I really wanted to take a buffalo with Two-Fer the smoothbore but I wanted the shot to be 50yds or less, anything farther and I'd use the rifle. The reason being that I hadn't shot the smoothbore with a ball past 40yd's so I didn't know how it would shoot past that.
As the six animals got closer it looked like they were all cows and heifers. They were angeling  a little as they came up the field and I knew I wasn't gonna get a close shot so I checked the prime in the rifle Bull Knocker to make sure it was dry... and waited.
These critters were a might bigger than the whitetails that I was used to huntin and I tried to estimate the distance as they came abreast of me...looked to be under 100yds. Â I lined up the sights behind the shoulder, holding about half way up the chest on one of the big cows. The rancher had told me to hold low and try for a heart shot but I didn't want to risk shooting too low and having a wounded animal on my hands. Â No critter I don't care how big they are can stay on their feet very long after taking out their lungs.
I squeezed the trigger slowly and when the hammer dropped I heard the phfff for an instant and them BOOM. The gun hung a little  but I had held my follow through and the sights were still on target when she went off. The cow flinched like it had been hit with a BB gun but that was the only reaction. The bunch got nervous and started to trot a little but then slowed to a walk. I set down the rifle and took the smoothbore off my shoulder...keepin my eye on the cow I had shot at. I was a little worried because I wasn't too sure of the shot. I was used to more reaction than that when the big .62 hit em.
I quickly leveled the gun and put the front bead where it was supposed to be and started my squeeze. There was no pause this time and again the cow flinched and started to trot but this time I saw steam coming from a hole in her side. I knew it was only a matter of time.
I quickly reloaded the rifle from the pre measured  powder container and loading block. As I slid the ramrod back in the pipes I looked toward the bunch that had gone a little over 100yds. I saw the cows hind quarters buckle and she was down. The other buffalo gathered around her as if trying to help her somehow. In a minute they took off and left her there..she was done. Â
Both guns have slings so it wasn't hard to tote both of them, in fact the smoothbore is so light that I hardly noticed the weight of it on my shoulder.
As I said the deep snow made frequent rest stops necessary so when I came out to the edge of the woods and saw a convenient log, I sit down. I reached into my haversack for my thermos of coffee and a venison sandwich. Â About half way through my lunch I looked to my right and saw some buffalo coming around the corner of the woods into the field that was in front of me. Â They were six of them kind of strung out. They were a few hundred yards away so I couldn't tell if there were any bulls in the bunch. I had already decided that I wanted a cow because I figured they'd be better eating than a bull.
I was trying to decide whether to unroll my buffalo robe that was across  my back with a tump line. The plan was to drape the hide over me and try to fool the buffs into thinkin I was one of them.   .  It looked like they might be heading in my direction so I decided to sit tight and see happened.
I really wanted to take a buffalo with Two-Fer the smoothbore but I wanted the shot to be 50yds or less, anything farther and I'd use the rifle. The reason being that I hadn't shot the smoothbore with a ball past 40yd's so I didn't know how it would shoot past that.
As the six animals got closer it looked like they were all cows and heifers. They were angeling  a little as they came up the field and I knew I wasn't gonna get a close shot so I checked the prime in the rifle Bull Knocker to make sure it was dry... and waited.
These critters were a might bigger than the whitetails that I was used to huntin and I tried to estimate the distance as they came abreast of me...looked to be under 100yds. Â I lined up the sights behind the shoulder, holding about half way up the chest on one of the big cows. The rancher had told me to hold low and try for a heart shot but I didn't want to risk shooting too low and having a wounded animal on my hands. Â No critter I don't care how big they are can stay on their feet very long after taking out their lungs.
I squeezed the trigger slowly and when the hammer dropped I heard the phfff for an instant and them BOOM. The gun hung a little  but I had held my follow through and the sights were still on target when she went off. The cow flinched like it had been hit with a BB gun but that was the only reaction. The bunch got nervous and started to trot a little but then slowed to a walk. I set down the rifle and took the smoothbore off my shoulder...keepin my eye on the cow I had shot at. I was a little worried because I wasn't too sure of the shot. I was used to more reaction than that when the big .62 hit em.
I quickly leveled the gun and put the front bead where it was supposed to be and started my squeeze. There was no pause this time and again the cow flinched and started to trot but this time I saw steam coming from a hole in her side. I knew it was only a matter of time.
I quickly reloaded the rifle from the pre measured  powder container and loading block. As I slid the ramrod back in the pipes I looked toward the bunch that had gone a little over 100yds. I saw the cows hind quarters buckle and she was down. The other buffalo gathered around her as if trying to help her somehow. In a minute they took off and left her there..she was done. Â
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Ron LaClair
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Enough meat to last the winter for sure.
The two shots were fairly close together through the rib cage and really did some damage
The two shots were fairly close together through the rib cage and really did some damage
Nomadexpedition
32 Cal.
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Nice did the shot pass through if not were you able to recover the bullet at all?
Ron LaClair
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Both balls passed completely through.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :hatsoff:
Ron, here I was, just today, wondering about you, and you show up in fine form! Congratulations on getting out there, and getting it done.
Richard/Grumpa
Ron, here I was, just today, wondering about you, and you show up in fine form! Congratulations on getting out there, and getting it done.
Richard/Grumpa
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NICE buff, imo. = CONGRADS.
yours, satx
yours, satx
Phillip McDonald
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As usual great job sir! Still loving my Shrew and buffalo knife.
