Skychief
69 Cal.
Yesterday (the 15th) was Indiana's opening day of the firearm deer season. I welcomed it with open arms as I had spent an obscene amount of time and energy hunting with my traditional archery gear since October first to no avail.
I was hunting for three different older bucks that had given me the slip staying just out of my 17-18 yard self imposed recurve range limitation. Bringing the muzzleloader out felt like the field was a bit more level!
Saturday morning was the coldest opener here in memory. It was 16 degrees as the sun peeked above above the rolling ridges to the East. Thankfully the wind decided to subside. It had blown stiffly for two weeks prior.
I had avoided a doe bedding area until this morning as it had little opportunity to funnel a good buck close by any tree in the area. The plan that I followed was to get in early enough with a climbing stand and simply scale a suitable tree downwind of this bedding area.
I did so with a new to me older Seneca .45. She had proven a VERY accurate little piece and I was anxious to give her a try. I used a 60 grain charge of 3f Scheutzen under a ticking patch lightly lubed with mink oil, cut at the muzzle, and a home cast .445 round ball.
I had just got cozy when I heard the unmistakable crunch of a whitetail approaching the bedding are in front of me. It turned out that it was a mature doe slowly testing the wind while she contemplated laying down. Shadowing her and 30 yards behind was a buck I was quite familiar with. They came from behind and right of my tree.
As she made her way to the slightly thicker bedding area, he approached through the open white oak stand she had just traveled. One glimpse was all it took to sweep back the Senecas hammer and to make DARN sure I had included a cap on her nipple. :haha:
He worked his way to my right and 60-70 yards out as I found a pretty good open spot in his line of travel. As he entered the opening, I bleated with my mouth. He stopped broadside, head to left, rump to right in a shallow feeder hollow. It was a sight to behold with the sun just peeking above the horizon behind him and heavy frost rising from his muzzle! Plus, he was one of the three bucks I was hoping to cross paths with again.
Pretty as it was, I took little time to line the sights on his ribs and set the trigger. I squeezed the shot off. It felt good (you know what I mean).
The breeze cleared the smoke quickly and I watched him continue the way "his" doe had traveled. He moved at a quick walk. It seemed to me his legs were stiffer than they should have been.
Only ten seconds after the shot and thirty yards from where he had stood during it, he toppled over.
It was 7:26. I sat for over an hour, not wanting it to be over. During this time, I watched 7-8 does and 2 more bucks meander through the area, including an up and coming ten pointer that I took a few pictures of ten yards from my perch. They were pretty blurry as I couldn't hold the camera still.....must have been the cold.
Yea, right!
I was blessed to have drove the ball through the center of his lungs, with an exit.
He weighed in at 220# field dressed on two separate scales. A DNR biologist aged him at 4 1/2- 5 1/2 years old at the check station.
Good luck to all of you. Good friend Spence should be posting a picture or two here if you want to see him.
Best regards, Skychief.
I was hunting for three different older bucks that had given me the slip staying just out of my 17-18 yard self imposed recurve range limitation. Bringing the muzzleloader out felt like the field was a bit more level!
Saturday morning was the coldest opener here in memory. It was 16 degrees as the sun peeked above above the rolling ridges to the East. Thankfully the wind decided to subside. It had blown stiffly for two weeks prior.
I had avoided a doe bedding area until this morning as it had little opportunity to funnel a good buck close by any tree in the area. The plan that I followed was to get in early enough with a climbing stand and simply scale a suitable tree downwind of this bedding area.
I did so with a new to me older Seneca .45. She had proven a VERY accurate little piece and I was anxious to give her a try. I used a 60 grain charge of 3f Scheutzen under a ticking patch lightly lubed with mink oil, cut at the muzzle, and a home cast .445 round ball.
I had just got cozy when I heard the unmistakable crunch of a whitetail approaching the bedding are in front of me. It turned out that it was a mature doe slowly testing the wind while she contemplated laying down. Shadowing her and 30 yards behind was a buck I was quite familiar with. They came from behind and right of my tree.
As she made her way to the slightly thicker bedding area, he approached through the open white oak stand she had just traveled. One glimpse was all it took to sweep back the Senecas hammer and to make DARN sure I had included a cap on her nipple. :haha:
He worked his way to my right and 60-70 yards out as I found a pretty good open spot in his line of travel. As he entered the opening, I bleated with my mouth. He stopped broadside, head to left, rump to right in a shallow feeder hollow. It was a sight to behold with the sun just peeking above the horizon behind him and heavy frost rising from his muzzle! Plus, he was one of the three bucks I was hoping to cross paths with again.
Pretty as it was, I took little time to line the sights on his ribs and set the trigger. I squeezed the shot off. It felt good (you know what I mean).
The breeze cleared the smoke quickly and I watched him continue the way "his" doe had traveled. He moved at a quick walk. It seemed to me his legs were stiffer than they should have been.
Only ten seconds after the shot and thirty yards from where he had stood during it, he toppled over.
It was 7:26. I sat for over an hour, not wanting it to be over. During this time, I watched 7-8 does and 2 more bucks meander through the area, including an up and coming ten pointer that I took a few pictures of ten yards from my perch. They were pretty blurry as I couldn't hold the camera still.....must have been the cold.
Yea, right!
I was blessed to have drove the ball through the center of his lungs, with an exit.
He weighed in at 220# field dressed on two separate scales. A DNR biologist aged him at 4 1/2- 5 1/2 years old at the check station.
Good luck to all of you. Good friend Spence should be posting a picture or two here if you want to see him.
Best regards, Skychief.
