First off I just want to say thank you to everyone who posts on this website. I have been reading as much as I can for the last couple of years and your input has really helped me do this with no in-person mentor.
A couple of years ago I decided to go the “traditional” route with muzzle loading. After a lot of thought I settled on the Lyman Deer Stalker in .54 with the goal of shooting PRBs at deer and elk. I made it out last year for elk, but I ended up being about 30 minutes late for a group of cows and calves and never got a shot. This year I drew plains deer tag in Colorado and my dad and I set out to kill a deer. We skipped opening weekend and ended up in our hunting area on Tuesday afternoon. We had no idea what we were doing because I had limited time to scout and we ended up jumping three deer as we walked around looking for a good spot to hunt. Eventually we settled in and sat and watched a promising area until only 20 minutes of shooting light remained. When we first got to the spot temps were in the mid-70s but a nice storm was brewing and it had dropped significantly. I was freezing and decided that since there was only 20 minutes of shooting light left we should head back home and warm up. I walked over to my dad and we talked for a couple minutes. I decided to do some last minute glassing and heard a huge crash directly below me. I looked down to see my 70 year-old father had taken quite the spill off the 15’ high bank we had been glassing from. Luckily he was OK and his first words were “are you OK”? After he crawled back up I was struggling to remove the cap from my gun when I happened to look up and see three whitetails coming towards us. We both crouched down and let them come closer. Eventually this guy popped over the top of the berm we were sitting on 69 long paces away. The shot was a bit high, clipping his spine right behind the shoulders. The load was a .530 Hornady ball in a .015 Ox-Yoke patch with 90 grains of Graff & Sons FFF black powder. He will be delicious!
A couple of years ago I decided to go the “traditional” route with muzzle loading. After a lot of thought I settled on the Lyman Deer Stalker in .54 with the goal of shooting PRBs at deer and elk. I made it out last year for elk, but I ended up being about 30 minutes late for a group of cows and calves and never got a shot. This year I drew plains deer tag in Colorado and my dad and I set out to kill a deer. We skipped opening weekend and ended up in our hunting area on Tuesday afternoon. We had no idea what we were doing because I had limited time to scout and we ended up jumping three deer as we walked around looking for a good spot to hunt. Eventually we settled in and sat and watched a promising area until only 20 minutes of shooting light remained. When we first got to the spot temps were in the mid-70s but a nice storm was brewing and it had dropped significantly. I was freezing and decided that since there was only 20 minutes of shooting light left we should head back home and warm up. I walked over to my dad and we talked for a couple minutes. I decided to do some last minute glassing and heard a huge crash directly below me. I looked down to see my 70 year-old father had taken quite the spill off the 15’ high bank we had been glassing from. Luckily he was OK and his first words were “are you OK”? After he crawled back up I was struggling to remove the cap from my gun when I happened to look up and see three whitetails coming towards us. We both crouched down and let them come closer. Eventually this guy popped over the top of the berm we were sitting on 69 long paces away. The shot was a bit high, clipping his spine right behind the shoulders. The load was a .530 Hornady ball in a .015 Ox-Yoke patch with 90 grains of Graff & Sons FFF black powder. He will be delicious!
