First deer harvested with a muzzle loader

[gun_painter]

Got my first deer with a muzzle loader. Haven't hunted in nearly a decade, and finally got on the ball to go this year. Opening day, about 30min before dark, and this guy comes strolling by. .490 round ball and 80gr of swiss, he dropped in his tracks. Gutted him and stashed him, hes too heavy for me to drag by myself so I'm going out in the morning with a friend to bring him home. He was the 4th deer I saw today, I including a little buck that snuck up behind me and got to about 6ft away before he finally winded me.

Branden

 

[Spikebuck]

Congratulations! That's a great buck.

This should be moved to the hunting forum!

 

[Sparkitoff]

Nicely done, a dandy buck for sure!

 

[Fisherking]

I’d be on cloud nine! Way to go!!

 

[S.Kenton]

That’s a GREAT deer! I would have hated stashing him in fear of coyotes, or whatever is in your area that can get to him. I understand though we can only pull, tug and drag so far by ourselves. Congrats!!

 

[hanshi]

You didn't shoot just any buck; you got Papa buck and the leader of the band!

 

[Ames]

Leave your hunting shirt on him overnight. The human scent keeps the scavengers at bay.
Great buck!

 

[Stykbow]

Nice one.

 

[smo]

Congrats

 

[Rifleman1776]

a little buck that snuck up behind me

I learned long ago to put eyes on the back of my cap.
BTW, congrats. Very nice buck.

 

[VA Hawken]

Very nice buck!

 

[Jim K]

Beautiful buck! Looks like his jaw is swollen doesn’t it?

 

[pwbsmokey]

View attachment 174873

Got my first deer with a muzzle loader. Haven't hunted in nearly a decade, and finally got on the ball to go this year. Opening day, about 30min before dark, and this guy comes strolling by. .490 round ball and 80gr of swiss, he dropped in his tracks. Gutted him and stashed him, hes too heavy for me to drag by myself so I'm going out in the morning with a friend to bring him home. He was the 4th deer I saw today, I including a little buck that snuck up behind me and got to about 6ft away before he finally winded me.

Branden

Hope the coyotes don’t get him

 

[gun_painter]

Update:
I got back Sunday morning early to retrieve him and there wasn't any signs of predators. Nothing even touched the gut pile. Got down to 19 degrees overnight, so he was pretty well frozen solid. I did tie a t-shirt around his antler as a deterrent. Went to the spot where I was sitting and measured where he was, it was 22 yards. The ball didn't pass through, but I didn't find it either, maybe next time.

He's at the processor now getting turned into breakfast sausage, summer sausage, loin steaks and burger. Gonna go back out this week and start hunting for a tasty doe so I can get a bunch of roasts and make some jerky. They weighed him at 163lbs with the hide and head. Trying to drag him I was sure he was over 200. Apprently the biggest they had weighed at the processor was 231lbs. I would like to have seen that brute.

Branden

 

[gun_painter]

Beautiful buck! Looks like his jaw is swollen doesn’t it?

Yeah, he's got something going on there, i've got the head in the back of the truck now, going to do a european mount, so i'll figure out what's going on with it as I skin out the head and try to get all the tissue removed.

Branden

 

[Loja man]

What a nice deer!! Great hunt!!

 

[jackpine54]

Nice buck!

 

[Dutch7]

That is a great first deer or 10th or 20th too! Well done.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Nice going, dandy whitetail, that'll be a great memory. Congratulations

 

[Dialcannon]

Nice buck Brandon.
Still haven’t tried my black powder for deer hunting as of yet. Had to finish siteing.