All right! I stuck it out and ended up getting doe from the ground with my new(to me) CVA rifle.
I've been lurking and asking questions for the past summer getting myslef ready for this late season. Here in Southern California, there are not many traditional guys to talk to, so the info here was invaluable :hatsoff:
I've been into the mountain man "thing" ever since I watched "jeremiah Johnson" with my dad way back when...but never turned that interest into activity. I had taken up traditional archery several years ago, and was going along with that, when I ran across this CVA for sale. I could not pass it up...and I can say that I REALLY enjoy shooting this thing!
For a little background, our SoCal deer hunts are pretty tough, typically 5-8% success, but I wanted to stick to my roots and stay on the ground and be mobile.
I was lucky enough to get drawn for the late-season Muzzleloader either-sex hunt, so I had 18 days to make it happen.
I scouted the fall, then had 7 days of hunt time (not concurrently) to close the deal. Typical SoCal issues of craowded areas, and touchy deer, along with totally atypical problems with a week of solid, pouring, freezing rain (In Sunny Cali :idunno: !) but all-in-all things came together really well!
So anyway, here is the story....
I sat down about an hour before light in some boulders above a nice saddle and waited. Just at grey-light I had 6-7 deer moving around at 60 yards or so, and was waiting for enough light to ensure that I had a legal deer. After it got just to shooting light, I had a doe ready to go....and flinched like hell at the shot - doe fever!
She and all her friends got the hell out of there. I gave it about 15 minutes, then snuck down to where she was, checked the tracks and the area, and followed her trail a bit and saw no blood...that combined with the flinch, and how lightly she bounded off, convinced me of a clean miss.
I was actually not upset at all, just felt really good to take a shot. The wind was moving a bit now, so I walked off the trail a little and sat in a good looking blowdown. My natural inclination is to move to much, so I told myself that I would sit for another hour at least before I made any rash decisions. There was a lot of traffic on the trail, and it was still really early.
I'll be damned, but in about 15 minutes a tiny crunch had me trying to look right as hard as I could without moving, and a lone doe stepped into view at about 10 feet!!! I had the gun up on my knee and at my shoulder, so all I had to do was slowly slide my hand up under the barrel and steady a bit.
After a minute, she had walked out to about 6-7 yards and was just quartering away.
I had to make a tiny adjustment and got my sight picture....pulled the trigger, and looked under the smoke to see her already on the ground. A couple of minutes of thrashing and it was all over.
The ball went in a tiny bit foreward, and completely shattered the shoulder, I think the ball broke, because there were two exits, one foreward and one back a bit. Soid off-side lung hit though, so all was good.
I was a mess for a good half-hour and had to just sit. Managed one crappy pic when I could finally stop shaking! That close-range stuff is a blast!
That .50cal lead ball really hits hard! I was impressed. Again, MANY THANKS to those who unwittingly helped me out!
I've been lurking and asking questions for the past summer getting myslef ready for this late season. Here in Southern California, there are not many traditional guys to talk to, so the info here was invaluable :hatsoff:
I've been into the mountain man "thing" ever since I watched "jeremiah Johnson" with my dad way back when...but never turned that interest into activity. I had taken up traditional archery several years ago, and was going along with that, when I ran across this CVA for sale. I could not pass it up...and I can say that I REALLY enjoy shooting this thing!
For a little background, our SoCal deer hunts are pretty tough, typically 5-8% success, but I wanted to stick to my roots and stay on the ground and be mobile.
I was lucky enough to get drawn for the late-season Muzzleloader either-sex hunt, so I had 18 days to make it happen.
I scouted the fall, then had 7 days of hunt time (not concurrently) to close the deal. Typical SoCal issues of craowded areas, and touchy deer, along with totally atypical problems with a week of solid, pouring, freezing rain (In Sunny Cali :idunno: !) but all-in-all things came together really well!
So anyway, here is the story....
I sat down about an hour before light in some boulders above a nice saddle and waited. Just at grey-light I had 6-7 deer moving around at 60 yards or so, and was waiting for enough light to ensure that I had a legal deer. After it got just to shooting light, I had a doe ready to go....and flinched like hell at the shot - doe fever!
She and all her friends got the hell out of there. I gave it about 15 minutes, then snuck down to where she was, checked the tracks and the area, and followed her trail a bit and saw no blood...that combined with the flinch, and how lightly she bounded off, convinced me of a clean miss.
I was actually not upset at all, just felt really good to take a shot. The wind was moving a bit now, so I walked off the trail a little and sat in a good looking blowdown. My natural inclination is to move to much, so I told myself that I would sit for another hour at least before I made any rash decisions. There was a lot of traffic on the trail, and it was still really early.
I'll be damned, but in about 15 minutes a tiny crunch had me trying to look right as hard as I could without moving, and a lone doe stepped into view at about 10 feet!!! I had the gun up on my knee and at my shoulder, so all I had to do was slowly slide my hand up under the barrel and steady a bit.
After a minute, she had walked out to about 6-7 yards and was just quartering away.
I had to make a tiny adjustment and got my sight picture....pulled the trigger, and looked under the smoke to see her already on the ground. A couple of minutes of thrashing and it was all over.
I was a mess for a good half-hour and had to just sit. Managed one crappy pic when I could finally stop shaking! That close-range stuff is a blast!
That .50cal lead ball really hits hard! I was impressed. Again, MANY THANKS to those who unwittingly helped me out!
