The Baron
45 Cal.
- Joined
- May 10, 2004
- Messages
- 927
- Reaction score
- 15
Well, today was my day. My interest in blackpowder hunting has rekindled an interest in deer hunting. I have not been or wanted to go deer hunting in probably 10+ years, but I was very excited to participate in the muzzleloader season this year.
I hunted Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon without seeing anything but the buck my buddy shot. Today, I sat all morning in an area with lots of sign. At 11am a nice doe came out in front of me. Being rusty at deer hunting, I was excited and underestimed the doe's intelligence and got busted trying to move my gun. :shake: I was rethinking that and kicking myself mentally, when she wheezed about 40 yards off to my right. I couldn't see her but the wind was still in my favor. I stayed alert and then she wheezed again behind me, which is down in a low area. I got turned around and she was walking through there. I couldn't shoot when I first spotted her because there was too much brush. She started moving again and I was able to get her stopped for a decent shot at about 60 yards. I was on the top of a 30ft. ridge and so the shot was at a steep downward angle. The .490" PRB from my New Englander hit her high behind the shoulder and angled down to exit centre on the far side. As confirmed for me in a previous thread on this forum, 75gr. 3F is indeed enough as the ball passed completely through. One lung was mush and the other had a big ol' hole bored right through the center of it. She ran 50 yards and piled up in mid-leap. There was some blood and hair where I hit here, and a little blood on the trail but tracking in the 12" of snow was very easy. I was pretty thrilled with the experience. She is a nice doe - as big as the buck my buddy shot.
Next year I want to do it with my .62 flintlock smoothie!
As mentioned, I have not hunted deer in years. I am excited to have some good venison in the freezer again. We had fresh venison tonight. I cooked loin medallions two ways - I browned all pieces first and then finished some in a caramalized blueberry jam sauce and the rest simmered a few minutes in a can of cream of mushroom soup. Yum! :grin:
I hunted Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon without seeing anything but the buck my buddy shot. Today, I sat all morning in an area with lots of sign. At 11am a nice doe came out in front of me. Being rusty at deer hunting, I was excited and underestimed the doe's intelligence and got busted trying to move my gun. :shake: I was rethinking that and kicking myself mentally, when she wheezed about 40 yards off to my right. I couldn't see her but the wind was still in my favor. I stayed alert and then she wheezed again behind me, which is down in a low area. I got turned around and she was walking through there. I couldn't shoot when I first spotted her because there was too much brush. She started moving again and I was able to get her stopped for a decent shot at about 60 yards. I was on the top of a 30ft. ridge and so the shot was at a steep downward angle. The .490" PRB from my New Englander hit her high behind the shoulder and angled down to exit centre on the far side. As confirmed for me in a previous thread on this forum, 75gr. 3F is indeed enough as the ball passed completely through. One lung was mush and the other had a big ol' hole bored right through the center of it. She ran 50 yards and piled up in mid-leap. There was some blood and hair where I hit here, and a little blood on the trail but tracking in the 12" of snow was very easy. I was pretty thrilled with the experience. She is a nice doe - as big as the buck my buddy shot.
Next year I want to do it with my .62 flintlock smoothie!
As mentioned, I have not hunted deer in years. I am excited to have some good venison in the freezer again. We had fresh venison tonight. I cooked loin medallions two ways - I browned all pieces first and then finished some in a caramalized blueberry jam sauce and the rest simmered a few minutes in a can of cream of mushroom soup. Yum! :grin:
