Flintlock Hunting - PA

[PALongbow]

Went out yesterday on my first flintlock hunt here in PA. I had a big doe at 40 yards, squeezed the Lyman 54 cal. GPR's trigger and off she went. The big old doe did a half flip in the air and hit the ground with all four in the air. After dragging herself she got back on her feet and ran off. I couldn't believe it. We found very little blood. The biggest problem is that when I was reloading I was behind a tree and took my eye off of her for a split second while seating the ball so I don't know which direction she ran off. We were out last evening to midnight and this morning in the pouring rain looking for her and came up with nothing. To say the least I'm a bit confused with the whole situation and sad to loose my first flintlock deer. I feel terrible....

Ron

 

[ronrryan]

Sounds kinda like a spine or neck shot, from the description. Too bad about the rain. No matter how perfectly you do everything, some time in your lifetime of hunting you may lose one, you can only do your best to recover her. Chin up! Good smoke, ron in FL

 

[jethro224]

I know how it feels to lose one.
Deer can be amazingly tough critters. I've seen them take some pretty serious wounds and still make it.
2 years ago, during bow season, I killed a doe that proves my point; I chose to shoot this doe because she had a broken front leg (had to wait for a healthy doe to get out from in between and a fawn to get out from behind before I could shoot). It was a perfect broadside double lung shot at 15 yards. I watched her run out into a bean field about 100 yards and fall over.
I tracked her even tho I saw her fall and found hair at the site and my arrow beyond. There was NO BLOOD until 10 feet before the deer. One drop! All the blood stayed inside the chest cavity. Weird stuff happens.

A couple of weeks earlier my buddy shot a doe and broke her leg. I'm pretty sure it was the same one.

When I skinned her out 4 buckshot pellets were under the hide on her neck. Don't know where that came from. Buckshot ain't legal here!

A year earlier my nephew hit a doe high in the back with his 20ga slug gun. We tracked her @ a mile and a half before we lost her. This doe had a healed over place on her back where 4 or 5 vertebra had fused together and one backstrap had a fist-size chunk that was just GONE! The other had a lot of scar tissue. Again, I think it was the same doe.

If I'm right, that means it took at least 4 hits to bring that deer down.
Maybe you hit yours a little to high in the back too. With luck she will recover and you'll get another chance at her later.
Good luck!

Did you find any hair? It can help figger out where you hit 'em.

 

[shmrck1]

Ron,
I'm with 'ronrryan' on this. If you hunt long
enough it will most likely happen. It's a
shame when it does, but it sounds like you did
all you could. You probably learned something
also, when they go down, keep an eye on them, it's not necessary to hide. Good luck on your
next trip to the woods with your F/L.
snake-eyes :v

 

[PALongbow]

Thanks guys and I do appreciate the support. I did go back out this morning with the flintlock. I suppose the only good medicine is to jump back on the horse. I know better to keep an eye on a wounded deer at all times. I made the mistake of taking my off the deer to reload.

Thinking back and the way the deer reacted I think the ball hit the deer high. Almost looked like the deer was stunned but then recovered to get to her feet and run off. Out of all my years of hunting I have never had a deer get up and take off after being shot.

Ron

 

[mikee51848]

Too bad, but that was not a spine shot (if it was, if wouldn't get up). I missed one today too.

 

[spitfire]

Sorry for the pass through shot !Spine shots can be tricky.You either had a grazing shot or a pass through.Better luck next time.

 

[XXX]

The book "BowHunting Pressured Whitetails"
describes a large buck called "The Weezer"
that the author killed after several years
of hunting. Upon skinning the deer he found
a deformed 12Ga shotgun slug in the rear
quarter, buckshot in the neck, and an expandable
broadhead that had passed through from one side
and embedded in the opposite shoulder. It happens.

 

[n8dawg6]

it may have been a spine shot that grazed over the top of the animal. i once shot a squirrel that fell out of the tree when hit. it flopped around, then kinda regained its composure, climbed back up the tree, and went on like nothing had happened. i shot it again and this time drilled it through the head. when i picked it up, there were two bullet marks. the headshot was clearly the killing shot, but there was also a semi-deep graze mark on the back of its neck. that was the first shot . . . had stunned it and knocked it out of the tree, but it definitely wouldnt have been a killing shot. seemed like a bizarre circumstance to me at the time . . .

 

[410-er]

The lower you hit them the sooner the chest cavity fills with blood and spills out.The higher you hit the more blood in the chest before it runs out.Hit one high this year in the lungs and got no blood till last 50 yds.She went a total of 150.Make semi circles every couple yds in the direction it went for 200yds or so.Keep your eyes open.They may be big but you can walk right by them!Snow helps!