I hunted the regular firearms deer season this year with my Lyman GPR. I'm lucky enough to hunt with a fairly large group of family and friends, none of whom have any desire to hunt with any muzzleloader, traditional or otherwise. When my plans came out during the night before opening day, the "that thing" comments started. Things like "You know that thing probably won't even go off when you get a shot", "You probably won't be able to hit anything more than twenty yards away with that thing", and "You'll probably see the buck of a lifetime at 250 yards while you're carrying that thing". I had to agree with the last one, but it was a chance I knew I was taking.
Opening morning I let a young 9 point buck walk. He wasn't worth hanging on the wall, and I don't mind killing does for meat. A couple guys shot pretty good bucks on Saturday, and the ribbing about "that thing" continued.
Early Sunday morning one of our friends shot not too far away. He's in his early seventies, so I went over to help. He had a pretty nice buck almost gutted when I got over their, and I offered to help him drag when we went in for lunch. We sat together for about a half hour, when three does passed about 80 yards away on the other side of the creek ditch we were hunting. I picked out the biggest one and made a shot that was probably a little more lucky than good as she stopped in an opening. The doe took maybe ten steps and piled up.
Bill and I had our deer back in camp when everyone else came out for lunch. Bill told and re-told the story everytime someone else showed up. He tells a better story than I, so I didn't mind. The first time he told the story it started with "a real good shot" and ended with "that deer didn't go as far the one I shot with a .308". The last time he told the story it started with "a circus shot" and ended with "the hammer of God".
Even though it was just an average doe that any one of us had chances for, I noticed the comments changed from "that thing" to "your rifle". Things like "How far can you shoot with your rifle", "How do you load your rifle", "How do you get the black powder for your rifle", "Where'd you get your rifle".
I killed a second doe during the muzzleloader season and no one seemed surprised to hear it. I don't expect any of them will ever hunt with a muzzleloader, but it was pretty gratifying to shut them up. :wink:
Opening morning I let a young 9 point buck walk. He wasn't worth hanging on the wall, and I don't mind killing does for meat. A couple guys shot pretty good bucks on Saturday, and the ribbing about "that thing" continued.
Early Sunday morning one of our friends shot not too far away. He's in his early seventies, so I went over to help. He had a pretty nice buck almost gutted when I got over their, and I offered to help him drag when we went in for lunch. We sat together for about a half hour, when three does passed about 80 yards away on the other side of the creek ditch we were hunting. I picked out the biggest one and made a shot that was probably a little more lucky than good as she stopped in an opening. The doe took maybe ten steps and piled up.
Bill and I had our deer back in camp when everyone else came out for lunch. Bill told and re-told the story everytime someone else showed up. He tells a better story than I, so I didn't mind. The first time he told the story it started with "a real good shot" and ended with "that deer didn't go as far the one I shot with a .308". The last time he told the story it started with "a circus shot" and ended with "the hammer of God".
Even though it was just an average doe that any one of us had chances for, I noticed the comments changed from "that thing" to "your rifle". Things like "How far can you shoot with your rifle", "How do you load your rifle", "How do you get the black powder for your rifle", "Where'd you get your rifle".
I killed a second doe during the muzzleloader season and no one seemed surprised to hear it. I don't expect any of them will ever hunt with a muzzleloader, but it was pretty gratifying to shut them up. :wink:
