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Hey Guys,
Got another one tonight! Decent sized doe, about average, maybe a 1 1/2 old or so. Walked into the woods and found a major crossroads in a small open field. This was unreal, walked in late say 245-3pm just in my insulated coveralls, left the tree stand at home, set up at the base of a cedar tree with all sorts of branches and stickers all around me to cover me up in the middle of a clearing. Great field of view actually 360 if I had eyes in back of my head but kept my nose to the wind and a 180 swiveling gaze. Anyway about 1615 hrs I catch a doe heading right towards me about 75 yards away. Slowly bring my rifle up and ready only when she moves or her head is behind a tree. Get a view of her starting to give me a broadside shot and I let it go offhand at about 60 or so yards. I knew instantly it wasn't perfect, bad follow-through, damn I know better. I waited 5-10 minutes and silently went over to where I fired and not one speck of blood or hair on pure white snow. manure!, well at least it was a clean miss I thought to myself. Followed her tracks about 20 yards up the hill she bounded up after the shot and no blood. Still had daylight so headed back to my hide. Waited till I couldn't see my front sight any longer and then was gonna head in but something was really bugging me about that deer. I felt like I should have hit her even if I had pulled the shot because when I do its usually low and to the right, she was moving left and up slowly. So being the good hunter I went back again and tracked her for the hell of it. Well after about 50 yards up the hill there she was down and dead! The shot entered her shoulder went through the chest cavity and exited just past the diaphragm and nicked the stomach clogging up the exit hold. The shoulder blocked the entry wound and or it was too high up for blood to come out. If it had not been for that nagging feeling I would have thought clean miss, no worries, shoot better next time dummy. Lesson learned, I know I'm gonna be walking around at least a 100 yards to play it safe next time when I think I "missed" blood or no blood. Might find something like today. This was the first time I ever had the sights on a deer with a muzzleloader and thought I missed.
Took me forever to get the other deer I cornered to take this photo, besides getting past the hoof thing. Also forgive the quality it was really nervous for some reason.
Oh yeah weird thing is this doe walked about 8 feet forward and fell backwards dead where I found her and flipped over. That spot where she fell is the only place I found blood and that is because it came out the entry hole. Crazy, next time I will make sure I get a better angle, I miss judged her body size and though she was giving me a broadside, she still had a little bend to her. This deer is going to my pharmacist who has had no time to hunt since he started a new business in town, great guy with a ton of kids and he could use the meat. Was loving the snow dragging her out of the woods, just glided right over it. Still just about killed my fat ass. Got to the house, went to tag her and my license and tags were all missing out of the little packet I carry them in on my back! I freaked, backtracked and still couldn't find them. Neighbor transferred a doe tag over to me so everything was Kosher but I said to myself man this deer got the last laugh on me. Fell twice bringing her out and I lost my license and tags in the process so my hunting season is over with . Walk inside start taking the layers off and said to myself there is only one place it could possibly be and there it was in a small open box on the floor where I get dressed. It must have flipped upside down when I strapped my shooting bag on or something and it all came out in one shot right in the box. PHEW back in business and back to hunting tomorrow! Two more friends on the list for deer this season. Gotta love it!! This snow and the extra two days of muzzleloader/bow here in NY are a blessing!
Oh yeah, gun used was an old Sharon half stocked Hawken, .62 cal percussion, iron sights, .600 cal ball over 95 grains of 2fg Swiss powder, .18 pillow ticking patch and a CCI cap. KABOOM, Ol' Thunder roars again! I have yet to recover a round ball from any of the deer taken. They just zip right on through and the deer fall down dead.
Good luck with the rest of the season guys.
Waidmanns Heil !!
Billy
Oh yeah more pics in the album now.... [url] http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a295/medbill/Hunting/[/url]
If I can move tomorrow between the snow shoveling and this deer, I will be out there again, this time for my buddies Rodney and Ted who are both in desperate need of major deer sausage!
Got another one tonight! Decent sized doe, about average, maybe a 1 1/2 old or so. Walked into the woods and found a major crossroads in a small open field. This was unreal, walked in late say 245-3pm just in my insulated coveralls, left the tree stand at home, set up at the base of a cedar tree with all sorts of branches and stickers all around me to cover me up in the middle of a clearing. Great field of view actually 360 if I had eyes in back of my head but kept my nose to the wind and a 180 swiveling gaze. Anyway about 1615 hrs I catch a doe heading right towards me about 75 yards away. Slowly bring my rifle up and ready only when she moves or her head is behind a tree. Get a view of her starting to give me a broadside shot and I let it go offhand at about 60 or so yards. I knew instantly it wasn't perfect, bad follow-through, damn I know better. I waited 5-10 minutes and silently went over to where I fired and not one speck of blood or hair on pure white snow. manure!, well at least it was a clean miss I thought to myself. Followed her tracks about 20 yards up the hill she bounded up after the shot and no blood. Still had daylight so headed back to my hide. Waited till I couldn't see my front sight any longer and then was gonna head in but something was really bugging me about that deer. I felt like I should have hit her even if I had pulled the shot because when I do its usually low and to the right, she was moving left and up slowly. So being the good hunter I went back again and tracked her for the hell of it. Well after about 50 yards up the hill there she was down and dead! The shot entered her shoulder went through the chest cavity and exited just past the diaphragm and nicked the stomach clogging up the exit hold. The shoulder blocked the entry wound and or it was too high up for blood to come out. If it had not been for that nagging feeling I would have thought clean miss, no worries, shoot better next time dummy. Lesson learned, I know I'm gonna be walking around at least a 100 yards to play it safe next time when I think I "missed" blood or no blood. Might find something like today. This was the first time I ever had the sights on a deer with a muzzleloader and thought I missed.
Took me forever to get the other deer I cornered to take this photo, besides getting past the hoof thing. Also forgive the quality it was really nervous for some reason.
Oh yeah weird thing is this doe walked about 8 feet forward and fell backwards dead where I found her and flipped over. That spot where she fell is the only place I found blood and that is because it came out the entry hole. Crazy, next time I will make sure I get a better angle, I miss judged her body size and though she was giving me a broadside, she still had a little bend to her. This deer is going to my pharmacist who has had no time to hunt since he started a new business in town, great guy with a ton of kids and he could use the meat. Was loving the snow dragging her out of the woods, just glided right over it. Still just about killed my fat ass. Got to the house, went to tag her and my license and tags were all missing out of the little packet I carry them in on my back! I freaked, backtracked and still couldn't find them. Neighbor transferred a doe tag over to me so everything was Kosher but I said to myself man this deer got the last laugh on me. Fell twice bringing her out and I lost my license and tags in the process so my hunting season is over with . Walk inside start taking the layers off and said to myself there is only one place it could possibly be and there it was in a small open box on the floor where I get dressed. It must have flipped upside down when I strapped my shooting bag on or something and it all came out in one shot right in the box. PHEW back in business and back to hunting tomorrow! Two more friends on the list for deer this season. Gotta love it!! This snow and the extra two days of muzzleloader/bow here in NY are a blessing!
Oh yeah, gun used was an old Sharon half stocked Hawken, .62 cal percussion, iron sights, .600 cal ball over 95 grains of 2fg Swiss powder, .18 pillow ticking patch and a CCI cap. KABOOM, Ol' Thunder roars again! I have yet to recover a round ball from any of the deer taken. They just zip right on through and the deer fall down dead.
Good luck with the rest of the season guys.
Waidmanns Heil !!
Billy
Oh yeah more pics in the album now.... [url] http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a295/medbill/Hunting/[/url]
If I can move tomorrow between the snow shoveling and this deer, I will be out there again, this time for my buddies Rodney and Ted who are both in desperate need of major deer sausage!
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