Hold out for Buck or just shoot Doe

[Katahdin]

First minute opening day I'am hunting venison,,thing about here in Maine, you need a Doe tag to shoot a Doe and only in certain areas or it is Bucks only, antlers 3" or greater.Don't mind that at all,use to hunt archery (20yds) so Hunt/get close has always been the ticket..If you can see them blink they can hear your heart pounding,,

 

[Wes/Tex]

My all time favorite is a big, fat, barren doe...but finding them is like the proverbial hen's teeth! :wink: :haha: When it comes right down to it...shoot what the Lord sends your way!

 

[hanshi]

I guess I was lucky for decades. I lived in Ga. for 62 years where deer are plentiful and often quite large. I'd start off the season shooting decent size deer for non-hunting friends whether doe or buck. The limit was 12 deer per season but only two could be bucks and at least one of the bucks had to be 4pts to a side. I'd taken as many as 9 in a season. Va. is pretty good with 5 per season. I really miss that good Ga. hunting.

That'll change next season as I'll likely be in Maine; but Maine, like Va., is a great bear state but with the bonus of moose.

 

[Critter Getter]

You live in one of the best big buck states in the country. You have 5 days to hunt. Your an experienced deer hunter. You don't need the meat to survive. Shoot your buck or wait till the last day to take a doe. Sounds like an easy decision to me but it is your tag and your choice. Best of luck to you. My wife and I will both be hunting next week as well. Greg.

 

[FiremanBrad]

I've Bowhunted SW Iowa several times. When I'm lucky enough to draw tags, don't gives me an antlerless tag with an either sex tag. I'm assuming it's different for resident hunters???

I wish they'd let me hunt this early ML season!!!

 

[Critter Getter]

As a resident and a farmer I have had plenty of tags in the past years. We can get our paid any sex tags and doe only tags plus I have had depredation tags and Landowner/Tennant tags the last few years as well. Lots of available tags but can only eat so much. I have raised two families on deer over the last 35 years or so. Greg

 

[nhmoose]

Poor bull or fat cow has meaning IMHO

 

[1100 Remington Man]

[/URL][/img] Well no Deer yet hunted Saturday sunrise to sunset saw about a dozen Deer two bucks one a fork horn at 8 am came right to me about 35 yards, was to early to end my hunt.
It was light rain and mist all day had another buck a nice 6 point with two does come by me and did a 180 degree turn and come back to a scrape I put Tink's 69 around the does stuck around ten minutes the buck 15 minutes he even smelled the scrape. I put the gun on him, but in the end I let him walk.
Sunday as not so good no deer moving hunted sunrise to around 4-5pm and saw no bucks.
Going Friday I hope I see the buck that made this scrape on a 10 inch diameter tree the picture is from about 38 yards away.
What did I learn about Muzzleloading and still hunting check the cap as I had lost two Sunday morning still hunting. I did take the nipple out Saturday night and used a nipple pick and took out powder and replaced with fresh powder since it was rained on and high humidity all day Saturday when I finished hunting I fired it into the ground Sunday when done hunting and It fired fine. This gives me more confidence hunting with a muzzleloader.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Well tomorrow is the last day of season. If I get a chance at a buck or doe I'm going to fire this smoke pole.

 

[Critter Getter]

How did your last day of the season pan out? Also, an FYI.....you can pinch your percussion cap slightly and that should keep them from falling off the nipple while still hunting. Greg.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Well I hunted yesterday for 12 hours a long and hard day the walk in requires two creek crossings and two hills to get to the scrape I had been watching a hour plus hike.
I saw three deer yesterday and never had a shot.
So after turning down some small bucks and a bunch of does my season ends up with nothing skunked.
I never did see any deer chasing does, when I had two does feed around me for a hour I thought they might attract a buck but it never happened on Friday. Yesterday was a very windy day I even moved because I didn't want a dead tree fall on me, I heard several fall.
Now I have a week off then I leave for South Dakota Nov 5th for a Whitetail deer hunt there, I have two tags there one buck and one doe. I will be hunting with a high powered rifle there.
i wish Iowa Muzzle loader season was one to two weeks later like South Dakota's season should have some rut activity.
More than anything my South Dakota hunt will be in Western River area and I love the county and the smell of the sage brush. I will be getting in some walleye fishing as well. Take Care Guys for all the help with the Muzzle loader.

 

[Spikebuck]

So after turning down some small bucks and a bunch of does my season ends up with nothing skunked.

Oh contrar!!! You were far from skunked...you chose not to shoot on any number of deer. That's not getting skunked...that's enjoying the hunt for more than just killing an animal. I'd say you had a GREAT hunt! Good luck in SD.

 

[Ames]

I think I missed something.
If you keep the hammer down, you wont loose a cap.
If you still hunt on half cock, its not a safety and can go off if you snag up on a branch.

 

[Spikebuck]

I think I missed something.
If you keep the hammer down, you wont loose a cap.
If you still hunt on half cock, its not a safety and can go off if you snag up on a branch.

Ask ol' Sasquatch Mountain Man if he'll walk around the woods with the hammer down on a cap again! He'd have one more finger if he wouldn't have had a habit of doing that. When the hammer is down on a cap, one little "flick" of that hammer catching a branch and the gun is going to go off. Dangerous and should never be done.

When in the first notch a branch would have to pull the hammer back to the fire position and something also release the trigger. Not fool-proof, but a much better proposition than having the hammer down on a cap.

 

[Ames]

And that's what I missed. Thanx!

 

[Zonie]

...
When in the first notch a branch would have to pull the hammer back to the fire position and something also release the trigger. Not fool-proof, but a much better proposition than having the hammer down on a cap.

That kinda depends on what style of lock the gun has in it.

If it is a simple lock without a fly in it, if something pulls the hammer out of the half cock notch and raises it up to the full cock notch without reaching it, the hammer will fall back into the half cock position.

If the lock has a fly in it and something pulls the hammer out of the half cock notch and raises it more than a little bit towards the full cock notch without engaging it, the hammer will fall until the sear hits the fly.

Then, the sear will then jump over the half cock notch and fall completely onto the cap even though no one is touching the trigger. :shocked2:

This "jumping over the half cock notch without a finger on the trigger" is what a fly is designed to make happen.


The only really safe way to carry a loaded gun is if the nipple is left uncapped or the pan is left unprimed and a leather stall is placed on the frizzen of a flintlock.

Of course, most people won't accept this so the half cock is better than nothing.

Using the half cock, and being mindful of what your carrying and the possibilities of it firing when you least expect it are about the best that can be done.