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This weekend is a bonus antlerless season in most Illinois counties. I had an unused muzzleloader tag, and a new French 1728 smoothbore musket, so I went after some meat.
I hunted Friday, Jan. 18th on my property in Saline Co. The load was 90 grains 2F and a patched .662 ball. In the afternoon, I sat on a blowdown about 40 yards from a deer trail going down into a creek bottom. About 3:30, a nice doe came down the trail, and walked into view. The deer was moving as I squeezed the trigger. For an instant, I thought about the James Fenimore Cooper book where Hawkeye swings his flintlock on the walking deer, and as he fires, the deer sees the flash of the pan and stops. The bullet passes harmlessly in from of it's chest.This deer, however, kept going right into the bullet. The ball went through the heart and out the other side. The deer still managed to run 75 yards before going down.
photo (1) by okawbow, on Flickr
I hunted Friday, Jan. 18th on my property in Saline Co. The load was 90 grains 2F and a patched .662 ball. In the afternoon, I sat on a blowdown about 40 yards from a deer trail going down into a creek bottom. About 3:30, a nice doe came down the trail, and walked into view. The deer was moving as I squeezed the trigger. For an instant, I thought about the James Fenimore Cooper book where Hawkeye swings his flintlock on the walking deer, and as he fires, the deer sees the flash of the pan and stops. The bullet passes harmlessly in from of it's chest.This deer, however, kept going right into the bullet. The ball went through the heart and out the other side. The deer still managed to run 75 yards before going down.
photo (1) by okawbow, on Flickr
