James Riley
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2013
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Story, no pictures, sorry. 
I was hunting mule deer west of Horsetooth Reservoir, west of Fort Collins, Colorado, some time in the early 1980s. I saw a small 4 X 4 buck on the side of a hill, about level with me, across a small draw, about 35 yards away. He just stared at me, broadside, as mulies are want to do, so I drew a bead and fired (.54 Lyman Great Plains Rifle, 110 grns, round ball).
There was some smoke but I could still clearly see him and I swear he did not bugger, flinch, bunch his muscles, bat an ear or blink an eye, no hair flew and not a drop of blood that I could see. He just stood there like a statue. I knew there was no way I could have missed him so I figured I forgot to run a ball down the barrel.
Dang! Well, he just stood there and I figured I’d have to reload anyway if I was to keep hunting some other deer, because he was going to run, right? So I tried to be nonchalant while I reloaded but I was staring at him as I went through the motions and guess what? I forgot the powder! So when I fired at him again, all I got was a little pop and not enough to roll the ball out of the barrel.
So, I unscrewed the nipple and started feeding a little power down behind the ball, put the nipple back on, added a cap and fired, just rolling the ball out. The buck just stood there staring at me the whole time. I started to think he might be one of those Fish and Game decoys set up to trap hunters, but I was far from any roads and I was all legal, so I couldn’t figure why they’d have a decoy out there.
I reloaded AGAIN! Only this time I did it right. I raised my rifle, took a bead on him and *just before* I fired, he fell over, stone dead! I walked over to him and found my first shot had been true, in and out, clean through, just behind the heart about a quarter inch.
Go figure. :hmm:
I was hunting mule deer west of Horsetooth Reservoir, west of Fort Collins, Colorado, some time in the early 1980s. I saw a small 4 X 4 buck on the side of a hill, about level with me, across a small draw, about 35 yards away. He just stared at me, broadside, as mulies are want to do, so I drew a bead and fired (.54 Lyman Great Plains Rifle, 110 grns, round ball).
There was some smoke but I could still clearly see him and I swear he did not bugger, flinch, bunch his muscles, bat an ear or blink an eye, no hair flew and not a drop of blood that I could see. He just stood there like a statue. I knew there was no way I could have missed him so I figured I forgot to run a ball down the barrel.
Dang! Well, he just stood there and I figured I’d have to reload anyway if I was to keep hunting some other deer, because he was going to run, right? So I tried to be nonchalant while I reloaded but I was staring at him as I went through the motions and guess what? I forgot the powder!
So when I fired at him again, all I got was a little pop and not enough to roll the ball out of the barrel.So, I unscrewed the nipple and started feeding a little power down behind the ball, put the nipple back on, added a cap and fired, just rolling the ball out. The buck just stood there staring at me the whole time. I started to think he might be one of those Fish and Game decoys set up to trap hunters, but I was far from any roads and I was all legal, so I couldn’t figure why they’d have a decoy out there.
I reloaded AGAIN! Only this time I did it right. I raised my rifle, took a bead on him and *just before* I fired, he fell over, stone dead! I walked over to him and found my first shot had been true, in and out, clean through, just behind the heart about a quarter inch.
Go figure. :hmm:
