54Bernie54
32 Cal.
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2008
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 0
Love reading the muzzleloading hunting stories, so here is mine.
We have a 1 week late season muzzleloading, which comes 2 weeks after a 2 week gun hunt. Not many deer in this area of Ontario compared to other years. past years a guy could buy up to 5 extra bow tags ( which I thought was silly )now you would have to be lucky to get 1.
I decided to hunt my father in-laws land for the 1st time, which consist of 150 acres of pasture, cedars and hardwoods,and is bordered by the same on 3 sides. The stand of choice was large stand built for bow/gun hunting. A high , comfortable , safe stand. It has walls on each side 2.5 feet high. It has been there a few years so the deer are use to seeing it,and has'nt been hunted out of in 2 years. It boarders a small pond and scenic rolling hardwoods to the west and south. My thinking was that this stand would give me my best chance at my first muzzleloading deer. I wanted 1 bad,really bad.
First morning out brought no sightings of deer ,but did bring the first snow of the year for 5 minutes. Monday afternoon I was alone in the woods again. The next 2 hunts had to be afternoons only cause of work. No deer. Could not hunt thrs at all.
Friday afternoon I was in my stand by 2.30 pm. It was very windy compared to the dead still of the other afternoon hunts. Just sat waiting out till the magic last hour of legal shooting light. At which point I would sit down on the floor of the stand so just my head was over the walls of the stand. Right at 4pm the wind finally stopped blowing,so I gave a doe bleat , then the wind was back up.I considered leaving early as to not spook any deer leaving after dark, as I was really looking forward to hunting Sat( the last day) morning and evening.Then at 4:20pm the wind died down, gave another doe bleat. End of shooting light was 4:57pm. At 4:40pm my thoughts went to packing up , first thing I do after each hunt is pack my tripod and video camera away. First time I ever attemped to video a hunt. And this was a perfect stand for that. Did another slow scan around the whole area and to my shock there was a deer about 50 yards away. I lowered my head out of view of the deer, moved to my hands and knees to stay out of view,and just tried to calm down, heart pounding,my chance had come. Took a little peek at the deer and it had only moved another few feet towards an area that I had cleared out and marked at 45 yards.I then turned on the camera and positioned it where I thought the deer was headed.( a few apples on the 45 yard marker)At this point I noticed it as a small buck. I lifted the rifle ( 54cal cap lock round ball, 80grs FF )slowly and rested the barrel on the wall of the stand. Then a few tense and exciting seconds later I had the perfect broad side shot, and took it I did. There was a cloud of smoke but very little compared to times at the range, mybe due to the wind blowing from the side. My aim was steady, I seen the back legs kick out and he was gone. I felt very good about the shot and did,nt wait to long to check out the area where I took the shot. No blood , 30 yards in the direction it went, no blood! oH No. Then a little blood . Found the deer 58 yards from where I shot it. complete pass through the lungs,brook a rib on both sides. A nice little 5 point. I was very happy.
We have a 1 week late season muzzleloading, which comes 2 weeks after a 2 week gun hunt. Not many deer in this area of Ontario compared to other years. past years a guy could buy up to 5 extra bow tags ( which I thought was silly )now you would have to be lucky to get 1.
I decided to hunt my father in-laws land for the 1st time, which consist of 150 acres of pasture, cedars and hardwoods,and is bordered by the same on 3 sides. The stand of choice was large stand built for bow/gun hunting. A high , comfortable , safe stand. It has walls on each side 2.5 feet high. It has been there a few years so the deer are use to seeing it,and has'nt been hunted out of in 2 years. It boarders a small pond and scenic rolling hardwoods to the west and south. My thinking was that this stand would give me my best chance at my first muzzleloading deer. I wanted 1 bad,really bad.
First morning out brought no sightings of deer ,but did bring the first snow of the year for 5 minutes. Monday afternoon I was alone in the woods again. The next 2 hunts had to be afternoons only cause of work. No deer. Could not hunt thrs at all.
Friday afternoon I was in my stand by 2.30 pm. It was very windy compared to the dead still of the other afternoon hunts. Just sat waiting out till the magic last hour of legal shooting light. At which point I would sit down on the floor of the stand so just my head was over the walls of the stand. Right at 4pm the wind finally stopped blowing,so I gave a doe bleat , then the wind was back up.I considered leaving early as to not spook any deer leaving after dark, as I was really looking forward to hunting Sat( the last day) morning and evening.Then at 4:20pm the wind died down, gave another doe bleat. End of shooting light was 4:57pm. At 4:40pm my thoughts went to packing up , first thing I do after each hunt is pack my tripod and video camera away. First time I ever attemped to video a hunt. And this was a perfect stand for that. Did another slow scan around the whole area and to my shock there was a deer about 50 yards away. I lowered my head out of view of the deer, moved to my hands and knees to stay out of view,and just tried to calm down, heart pounding,my chance had come. Took a little peek at the deer and it had only moved another few feet towards an area that I had cleared out and marked at 45 yards.I then turned on the camera and positioned it where I thought the deer was headed.( a few apples on the 45 yard marker)At this point I noticed it as a small buck. I lifted the rifle ( 54cal cap lock round ball, 80grs FF )slowly and rested the barrel on the wall of the stand. Then a few tense and exciting seconds later I had the perfect broad side shot, and took it I did. There was a cloud of smoke but very little compared to times at the range, mybe due to the wind blowing from the side. My aim was steady, I seen the back legs kick out and he was gone. I felt very good about the shot and did,nt wait to long to check out the area where I took the shot. No blood , 30 yards in the direction it went, no blood! oH No. Then a little blood . Found the deer 58 yards from where I shot it. complete pass through the lungs,brook a rib on both sides. A nice little 5 point. I was very happy.
