silly goose
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2010
- Messages
- 712
- Reaction score
- 2
Monday was the opener of BP season here in NY. I came off a night shift, slept a couple hours and spent the afternoon to a deerless field.
Yesterday was another OT shift. Today I went out in the rain in the morning. I am not good enough with my flinter to attempt to hunt in the rain, so I loaded up my GPP with 40gr fffg, a mink oiled patch and a .490 ball. Off I went. I kept it under my coat until the rain soaked through at about 11am. Came home and had lunch while everything dried by the woodstove.
Went back out in a snow squall for the afternoon. It never stopped snowing, sometimes hard, sometimes not so hard. Peaceful in the woods. I went to a stand that I had not hunted in a couple years. I wrote about it on here 3 years ago when I killed my first bp deer with a Renegade. I checked it in October so I knew it was still in good shape, and cleared some lanes around it.
It got to be a little after 4 and snowing so hard you couldn't hear a thing. I looked up and saw a yearling about 25 yards out and moving right to left. Kinda far for me, but I started getting ready. I had the GPP tied around the barrel and grip with a scarf, so it would hang around my neck, under my jacket. Yes, I improvised, but it worked like a charm. Except, why did I tie it so damn tight! I couldn't get it untied, and now saw a mature doe on a closer trail that would bring her within 10 yards of my stand. I'm really fussing with this thing now. Ok, I get it untied and bring it to full cock. Where did the cap go? I look into the little piece of leather that I had over the cap and under the hammer, and there it is. I put the cap back on. Ready to go.
She steps out from behind some brush and looks at me at 8 yards. She's quartering towards me, and I don't really like that shot, much prefer broadside lungs, but she is at 8 yards. I hold the sights on her neck, apply pressure on the trigger and boom, she disappears in a cloud of smoke. I watch her run dead away up a grade and into more thick stuff. The smaller deer runs off to the left, a second later the one I shot starts to run in that direction toward a ravine. I lose sight of her, but only see one deer come out of the ravine.
I climb out of my stand, its getting dark quick, and the snow has picked up again. I cant find a track to save my life, even where she was standing at the shot. I start looking, not finding anything, all covered in snow already. I start looking and come up empty all the way around. I walk back to my stand, thinking maybe I had missed. I'm no sniper, but I make that shot all day, no way I missed. I've killed other deer with a handgun, just not a bp handgun.
I look over the area again from the stand and set off looking again. I'm not finding anything, but I know only one deer went out the other side of that ravine. I go a little further than I would have thought she went, and there she laid in the bottom of the ravine, about 8 feet down.
I wish I had pics, the snow was falling even harder, and thankfully my daughter helped me get that deer out of the ravine, she even dressed it for me. Its home hanging now. Work again tomorrow, cut her up on Fri. Maybe I'll have time for another before time runs out.
And yeah, this deer was shot about a step from where my first bp deer was shot. I thought that was pretty cool. My son helped me put that stand up when he was 5, he picked the location. I like that stand alot. Thanks for coming along.
Yesterday was another OT shift. Today I went out in the rain in the morning. I am not good enough with my flinter to attempt to hunt in the rain, so I loaded up my GPP with 40gr fffg, a mink oiled patch and a .490 ball. Off I went. I kept it under my coat until the rain soaked through at about 11am. Came home and had lunch while everything dried by the woodstove.
Went back out in a snow squall for the afternoon. It never stopped snowing, sometimes hard, sometimes not so hard. Peaceful in the woods. I went to a stand that I had not hunted in a couple years. I wrote about it on here 3 years ago when I killed my first bp deer with a Renegade. I checked it in October so I knew it was still in good shape, and cleared some lanes around it.
It got to be a little after 4 and snowing so hard you couldn't hear a thing. I looked up and saw a yearling about 25 yards out and moving right to left. Kinda far for me, but I started getting ready. I had the GPP tied around the barrel and grip with a scarf, so it would hang around my neck, under my jacket. Yes, I improvised, but it worked like a charm. Except, why did I tie it so damn tight! I couldn't get it untied, and now saw a mature doe on a closer trail that would bring her within 10 yards of my stand. I'm really fussing with this thing now. Ok, I get it untied and bring it to full cock. Where did the cap go? I look into the little piece of leather that I had over the cap and under the hammer, and there it is. I put the cap back on. Ready to go.
She steps out from behind some brush and looks at me at 8 yards. She's quartering towards me, and I don't really like that shot, much prefer broadside lungs, but she is at 8 yards. I hold the sights on her neck, apply pressure on the trigger and boom, she disappears in a cloud of smoke. I watch her run dead away up a grade and into more thick stuff. The smaller deer runs off to the left, a second later the one I shot starts to run in that direction toward a ravine. I lose sight of her, but only see one deer come out of the ravine.
I climb out of my stand, its getting dark quick, and the snow has picked up again. I cant find a track to save my life, even where she was standing at the shot. I start looking, not finding anything, all covered in snow already. I start looking and come up empty all the way around. I walk back to my stand, thinking maybe I had missed. I'm no sniper, but I make that shot all day, no way I missed. I've killed other deer with a handgun, just not a bp handgun.
I look over the area again from the stand and set off looking again. I'm not finding anything, but I know only one deer went out the other side of that ravine. I go a little further than I would have thought she went, and there she laid in the bottom of the ravine, about 8 feet down.
I wish I had pics, the snow was falling even harder, and thankfully my daughter helped me get that deer out of the ravine, she even dressed it for me. Its home hanging now. Work again tomorrow, cut her up on Fri. Maybe I'll have time for another before time runs out.
And yeah, this deer was shot about a step from where my first bp deer was shot. I thought that was pretty cool. My son helped me put that stand up when he was 5, he picked the location. I like that stand alot. Thanks for coming along.
