Early muzzleloading season in Virginia started on October 30 and goes till Nov 12. On Saturday (Nov 6) I heading to my inlaw's 1200 acre dairy farm to see about some venison.
Early muzzleloader here is either sex full season, 2 deer per day and 6 per year limits.
I knew I would get a shot at a deer, expected it to be a large doe or small buck...never expected what would walk into my sights at 7:12am...just 2 minutes after legal shooting light....
I had found myself a row of old haybales, 75 yards above a creek and floodplain of uncut hay field. I arrive on my stand at 6:55am...still too dark to see. I heard a couple deer walking through the creek at about 7:05. Then a lot of silence. At 7:11 I saw a deer moving laterally at about 125 yards near the creek then it was lost behind some brush. 60 seconds later the same deer appeared at 50 yards, I could tell immediately it was a decent sized buck!
He was traveling straight at me. I dared not raise my rifle for fear of startling him but it quickly became apparent he was going to spot me or wind me at any moment...I slowly started to raise the Renegade...
At 30 yards out the buck winded me and took off (but had not seen me). As he turned his back to me I quietly raised the rifle let him slow down adn then gave him a quick whistle. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around for the source of the sound. He was right at 80 yards when he made the mistake of turning broadside to me and standing still. A hay bale makes a great shooting rest and my newly painted white, factory sights were nicely visible on his dark body...
The crack of 80 grains FFG and a 370 grain conical pierced the chilly morning air and the buck disappeared behind a cloud of blackpowder smoke that took 60 seconds to clear in the dead still air.
I could hear several deer running off after the shot, could not see my deer. After about 30 seconds I heard a deer make a wheezing sound and knew it was my deer going down...then all was silent. I waiting 2 minutes and then swabbed my bore and reloaded. Waited another 5 minutes before starting to track him. The grass was knee deep and I could not pick up a blood trail. I followed the creek looking for a spot where he may have tried to cross, nothing. After 1/4 mile of looking and no sign...I decided to head up and wait till the sun came up to continue...that's when I stumbled across him, in knee deep grass, completely hidden until I was 20' away...Could not believe he was a 10 point and live weight was over 180 lbs!
Early muzzleloader here is either sex full season, 2 deer per day and 6 per year limits.
I knew I would get a shot at a deer, expected it to be a large doe or small buck...never expected what would walk into my sights at 7:12am...just 2 minutes after legal shooting light....
I had found myself a row of old haybales, 75 yards above a creek and floodplain of uncut hay field. I arrive on my stand at 6:55am...still too dark to see. I heard a couple deer walking through the creek at about 7:05. Then a lot of silence. At 7:11 I saw a deer moving laterally at about 125 yards near the creek then it was lost behind some brush. 60 seconds later the same deer appeared at 50 yards, I could tell immediately it was a decent sized buck!
He was traveling straight at me. I dared not raise my rifle for fear of startling him but it quickly became apparent he was going to spot me or wind me at any moment...I slowly started to raise the Renegade...
At 30 yards out the buck winded me and took off (but had not seen me). As he turned his back to me I quietly raised the rifle let him slow down adn then gave him a quick whistle. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around for the source of the sound. He was right at 80 yards when he made the mistake of turning broadside to me and standing still. A hay bale makes a great shooting rest and my newly painted white, factory sights were nicely visible on his dark body...
The crack of 80 grains FFG and a 370 grain conical pierced the chilly morning air and the buck disappeared behind a cloud of blackpowder smoke that took 60 seconds to clear in the dead still air.
I could hear several deer running off after the shot, could not see my deer. After about 30 seconds I heard a deer make a wheezing sound and knew it was my deer going down...then all was silent. I waiting 2 minutes and then swabbed my bore and reloaded. Waited another 5 minutes before starting to track him. The grass was knee deep and I could not pick up a blood trail. I followed the creek looking for a spot where he may have tried to cross, nothing. After 1/4 mile of looking and no sign...I decided to head up and wait till the sun came up to continue...that's when I stumbled across him, in knee deep grass, completely hidden until I was 20' away...Could not believe he was a 10 point and live weight was over 180 lbs!
