Wow, short huntin season!

[B.Habermehl]

I took my .58 cal short rifle out for a spell, for the opener of Pa's early muzzloader season. After setting in the tree stand for a whole 2 hours or less a doe decided to walk ouy within 30 yards of me, Bad move. After flipping the frizzen leather off, and aligning the sights with one othe worst cases of buck feever I've been hit with. The rifle bellows, and the smoke about half covers the world. The deer runs up the trail out of sight. Now I sit there in the tree and begin to doubt myself. Did I miss? Was the shot good? As I try to regain a bit of control of my shaking I pack up my stuff and lower it from the stand, then climb down. I pick my way over to the spot where the deer stood, no sign. HMMM, then I started to zig zag down the trail the deer used to escape looking for sign. 20 yds later I find a big spray of blood a blind man could find! So nose to the ground down the blood trail I go. Had I had a bit more fore sight I could have looked ahead and saw the deer laying dead 25 yds away. So continuing along the blood trail I find the deer. The ball had passed through both lungs and exited, passing between ribs on both sides. Leaving a 3/4" hole on both sides of the deer. That's the reason I favor larger calibers. If I hadn't followed up the shot with a concientous effort to be certain of hit or miss I would have lost the deer. Even when hit with large caliber ball powered by a stiff load of powder that deer trotted off apearing to not be hit. It only traveled 50 yds or so, but still taught me My first lesson in following blood trails. As all the deer I killed before had fallen in sight, with no tracking needed. So Pa's early muzzloader season lasted a whole 2 hours for me.

 

[rabjr]

Nice! Congrats my friend, good to hear from you. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

Now that was quick...sounds like you did everything right...before, during, & after...congratulations !

 

[Greenmtnboy]

:bow: :bow:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Congrats! Good story,great results.:thumbsup: GW

 

[jethro224]

Grats on your success! :hatsoff:
Nothin' better than smoked venison. :grin:

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany!

Congrats and Waidmanns Heil from here for the nice doe! :thumbsup: Do you have pics?

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[B.Habermehl]

Yes I do have pictures, But I will have to get my son to help me post them as I have no computer skills to speak of. :redface:

 

[snagg]

Great hunt and a good story to go along with it. congrats :hatsoff: We 're still going at it. No luck for us yet.

 

[shootemup]

Congratulations,

Nice story too.

Spot

 

[ratgunner]

Thats the way nieghbor. :thumbsup: Mine was over first morning too.

 

[SunSetter]

That is a great huntig story with a better lesson after the shot on how important it is to follow up with a good search to see if you made the shot.
When I was about 11-12 years old my father would come home once in a while during deer season and tell me and my brother he shot a deer but couldn't find it. He said he needed young eyes to find the blood trail as his old eyes couldn't see the blood in the leaves. Well, we didn't know it at the time but he was giving us leasons in tracking a wounded animal before we where old enough to hunt as he already knew where the deer was. He had great respect for the animal he harvested and passed it on. To many hunters shoot and see the deer run off thinking they missed.
Thank you for posting your successful harvest and teaching an important lesson, even in doubt give it your best shot at finishing the hunt by finding your deer. Thanks again.

 

[shmrck1]

B.Habermehl,
Congratulations on your harvest:applause::applause:. In all honesty
I have had the same success with my .45 most
often,but at times with my .50cal.My shots are
very seldom over 35yds.(at most 60 and some less
than 10).I have a .58cal but I am just not
confident enough to hunt with it.
If I had to have 1 M/L deer rifle it would be
my .45cal.IMHO
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[bob1961]

congrats :hatsoff: ....only one doe tag ??..............bob

 

[wildeagle]

OLD eyes can be a gripe can't they. My oldest boy taught me a neat trick a few yrs back. We have alot of oak where we hunt and some times you can be fooled by the red spots on fallen leaves. He told me to carry a small spritz bottle of hydrogen peroxide ( the kind you use to clean small cuts) see where I'm going here. Spray a little on those spots and if it foams , you got blood! Hopefully you make a good hit and don't need it but on a less than perfect hit you need to do everything possible to retrieve your game, the animal deserves that!

 

[B.Habermehl]

I have harvested two deer with .45 cal rifles. both were almost instant collapses. Part of the reason for building the .58 cal short rifle was I would like to take on a black bear or elk with it given the chance. I was a bit worried about the lack of blood trail with the .45 even though both the deer went down well with in sight. Neither left much blood sign, although what's wrong with a sub 30 yd follow up? I have yet to take a shot at a deer past 60 yds, so I'm sure what ever cal. I use over.45 would do ok. I just think that due to my relative lack of blood trailing exp. A well placed big ball is a bit better than a well placed smaller ball. Although I've had good luck with both so far.

 

[PreglerD]

I think there is no rule for the distance a hitted deer runs. I shot a roebuck at 60 meters in the boilerroom, lounge and leaver badly damaged but the piece made a "deadescape" of 80 meters, so we need a little foxterrier to find the buck. no blood trail, only hairs at the hitting point.
The only use of a bigger cal. is to make a bigger whole and getting more blood.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[shmrck1]

Kirrmeister,
I guess I have to go with you on this
one.I like to use my .45 because 90% of the
time,at the ranges I shoot,I hit what and where
I was shooting at. I could most likely do just as well with my .50 or .54 or even the .58 at the ranges I shoot. I just like the .45.Go Figure.
snake-eyes:hmm: