You most exciting flinter hunt?

[Huntinfool]

Three years ago I told my mentor Bob Walden that I had a good idea where to hunt in a wildlife management area that was archery and ML only. I had been bowhunting the area some and I always scout a lot during bow season. Bob is the gentleman that built my flintlock and also got me started in this Living History thing.

We decided to hunt there during regular firearms season which meant bucks only. Bob was more interested in ML season because he could take either or. We also invited Dan Cutler along he portrays Chief Logan all around the tri-state area.

It was 17 degrees at first light and the wind-chill was probably 0 along the Ohio River. I positioned Bob and Dan in places that I knew the deer traveled. I went about 500 yards down stream to hunt and told them that I would make a one man push toward them about an hour or so after dawn and not to move from where I put them till I showed.

As soon as I started to move about I heard the crashing sound of hooves in the frozen leaves between the river and me. I tried to approach the sound silently but it was impossible in the brush and leaves.

I spotted several deer then at last I saw antlers. What appeared to be a 6 point buck was chasing a doe 60 to 70 yards away. Every time he stopped he was behind a screen of brush I got tired of holding "Ole # 7" up at the ready!

Finally, I could see him and there was just a little brush between us he was about 90 to 100 yards away. I came to full cock and settled the sights behind his shoulder. I was reasonably sure I could make the shot but...

I couldn't quit thinking what if; what if I wounded the buck; what if I missed; what if .... I also kept thinking of Bob and Dan patiently waiting for me to push them a deer. I lowered my rifle and started walking to my left to put myself in behind the deer hoping that they would travel towards my friends. Knowing that they were in a strip of timber between open fields and the Ohio River the chances of them going where I wanted were great.

Well they took off upriver about 15 or 20 deer by my best estimate. I thought well you passed up a good shot dummy. Then about 2 minutes later I heard the unmistakable sound of a ML smashing the early morning stillness. Quickly I began to walk in the direction of the sound hoping it had been one of my companions.

Off in the distance I saw Bob bent over dressing a deer. I was elated that he had killed the buck it was a 5 pointer. He had been over run by deer according to him he had seen no less than 20 deer. All slick heads then finally he saw antlers "that's what I've been lookin' for." He said. Bob made a perfect double lung shot at about 75 yards the buck went about 35 yards and left a blood trail that a blind man could follow. Bob was using a rifle he built I call it his 45/70 flintlock it's a slug rifle. (That's another story altogether.) Dan never saw a single deer and he was only about 200 yards upriver from Bob.

Bob was ecstatic. As we were dragging the buck out I said, "those antlers will make some sweet knife handles for ya." He said, "Oh no, not these antlers." Unbeknownst to me this was Bob's first antlered deer he was 62 years young and had only taken a few does up till this time.

He said well, "The General's plan came together just like he said." And every since then he and a few of my other friends still call me "The General"! I guess it's fitting because I always call everyone and make all the plans where to go and when to meet. (usually at my place). I also get the blame when "the plan" doesn't come together! LOL!

Bob's little 5 pointer is still hanging in his workshop. And I'm still trying to get him a bigger one! His successful hunt sticks in my mind more than any of my own! :redthumb:
Chuck
The Original Huntin' Fool

 

[Huntinfool]

"gave a few yelps on a mussel-shell call that my buddies dad made for me."

Alright Wess I confess this is new one on me. Tell us more about this call I've never heard of such a critter much less seen one. Any Pics?

And BTW thanks for startin' a good thread!

YMH&OS,:thumbsup:
Chuck

 

[Livbucks]

My most exciting so far is the one to start 4 days from now on the 27th. It will be my first hunt with my flintlock and my first ever ML hunt, all in one. I will hopefully get 4 full days of hunting out of PA's late flintlock season that runs till Jan 15th. I am usually sad and depressed that deer hunting is over at this time of year, but now it is the start of the season all over again. That in itself is exciting. Even though bucks are hard to come by now, I have some hope that a buck I'll get. A nice doe would be good. We are out of jerky, my boy keeps reminding me.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I don't have any pics and don't have a digital camera yet...but I found a big mussel shell and my buddies dad split some slate and made a slate call out of it. He knocked a small hole in the bottom of the shell for hte sound to come out and left a space at the top too. I'll get a pic of it sometime for ya.

Deerhunt:
This years buck was very exciting and he was by far my largest buck with a anything, much less a flintlock, but here is last years story:

I headed across the darkened pasture toward the far woodlot and smiled as I gripped the flinter, for today was the opener and I was ready. I moved into position and jumped a deer on my way in . About 1/2hr after daylight I heard "ch", "ch" and saw a rack coming up the small drainage right to me. As mhe moved closer I pulled the hammer back and "CLICK! he froze and stared my way. I couldn't see him very good, but after a while he moved closer, closer and stopped about 15 yards from me. I decided to pass him as we are only allowed 1 buck for the year... About that time he caught wind of me and got extremely nervous and started to bolt. The next thing I knew the smoke was clearing and he was piled up in a blowdown 15 yards up the hill. I drug him out and went and had lunch w/the buddy who's dad made me the call.

At 2pm I loaded her back up and slipped into the far cedar thicket, looking for a doe. I crawled under the fence, so it wouldn't "SQUEAK" so loud and immediately jumped a deer. I slowed down and went about 50yards and spied a doe! I pulled the hammer back and took aim in a single motion and our eyes met at the same time, and I touched off the shot. She whirled and crashed right into a cedar. I went to my buddies house and his 6yr old son (about 75lbs) came out to see if I had done any good. I told him about the doe and he said, "Let me grab my coat and I'll help you drag her out."

 

[Ron LaClair]

I've had a lot of exciting hunts with my flinters but one or two stand out.

In 1979 I had custom gun maker Jud Brennan make a .62 Jaeger for me to go on a moose hunt in northern Ontario. The man I was going with on this hunt had hunted moose in the area for 17 years and had taken 9 bulls with his modern cartridge rifle.

He didn't realize that I wasn't taking a modern gun and had a fit when I insisted on taking ONLY my flintlock. We drove through Ontario to the farthest point we could go by road then unloaded our two canoes and our gear. A 21' square stern Grumman and a 17' square stern. The larger canoe had a 10horse and the other a 7 1/2. We carried as much gas as we could because we were going north downstream towards James Bay, 40 miles as the crow flys. Going in we could drift/ float but coming back we would need the motors.

An all day float brought us to our hunting area and we set up camp in the dark. We were far enough north that the nights were very long and the days short. We were up hours before daylight, had a good breakfast and packed some food in our packs anticipating an all day hunt.

My partner told me to follow the river and not to go too far into the bush. He said it was easy to get turned around in there. I worked my way slowly down the shoreline as it started to get light. After about a mile I came on a small stream that dumped into the river. I decided to follow along the stream knowing I could always find my way back if I stayed close to it. After a few hundred yards I started seeing moose sign, rubs and browsing. Soon I saw a clearing ahead and going very slow and quiet I worked my way to the edge. It appeared to be a large beaver flooding that had dried up. As I stood there looking across the 200 yd clearing I felt the wind shift and blow towards the heavy brush along the end of the clearing. Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound coming from the thick brush and then it sounded like someone running along a picket fence with a baseball bat...clickety clickety clack! I knew I had jumped a moose but I couldn't see a thing through the brush. The gun was at my shoulder, hammer back when suddenly the moose broke out into the open in front of me. For an instant he was broadside and then he turned and was going straight away at about 40 to 50 yards. My sights were centered on his rear end when the hammer fell....KaBOOM and the 200 grains of 2FF sent the 613 round ball on it's way.

The smoke hung in front of me... I had to kneel to the ground to see under it. To my suprise the moose was standing about 100 yd's away looking back at me. He coughed a few times and I remember thinking maybe I slipped my ball under the ribs and got a lung. I frantically poured in the premeasured powder and shakinly tried to center the ball in the loading block over the bore. The load was down and I primed the pan as the big bull walked toward the edge of the clearing....KaBOOM....more smoke, the bull was gone!

As I followed up I started seeing a lot of blood on the grass. It was an easy blood trail that took me into the woods on what looked like a well used runway. I was going slow, looking ahead when this bush about 35yd's ahead moved. The Bull was down and turned his head to look at his back trail. I froze until he looked back the other way then the .62 spoke one last time as I put a ball in the back of his head.

My partner had heard all the shooting and he showed up when I was trying to figger out how to move this dead horse so I could gut him. My pard had a small block and tackle in his pack and soon I was up to my armpits in moose. We found that the first ball had hit the inside of the left ham, traveled through the stomach, liver, lungs and came to rest under the hide just right of center in the brisket. The second ball hit the meaty part of the neck and did no damage.

The next several days were spent butchering and packing the meat and horns out to the river. We loaded the canoes and started back up stream. What took one day going downstrean took three days and two nights going back upstream......But... it was worth every agonizing minute of it.

 

[Ron LaClair]

 

[muzzman]

thats a good story and a big moose! nice work

 

[GobblerKnob]

My friend, those pictures stir my blood! While others dream of going west to hunt for elk, my dream has always been to shoot a moose with a flintlock. Thank you for sharing those pics. From your dress, I have no problem envisioning they were taken in the early 1800's...
Rick

 

[GobblerKnob]

Thanks for your good wishes, Patriot. I'm hopful we'll have some pictures to post of our little rondezvous. That would be a far jaunt for a one day trip. Perhaps a future hunt can be planned!
Good luck to the rest of you who join me in waiting with great anticipation for our opening day. Four more days!!! :: Rick

 

[Rat]

Two hunts are memerable to me.

The first was the first time I blooded Bess, and henceforth she became "Bloody Bess". I shot my limit of grouse with her, thanks to my wife's Yorkshire Terrier which is one of the best dogs on grouse I've ever seen.

The second hunt was this fall, out with Bess again but this time looking for either sex elk, or black bear. Sneaking along a closed road with a clear-cut to the right coming into view, I just BARELY made a small noise, kind of crunched a small stone.

Nice big black bear goes running into the clearing and stops, looking around for the maker of the noise. I just froze, and he kept staring at me, but couldn't figure out what I was. He was about 80-90 yards out, knowing that my self-imposed kill zone for Bess is 75 yards. Also, I was in the open, so there was no way to take a rest. I sank slowly to a kneeling position, but then all I could see was his head.

I had a cow-elk call with me, ("Hootchie MaMa") so I got that out and squeeked it a couple of times, and wow that really worked! Calmed him right down. Also had a lot of Elk Pee/scent on me. But when he heard that elk-cow call, he just assumed I was a cow in the brush nearby, and went right back to feeding. Will I ever hunt bear without an elk call? Nope.

Then he kind of worked his way off to the left, and into the brush on the edge of the cut, and I thought he had gone, so I snuk up to some trees on the edge and thought I'd sit there for a while "just in case" another one came by, or in case there was another one, or maybe that cut was real popular with the bears.... As I sit down I see he has re-entered the clear cut a little further up, probably 140 yards off now. I then watched him be a bear for at least 20 minutes...but he kept slowly working his way up hill and away from me. When he went out of view I tried to circle around to where I thought he might be heading, but never saw him again, and then it got dark.

But that was very exciting fooling him with the elk-call, and watching him for so long. Where I was hunting the bears are VERY shy. And even though I did not get him, it was a very exciting adventure with Bloody Bess in my hands.

Next year I'll try him again with the Jaeger...see if he's smart enough to stay out of rifle range!!!

Rat

 

[jgray]

My most memorable flintlock hunt wasn't very exciting and I didn't even see a deer, but it happened during Pennsylvania's early muzzleloader season.

It was the first day of the season and my 12 year old daughter was pretty excited about her first deer hunt. I had bought an inline muzzleloader for her to use and sighted it in just three days before. I also let her shoot about half a dozen shots from it until she said she was comfortable with it.

When we got to the woods I loaded my flintlock first and handed it to her to hold for me while I loaded the inline for her. After capping the inline and double checking the safety, I held it out for her to take, and she turned away from me. Curious at her strantge behavior, I asked what was wrong.

She told me that while shooting the inline, she had decided that she liked the flintlock better. Since she had more experience with the flinter anyway, and I was pretty proud of her decision I made the sacrifice and gave up my gun for the season.

She got a Traditons Deerhunter Flintlock for Christmas later that year. Now we both hunt with flintlocks, and I guess I'll see if I can find someone crazy enough to trade a flintlock for that inline.