We went on a deer hunt for the weekend. My friend brought his grandson and he shot a buck with a rifle. My oldest son shot a buck with his bow. The youngest said he didn't want to hunt this year and he skipped going out the first day and a half. Then he surprised me and said "Dad I really want to learn how to shoot the muzzleloader shotgun and get a deer with that". Well I explained how it works and how to load properly. We loaded a "cup" of powder, a cushion wad, a .626 round ball and an over-shot card into the 19 gauge doubleguns right barrel. He fired, reloaded and fired again and exclaimed he was ready! We went in a blind for the afternoon but the deer we saw were further down the field. I carried and sticks and he carried the smoothbore. When we got close a used the rangefinder and told him 30-yards. I put up the sticks and he got the gun ready. He couldn't cock the hammer with one thumb while the gun was on sticks so I did it for him. At the Ka-boof all I saw was smoke. I caught movement about 35 yards to the left and saw a deer spin and fall over. We went over slowly and sure enough he made a perfect shot on the doe. The 335 grain round ball at 1448 fps made a big hole in and out. This 12 year old had killed some deer before but always with a crossbow as he didn't like the noise or recoil. Now he wants a muzzleloader rifle for Christmas. He also cleaned his own deer for the first time! I'm proud of both my boys. The young 'un really stepped it up this year and got it done.
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