New member from Missouri

[deermanok]

Welcome from southeast Oklahoma.

 

[bronko220002]

Welcome from PA. Always happy to see youths getting involved in hunting. Now maybe he can coax his dad into going too!

 

[Smoke1]

Welcome from Virginia!

 

[dlp]

Hello all, I am not a big hunter, but my oldest son (14 years old) got into hunting last year. We went on a few Missouri Conservation mentored youth hunts designed for just this scenario, to get youth into hunting when the parents are not hunters. I sat in the blinds with him and the mentor for a turkey season and a deer season on Missouri Conservation land restricted for education (not open to the public). We called a gobbler in but it never got within range. Deer season was more lucky and my son shot an 85lb doe from about 35 yards away with a 270. He got a very good shot on her and she dropped immediately. They did the first cut then talked us through field dressing the dear so we learned, then they taught us how to skin and quarter the deer for easier transport. I was not prepared for the size of the exit wound and the devastation that round caused internally, it went through the top of the heart. I was very impressed with our conservation department because I heard many states don't have programs like this. It was completely free as well except you had to provide your own ammo. They would even loan you a rifle and shotgun if you didn't have one. The day before the deer hunt, the youth had to go through the hunters education safety course so that is out of the way for them for life.

My son loved the deer hunt but the youth and adult seasons were over by Christmas. We got him a low end muzzleloader (Traditions buckstalker xl .50 cal) so he could hunt in the upcoming alternative firearms season. I bought a starter kit for the rifle and quickly learned to get a range rod and bullet starter . I read the documentation and learned how important it is to keep the barrel clean for accuracy so we cleaned the barrel per instructions between every shot and used a gun sight in stand. We used "seasoned" patches that came from our gun manufacturer, but I've been reading a combination of alchohol and other cleaners are good, will need to try those. Our first trip to the range we got it zeroed in at 25 yards. The 2nd trip to the range we got it zeroed in at 50 yards (3 inch grouping) and got some shots out to 100 yards. The groupings at 100 yards were not great, 12 inches. This is where I learned not all bullets are created equal. We were still using bullets that came in the starter kit. I ended up purchasing traditions smackdown carnivore bullets and the grouping got to within 7 inches. The powder was 777 50/50 pellets - we used 2 pellets and the primers were Winchester 209 777.

We got a few days of alternative season hunting in, but unfortunately, didn't harvest a deer. He got a bead on a big doe, but there was a road direclty behind her. He saw another doe, but there were structures behind her. We spooked her as we tried to swing around and come from the other angle, putting the woods behind her.

Now that it's the off season, we are playing more with powders and bullet combinations. I watched a lot of bullet / power combo reviews and bought some blackhorn 209 (the rifle supports bh209) to try with CCI 209M primers and Horandy bore driver FTX bullets.

Sorry for the winded new member post, I'm sure I will get a few questions out there as we try these new combos. Thanks for having me!

Impalanator

Welcome, from NW AR!
Congratulations to your son for his first deer.
And to you as well, for taking the time to do a great job as a father.

 

[CVA Fanboy]

Welcome from Kentucky

 

[TiggerLueb]

It is good to hear that you are using a scope on your muzzleloader.
How is the trigger pull o your Traditions rifle. As you search for better accuracy this becomes more important

 

[Impalanator]

It is good to hear that you are using a scope on your muzzleloader.
How is the trigger pull o your Traditions rifle. As you search for better accuracy this becomes more important

I have only shot it once myself and I don’t quite remember what the trigger pull was like, we had the “xt” version which is supposed to have an “upgraded” trigger. This is how the upgraded trigger is described but it sounds like marketing fluff to me: “The Buckstalker™ XT is outfitted with the Elite XT™ Trigger System which is an upgraded trigger that has a precise and accurate trigger pull, rebounding hammer, and manual cross block trigger safety”

We plan on bringing it out to the range with the 270 and I might shoot both to compare.

 

[Impalanator]

Welcome from PA. Always happy to see youths getting involved in hunting. Now maybe he can coax his dad into going too!

He might have! I really enjoyed being out there and the venison!