Featherman
Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2018
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
Well here goes, not much of a story teller so will try to do my 2018 muzzle loader hunt some justice. My good friend Ron offered me some dates that he was available to go muzzle loading, checked my calendar and the dates worked for me. The only concern I had was I hadn't fired my muzzle loader in a number of years , so long that I even took the scope off my Encore to put on another rifle. Begrudgingly a week before departure I put another scope on the T/C and bore sighted it but couldn't find time to sight in. All this plus I was on the hunt for some Blackhorn, which I could not find, guess this happens when you wait a week before the season...…! Once again, my buddy came through, he measured out some from his cannister which I picked up two days before we were destined to depart...…..I finally made it out the day before we were to start our hunt and sighted in the Encore. I settled on 3" high at 100 yards.
The first day out was a combination of hunting and scouting. Much like other areas our deer pops were hit hard by a few successive bad winters which took a toll on the white tail numbers. We were both presently surprised to see the numbers had rebounded. The first we saw a number of deer, including some little basket heads sparring out in the field I was watching. As the day wound down with no shots being fired, I was infused with enthusiasm at the prospect of hunting with the old front loader.
Day 2 saw us making the 2 hour trek out again with a strong west/north west wind on the drive out. Once at our destination, we made our plans on how we would approach our hunting spots. I couldn't approach mine with the wind we had so I took a detour which would keep the wind in my favour. As I meandered the edge of the field in the dark and as daylight approached, I could start making out silhouettes of deer out in the field. When the opportunity allowed I was able to glass to see if there were any bucks out there worth putting the sneak on. The sun was finally rising and the deer became more visible. I approached some deer that were feeding along a bush line but none were of any size to speak of. As I continued my walk, I found a low spot in the field along a bush line which provided me a spot to sit for the morning. I saw some deer moving off in the distance but nothing close enough for a shot...….after the morning hunt I texted my friend and told him I was staying in the field and going for a walk in the woods just to check for sign and the off chance I could rattle something in......the strong wind allowed me to move silently through the woods with the leaves on the ground. A good walk but didn't see anything. As the late afternoon sun set in, I decided to make my way out to the field in the same location I sat earlier in the morning.....
As the afternoon turned into late afternoon the deer started popping out of the woods. I had a group of them make their way to the low spot in the field where I was sitting. One of the little bucks made a bee line out of site for the lower portion of the field. My instincts told he was checking his rub line along the fence line so I focused my attention to where I last seen him. About ten minutes passed and I could finally see his legs coming up the fence line. I brought my encore up just to bring into my scope. He walked up to about ten feet and all he was, was a blur in the scope.....I whsipered out loudly..." bang you're dead", his head sprung up looked in my direction and jumped 5 feet in the air and stood there, he didnt know what he was looking at or what he'd heard, so I whispered again....."bang your dead". He still wasnt sure what had transpired but he knew soemthing wasnt right, so he ran to join the others in the field, which were congrgating in the field about 100 yards out.
With about half hour of shooting light left, I was packing up quietly to make my way back to the truck and figure I would allow myself some day light on the off chance I might run into a buck edging his way out to the field. I decided before I left to scan the area once more before I decided to leave and some movement caught my eye. I brought the binos up and the first thing I said to myself, was "SHOOTER". Hard not to notice a mature buck when he steps out of the woods......at this time the wind was heavily in my favour and was at the bucks back. Everything I know about mature white tails didnt make sense with this one, he continued down the fence line with the wind at his back. I first ranged him at 250 yards which in opinion was to long of a shot to take. As he continued making his way down the fenceline I started ranging fence posts and decided to let him make his way to to one I ranged at 100 yards.......but before he got there he started meandering his way in and out of the bushline, first thought through my mind was, he's going back into the bush....! I ranged him again and he was at 170 yards. I decided to hunker down and lock myself in for the shot. When he stepped out and stood broadside, I touched off the Encore. The thing acted like he sideswiped by a Mack truck, knocked him flat on his side and he started bawling, which I'd never heard a white tail do before. As fast as he went down he was up staggering, he jumpd the fence and was facing away from me trying to keep himself upright. Here I am trying to reload as quickly as I can moutheing the words, "go down". ...! After what seemed like minutes he starts walking towards the fenceline and jumps it and walks into the bush. I quickly reload and finish throwing my gear into my pack and make my way the tree I picked where I saw him enter. Daylight has now pretty much disappeared so I get my flash light out. I figured it was a mortal hit nd he wouldnt be far in the woods. I wasn't pleased with the colour of the blood or the amount I was seeing. After 100 yards or so of tracking I decided to back out and meet up with my friend at the truck. After some discussion I told him it would be best if we left him alone for the night and return in the morning.
As some of you who ahve gone through this it was a long drive home, a very restless night and a long drive back out on day 3. We'd decided the day was going to be dedicated to a retrieval and left a couple hours later then normal and arrived out to the location at daylight. After I replayed the scenario to my friend we picked up the trail where I flagged my way out the evening before. We both agreed the amount of blood didnt look promising but also agreed he could be bleeding internally. The tracking continued, we would would go for yards without any sign of blood, we would back track and analyze the trails and scan the area and luckily we'd find the faintest of blood spatter. There were times when my friend would be waiting at the last sign we had of blood and I was making my way back ready to admit defeat and then another speck would appear. this played out repeaditly countless times. We never came across where he might have bedded once, which was strange......
We continued our tracking on a ridge along a swamp and found where he went down into the swamp, we figured we had him, only to be foiled again. I tracked him to about 15 yards from the swamp and assumed he made his was out to the swamp. We scoured the swamp looking for blood and any sign, we came up empty...! Once again after spending what seemed like an eternity, we settled on a log and pretty much admitting defeat. My friend was doing his best to console me, which was greatly appreciated. He never gave up and tracked like he was tracking and looking for his own deer.
As we were getting ready to leave and head back, I said lets go back to the top and follow the ridge for a bit and then head back. As soon as we stepped onto the trail I see blood, I call him over and point it out. With both of us invigoated again, the tracking continues. He stops and picks up soem leaves and says......."The blood is wet", I looked at him and said of course the blood is wet....! He said no its wet, to which he said this is fresh..........it finally sank in, it was an ah ha moment..! lol About 100 yards down the trail we jump a deer, I barely saw it because my nose was to the ground. he says thats him, I said really..........as we proceed we see coagulated clumps of blood now and he is leaking pretty good. We both stopped and decided that we have to keep on him to put pressure on him. The blood trail is now very evident which can be followed with us walking in an upright position....he crosses a trail and we carry on. About 200 yards in we see him bed as he scans his back trail, we were on the opposite ridge so he didnt see us. I told my friend I'm taking the shot. The bullet hits him solid and anchors him for good. As we walk up to him, I couldnt help but think about the tracking job we had just finished. Four and half hours after we started, we had him down. The Kalihari bushmen would have been proud of our tracking........
We knew we were not going to be dragging him out because of his size and decided to open him up to let him cool off then make our way back to the truck, not knowing how far away it was. After trying to source an ATV from the farmer proved unsuccessful, we decided our only other option was to pack him out, so strapped on our packs and hiked back in for a 2 mile retrieve......needless to say the drive home was a lot more cheerful then the night before.
In concluding this novel, the bullet impacted him low in the front shoulder destroying the entrance side and exited lower in the brisket area. When I replayed the shot I visualized the cross hairs just above centre in the rib cage and realized that I DID NOT allow for the strong cross wind I was shooting into. I concluded me not allowing for the wind was a major reason for the mishit. That as well as me not dedicating myself to practice well before the hunting season to familiarise myself with my gear almost resulted in me almost losing a magnifcent animal. I said that would not happen again. AND to make sure that doesn't happen again and to reinvigorate the passion, after consulting members here, I'm waiting for my new to me used CVA Apex to arrive to prepare for next season.
Equipment used on the this hunt was a T/C 50 cal Encore, 100gr of Blackhorn powder, T/C 300 grain Shock Wave sabots with Remington 209 primers.
For those of you that read this, I apologize for its length but I felt it was a story worth telling. And last but not least a great big thank you to all of our hunting partners, who are out there with us for a reason, I thank my friend Ron for a very memorable hunt. Not our first and not our last.
Thank you.....
The first day out was a combination of hunting and scouting. Much like other areas our deer pops were hit hard by a few successive bad winters which took a toll on the white tail numbers. We were both presently surprised to see the numbers had rebounded. The first we saw a number of deer, including some little basket heads sparring out in the field I was watching. As the day wound down with no shots being fired, I was infused with enthusiasm at the prospect of hunting with the old front loader.
Day 2 saw us making the 2 hour trek out again with a strong west/north west wind on the drive out. Once at our destination, we made our plans on how we would approach our hunting spots. I couldn't approach mine with the wind we had so I took a detour which would keep the wind in my favour. As I meandered the edge of the field in the dark and as daylight approached, I could start making out silhouettes of deer out in the field. When the opportunity allowed I was able to glass to see if there were any bucks out there worth putting the sneak on. The sun was finally rising and the deer became more visible. I approached some deer that were feeding along a bush line but none were of any size to speak of. As I continued my walk, I found a low spot in the field along a bush line which provided me a spot to sit for the morning. I saw some deer moving off in the distance but nothing close enough for a shot...….after the morning hunt I texted my friend and told him I was staying in the field and going for a walk in the woods just to check for sign and the off chance I could rattle something in......the strong wind allowed me to move silently through the woods with the leaves on the ground. A good walk but didn't see anything. As the late afternoon sun set in, I decided to make my way out to the field in the same location I sat earlier in the morning.....
As the afternoon turned into late afternoon the deer started popping out of the woods. I had a group of them make their way to the low spot in the field where I was sitting. One of the little bucks made a bee line out of site for the lower portion of the field. My instincts told he was checking his rub line along the fence line so I focused my attention to where I last seen him. About ten minutes passed and I could finally see his legs coming up the fence line. I brought my encore up just to bring into my scope. He walked up to about ten feet and all he was, was a blur in the scope.....I whsipered out loudly..." bang you're dead", his head sprung up looked in my direction and jumped 5 feet in the air and stood there, he didnt know what he was looking at or what he'd heard, so I whispered again....."bang your dead". He still wasnt sure what had transpired but he knew soemthing wasnt right, so he ran to join the others in the field, which were congrgating in the field about 100 yards out.
With about half hour of shooting light left, I was packing up quietly to make my way back to the truck and figure I would allow myself some day light on the off chance I might run into a buck edging his way out to the field. I decided before I left to scan the area once more before I decided to leave and some movement caught my eye. I brought the binos up and the first thing I said to myself, was "SHOOTER". Hard not to notice a mature buck when he steps out of the woods......at this time the wind was heavily in my favour and was at the bucks back. Everything I know about mature white tails didnt make sense with this one, he continued down the fence line with the wind at his back. I first ranged him at 250 yards which in opinion was to long of a shot to take. As he continued making his way down the fenceline I started ranging fence posts and decided to let him make his way to to one I ranged at 100 yards.......but before he got there he started meandering his way in and out of the bushline, first thought through my mind was, he's going back into the bush....! I ranged him again and he was at 170 yards. I decided to hunker down and lock myself in for the shot. When he stepped out and stood broadside, I touched off the Encore. The thing acted like he sideswiped by a Mack truck, knocked him flat on his side and he started bawling, which I'd never heard a white tail do before. As fast as he went down he was up staggering, he jumpd the fence and was facing away from me trying to keep himself upright. Here I am trying to reload as quickly as I can moutheing the words, "go down". ...! After what seemed like minutes he starts walking towards the fenceline and jumps it and walks into the bush. I quickly reload and finish throwing my gear into my pack and make my way the tree I picked where I saw him enter. Daylight has now pretty much disappeared so I get my flash light out. I figured it was a mortal hit nd he wouldnt be far in the woods. I wasn't pleased with the colour of the blood or the amount I was seeing. After 100 yards or so of tracking I decided to back out and meet up with my friend at the truck. After some discussion I told him it would be best if we left him alone for the night and return in the morning.
As some of you who ahve gone through this it was a long drive home, a very restless night and a long drive back out on day 3. We'd decided the day was going to be dedicated to a retrieval and left a couple hours later then normal and arrived out to the location at daylight. After I replayed the scenario to my friend we picked up the trail where I flagged my way out the evening before. We both agreed the amount of blood didnt look promising but also agreed he could be bleeding internally. The tracking continued, we would would go for yards without any sign of blood, we would back track and analyze the trails and scan the area and luckily we'd find the faintest of blood spatter. There were times when my friend would be waiting at the last sign we had of blood and I was making my way back ready to admit defeat and then another speck would appear. this played out repeaditly countless times. We never came across where he might have bedded once, which was strange......
We continued our tracking on a ridge along a swamp and found where he went down into the swamp, we figured we had him, only to be foiled again. I tracked him to about 15 yards from the swamp and assumed he made his was out to the swamp. We scoured the swamp looking for blood and any sign, we came up empty...! Once again after spending what seemed like an eternity, we settled on a log and pretty much admitting defeat. My friend was doing his best to console me, which was greatly appreciated. He never gave up and tracked like he was tracking and looking for his own deer.
As we were getting ready to leave and head back, I said lets go back to the top and follow the ridge for a bit and then head back. As soon as we stepped onto the trail I see blood, I call him over and point it out. With both of us invigoated again, the tracking continues. He stops and picks up soem leaves and says......."The blood is wet", I looked at him and said of course the blood is wet....! He said no its wet, to which he said this is fresh..........it finally sank in, it was an ah ha moment..! lol About 100 yards down the trail we jump a deer, I barely saw it because my nose was to the ground. he says thats him, I said really..........as we proceed we see coagulated clumps of blood now and he is leaking pretty good. We both stopped and decided that we have to keep on him to put pressure on him. The blood trail is now very evident which can be followed with us walking in an upright position....he crosses a trail and we carry on. About 200 yards in we see him bed as he scans his back trail, we were on the opposite ridge so he didnt see us. I told my friend I'm taking the shot. The bullet hits him solid and anchors him for good. As we walk up to him, I couldnt help but think about the tracking job we had just finished. Four and half hours after we started, we had him down. The Kalihari bushmen would have been proud of our tracking........
We knew we were not going to be dragging him out because of his size and decided to open him up to let him cool off then make our way back to the truck, not knowing how far away it was. After trying to source an ATV from the farmer proved unsuccessful, we decided our only other option was to pack him out, so strapped on our packs and hiked back in for a 2 mile retrieve......needless to say the drive home was a lot more cheerful then the night before.
In concluding this novel, the bullet impacted him low in the front shoulder destroying the entrance side and exited lower in the brisket area. When I replayed the shot I visualized the cross hairs just above centre in the rib cage and realized that I DID NOT allow for the strong cross wind I was shooting into. I concluded me not allowing for the wind was a major reason for the mishit. That as well as me not dedicating myself to practice well before the hunting season to familiarise myself with my gear almost resulted in me almost losing a magnifcent animal. I said that would not happen again. AND to make sure that doesn't happen again and to reinvigorate the passion, after consulting members here, I'm waiting for my new to me used CVA Apex to arrive to prepare for next season.
Equipment used on the this hunt was a T/C 50 cal Encore, 100gr of Blackhorn powder, T/C 300 grain Shock Wave sabots with Remington 209 primers.
For those of you that read this, I apologize for its length but I felt it was a story worth telling. And last but not least a great big thank you to all of our hunting partners, who are out there with us for a reason, I thank my friend Ron for a very memorable hunt. Not our first and not our last.
Thank you.....
