- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Messages
- 207
- Reaction score
- 8
I wasn't able to devote a full day to hunt on the opener as I had to go through a nuclear stress test. That ate up the whole morning but I still was able to go out for an hour or so in the afternoon.
I didn't see anything as I just took a short walk with the muzzleloader on some state forest land.
This morning I awoke early but maybe not too bright. I had a cup of tea and some whole grain English muffins with all natural organic peanut butter and all natural organic grape jelly( Sunshine and I made it ourselves)
After feeling a tad revived I donned on my outfit of fleece, orange and the venerable safety vest. I walk out the door and drive down the road in the predawn darkness. I head down the club road and see a hint of orange along the horizon indicating that legal shooting light will soon be upon us.
I meed my Dad. He is getting ready and we laugh at all the stuff that we encumber ourselves with. He adjusts his safety harness and then gets the Black Diamond ready. I fires off a cap, or I should say a shotshell primer, and loads the .50 caliber Aerotip Platinum 338 grain conical bullet over two 50 grain pellets of H777.
In my Black Diamond I am using the same bullet and load.We head off down the dirt road and to our stands. My stand is about 1/3 a mile down while Dad has a full 1/2 mile to his ladder stand.
We wish each other good luck and remind each other to click the radios every half hour. I make my way to my stand and climb into it. I set my safety rope on the maple that has been my companion for over a month and begin to wait patiently.
I hear the rustle of leaves in the laurel jungle from red squirrels as well as mice. I can even see them from time to time. When I hear that rustle, I get ready thinking that the deer . In the terrain I hunt in, you will more often hear the deer before you see them. So I stay well attuned to anything that sounds odd.
It was about 8:15 Am when I heard some louder rustling and what seemed like a deer. Well, I looked intently and spotted a deer. Sure enough it was a large doe and she was crossing my line of fire at about 40 yards away. I raised the Black Diamond and peered through the Burris 2.5 x scope and waited for her to come into view. She approached a small shooting lane that I cleared up a bit and then I blew a kiss. She stopped . I slowly squeezed the trigger and the shot went off. The H777 burned and propelled the conical through the southern New England woods towards its intended target. Obscured by the cloud of smoke I saw nothing until a zephyr blew it away. I spied the deer still standing. She moved about 10 feet and then circled to the same spot. I quickly, quietly and carefully reloaded another shot from my belt pouch. I said to myself. " Is she hit? Why did she circle back? "
I dropped the two pellets down the bore and then rammed home the conical slug . She was still there oblivious to what had happened. Deer can be strange at times. They can be dumb and yet as wary as anything in nature.
I was hoping this was my lucky day. I raised my "lucky gun" and rested the cross hairs on her. She had moved and there looked like an opening between two trees. I fired. After the cloud of smoke cleared she had moved off to my right behind a large laurel patch. She then met another doe , much smaller and the two milled about in the brush.
It was interesting to watch. I wondered if I had hit her since she was walking around slowly and her tail would wag and flick now and then. She met with the other doe about 75 yards off to my right. I peered through the scope and could not ascertain if they were hit.
She then went down the hill and had gone out of sight, but not out of hearing. Although the wind blew from her to me, she blew a warning three times in about five minutes . I could hear her walk very slowly and what seemed like a stomping of feet. I thought I saw her face peering towards me through the laurel bushes.
I heard Dad click three times, our signal to talk on the radio, I ignored it for a while as I suspected that the deer were hit but not too bad. I was waiting for them to lie down and expire or at least provide an opportunity for a killing shot.
I hear a whitsle after about 20 minutes of waiting. I see Dad with his orange hat and vest on the open dirt road. We wave and I motion to him as if there is a deer walking in front of me., I wait another while and silently climb down the stand.
I tell Dad the whole story and we then proceed to look. As we approach my stand I show him where the deer was and where I shot.
As we approached the deer run I see a nice round hole in a maple tree with sap running from it. Shot number one hit dead center in a nice maple tree.
As I look, I see another hit. A nice ash tree hit dead center with the muzzleloader. The second shot went cleanly into the tree that would have made wonderful snowshoes one day.
Dad and I searched all around in case that I wounded the deer but no blood was found and the way they acted indicated that they were not hit. They were a complete miss.
What did I shoot. I shot one nice maple and one nice ash.
In a way I was happy. I was glad that the deer weren't wounded and were in fine shape without being too spooked.
My Dad stated that his old friend had the same problem when the rifle hunted in New Hampshire. When using a scope in wooded terrain you don't see the brush or smaller trees that can block a shot. I don't know how I did it but that deer was unscathed after two shots. I don't know how I didn't see those trees but that is what happened.
Well, I still have until December 31st to get a couple more deer.
_________________
I didn't see anything as I just took a short walk with the muzzleloader on some state forest land.
This morning I awoke early but maybe not too bright. I had a cup of tea and some whole grain English muffins with all natural organic peanut butter and all natural organic grape jelly( Sunshine and I made it ourselves)
After feeling a tad revived I donned on my outfit of fleece, orange and the venerable safety vest. I walk out the door and drive down the road in the predawn darkness. I head down the club road and see a hint of orange along the horizon indicating that legal shooting light will soon be upon us.
I meed my Dad. He is getting ready and we laugh at all the stuff that we encumber ourselves with. He adjusts his safety harness and then gets the Black Diamond ready. I fires off a cap, or I should say a shotshell primer, and loads the .50 caliber Aerotip Platinum 338 grain conical bullet over two 50 grain pellets of H777.
In my Black Diamond I am using the same bullet and load.We head off down the dirt road and to our stands. My stand is about 1/3 a mile down while Dad has a full 1/2 mile to his ladder stand.
We wish each other good luck and remind each other to click the radios every half hour. I make my way to my stand and climb into it. I set my safety rope on the maple that has been my companion for over a month and begin to wait patiently.
I hear the rustle of leaves in the laurel jungle from red squirrels as well as mice. I can even see them from time to time. When I hear that rustle, I get ready thinking that the deer . In the terrain I hunt in, you will more often hear the deer before you see them. So I stay well attuned to anything that sounds odd.
It was about 8:15 Am when I heard some louder rustling and what seemed like a deer. Well, I looked intently and spotted a deer. Sure enough it was a large doe and she was crossing my line of fire at about 40 yards away. I raised the Black Diamond and peered through the Burris 2.5 x scope and waited for her to come into view. She approached a small shooting lane that I cleared up a bit and then I blew a kiss. She stopped . I slowly squeezed the trigger and the shot went off. The H777 burned and propelled the conical through the southern New England woods towards its intended target. Obscured by the cloud of smoke I saw nothing until a zephyr blew it away. I spied the deer still standing. She moved about 10 feet and then circled to the same spot. I quickly, quietly and carefully reloaded another shot from my belt pouch. I said to myself. " Is she hit? Why did she circle back? "
I dropped the two pellets down the bore and then rammed home the conical slug . She was still there oblivious to what had happened. Deer can be strange at times. They can be dumb and yet as wary as anything in nature.
I was hoping this was my lucky day. I raised my "lucky gun" and rested the cross hairs on her. She had moved and there looked like an opening between two trees. I fired. After the cloud of smoke cleared she had moved off to my right behind a large laurel patch. She then met another doe , much smaller and the two milled about in the brush.
It was interesting to watch. I wondered if I had hit her since she was walking around slowly and her tail would wag and flick now and then. She met with the other doe about 75 yards off to my right. I peered through the scope and could not ascertain if they were hit.
She then went down the hill and had gone out of sight, but not out of hearing. Although the wind blew from her to me, she blew a warning three times in about five minutes . I could hear her walk very slowly and what seemed like a stomping of feet. I thought I saw her face peering towards me through the laurel bushes.
I heard Dad click three times, our signal to talk on the radio, I ignored it for a while as I suspected that the deer were hit but not too bad. I was waiting for them to lie down and expire or at least provide an opportunity for a killing shot.
I hear a whitsle after about 20 minutes of waiting. I see Dad with his orange hat and vest on the open dirt road. We wave and I motion to him as if there is a deer walking in front of me., I wait another while and silently climb down the stand.
I tell Dad the whole story and we then proceed to look. As we approach my stand I show him where the deer was and where I shot.
As we approached the deer run I see a nice round hole in a maple tree with sap running from it. Shot number one hit dead center in a nice maple tree.
As I look, I see another hit. A nice ash tree hit dead center with the muzzleloader. The second shot went cleanly into the tree that would have made wonderful snowshoes one day.
Dad and I searched all around in case that I wounded the deer but no blood was found and the way they acted indicated that they were not hit. They were a complete miss.
What did I shoot. I shot one nice maple and one nice ash.
In a way I was happy. I was glad that the deer weren't wounded and were in fine shape without being too spooked.
My Dad stated that his old friend had the same problem when the rifle hunted in New Hampshire. When using a scope in wooded terrain you don't see the brush or smaller trees that can block a shot. I don't know how I did it but that deer was unscathed after two shots. I don't know how I didn't see those trees but that is what happened.
Well, I still have until December 31st to get a couple more deer.
_________________
