Winding down

[bubba]

This is the last weekend here in the Northern Zone for rifle. A late muzzleloading starts for a week on Monday. Got about 2 inches of snow since Friday morning and it is about 23 degrees outside and clear. Sounds perfect. All except one little factor. I have a nasty case of the flu and cant get far from my bathroom. I called my buddies and asked them to drive a couple through my living room but they didn't think it would work. As far as filling my freezer it has been very nonproductive. I have seen very few deer and passed on a very small buck.  Saw a report on TV first part of the week that said in my area the population was down 50 to 60 percent from 4 years ago. I can believe it.  But in another way it has been one of my best seasons.  My 12 year old nephew has been doing some small game hunting with me and the bug has really hit him.  He cant wait until between deer hunts to grab the 410 and head out to chase a grouse or 2.  Plus it has been a year for me to rethink my ways a bit.  The first part of the season I was all wound up not seeing deer and it was becoming more frustrating that enjoyable.  I was coming home griping and complaining  and trying to figure out where all the deer were that has mysteriously vanished since last season. Finally my wife one day in her wisdom said if you are not enjoying this why are you going?  I said you are right and hauled out all my stuff and put a lot of it away. When I started cleaning my guns, it finally hit me like a ton of bricks. Did I need all this high tech stuff to harvest a deer has it made me better has it made me anything. Nope. So I emptied out some stuff got down my od side hammer T/C fixed up my loading block and I hunted with it the rest of the season with black powder and patched round balls.  I got some perspective back in a hurry. Hunting to me was getting to be a competition not a sport and a time to enjoy. If I had 5 tags I needed to fill all five. Well I can say I am glad that is gone.  With the decrease in the population I am seeing I decided I am not going to take a doe anyway.  All this amounts to is I am enjoying hunting again and just being in the woods.  Which was what is has always been about I just seemed to lose track of that. Well My speech is over, but I hope my season isnt. Hopefully tomorrow I can get out for one last time and if I cant, at least I am  one step ahead of my buddies who still have to get all their muzzleloading stuff back out lol. I hope all of you had as enjoyable time as I did this season and best of luck to you all and while I am at it the happiest of Holidays

[Qtip]

bubba,

I've meaning to get back to you on this for a while but got a little sidetracked. I too hunt with a .54 cal. muzzlegun; a T/C Renegade hunter. I use either round/patched balls or powerbelts. I just enjoy being out and hunting with my nephew who I taught the sport to. And I like seeing other wildlife too. The season ends here 12/14 and so far I must say it has sucked. Local meatcutters who put regular business aside for deer have said it's the worst they have seen in years and years. 40% to 60% less deer would seem to fit our area too. Too many doe permits for too many years, a bad winter kill two years ago and too many coyotes. I just have a hard time swallowing a lot that the DEC puts out. I've seen them blatantly lie before and since then I don't trust them 100%. I think insurance companies should keep their nose out lobbying for deer management. They could care less if they were all dead. Some farmers feel the same way so what they say I take with a grain of salt. But aside from that I really don't get upset about not filling tags like I used too. Some people I know have to fill them so bad that you would think they are going to starve if they don't fill their freezer with venison. That's not what it's all about to me anyway. Good luck!


Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!
To God Alone Be The Glory!

[bubba]

Went out this morning in the over abundance of fresh snow (about a foot) and did some pushes with a buddy. I did the first one through a cedar patch and moved out 5 deer. They went out of my buddies sight about 150 yards away. Anyway we tracked them and he said he would make a push to me. 2 deer went by me only one made it. About 45 yards with my sidelock muzzleloader with 80 grains of ffg black powder and a patched round ball. She went about 30 yards and piled up with a pass through the lungs. 115 pounds or so. My curse is broken and I am ready to hunt again. Tomorrow is the last day of late muzzleloading and the end of the season in the Frozen North. I still have a DMP and a buck tag and another muzzleloading tag. Because of tradition, I will hunt tomorrow due to it being the last day. But, when I get home tender loin will be the order of the dinner.

[RCL]

I hunted most of the day in an over abundance of fresh rain.  :grin:

Congrats on the fresh venison!