First blackpowder deer....

[mike_h]

Yesterday I got my first blackpowder deer. What I thought was a doe turned out to be a small buck. One shot with a .54 renegade shooting maxi slugs did the trick. Them backstraps sure were good.  :-)

[Les Staley]

Way to go, Mike..  what state do you hunt?  how far did you shoot?  details, man,,details...pictures?   Aint it grand to make  meat like your great grandpa??    Les

[willysjeep134]

I just got my first muzzle loader deer too. I was sitting on a log in a cedar swamp watching a trail 25 yards away. I had my CVA Plainshunter loaded with 90 grains of FFg Elephant and a .490 round ball. A big doe came in about 1/2 hour after I sat down. She put her head down facing head on to me. I was sort of elevated on that log. I shot dead center in the neck so the ball angled down through the chest. One shot, she tipped over.

She was down, and certainly wasn't getitng up, but she did pick up her head a few times and was still alive for the moment. I had my .69 flintlock pistol with too.  I had it loaded with 40 grains of ffg and 6 OO buckshot. She was down, and her legs sure weren't working, but she kept picking up her head and gasping. Rather than leave her to suffer, I decided to try the pistol for a finishing shot. I touched it off from 10 feet away. Only one buckshot hit her between the ear and eye and then she expired.

I'm sure the finishing shot wasn't necisairy, but I felt better knowing she wasn't suffering. I brought it with so once I fired my rifle I would have just such a finishing shot without reloading. It was surprising how few of those pellets actually connected with her. I don't even know if the pistol sped up the process or not.

[mike_h]

Heres all the gory details. Id love to be able to say I dropped the little buck with one shot from 100 yards after patiently waiting for him to come into range. In actuality I was hunting a fence row beside a river and had lost my pee-jug and had to answer natures call something fierce. So, the logical choice was the river anly 10 yards away. I crept over to and down the 5' high bank...leaned the Renegade against a small sapling, unzipped and "let the horse outof the barn" so to speak and was just getting ready to let loose when I caught movement to my left on the river bank.
 You guessed it...the buck was walking right down the river bank towards me.  :eek:  5  yards away he turned and walked broadside to me. I got the Renegade, knelt down, and put the maxi slug into him.  The buck ran about 20 yards and piled up with me standing there "hanging out" in front of God and all of creation. :roll:  Talk about your Kodak moments... I'm sure if the buck had seen me I wouldnt have had to fire a shot because he would have died laughing at the whole situation. I know my family and friends havent let me live it down yet and doubt they ever will.  Hope ya'll enjoyed the story, my fiance says it has to be the best deer story shes heard so far....after getting up off the floor and catching her breath from laughing so hard that is.  :grin:

[willysjeep134]

Man, ya got me beat! I remember a cartoon of a similar situation with the caption "The things you see when you have the wrong gun in your hand". Man, that must have been some careful stealthy movement on your part to get your muzzle loader up and a shot off with a deer standing so close. I'd be afraid to breathe!

[mike_h]

Actually it all happened so fast I didnt even have time to think about stealthiness...just grabbed the gun , aimed, and fired. The only thing that saved me was that the wind was blowing right in my face so he never had a chance to smell me. I still have no clue how he didnt see me walk over to the river though....there was absolutely nothing between us besides a 2" sapling. But hey...whatever works.  :grin:

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Ooooo, Mike!  Those are some gory details.

         

Congrats to the both of you!  Ironically, I just got my first centerfire deer after having filled the freezer strictly with roundball for 9 years.  I got a fawn with a .357 lever action.  Not exactly a "mountain man muzzle loader" but it's a fair rendition of a Wild West cowboy gun.

I'll see if I can make meat with my flintlock this weekend though.