More on my muzzle loader

[nygunguy]

Well thanks to the folks here I didn't give up on my muzzle loader. Some of you may remember my whinning a few weeks ago. Its muzzleloader season here in the Southern Zone of NYS and I took off and spent the day in the woods.

I happened on this buck about 1:15 this afternoon. I snuck up on him as he was laying down on a little shelf below me at about 50 yards, facing away. I tried to make him stand up but he wouldn't respond to me making strange noises. After about 5 minutes I shot him where he laid. He was DRT but I messed up part of a backstrap and a tenderloin.

This is a fairly large deer for our area. I'm guessing 3 years old. Most deer of this size have much better racks so I think I got what I call a gene pool buck.

Anyway thanks to all who convinced me not to give up my muzzle loader.

 

[Mr. Chitlin]

Looks like you will have some fine eating in the near future.

Congrats!!

 

[BIGR]

Great job. I have learned over the years to never give up. Years ago I didn't have much luck muzzle loader hunting here around the house. It was hard to even get me interested in it. Time went on and we started leasing some land where there were alot more deer. This year I took a deer a day for four straight days and let a four point walk away on Friday the last day of the week that I hunted. I decided that I had got enough meat and started hunting for a nice buck. The following Monday I went back hunting with the Browning 30.06 and only wanted to shoot a good buck. I didn't see any deer on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday (it came a storm and a half on Wednesday). Thursday I saw four does, any of them I could have taken with ease. On Friday it was about 75 degrees and I was burnt up and thought about going to the house ,but I decided to hunt a stand below camp that I hadn't hunted this year. At about 4:25 PM two does came in close and started feeding. About 15 minutes later ol bucky came around the hill across from me. After about 10 minutes he grunted and finally came out of the thicket to where I could see him. He was history after the 06 sent that 180 GR bullet its way. I walked over to the buck and knew it was a good one. It was a nice eight point that is the best one I have got in a few years. That made five deer for me this year and I am going back around Christmas for one more hunt. I have to say it has been a good year for me. The only thing that would top it would a bigger buck than the eight point that I got.

 

[MeekandMild]

Congradulations! Looks like a mighty fine eating deer, big and fat!

I don't blame him for not moving. I think if I was out in all that snow I'd just sit still too! I was wondering how you could sneak up on one until I saw that picture with all the white stuff.

Interesting horns, look kind of like an antelope horn.

My hunting buddies call that style horn a "cowhorn" buck. The theory I've heard is that its not genetics so much as doe overpopulation. I've read that if there are a lot of does in an area some of them don't get bred on time and go into estrus again until they find a buck. So their fawns are late coming and have a pretty rough first winter, taking a year or two to catch up with their age mates.

(I thought long and hard about posting this last bit here as Oleg wants us to be nice. But I had to go back and say I think when I see a picture of all that bitterly cold snow and no green food in sight the animal rights wackos are totally evil, to try to stop us from hunting. Without hunters to thin down the herd there are lots of fawns which starve to death and lots of adult deer which would have less than happy lives.)

 

[nygunguy]

MeekandMild

Interesting theory and probably correct. I took a QDM seminar this Summer from the local North American Whitetail Institute folks and they said basically the same thing (when they weren't trying to sell us some very expensive weeds).

I love that kind of weather for hunting deer. You really can sneak up on them if you're careful. Been doing it for years.

We do have a lot of doe. It seems that for every 5 we harvest 10 show up to replace them. We saw very few bucks once the season started. We saw lots of places that they'd been though.

 

[Guyon]

Took my first buck with a muzzleloader. Wife raised cain because I spent cash on a cheap (in my mind) CVA gun. Second week of muzzleloader season, I took a six point buck with it. Made me feel justified.

Good shootin'. Congratulations on that buck.

 

[Newt]

My first M/L deer.

I was lucky enough to take two bucks with my smoke pole last year. The first of which is the biggest one I've ever taken. I'm a firm believer that if a person gets out there when the deer aren't spooked and wary and before everyone else gets their fair share, you're chances are much better.

BTW, I also bought a CVA inline (cheapie). I've never had an ounce of trouble out of it. I would buy another tomorrow.

This is my first M/L deer...

 

[nygunguy]

Newt

Gorgeous buck ! Nice going.

I agree with your theory. Unfortunately, here in the Southern Tier of NYS the pure muzzleloader season is the week after the regular firearms season. The deer are pretty riled up. I was really lucky to get the one I did while still hunting.

 

[Newt]

Oops... Lost the pic.

Here it is.