I don't posthere much, but I do drop in to see what's going on from time to time. I took the old 54 cal. T/C Renegade for a walk today. Shot a nice fat doe at about 2 PM.
Conditions were pretty fair for sneaking around. I park near a small knoll where deer often bed, and if the wind is right I like to check it on my way to where I take a stand. This time I found deer bedded before they knew I was there, but could not tell what they were. I can only shoot one buck per season, and I got him back in November. Had to stand and watch them for almost tem minutes. Finally the deer I was watching stood up and even though I could see no horns the body was big enough to make me wonder. The cover there is thick, but I had a small opening to shoot through. The deer began to get nervous, and stepped into that hole. I took the only clear shot I had, a neck shot at 50 yds or so, and instantly saw tailsbounding away. I reloaded and eased up there, thinking I might find only tracks, but there was my deer, laying dead as a cod. There were two others with it that I had not seen. The 435 gr maxiball driven by 100 gr of Pyrodex hit right where I aimed.
She's a big girl, over 130 dressed. I'll weigh her tomorrow. Shot one as nice not far away from this spot last year and I posted about it then. I'm as tickled with this one as I was a year ago.
For those that are still going after them, good luck and safe hunting.....
Nice shooting and congratulations on taking the doe.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Every year I look at in-lines and think I'd like one. The T/C Triumph has me very interested. Then I have another hunt like the one yesterday.
It would be about like cheating on my wife to take another muzzleloader out hunting. The old Renegade just works. Many memories made with this gun over the last 19 years. Come to think of it, I've had the Renegade longer than the wife.
When my eyes will not allow me to hit anything with the peep sight, then I guess it will be time to get an in-line and put a scope on it.
Hey - you don't need to get an inline when your eyes get bad. I had a Hawken that I put a little 4x20 shotgun scope on - it worked great! Had a gunsmith drill & tap it and mount it for me. He did have to heat the hammer to bend it slightly to the right to clear the scope, but if you got one with long eye relief, that wouldn't be necessary. I think if I was attached to that Renegade like you are, I'd go ahead and scope it rather than cheat on my wife!
Nice going on the doe hunt!
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Thanks, Dad, for taking time with me.
I couldn't bring myself to put a scope on that gun. I'm no purist, and I know several guys that put scopes on sidehammer guns years ago, but something about that just wouldn't be right.
I've scoped a Renegade and it did not bother me at all. The additional accuracy from it was welcome actually.
But I can understand how one feels about their rifles.... Get an inline and a scoped one at that.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Renegade Speaks Again
