This is a long one but give me a break, it’s my first. Well, it happened. Popped my cherry.
About me. Been fishing all my life but my first hunting season was last season. Hunted rifle only (.308 Sako, inherited from my dad) with no luck. Saw a few, mostly running away. The one time I had a good shot was on a doe outside of doe day. But I learned a lot and got hooked up with some private land to hunt on through the extended doe season in Northern Virginia. I was told that the best time of the rut usually coincided with muzzleloader season so this past spring I picked up an Omega X7. I practiced with it as much as possible and worked up a few loads through the summer. This website provided a wealth of great advice and made my introduction to muzzleloaders a lot more fun with a lot less trial and error. I settled on using the FPBs with BH 209.
Well, to the hunt.
I am hunting some private land on a vineyard. The vineyard is adjacent to a heavily wooded area that has a pretty steep incline. We have stands that stay put year round, mainly deep in the woods. Yesterday I picked a stand that is just inside the treeline, partly looking out into the vineyard, but also having a good view into the woods. A stream runs down from the ridgeline to about 100yds behind my stand.
Got to the area about a half hour before sunrise which is a little late for my taste since it takes at least a half hour to gear up and get to my stand and I like to be set up well before sunrise. After gearing up (I am trying to go lighter this year), I hiked halfway uphill to my stand when I realized I forgot my wallet (with license) in the car. It’s always something. Hiked back to the car, picked up my wallet and turned around. Finally got to the stand late and got ready.
After about fifteen minutes of settling down to get in the motionless “zone” – I am trying to keep still this season, a challenge for me – I saw some movement towards the fence line of the vineyard. This is an electric fence but apparently does not act as much of a deterrent since I glassed three deer inside the fence looking to have a grape breakfast. Two bucks and a doe. One of the bucks was an eight pointer, the other looked about six. They seemed to be sizing each other up. The larger got disinterested (or unthreatened) and walked off, deeper into the vineyard where I spotted another large doe actually bedded down. Then I saw two more does walking my side of the fence. Now the fence itself is about 200yds of open field to my position which is currently outside of my comfort zone for a good shot, plus we are not allowed to shoot into the vineyard. Frustrating, but it was good to know there was no shortage of deer.
Heard some rustling leaves to my right (inside the woods) and spotted a small spike buck about 50yds away. I had a great shot at him but we have a four point minimum on bucks so I had to pass him up. Remember, I have never bagged a deer and it was a little more than frustrating to let him go (but a good rule nonetheless). I kept looking at the deer in the vineyard, mentally willing them to come closer to me. Then I remembered I have a deer call (Squeezin Bleat) so I tried calling them in. They perked up a bit but did not come running like the ad said they would. So I settled down and occasionally watched the field, eventually losing track of the deer.
Only about five minutes later I heard some noise and spotted three deer, coming from the vineyard and bounding right toward my stand. It was two does being chased by a buck – the eight pointer I saw earlier. Within a few seconds they were passing right below me. I swing my gun to try to track them and promptly hit one of the support stanchions on my stand. Clearly a great tactic since the buck stopped at about 40 yds in a quartering away stance. It’s kind of a blur now thinking back (I honestly don’t remember ****ing the hammer) but I aimed just behind the facing shoulder and took the shot. The buck jumped and run/fell about 50yds downhill towards the stream. I could track and see where he lay down, his white belly facing me. No thrashing, completely still. I shakily re-loaded (all but the primer) and climbed down. Man, my heart was pumping and hands shaking.
Although I can see where he lay, I tried to find the spot where I shot him. It was easy. Blood everywhere. I pretend I don’t know where he lay and “track” the blood. Again it’s easy, there is no shortage of blood and some pretty good gouges in the earth. I get to his location and check him out. The shot was right where I was aiming and the FPB passed through, exiting just forward of the opposite shoulder with about a quarter sized hole. After calming down a bit I got to work.
I have never field dressed a deer before, but have seen it done – you gotta love YouTube – and it didn’t look too hard. So an hour later he was gutted and I managed to not perf the bowels and hopefully did not waste too much meat. The heart was nicked and the lungs were jellified so I guess the bullet did its job.
Now the real hard part. I had about a hundred yards to the edge of the field, mostly uphill. I had planned dragging him with a rope but after about 15 minutes of trying various methods I realized that the only way was to grab the antlers and horse him out. Nearly busted a gut doing so. Finally got him to where I could load him on a dolly for the next 400yds to my car, a Mazda 3 hatchback. I haven’t yet noted that this buck was pretty big. My car is small. See the pics, ‘nuff said.
Well that’s about it. Maybe a 40 minute sit in the stand until I took my shot, another 3-4 hours getting him out of the vineyard, another half hour to the check station, and another half hour to a buddy’s place to get him processed. A good day.
The stats:
8 pointer, 170 – 180 (guy at the check station’s estimate)
T/C Omega X7 with a 4x Simmons Pro Diamond scope
350 gr Hornady FPB, 90gr BH209, CCI 209M
Where he lay. Exit wound just forward of shoulder
Entrance hole
On the cart
Will he fit?
Got him in
Last pic
If you have read this far, thanks. And thanks to everyone that responded to this newbie’s questions these past few months, particularly Spaniel, Semisane and Lemoyne. This muzzleloading thing is kinda fun.
Steve
First deer, First Muzzleloader, First everything
. Awesome!
