This was my son Jacob’s first muzzleloader hunt. He drew an either sex deer hunt so my plan was to hold out for a buck as long as we could. Jacobs rifle is the Hot Rod Renegade I normally use. His load and mine was a 460 gr paper patched 500 S&W bullet over 80 gr of Pyrodex P.
We were only going to get to hunt on weekends so that reduced our hunting days to five. On our first day we saw a lot of deer but nothing huge. The next day we saw even more but still the bucks were good but not great. We made a few runs after some nice bucks but we didn’t have any luck getting close enough for a shot. Fast forward to the next weekend. We headed out on Friday morning for day number three. We started seeing nice bucks right off the bat. We literally were seeing deer everywhere we went. The problem was there was a rifle doe hunt open at the same time. These deer were getting spookier every day. Jacob got a couple of shots at some nice bucks that day. Thick trees deflected one shot and the other was blown off by the heavy wind. We called it a day after seeing several VERY nice bucks that evening that were too far to go after. We decided to be back the next morning early. Well that was not going to happen. The next day we were met with a ground blizzard, with winds of over 50 MPH and snow. We were going to try to just drive around in a new area and see what happened. Well that was a waste of a day of hunting. We couldn’t see more than a few yards so we called it a day at 10:00 am.
Our last day of the hunt.
We got back to the area we found all the bucks in. We started seeing tracks in the fresh snow. After looking at a lot of deer Jacob said to me “ Dad, I just want to get a deer”.
I had been trophy hunting for me without thinking it was his hunt what does he want. We were after any deer at this point. We were working our way through a valley heading to a large bunch of aspen trees. We were stopped and talking when a large doe ran out of the trees and headed our way. When she passed us I gave here a whistle and she stopped. I told Jacob set your sight for 125 yards she’s at 130 yards. He was using my pack as a rest. I heard the click of the set trigger and then the boom. I first heard the hit. It was a loud CRACK and I thought that sounded odd. I asked him what did the sight picture look like. He said he left the sight at 100 yards and held a few inches high. As soon as he said that I knew we were in trouble. We started to trail the doe and I soon spotted her. It was a leg hit but I didn’t know how high it was. She spooked as we were trying to get a shot. Over the next hour we circled the hill and went over the top and she went back to the spot she was first hit. Then she went up the hill to the big aspen grove. We stopped and had lunch hoping that she would bed down. She was still covering up to 18 feet while she was jumping on three legs.
After lunch we started to track here again. We went up through the aspen and to the top of the drainage. We crossed over the ridge and down the next draw through some more aspen. At mile number three the doe had still not bedded down. We tracked her through trees and over hills and through more trees. At the start of mile 3.5 she bedded down for the first time. I told Jacob this is a good sign for us. She bedded down six more times over the next ˝ mile. I knew we were getting close. I had been using my binoculars to try to get a glimpse of her. Now I could see her. Her head was up and she was watching her back trail. We were 50 yards away and I told Jacob Set the sight for 50 yards. Not anything else only 50 yards. He set the sight and I told him step over. As he did he saw her for the first time since the initial shot three hours before this moment. The shot was true no meat was wasted, and the tracking job from heck was over. I gave him a high five and he gave me a hug. We drug her down the steep hill and we were lucky to have a road below us. I left him and told him to have her gutted by the time I got back with one of the ATV’s. When I got back the first thing that came out of his mouth was “thanks Dad” I said your welcome boy. Your first muzzleloader only hunt, I bet if feels good to get a deer with your rifle? He just smiled, and said ya it does.
In my hunt for a trophy buck I lost track of what he wanted out of his hunt. He wanted too spend time with me, and “just get a deer Dad”. He is a good boy.
I just want a deer
