Cayugad wrote:

First off.. no apology necessary. . .

I appreciate your comments very much. I may be more critical of the roundball than it deserves. I hunted with roundball when I first hunted blackpowder. The previous year I took a spike buck with a 25-06. That Christmas my father got me a T/C hawken .50 caliber kit and said if it was ever going to get together I would have to do it. I was 15 at the time and my Dad gave me guidance but he did not once do any of the work. He wanted it to be all my effort. Over the course of the next two months I built it and then I finally got it prepared to the point where he thought i should blue it.

As the weather warmed in March, we began shooting and I became proficient with it at 50 yards. My told me I shouldn't shoot beyond that distance with it at deer. All Summer we had a great time shooting and planning our hunt that fall. We were also going to hunt rifle season, but I just wanted to hunt with my Hawken even during rifle season.

I would like to say that I love everything about hunting. The time outdoors, time with my father, planning , hunting , shooting , gutting , dragging, skinning, cutting up the meat, and cooking it. I love the whole experience. I have had only one _bad_ experience while hunting and it happened that first season, hunting with a round-ball.

My dad set me at a stand and began moving on to his stand location. On his way, he spooked up a little fork buck. As luck would have itwas runningstraight for my location. He hollered.I stood, cocked my rifle, shaking. I could see him coming, shouldered the rifle and as he run by i swung my rifle sighting as best I could. From less than 20 feet my bullet entered just below his spine in the lung area. If i got the lungs, I clipped the top of them but the round ball shocked his spine rendering his hind legs useless.

It was a pitiful heart wrenching sight as the deer struggled with his front legs to get back up, hindlegs useless. Meanwhile, I frantically tried to reload my rifle, shaking and unable to stay focused on reloading as i kept looking back at the deer struggling. Meanwhile my Dad is running full tilt to get back. Before I could reload, the deer regained the use of its hind legs and bounded off. There is alot of open prairie where we hunted and I could see him bounding off like he never was hit over a 1/2 mile away.

I looked for two days, with my bird dog in tow, but I never found that buck. It happens to be the only shot I've taken that didn't ultimately result in a kill. It was very disturbing to me and we didn't hunt the rest of muzzleloading season. My father later said that he feared I would not hunt rifle that season.

A few months later, we discussed this experience with one of Dad's friends, and he, admonished my Dad for hunting with roundballs, saying that had we used a maxiball, the deer wouldn't have got up. He was a reloader and he described the ballistics to us.We bought a maxiball mold, which I still have and harvested some whitetails infuture hunts without incident.

Even today, I can say, without question, thatwounding and loosing that buckis the only bad experience I have ever had while hunting. A maxiball may not have made any difference, i realize this but even so. Itwould have improved the chances.

I suspect, that literally "everyone" who extensively hunts with round ball has wounded and not recovered at least one if not more whitetails. Granted, such an experience changes the way one hunts. He is more careful. I know, for me, I will never take another shot on a running deer, even if it is only 6 yards away, muzzleloader or not.

Hunting with roundball may be more sport and 500 ft-lbs may be all it takes to kill a whitetail when put in the right spot. Ifpeople enjoy it, who am I to critisize? Indeed, I have never critisized anyone for hunting with a roundball and I won't begin now. Even so, I won't encourage anyone to do it and I certainly think that anyone who is new to the sport should have a complete understanding of the roundball's limitations and capabilities if he chooses to hunt with them.

I really do hope that everyone understands that I was just making what I believe to be factual statements regarding the roundball. I am not wanting or trying to offend anyone, though I do understand how one can take offense to my statements of the roundball or in this thread, my exclusion of the roundball as a choice for hunting.

Again, I appreciate your response.

Happy Hunting, Phil