ORIGINAL: Pglasgow
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.
First, I have never taken any offense at anything you stated. You made a broad statement in which you statedthechoices for anyone using a muzzleloader for deerhunting and it didn'tinclude roundballs. I simply wanted to point that out. However, you then replied that your intent was not to suggest that roundballs weren't a choice for anyone but just for you and you would never suggest they were ineffective projectilesfor harvesting deer. Yet, you have now followed with several more posts where you do just that.
All your latest story illustrates to me is that a young boy, in the heat of an adrenaline filled moment, made abad decision to take an ill advised shot at a deer and then made a poor shot and didn't recover the deer. IMO, it has not one thing to do with the effectiveness of the roundball. A bad shot is a bad shot, period. Let's be perfectly honest. A whitetail deer is not a particularly tough animal to kill and a shot with any projectile that is placed through both lungs will cause it to die in 10-15 seconds.
In over 30 years of deer hunting, I have never lost a deer I have shot with a roundball and I have taken more than a few. I have never had a deer shot with a roundball go more than 75 yds, with themajority of them going down much sooner and many dropping in their tracks. This doesn't make me a super hunter or a super lucky one. It means I understand the limitations of my equipment, and my abilities, and keep within them.
Every projectile has limitations and, IMO, it is pointless to argue about them. None ofthe charts, measurementsand anecdotalevidence mean squat to the guy out hunting, using what works for him. I assume that each of us use what we do because we understand the limitations of our equipment, and ourselves, and are willing to stay within them. To do otherwise is not only unwise, it is unethical.