Been a while since I' ve logged in, but I have to share my first bp kill from this past season.

Went to the stand on the last day of bp with a charge in my gun from the previous day (.50 Traditions Hawkins style roundball shooter w/ iron sights). A couple does came by at about 75 yards and I shot at the first. It ran past me behind some thick stuff in the woods. I immediately began to reload but then realized that I' d FORGOTTEN my powder horn! The thought of finding a wounded deer and finishing it off w/ my hunting knife was not a pleasant prospect. I waited till dusk before I started to track her and there was no blood trail in the fresh snow for about 40 yards. Then I saw a couple faint specks and was sure I' d just grazed her (and that I would never find her) but as I came through the thick stuff I saw a huge pool of blood and the deer a couple yards away (about 50 yards from where I shot her). Why no blood trail? The ball completely obliterated her heart. There was nothing to push the blood out of the hole until the blood filled up her body cavity to the point of the exit wound.

Not only was it my first kill w/ BP, but it was my first kill hunting by myself. She was a small doe, but I' ve never been prouder walking out of the woods. Boy, maybe this story would tell better if I told people I deliberately limit myself to one charge.