This past hunting season was long and enjoyable. It began on October 3, 2009, ended on October 18. Began again on Oct 25 in Montana, and ended on November 30 in South Dakota. Began again for muzzle loaders on December 12, and ended on for me on 27 January, 2010. It had me hunting in South Dakota and in Montana. In Montana i killed a whitetail doe, and also managed to get into a herd of 59 Elk. We had 2 wall tents, and my trailer in our camp. Heavy snow collapsed one of the wall tents one night, and left deep deep snow to wade the rest of my time there.

Before i went to Montana i experienced mud, mud, and more mud during our early doe season in South Dakota. One day i managed to kill a mule deer, and then the fun began. Hunting government land sometimes leads to long walks and drags. When i returned to South Dakota, i was to experience many many views of white tails waving good bye, when them dang deer saw me before i saw them. It seemed the wind was always at my back no matter what i planned or tried, and it seemed that i just wasn't sneaky enough to be able to get a good shot. One enjoyable thing was that i was able to scope my rifle during these 'regular' rifle seasons, and for once i was able to 'see' the sights clearly. I very much enjoyed carrying my muzzle loader during the rifle season.

When our muzzle loader season started on December 12, 2009, i began hunting with factory open sights on my Accura. It wasn't long into the season before we experienced a blizzard, and then a short time later another. This led to deep packed snow in some places, and thin skiffs of snow on the ridge tops. Warm weather made the snow soft, and cold nights made the snow icy. Morning saw me hunting on crusty noisy snow, and continued my season of watching white tails waving good bye. One day in the hills, got close to a deer, but just took it's picture, and removed the primer from my rifle, and counted 'coup' twice...........i just couldn't handle the thought of my hills hunting season ending with 3 weeks of hunting left.

With a week left in the season, i decided i would kill when i had the chance. The last morning of my hills season i started late to allow the icy snow to soften. I watched the weather, and planned my hunt so i would be moving mostly upwind. When i left the truck, it seemed my planning had worked, as the snow was quiet, and the wind was in my face. I had only walked a very short distance from the truck when i saw these deer:



Conditions were perfect for sneaking, and i had a camera in my pocket that was a Christmas gift from our son, his wife, and her grandson. After some time went by i saw a good shot develop, and decided to take it. Upon firing my rifle i saw the deer lurch downward on it's front legs, and 'knew' i had probably made a good shot. The load was a 300g 44 caliber xtp, in a Harvester smooth sabot, pushed by 105g BH209, lit by a W209 primer. The shot distance was about 120 yard. The other deer milled about trying to figure out what was going on, but couldn't tell where i was or if i was. I quietly dumped powder from Lane's tubes into the barrel, and the bullet, and the short starter. The ram rod made little noise when i removed it from the thimbles, but there was more noise when i seated the bullet, and most of the deer went away.

I walked up to where i thought the deer was standing, saw no blood, and walked further to be sure. Then i circled back and saw what i thought was stomach contents on the snow.



This made me sad. The deer didn't hump when hit, so i was surprised i made a gut shot. I then followed the tracks leading away from the gut juice, but the snow ended. This is sorta what i was looking at.



Then i looked downhill and saw a set of tracks in the snow heading down. I got on those tracks and followed them for a ways, but never saw any sign that the deer was leaking. So i cut across the slope looking for more tracks and blood. As i walked across the snow covered slope, i had various thoughts go through my mind; like i won't use open sights anymore, and maybe i completely missed the deer, and i should walk back to the truck, and drive it around and below, and walk up, and maybe intercept the deer. I cut maybe 9 sets of tracks headed straight down hill, but never was there a sign of one being hit.

Then i worked my way back to where i had seen what i thought was stomach contents, and looked at it again to verify it was what i had thought it was. I wasn't sure anymore, but it seemed my first thought was correct. Then i set out in the direction the tracks were heading, but soon the snow quit. I continued on heading in the same direction along the ridge, and up ahead in a patch of snow i saw this:



At long last i knew for sure i had hit the deer, but i was still sad it was a gut shot. It wasn't long following the tracks with stomach contents and blood, that the snow went away again. I 'knew' it was going to be a long day finding this deer. I made a waypoint on the gps marking the last place i saw a track and blood, then wandered ahead aways. Seeing no blood or snow for quite a distance ahead i turned around to locate the point where i had last seen the track of the deer, and out of the corner of my eye, about 50 feet away,downhill, i saw a dead deer. This was about 70 yard away from where the first evidence of a hit deer was on the snow.

I went down to it, and saw a hole in the ribs. I figured the hole on the other side was evidently further back, but when i rolled the deer over the hole on the other side was in the ribs too. I was quite puzzled, but happy i had found the deer so close. When i opened the deer up, what i saw was the bullet hit both lungs, damaged them severly, and was a pass through. However, there was a big hole in the diaphragm, and the stomach which leaked stomach contents into the chest cavity. Somehow these stomach contents were the predominate thing that leaked out the two holes through the ribs, and made it seem the animal was gut shot. I am guessing a piece of a rib went flying through the stomach, and the breathing of the deer sucked the stomach comtents into the chest cavity and out of the bullet holes. This stuff also seemed to 'plug' the holes, and kept most of the blood in the chest.

I was quite unnerved by the whole experience. Most of these pictures were taken about 22 hours afterward. The one of the deer in the timber was taken before the shot. Here is an image of the tracks recorded by the gps.



The truck is at the top. I shot from the place showing me staying in one spot for a time. The deer was near the guts waypoint when shot. My path when i walked downhill looking for the deer is to the left. The deer was laying close to the waypoint End Blood. The stack of tracks there indicates the time that went by whilst i dressed the deer.