I' ve shot many deer with gun/bow, but this is my first with a muzzleloader. Not a big buck, but I' ll take it for my first ML kill. Here' s the problem though - I' m not sure I' m really happy with the hunt. With 15 minutes of light left, I see a deer running through the woods on three legs - his right front hoof was dangling, I assumed he was shot by another hunter and decided I needed to put him out of his misery. The buck stopped in front of my stand about 60 yards out, behind a tree of course. As he stepped out into my shooting lane, I pulled the trigger and the deer went down on his chest and flipped over, got up and flipped again and went down. I figured, cool, good shot, he' s dead. He then picks his head up and starts looking around. I was amazed. I quickly loaded another round and shot but apparently missed because he didn' t move at all. I was out of rounds at this point. A few minutes later he got up and tried to run. I waited until dark and backed out. After a two hour wait, my wife and I went in and found him dead not far from where I saw him last. Yes, I' m proud of this deer as my first ML deer, but not too proud about the way the deer came to me and feeling that I was obligated to finish him off. See, my wife was at the barn tending to the horses and saw the deer running on three legs through the pasture and then into the woods. Her and her friend ran to the woods to try and push the deer my way hoping I would finish it off. Well I did. Thank God for a great wife who pushed the deer to me, helped track it, gut it, and drag it back to the truck. And she doesn' t even hunt! If I rattled it in and skillfuly took this animal, great. But that' s not the case. Not real sure why I feel bad about it as if the hunt didn' t count because of the way it came to me and was wounded badly and all, but I feel it was not a true hunt if there is such a thing. I guess I just feel bad for this deer. That' s never happened to this extent. I don' t know, it' s a deer. Thank God my 2.5 season slump is over finally.