Our Muzzleloader season opens on Saturday
 

Our Muzzy season is finally going to be here on Saturday. If it is anything like our regular rifle season it will be a long 11 days. This past rifle season which was in November was the worst I have ever seen here in Missouri. The drought and blue tongue took its tow on the herd and it really has me concerned about next year. Oh well, it is what it is!! The Mountaineer is ready for the the first mature buck or doe to walk out and let the fun begin!!

Good luck onetohunt. You have the right mindset for the conditions. Take the first one you see. I wish I had.

good luck to you. Hope you fair well in your hunts.

Best of Luck to you onetohunt! Shoot em when you see em and dont forget the Pics and story.
(BP)

Best of luck! Ours here in NY opened yesterday on 12/10 and runs thru 12/18. Pouring rain on and off all day yesterday prevented me from getting out - but I will def be out giving it a good effort. This ahs been THE worst year hunting here that I have seen in 35 yrs! Not sure if it's due to coyotes - which seem to be everywhere here or what.

IIRC MDC claimed a 10% harvest increase (over the last 10 years) on urban hunts and i saw a 8% increase listed but now the AP link is dead on the MissouriwhiteTails forum.

We stopped by a meat processor near Crawford/Franklin counties. His freezers were packed and most were smaller bucks. Very few does and very few bucks scoring over 125.

Ive seen better years for sure.

BTW Now its called the "alternative method" season. Now they allow CF pistols too and the traditionalists are bent. :D

Yeah I seen those totals also GM, but I wonder about them. They said at one time that they thought that we lost about 20,000 deer to blue tongue, makes me wonder?? I know that the lower half of the state had a better deer kill than the northern, and it was mostly does from what the conservation agent told me. This alternative weapons replacing muzzleloading is different as well. Missouri still has to many gun seasons as it is, we need to get back to the way it used to be, one gun season and it would be moved back to the week of Thanksgiving and one buck during bow season and it would make our herd a little bit better than it is. I'm just afraid we will really pay for the blue tongue the next two years. Good luck to you this weekend GM, shoot a good one!

Good Luck to you also

I didn't see a single doe on opening weekend (rifle season) which was odd. I saw plenty of buttons, spikes and some mature bucks with smaller racks. Some did have good sized bodies but the racks seemed small to me. Im a meat hunter so racks mean nothing. Im much happier with a fat doe or two in the freezer.

This weekend i will be giving a half hearted attempt at a doe. Ive already got a good amount of meat but if i see a big doe, i think i can make some more room. Im going out mostly just to help a friend fill a tag with a ML and to relax.

Our muzzleloader season opens Saturday here in Southern Maryland. Hopefully, I'll have better luck than what I had during shotgun season. I saw one doe and that was it. Sooner or later things will turn around.

Came home empty handed by choice. My buddy saw a nice buck but it was a bit further than he felt comfortable shooting. I had a nice doe in my scope for several minutes on Sunday night just before it got dark.

I could see two more near her but they looked really small. I let them all eat in peace and just watched. I didn't feel like taking a chance on tracking that close to sunset and leaving a yearling to fend for itself. I shot a "mommy" one year and never felt good about it.

Ive already have meat in the freezer and i really did not have a NEED to fill a cheap $7 tag. Another friend got a monster buck with his bow but he doesn't care for venison except summer sausage so ive got a bunch more on its way.

good for you I commend you . I could have taken a shot during bow season for a doe with a 1 year old and chose not too. I also would not feel good about leaving a 1 year old fawn on without a mother even if the fawn may be adopted by another doe in the family unit .

I applaud your decision GM54-120, given that your meat needs are met.

But you should never feel bad about taking a doe accompanied by young so long as the fawns are beyond the spot stage. Many detailed studies have confirmed that the survival and growth rates of fawns whose mother is killed is no different than that of those whose mother is not killed. They do just fine. And there's the added advantage that a button buck whose mother is killed will remain in the area beyond his first year rather than dispersing a few miles away as would otherwise be the case.

Actually, excepting that the meat yield is less and depending on the carrying capacity of the land, it's not a bad idea to take those six month old doe fawns rather than their mother. The adult deer will likely have twins the following spring. When she is shot there will be three fewer deer in the woods. That's good if the herd is at carrying capacity. But taking the fawn sometimes makes more sense.

Semisane

We always try to harvest what we feel is abundant each year. This year we saw very few doe prior to the season and almost no "family units" of does with juveniles. The year i took the doe and a button, we saw many "groups".

I would have been very tempted if i had 2 tags and needed meat but in this case i felt heard management was better served by letting them go. I could have taken the bigger doe easily but it was cool to watch her though the scope and know she was mine if i wanted her.

The NULA laid down the hammer of Thor earlier with the Parker BE further than ive ever shot a deer with a ML. My desire to test out that load had been satisfied during the rifle season, so i really didn't have any other reason to take another.

Good man...

I agree Semi. For the most part most of these young deer are going to be on their own anyway by year end. They will still group up but no longer really need the help of the momma doe, just mainly for companionship.

I did not kill my buck this weekend but did shoot a good mature doe. I shot her with my Knight Mountaineer and a TMZ 290 grain bullet in front of 115 grains of BH 209. I did not get much of a blood trail for about 10-15 yards but the last 25 yards a blind man could have followed. The bullet went in just behind the front should and came out just behind the 2 rib on the opposite side. She was slightly quartering to me. It was about the size of a silver dollar on the entry and the exit. It was unreal.