Every hunt i have ever made during a muzzle loader season up until this one, the tags in my pocket were only good for antlerless deer. This year i carried a muzzle loader tag good for any deer anywhere in the state. That was fun! It took me 12 hunts to notch the tag.
It was decided before the hunting began, that we wanted a spike buck. A doe/fawn would not be taken until January 2013. This hike began at the upper left of the tracks, and proceeded along the bottom track moving Easterly.
There were quite a few 'fresh' tracks in the snow, but i didn't see a deer until i was standing at waypoint 'shooter'. The deer was standing at waypoint forkhorn, and looking West. Binocular quickly showed me the deer off to my left was a forkhorn, so i backed up so as to get behind a tree for me to brace the rifle on. The deer was obscured by brush, so on the right side of the tree, the shot presented could have resulted in a gut hit. A move was made to the left side, but the trees and brush made the deer hard to see. It seemed i could make the shot if i stood taller to clear some branches, but the aim was way frontal. Only having a 1X scope didn't help. By now the deer was looking at me, and the wind felt almost at my back. Bracing the rifle on the tree, i noticed i was really shaking for some reason. I did the best i could, and pulled the trigger. When i recovered from the recoil, i saw the deer move to my left kinda with it's front low, and it didn't move very fast.
The load was 110g Blackhorn, 270g Deep Curl, crush rib sabot, W209 primer. The rifle was reloaded, my position marked, and i walked toward where i thought the deer was standing. Arriving there i saw no blood, but did mark the spot for reference.
Then began the search for the deer. First i walked left, and circled. Saw no blood, nor tracks running away. Began to think i missed. Went further left, and kinda zig zag. Saw no tracks running away nor blood. Moved out further, and looked. Moved a way out further, and made nearly a complete circle looking for the deer, blood, or tracks running away. Saw nothing. Decided i had missed, and looked some more, and decided to give up and go home. It seemed like i had been searching for the deer for an hour, but don't really know. Then i started to get less stoopid, and thought it might be possible that the reason i never cut tracks running away, or blood, was because the deer fell close to where it was shot. It seemed i should give it one more try before i gave up, so i went to where the gps showed me the deer was standing, and started to make a smaller circle. Then to my great joy, i spotted the dead deer. It had moved straight away, not left, and fell in about 70'. It was hit right at the front of both shoulders, a touch high. All the blood was in the chest cavity. Not a drop of blood left the deer when it moved from where it was hit, to where it fell, even though the bullet exited.
The truck was moved around to the waypoint marked pickup, and the little guy was drug down hill on a road covered with snow, and loaded. Wife wants to save the antlers; she likes the way they look.
