My season from hospital to first ML kill
12-22-2012, 02:14 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 74
My season from hospital to first ML kill
Well, third season hunting with my muzzleloader and hadn't had a good shot on anything last two years... busted one nice buck in the snow last year and no shot on another right before him.
This year we did something different. We planted a field owned by our church with soy, rye, turnips etc, and went out for an early urban season. The other new thing was I was hunting from a tree stand for the first time.
Well... should have read the manual on that one.
Got to the top of the ladder and then everything got fuzzy and the next thing I knew I was falling through the air thinking 'this is going to hurt'. I knew my feet were below me, good, then they hit, good, then my rear end followed very quickly after, BAD. LONG hour later..
So... couple of months later... and lots of therapy blah blah blah... and a few failed attempts with the hunt from a truck
FINALLY got back on my feet pretty well and hunting from the GROUND from hereon-out.. went out to some woods close to my house with a buddy who had some luck close-by. Group came up the ravine in front of me and then I lost sight of them as they were moving up towards my buddy's position. Then a doe came up the hillside 30 yards in front of me. I used the ramrod as a rest on the chair and I took aim. It was freezing and I was shivering pretty good. She spotted me, head on, pawed the ground, and I just froze. Watched her as she walked away from me a bit, and she took a look back at me and I fired. The rod in my off hand and adrenaline really helped stabilize my sight and I shot. Didn't see what happened through the smoke. I started reloading right away and 10 seconds later my buddy shot. Well... a heard of about 6 deer came running right at me from his position and I was then rushing trying to get my bullet loaded. The deer were like 'oh crap!!' and almost spun around in a circle, but by the time I got my stuff together, it was too late.
So 20 minutes later we texted each other and I went down to find my deer basically just flopped over down the hillside.. I don't think she ran at all. Basically looked DRT to me:
My first ML kill!
And the result from my T/C impact, and all the helpful advice on these boards, using bh209 90gr with gold dot 250gr:
Whew... I worked at this season, and learned some important lessons.
READ THE MANUAL, WEAR A HARNESS AND USE IT UP THE LADDER UNTIL YOU'RE IN THE CHAIR, IF YOU SCREW UP, GET BACK ON THAT HORSE AND RIDE IT... IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO! Merry Christmas everyone!
This year we did something different. We planted a field owned by our church with soy, rye, turnips etc, and went out for an early urban season. The other new thing was I was hunting from a tree stand for the first time.
Well... should have read the manual on that one. Got to the top of the ladder and then everything got fuzzy and the next thing I knew I was falling through the air thinking 'this is going to hurt'. I knew my feet were below me, good, then they hit, good, then my rear end followed very quickly after, BAD. LONG hour later..
So... couple of months later... and lots of therapy blah blah blah... and a few failed attempts with the hunt from a truck
FINALLY got back on my feet pretty well and hunting from the GROUND from hereon-out.. went out to some woods close to my house with a buddy who had some luck close-by. Group came up the ravine in front of me and then I lost sight of them as they were moving up towards my buddy's position. Then a doe came up the hillside 30 yards in front of me. I used the ramrod as a rest on the chair and I took aim. It was freezing and I was shivering pretty good. She spotted me, head on, pawed the ground, and I just froze. Watched her as she walked away from me a bit, and she took a look back at me and I fired. The rod in my off hand and adrenaline really helped stabilize my sight and I shot. Didn't see what happened through the smoke. I started reloading right away and 10 seconds later my buddy shot. Well... a heard of about 6 deer came running right at me from his position and I was then rushing trying to get my bullet loaded. The deer were like 'oh crap!!' and almost spun around in a circle, but by the time I got my stuff together, it was too late.
So 20 minutes later we texted each other and I went down to find my deer basically just flopped over down the hillside.. I don't think she ran at all. Basically looked DRT to me:
My first ML kill!
And the result from my T/C impact, and all the helpful advice on these boards, using bh209 90gr with gold dot 250gr:
Whew... I worked at this season, and learned some important lessons.
READ THE MANUAL, WEAR A HARNESS AND USE IT UP THE LADDER UNTIL YOU'RE IN THE CHAIR, IF YOU SCREW UP, GET BACK ON THAT HORSE AND RIDE IT... IF YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO! Merry Christmas everyone!
Last edited by JW; 12-25-2012 at 11:27 AM. Reason: reformatted so it fit our computer screens
12-22-2012, 02:39 PM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 491
Congratulations, Glad you are doing better too, Years ago when the ol baker stand was the only one out there I would go twenty to thirty feet up without a belt and not think a thing about it.I would'nt think of it now. I hope if someone on this site still gambles on their health by hunting without a safety belt learns a lesson from this.
12-22-2012, 09:54 PM
#6
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Springfield, MO
Posts: 74
Thanks all - yes, please do wear those harnesses even going up into the chair... it's just too easy to slip or whatever. There were 4 other guys in rehab at the hospital with me and I was the luckiest. There were a couple of guys that weren't going to be hunting again, let alone feed themselves. I've just got too many mouths to feed so I'll stick with ground hunting from now on.
12-23-2012, 07:37 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Northern Chautauqua Co. N.Y.
Posts: 2,976
Congrat's on your first MLer Deer, I remember mine like it was yesterday. And good to see you make a nice recovery from your fall, that must have been scary.
I wish you all the best on your future hunts and thank's for the advice on treestand safety, I hope others take your advice.
(BP)
I wish you all the best on your future hunts and thank's for the advice on treestand safety, I hope others take your advice.
(BP)
