Wisconsin Smokpole Season
11-29-2003, 09:36 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: East Central Wisconsin
Posts: 162
Wisconsin Smokpole Season
The WI muzzleloader season starts Monday. I have bow/rifle hunted for 20 years in Wisconsin but this will be my first season with a ' loader. Just wondering how many of you partake in this type of hunting in WI and where in the state you go, success ratios, etc, etc, etc.
11-29-2003, 10:16 AM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 2,540
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
I' ll be out with my Hawkins 54 Cal (traditional style) on Monday. I' ve have taken Deer with it in the past but Im really looking forward to this Monday. During the Bow season I have seen two large Bucks that were always out of range or in too thick of cover. If they made it throught the gun season and I planned this out well I may be lucky.
Good luck to you Yellowlab man.
Good luck to you Yellowlab man.
11-29-2003, 12:16 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 2,540
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
Labman, Your signature line, Eat more Coot.
You ever try them?
When I was a marsh rat, made my own decoys, boats etc, I used to take a bunch of them, simmer them in a large pot of olive oil and a marinara type sause for a couple of hours. When the meat started to fall off the bones, it was done.
Very good eating.
You ever try them?
When I was a marsh rat, made my own decoys, boats etc, I used to take a bunch of them, simmer them in a large pot of olive oil and a marinara type sause for a couple of hours. When the meat started to fall off the bones, it was done.
Very good eating.
] Kinda like beaver[>:]
11-29-2003, 06:30 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: East Central Wisconsin
Posts: 162
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
Coot or mudhen are a type of waterfowl. They need to run along the surface of the water for some time before being able get airborne. They are not very desireable when it comes to table fare. I chose " eat more coot" as my signature line afetr reading it on a DU bumper sticker years ago...kind of made me chuckle. I don' t shoot or eat them
12-01-2003, 04:07 PM
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 2,540
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
Well with 20+ mph winds and gust to 35 I got blown out of the tree by 11am.
I tried still hunting but with all the wind caused movement it was really hard to focus on anything.
My wife is having minor surgery on her hand tomorrow so I will not be out hunting for at least five days. I don' t hunt the weekends but maybe I' ll have a chance with the Hawkins next week.
I tried still hunting but with all the wind caused movement it was really hard to focus on anything.
My wife is having minor surgery on her hand tomorrow so I will not be out hunting for at least five days. I don' t hunt the weekends but maybe I' ll have a chance with the Hawkins next week.
12-02-2003, 10:33 AM
#8
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
This year I used my new CVA Mountain Stalker in .54 caliber. I bought the rifle when they came on sale at Bass Pro Shop for $39.95. A really great rifle so far. I shoot 85 grains of T-7 with a wonderwad, .015 cotton pillow tick patch and a Speer .530 roundball. There is a stiff recoil with this load, but it is very accurate. I took three does this season.
Where I live, the does are getting so thick they are really a problem. I have a friend who called me three days before the T-zone hunt. He wanted some of them thinned because he said he has to fence his garden and even then they are busting the deer fence down. As he talked to me on the phone, he said he could count 18 deer in his yard.
So I went over there on the first Thurday of T-zone and hunted his cedar grove. I took two deer. One at 60 steps and one at 50 steps. The first one dropped where it stood and the second managed to run about 15 yards. On the final Sunday of T-zone I shot a huge doe on my property. She was 45 yards away, and managed to run about 45 yards before she dropped. The strange thing is, that roundball hit that big rib right behind the front shoulder, smashed that and pushed it into the lungs, and then the ball headed straight up and took a chunk of spine out of her. How she managed to run with a broken spine is still a mystery. When I skinned her, I pulled her in half actually.
I still have my bow buck tag to fill, so I have been waiting for the wind to die down a little before I climb back into my tree. Good luck people....
Where I live, the does are getting so thick they are really a problem. I have a friend who called me three days before the T-zone hunt. He wanted some of them thinned because he said he has to fence his garden and even then they are busting the deer fence down. As he talked to me on the phone, he said he could count 18 deer in his yard.
So I went over there on the first Thurday of T-zone and hunted his cedar grove. I took two deer. One at 60 steps and one at 50 steps. The first one dropped where it stood and the second managed to run about 15 yards. On the final Sunday of T-zone I shot a huge doe on my property. She was 45 yards away, and managed to run about 45 yards before she dropped. The strange thing is, that roundball hit that big rib right behind the front shoulder, smashed that and pushed it into the lungs, and then the ball headed straight up and took a chunk of spine out of her. How she managed to run with a broken spine is still a mystery. When I skinned her, I pulled her in half actually.
I still have my bow buck tag to fill, so I have been waiting for the wind to die down a little before I climb back into my tree. Good luck people....
12-02-2003, 06:54 PM
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ridgeland Wisconsin
Posts: 276
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
Hey Folks
This will be my first year with a smokepole also.
I Orderd my first ML and am expecting delivery tomorrow 12-03-03. Its a Lyman Great Plains Hunter, .50 Cal. cap lock with 1 in 32 twist. I got all my supplies bought and am hoping to get an accurate load worked up before this weekend arrives. I have a doe tag saved for it. I am realy looking forward to getting a life time of use out of it.
Jerry
This will be my first year with a smokepole also.
I Orderd my first ML and am expecting delivery tomorrow 12-03-03. Its a Lyman Great Plains Hunter, .50 Cal. cap lock with 1 in 32 twist. I got all my supplies bought and am hoping to get an accurate load worked up before this weekend arrives. I have a doe tag saved for it. I am realy looking forward to getting a life time of use out of it.
Jerry
12-02-2003, 08:06 PM
#10
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 21,193
RE: Wisconsin Smokpole Season
Thats an excellent rifle you have there Turkey Addict. A friend of mine shoots one of them and the groups he gets is fantastic. He shoot Pyrodex and a big conical out of it because of the 1-32 twist. I forget what he said his powder charge was but if it were me I would start at 70 grains and work up from there. I am sure it will come in real fast. Good Luck deer hunting....