Weekend Hunt 11/7/2009

Saturday marked the first day of muzzleloading season in my part of North Carolina.  I had never hunted with a Muzzleloader before, so I purchased one off a guy online for 75 bucks.  It is a CVA Buckhorn 209 Magnum.  He also threw in a Simmons scope.  Anyway, I got the gun setup (had to get scope rails from Walmart, made by T/C that will work with CVAs) and took it to Dicks Sporting Goods to get it bore sighted.  The guy working at Dicks told me that he wasnt able to bore sight it because of the height of my scope.  Since it is a muzzle loader with large iron sights on it, I had to get the 1" see through scope rings so that the scope would clear the rear open sight.  Anyway, I went back home and attempted to bore sight it myself my bracing the gun on a chair, taking the internals out of it so that I could look down the bore, and drawing a dot on a piece of paper as far away as my apartment allowed.  I lined the bore up with the dot, then I put the scope cross hairs on the dot.  I had never shot this gun, but decided that it was as close as I was gonna get.

So, I got out in my Viper Classic stand on Saturday morning at about 6:00.  When I was getting dressed at my car, I saw another guy drive up, notice me, and decide to go hunt somewhere else (gotta love public land).  The weather was nice and cold (about 33 degrees) and the sky was very clear.  I put some Tinks 69 off to one side, and a different esterous scent I had out in front of me.  I did this so that I could see which one the deer paid more attention to.

About 45 minutes after sunup, I had seen nothing but a Coyote, so I hit my bleat can.  Almost immediately, a small doe charged out of the woods and began grazing on the other side of a thicket (common theme in my hunting).  I decided to let her walk because she was too small. 

About 15 minutes later, I saw another doe come in from my left, but she was on a mission and I didn't get a chance to get a shot off.

Finally, about 9 o'clock, a Doe presents me with a nice 60 yard broadside shot.  I put my crosshairs on her, squeeze the trigger, and am at once enveloped in smoke.  I wait for the smoke to clear, and can't see the deer.  I thought maybe I had hit her and she had run off a little ways.  Anyway, I settled back for the 30 minute wait before I got out of my stand to go track her, and I see her again.  Nothing has happened to her, she just comes back to where she was standing before.  I rush to get my powder and sabot loaded in my muzzle.  I turn around to grab my primers and kick them off my stand!  With the deer watching me, I lower my gun and start climbing out of the tree.  By the time I got to the ground and retrieved my primers, she was gone.

I climbed back up in the tree and decided to just sit and wait a little longer because I was in no rush to get back to the house.  Nothing happened until about 10:30, when a doe came running through the woods to my right.  I attempted to hit the doe bleat again to slow her down, but she wasn't interested.

At about 11:00, I saw a nice buck come in from the left.  He was wandering in and out of some bushes, so I hit the doe bleat to get him to come my way.  Me did, and presented me with a 50 yard broadside shot.  I took the shot, and again missed.  This time the deer didn't run away or anything.  Infact, he never broke stride.  It was almost like the deer was deaf or something. 

Madder than hell, I reloaded and hit the buck grunt to try and get him to come back my way.  He never did, so I ended up taking a shot at a tree about 50 yards away (to unload my gun).  I climbed down and went to find out where my sabot had gone.  Turns out my scope was way way off and I was shooting about 2 feet high.

Discouraged, I walked back out of the woods, went home, ate some lunch, and got in the bed for about 2 hours.  I went back out to the same area with my bow, but picked a different tree closer to where I had seen the two deer.  I ended up putting out some more Tinks 69, but saw nothing that afternoon.

It was one of those days where I wondered why I hunt in the first place.  But, some days are just like that and you need to keep pushing through.  One major thing that bothered me about this hunt is that the buck did not even notice the esterous.  It seemed to in no way effect him which is strange because it should have at least gotten him excited.  I wonder if there are just too many does in the area and he doesn't have any competition...

At least I got to see some deer, and I learned at the earlier you get there and park your vehicle, the less likely someone will decide to hunt in your same area. :)  Hopefully I can get my muzzle loader sighted in some time this week and I will be able to shoot one with it.