First Muzzleloader Deer

On Saturday morning, I went to my buddies land to go hunting.  Sunrise was right around 7:30, so I got in the woods about 6:30.  I had been hunting for the previous four mornings and exhaustion was starting to catch up with me.  I climbed a less than optimum tree that my friend pointed me towards.  He told me that the previous year, he had seen quite a few deer in the area.  As the minutes marched on towards sunrise, I started to dose off.  I was sitting in that dream like state between consciousness and unconsciousness, vaguely wondering what time it was and being glad that I had remembered my harness that morning.  As the sun started to rise, my hopes sunk.  The tree that I was in had a branch that covered approximately 30% of my effective shooting area.  The "field" I was hunting was probably 15 yards by 30 yards, and I could maybe see 15 yards by 20 yards due to the branch.

About 7:30 I started hearing movement.  The cracking of a limb brought me outta my semi-conscious state like a gun shot.  All of a sudden I could hear deer all around me.  The area I was hunting was so thick that I could not see very far, but I could definitely hear deer moving around.  The way I generally tell deer movement from squirrel movement is by the cadence.  If it sounds like something walking at a steady pace, its more than likely a deer.  If the sound of the movement jumps around, I generally chalk it up to being a squirrel.

Shortly after sun rise, I did a quick buck grunt sequence and waited.

About 7:45, I saw antlers weaving through the brush.  My heart started racing.  Slowly the buck worked his way towards me.  He stopped about 30 yards away.  I might could have taken a shot, but I decided to wait.  He started sniffing the air and looking my direction.  I was absolutely certain I was busted.  Still, I decided to wait and not take the shot.  After an agonizing 2-3 minutes of the buck sniffing the air and not moving, he must have decided that everything was okay.  In fact, he got on the exact trail that I used to go to my stand and followed it up into the field.  He presented me with a perfect 15 yard broadside shot and I laid the hammer down.

Since I was hunting with a muzzleloader, I was immediately engulfed with smoke.  I could barely make out a tail bounding through the woods.  But, I noticed that the movement was erratic, like the deer was stumbling.  I listened as the gun report died down and I could hear the deer making a semi circle loop back around the where he started.  I could hear him falling down periodically.

I reloaded my muzzleloader (all except the primer of course) and worked my way out of the tree.  My buddy called me because he heard the shot and came down to help me track the deer.  I went to the spot that I had shot the deer and found only a tiny bit of blood mixed with bone.  My heart sank.  I thought that I had just wounded the deer.  In the tree, I was certain that I had made a good shot, but on the ground it was beginning to look differently.

My buddy and I followed along the route of kicked up leaves for about 30 yards before we finally saw blood.  Not just a little blood, a blood trail that a blind man could have followed.  About 30 more yards down the blood trail and I found my deer.  A 2.5 year old 7 point.

I was slightly disappointed at the rack size when I found the deer.  For some reason, they always look bigger when your in a tree...

I am happy with the hunt though because I have finally killed my first deer with a muzzleloader!