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bigtom
Guest
i hunted two states this year and had a great time hunting with my muzzleloader .i got a nice 3x4 in nevada and my dad got a nice 5x4. then we hunted idaho and we got another 5X4 none of the bucks were 30" but they were nice for hunting with a muzzleloader . i did have one bad experience this year i shot a buck it was about 120 yds away. it was on the ground when the smoke cleared , so i reloaded and started to walk up to it . i was about 20 yds from the deer and it started to drag itself off , well i was out of breath (from the steep climb) and shaking all over when i was going to finish it off. so i thought well its back is broken and it wont go anywhere i will get about 10 feet away and shoot it in the neck so i dont ruin the meat . well that was a big mistake . as i got closer to it the deer wobbled up to its feet and started to run off , well i tried to aim the best i could . i shot as it went into some junipers . i missed , i tracked this deer over 5 ridges and then lost the blood trail, it was leaving alot of blood then it slowly stopped.iknow the bullet passed completly through the deer because it had blood on both sides , the exit wound was about 4-6" down from the top of its back . i think the bullet passed very close to its spine and paralysed it for a few minutes . with the angle of the steep hill maybe i should have aimed lower .anyway i lost the deer , but the next one we filled it full of lead infact after we had shot it twice it clooapsed in a small ravine and my dad said just shoot it again so i shot it and it jumped up and ran another 150 yards down a hill and colapsed (good thing i shot it again). my one word of advice is this ,if a deer is even breathing or looks somewhat alive shoot it again until your sure it is dead. i wouldnt have believed what had happened if i wasnt there to see it myself .
