SDBugler
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,159
I wanted to thank everyone on this forum for all their help. I am a veteran rifle and archery hunter but just recently took up muzzle loader hunting this year. I spent many hours going through threads on this sight learning as much as I could about muzzle loaders and it saved me lots of time compared to learning by trial and error.
This all started about 4 years ago when I decided I wanted to try hunting with a muzzle loader. I started applying for a late season muzzle loader deer tag here in South Dakota. I didn't actually get my first muzzle loader rifle until about two years ago when I traded in a 300 win mag for a Knight Bighorn. I had won the 300 win mag at our RMEF banquet and since I already owned a 300 win mag and a 300 RSAUM I didn't need another one in the gun cabinet. Due to other pursuits I never got around to actually shooting the gun though and it sat in the box for a couple years.
Finaly, after four years of applying I drew the late season muzzle loader deer tag. It was time to get serious about this new sport. I spent countless hours on this forum reading posts about powders, bullets, cleaning methods, tips, etc. After a couple trips to the range I found a set-up that worked well in my gun: 110 grains of triple-7, pushing 300 grain hornaday SST's. I shot two back to back 3-shot groups of 1" at 100 yards!! I was extremely pleased with this considering it was with open sights.
The first weekend of the season I was able to locate several nice 145 - 165 class whitetail bucks. Unfortuneatly they were on private land and didn't want to cross onto public land. I did pass up several smaller bucks at less than 100 yards but had my sights set on something a little larger.
The next weekend family commitments kept me busy on Saturday but I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to give it one final effort. Sunday morning I returned to the same area only to find the larger bucks still hesitant to cross the fence. After receiving a lot of pressure from the rifle season a couple weeks before they were well educated on where they were safe and where they weren't. I decided to try a different location the next day and went to an area where I had harvested several nice mulie bucks. Monday was filled with fog with less than 200 yard visibility and I had to resort to wandering around hoping to bump into a buck. I did jump a huge non-typical buck that I am guessing would score between 190 - 200. He was a main frame 170 class buck with about 25" of extras. I was extremely dissapointed after missing a running shot at 80 yards. The fog finally cleared up late in the afternoon and I was able to spot a couple other nice bucks but not enough time left to get within range.
Tuesday morning was scheduled to be my last chance for this hunt. I needed to be back home that night and with the holidays approaching I would not be able to get out again before the buck season closed at the end of the year. After about an hour of sitting behind the spotting scope, I managed to catch a glimps of a nice buck crossing over a ridgeline about a mile away. I knew he was headed into an area with a lot of thick cedars and it would be difficult to find him again. However, with only a couple hours left of my hunt I decided to try for him anyway. After getting into the draw that he dropped into, I slowly worked my way throught the cedars. I hadn't gone 200 yards when I jumped the buck from his bed. He bolted out of the draw but made that typical mule deer mistake and stopped at the ridge line and looked back before cresting the top. I only had one short second to take the shot. I estimated him at 100 yards and put the sights right on him and pulled the triger just as he was dropping over the other side. I heard the bullet hit and saw a splatter of blood where he had last stood. I ranged the shot after the fact and it was 119 yards.
Unfortuneatly, I had rushed the shot knowing he was going to bolt, and ended up hitting him low and a little too far back (right at the bottom of his diaphram). However, he left a good blood trial and I was able to track him to his bed and make a fatal follow-up shot.
I wanted to thank all of you who have posted to this forum. It was a great resourse for me and I know I wouldn't have been able to pull this off without the information that I learned here.
Brian
This all started about 4 years ago when I decided I wanted to try hunting with a muzzle loader. I started applying for a late season muzzle loader deer tag here in South Dakota. I didn't actually get my first muzzle loader rifle until about two years ago when I traded in a 300 win mag for a Knight Bighorn. I had won the 300 win mag at our RMEF banquet and since I already owned a 300 win mag and a 300 RSAUM I didn't need another one in the gun cabinet. Due to other pursuits I never got around to actually shooting the gun though and it sat in the box for a couple years.
Finaly, after four years of applying I drew the late season muzzle loader deer tag. It was time to get serious about this new sport. I spent countless hours on this forum reading posts about powders, bullets, cleaning methods, tips, etc. After a couple trips to the range I found a set-up that worked well in my gun: 110 grains of triple-7, pushing 300 grain hornaday SST's. I shot two back to back 3-shot groups of 1" at 100 yards!! I was extremely pleased with this considering it was with open sights.
The first weekend of the season I was able to locate several nice 145 - 165 class whitetail bucks. Unfortuneatly they were on private land and didn't want to cross onto public land. I did pass up several smaller bucks at less than 100 yards but had my sights set on something a little larger.
The next weekend family commitments kept me busy on Saturday but I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to give it one final effort. Sunday morning I returned to the same area only to find the larger bucks still hesitant to cross the fence. After receiving a lot of pressure from the rifle season a couple weeks before they were well educated on where they were safe and where they weren't. I decided to try a different location the next day and went to an area where I had harvested several nice mulie bucks. Monday was filled with fog with less than 200 yard visibility and I had to resort to wandering around hoping to bump into a buck. I did jump a huge non-typical buck that I am guessing would score between 190 - 200. He was a main frame 170 class buck with about 25" of extras. I was extremely dissapointed after missing a running shot at 80 yards. The fog finally cleared up late in the afternoon and I was able to spot a couple other nice bucks but not enough time left to get within range.
Tuesday morning was scheduled to be my last chance for this hunt. I needed to be back home that night and with the holidays approaching I would not be able to get out again before the buck season closed at the end of the year. After about an hour of sitting behind the spotting scope, I managed to catch a glimps of a nice buck crossing over a ridgeline about a mile away. I knew he was headed into an area with a lot of thick cedars and it would be difficult to find him again. However, with only a couple hours left of my hunt I decided to try for him anyway. After getting into the draw that he dropped into, I slowly worked my way throught the cedars. I hadn't gone 200 yards when I jumped the buck from his bed. He bolted out of the draw but made that typical mule deer mistake and stopped at the ridge line and looked back before cresting the top. I only had one short second to take the shot. I estimated him at 100 yards and put the sights right on him and pulled the triger just as he was dropping over the other side. I heard the bullet hit and saw a splatter of blood where he had last stood. I ranged the shot after the fact and it was 119 yards.
Unfortuneatly, I had rushed the shot knowing he was going to bolt, and ended up hitting him low and a little too far back (right at the bottom of his diaphram). However, he left a good blood trial and I was able to track him to his bed and make a fatal follow-up shot.
I wanted to thank all of you who have posted to this forum. It was a great resourse for me and I know I wouldn't have been able to pull this off without the information that I learned here.
Brian
