Early Muzzle Loader Season

[linus69]

The early muzzle loader season for antlerless dear started on the 18th here in PA and runs till next Sat. I got a 2yr old button buck this morning at 8AM on our land.
Here it is a short while later hanging in my buddies back yard, we had it dressed out and in the ice box by noon.





Paul

[halifax]

Ours doesn't start till 1 Nov, count'n the days. Already shot the rifle to check the scope, had to make sure it works!! Ok what ever excuse I can think of. Hope the Jinma doesn't get jealous, but hubtibg comes first.

I'm going up to Maine during Thanksgiving to catch the last week of hunting up there. They have horses compared to our Va deer.

Not sure if you've seen the site, but this gets ya ready for the season:
www.huntingfootage.com/index.php

Aubrey

[linus69]

This is my favorite season Aubrey, you can start out in the 20`s in the morning but by afternoon you can be in the 60`s. We have two muzzle loader seasons here, the early when you can use a scoped inline muzzle loader using a 209 shotgun primer. Then there is the late season when only a non scoped flintlock Daniel Boone type gun can be used, that gun can be a challenge.
The gun I use this week is a stainless steel Savage with a Bushnell Trophy view 3by 9 40mm scope, I use a Hornaby 45cal XLP hollow point bullet and it really works well. Yesterdays deer went down within 50 feet of where it was hit and expired almost immediately.
They are talking about snow flurries tonite, I`m not mentally ready for snow yet, but come it will.

Paul

[halifax]

I've got nothing special, CVA inline 45 cal. Using a 3 X 9 Bushnell. I had been shooting 150 grains of Pyrodex pellets and 164 Powerbelt bullet. But this year I'm going down to 100 grains and using Triple 7 powder. Only 2 inch difference at 150 yards, so it saves the shoulder a little and the Triple 7 is less corrosive. I use the Powerbelt bullets since they are close to the full bore. The furtherest yet, is only 80 yards, but I want the capability of 150,,,, just in case. We have the early black powder season, that you can use whatever you like for black powder. Our regular season starts the 15th of Nov this year.

Aubrey

[halifax]

Thats 165 grain Powerbelt bullet, fat fingers today

Aubrey

[halifax]

Well,
I had a good start to the Black Powder season! Had a chance at a 5 point, but must have had bad powder, cap went off and that's it. He just looked at me and walked off.

About a hour later, out of the blue this one walked down the path and stopped right in front of my tree stand. Couldn't have asked for a better place 18 yards away, 8 is better than 5 right? Any way, hope this is going to be a good season, its started off great.

Its not the horses that the northern states have but not bad for our area.
Aubrey

[Ranch Hand]

Nice kill Aubrey.

Ronald

[linus69]

Nice buck Aubrey, a text book shot thru the vitals there, looks like you had a beautiful day weather wise too. I have some CVA guns, I have their Kentucky rifle and a pair of their Kentucky pistols. I got them as kit guns about 25yrs ago, I used to shoot the hell out of them just plinking , I used Pyrodex powder and they shot very well.
Don`t you love it when the damn gun doesn`t go off, the flintlock is the worst for that, I`m surprised the early settlers didn`t starve to death. That season starts here on Dec 26 and you don`t need to wear any orange clothing. They aren`t worried about hunting accidents that season, I guess because the flintlocks rarely go off.
I went out for pheasant on Sat. and had a great half day hunt, I go with the same guys for about 9yrs now. I belong to a local sportsman hunting/gun club and we have 350acres of ground for 50 members and stock the pheasants.

Paul

[stumppuller]

Umm... What's an "Ice Box", Paul?

[3RRL]

Nice going Aubrey,
That's a good lookin buck you got there.
I need to get a muzzle loader to stretch out our season. Rifle season is only 4 weeks long and comes early. My youngest son Wes came up for the last weekend hunt but we didn't see his buck.
Maybe next year? Of course I'd seen him and a couple other bucks several times but passed on them, saving them for the kid. This is 4 years in a row now that I've passed on shooting them on my property because it's a small local herd. We have mule deer out here in the West.
Rob-

[halifax]

The main reason I started Black Powder is 2 more weeks of hunting. Not to mention its 2 weeks of only a handful of hunters out. The deer are not jumpy, or gun shy,,, yet. We had all of the stars align this year, no moon out for the beginning and we had a couple of weeks of cold weather prior to the season. I think it jumped started the rut a little early from the normal. The couple of bucks I saw were Doe crazy. Noses to the ground, not really caring about anything else. I didn't mind a bit. Matter of fact, I'm thinking about Archery season. It comes in before Black powder, so I would have 4 weeks extra, without the hunting pressure. ;D

Aubrey

[linus69]

These are my two muzzle loaders, and they are two different ends of the spectrum, for the early season we can use a modern inline that always fires. I use a Savage which can shoot all types of powder including smokeless. But you must weigh your loads on a scale to use smokeless powder, I shoot 42grains.



For the late flintlock muzzleloader season I use a Lyman Great Plains Hunter that I altered the stock on. It came with the cresent moon stock with the brass trim, very pretty over the fireplace but impossible to shoot. I cut it off and used a junior shotgun recoil pad in it`s place, I also replaced the steel sights with fiber optic sights, no scopes allowed, and I replaced the wood ramrod with a graphite one. I shoot 110grains of black powder with good groupings at 100yds.



Paul

[captinjack]

Shot a small doe the first day of archery season under the pear tree in my back yard. I hunt out of a double bull blind that is absolutely incredible.

The next time I got to hunt was last week when I stopped by the WV cabin on the way back from a trip to Omaha. I no sooner got settled in the blind when a mature momma doe came in to the pear tree with two young bucks in tow. She walked straight down to my blind and if it wouldn't have been for the screen cover over the windows, I think she would have poked her head inside.

I was already back at full draw and when she turned to leave, I arrowed her thru both lungs at about 3 feet! WOW. What a rush.

I drug her over to the block and tackle game hoist and dressed her enough to remove the liver. This I quickly cut into 1/4" strips and put them in salt water to soak the blood out.

Returning back to the deer, I finished gutting her and skinned her out. It was now only 4:30 with plenty of time to celebrate with adult beverages. I got down to 25 that night which was ideal for firming the meat.

My son Andy just called last night and reported that he shot a nice 6 pointer Monday evening so that makes six archery deer kills on the property so far this season. Rifle season starts the Monday before Thanksgiving and I can't wait........2 weeks vacation in deer camp. It doesn't get much better than that for this ole boy.

[halifax]

I'm headed back to the woods this weekend, this time I'm looking for a doe. Unless I get a monster walking by... I have to be careful, if I shoot too many bucks in black powder season (3 max for the season), then regular season I'll be watching everyone else!!

Aubrey

[linus69]

Rifle season opened in PA on the 1st, I didn`t see a deer all day, I heard a lot of shooting in the distance all morning but saw nothing.
Yesterday was shaping up the same way for me when a little after 4PM this nifty 8 pointer came strolling by and it was a wrap.





Paul