Muzzle Loader Double

I haven't posted anything in a while but it hasn't been for lack of outdoor adventures. True, I haven't been hunting much lately, mostly just killing. This season has actually been ridiculously good so far. In this post I'm going to go back to the opening weekend of general gun season in Georgia.

Carey's 2010 Opener Buck

I brought a friend of mine, Carey, with me for the opener. The last time I brought him as a guest he killed a monster buck from my stand on opening morning; so his expectations were real high. We arrived to camp about Noon on Friday and since it was still muzzle loader season we sighted in our muzzle loaders for the evening hunt. I have an old in-line muzzle loader that was given me by a friend. The spring in the hammer is kind of worn out and usually the cap doesn't pop until the second try. I just haven't done enough muzzle loader hunting to justify buying a new one, yet.

Muzzle Loader Double

We headed to my lease and after dropping Carey off at my "five acre stand" I headed back to my "swamp stand" where I shot a doe the opening morning of archery. About 5 p.m. I heard a deer coming out of the thicket in front of me. It was a button buck that proceeded to pick up acorns right in front of my stand. I was sitting there watching him expecting his mommy to come out at any moment. After a few minutes it became obvious that he was by himself. The more I watched him the tastier he looked. At this property the land owner specifically told us he doesn't want us trophy hunting but to shoot as many deer as legally possible. Also, I had never shot anything with my muzzle loader. It didn't take too long to convince myself that I was going to put some tasty, tender meat in the freezer for the family. I lined him up, pulled the trigger and click; the cap didn't go off. I quickly pulled the hammer back again and gave it another try, "Kaboom!" He was down for the count.

Since it was so early I reloaded and remained in the stand. About 15 minutes later a nice fat doe came feeding her way in front of me. Once again I lined her up and click. She was smart enough to know that that sound wasn't normal. She retreated behind a tree and curiously stuck her neck out trying to see what was going on. Second try did the trick again and I made a perfect neck shot, dropping her in her tracks. I decided I better get down and start dragging before I was tempted to make the deer pile any higher.

As I began dragging them out along the creek I spooked another deer. It's a good little spot back there. I cleaned the button buck in the woods and put the doe on my hitch & haul. I'm not ashamed of shooting a small deer because my family eats venison instead of beef when I have it. We can easily eat six deer a year; but there are a lot of guys at our hunt club who don't even eat deer. When a small yearling is brought to the cleaning station it is sometimes met with curses muttered under their breath. They're hunting a different property with different rules. I'm hunting a small property that historically has had a much higher buck ratio to doe. There is very little hunting pressure on the surrounding properties and the reason the farmer leased us the property in the first place was to keep the deer population down. He's even got on us in years past because we didn't kill enough deer. Put all these factors together and I slept just fine after shooting that button buck. I slept even better after I experienced his back-straps on the grille. After all, on my Ga deer harvest record he's just another one of ten antlerless deer I'm allowed for the season.

Jacob's 2nd Seven Point Buck

After that first evening I didn't see another deer and Carey didn't see a thing the entire weekend. My brother Jacob however was hunting his big lease and put down two seven pointers and a doe. I was very happy for him because until that point he was just having to watch me haul deer back to camp. I've yet to kill a deer with my rifle this season but I have four in the freezer thanks to my bow and muzzle loader... stupid old muzzle loader, I think I might get a new one.