kbgibby
Threebeards
Nothing like waiting til the last minute. Still had my anysex late muzzle tag to fill but wasn't able to get away until 3:00 Saturday. Got into the woods about 3:45 and hadn't gone 100 yards down a ridge when I heard noise on the next ridge over.
Pretty soon, a group of does comes trotting down the ridge with a couple of bucks chasing. Then they swung around and went back up across the slope headed east. Too far and too many trees for a shot.
I worked down the ridge a little further and came across several beds, so I stopped and scanned the two ridges to the south. At first I thought it was a clump of cedar branches but the more I stared, I was sure it was a deer. Got the binos out and could see antlers but couldn't tell how big. Guessed the distance at about 90 yds and had a small tree with a notch at perfect gun height.
After the shot, he didn't move for a bit, then scrambled out of sight over the ridge. Looked at my watch and it was 4:15.
I climbed down and up the ridge and it was covered with deer beds, including one with a puddle of blood. I scanned a couple of trails leading out for blood and didn't see any, then looked straight down and there he was ... about 70 feet down the slope. At least he was stopped by a couple of trees from going another 30 feet on down to the creek bottom. Called a friend to come help and it still took a couple of hours to get him hauled up and out and here he is.
Not huge but a really symmetrical rack and long brows. I've gotten a wider buck during shotgun but this is my first with the muzzle loader (plus two does). Pretty good way to cap the season!!
Threebeards
Pretty soon, a group of does comes trotting down the ridge with a couple of bucks chasing. Then they swung around and went back up across the slope headed east. Too far and too many trees for a shot.
I worked down the ridge a little further and came across several beds, so I stopped and scanned the two ridges to the south. At first I thought it was a clump of cedar branches but the more I stared, I was sure it was a deer. Got the binos out and could see antlers but couldn't tell how big. Guessed the distance at about 90 yds and had a small tree with a notch at perfect gun height.
After the shot, he didn't move for a bit, then scrambled out of sight over the ridge. Looked at my watch and it was 4:15.
I climbed down and up the ridge and it was covered with deer beds, including one with a puddle of blood. I scanned a couple of trails leading out for blood and didn't see any, then looked straight down and there he was ... about 70 feet down the slope. At least he was stopped by a couple of trees from going another 30 feet on down to the creek bottom. Called a friend to come help and it still took a couple of hours to get him hauled up and out and here he is.
Not huge but a really symmetrical rack and long brows. I've gotten a wider buck during shotgun but this is my first with the muzzle loader (plus two does). Pretty good way to cap the season!!
Threebeards
