Daver
PMA Member
My son Mark tried the early muzzleloader season this year for the first time. He had some close calls on previous hunts this weekend and last, but was able to close the deal on this guy last night. We looked for him briefly last evening, but did not find blood right on the scene or within the first 30-40 yards so we came back this morning. He only went about 80 yards and once the trail started it was pretty easy to follow, but a little tricky to pick up at first.
He was shot within 20 yards of one of our "fake trees", thank you 6x6 for that great idea! Those things have really been helpful to provide a focal point for the deer and you can place them right where you want them. A quick check of trail cam pics shows that this guy appears to have been a recent "move-in". We probably have 5-6 pics of him right by where he was shot, but all within the last 3-4 weeks, we don't think we had him on cam this summer. (He has a couple of stickers of his left beam base that let's us distinguish him from other similar 8 pointers.)
He was very excited to find this buck this morning, I think he thought he blew it last night once we did not pick up any blood and was pretty antsy last evening, but once he saw him he was sky high! Now on to some serious bow hunting...
Oh...disaster averted earlier in the day. Using that same muzzleloader I was dispatching a feral cat in one of of our barns and it didn't fire! The cap popped, but no BOOM! A second cap and the cat was history, but had I not used that gun earlier in the day it probably would have misfired for him that evening. Better to be lucky than good I guess.
Note - he was wearing orange, as required, when he was hunting, we took a lot of pics and he took it off for some of them. Also, we waited until we were done taking pics to place the tag on the animal. Maybe it's just me, but I like the pics a lot more when there isn't a piece of yellow plastic on the antlers.
He was shot within 20 yards of one of our "fake trees", thank you 6x6 for that great idea! Those things have really been helpful to provide a focal point for the deer and you can place them right where you want them. A quick check of trail cam pics shows that this guy appears to have been a recent "move-in". We probably have 5-6 pics of him right by where he was shot, but all within the last 3-4 weeks, we don't think we had him on cam this summer. (He has a couple of stickers of his left beam base that let's us distinguish him from other similar 8 pointers.)
He was very excited to find this buck this morning, I think he thought he blew it last night once we did not pick up any blood and was pretty antsy last evening, but once he saw him he was sky high! Now on to some serious bow hunting...
Oh...disaster averted earlier in the day. Using that same muzzleloader I was dispatching a feral cat in one of of our barns and it didn't fire! The cap popped, but no BOOM! A second cap and the cat was history, but had I not used that gun earlier in the day it probably would have misfired for him that evening. Better to be lucky than good I guess.
Note - he was wearing orange, as required, when he was hunting, we took a lot of pics and he took it off for some of them. Also, we waited until we were done taking pics to place the tag on the animal. Maybe it's just me, but I like the pics a lot more when there isn't a piece of yellow plastic on the antlers.
Last edited:
Mark was killing time sitting on one of the grain bins during the midday and scouting with his binos and I was working inside the nearby cabin when he texted me..."cat SHOOT". :grin: 
