• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

First Flintlock Deer

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

68K20

32 Cal.
Joined
Jan 31, 2018
Messages
12
Reaction score
15
Yesterday was the last day I would be able to hunt in the PA late season. I hunt 1 or 2 days a week but the weather hasn't been the greatest and I haven't seen a buck in a while.

Friday's hunt I saw about 20 deer. We had about an inch of dry creaky snow on the ground. I was still hunting through some of my favorite places in NE PA but the deer were tight in the thick. I couldn't walk quietly enough and every group I bumped into saw me before I saw them.

So Saturday I decided to hunt the bottom of a patch of laurel I have seen deer in every time out. I brought my climber to sit on the edge of the bench where the tracks show they have been crossing. Walking in from the top of the mountain I bumped a group in the dark. Usually the deer are down low and move up in the morning to the thick blueberry&Oak bushes. I was concerned the deer might be on their way up earlier than usual.

I get 20 yards from the tree I'm going to climb and sure enough, deer jump up everywhere. I guess they bedded there for a change.

I decided to climb the tree anyway and see what happens. I was about a mile from the nearest road in a heavily traveled spot so why not.

Daylight came, and by 9 I saw nothing. I decided to come down and hunt the top.

I was slowly working my way up the ridge when I saw a deer coming down towards me about 150 yards away. It was a little wet spot were I was, the dirt was like expanded icicles with crunchy snow so I couldn't move. I took a knee as best I could with the climber, cocked the gun and got ready.

The deer was coming down at a hard angle that if not interrupted would pass just to my right. It stopped once to look and listen, seemed to be slightly pushed from the top. When it started trotting again I could see it had antlers, then I got excited.

I set the trigger kneeling in the open. He got past a little brush and into an opening 50 yards or so away and stopped for another look. I think he looked at me, exposed in the open, but I'm not sure. That's when the gun went off!

He dropped at the shot struggling just a little. It was steep where he was and he slid on his side downhill about 10 feet until he wedged in some small logs. He half way grunted and then was still.

I ran up to him and it was over. I shot my first deer with a flintlock!

I had some load troubles, so the load was 75 grains swiss 2f, 530 round ball and .015 ox yoke pre lube. I wanted to shoot more but it hit were I was aiming with about 1 1/2" groups at 50. 80 grains was about 8" groups. My patches were 3 years old so I'm confident that's the problem.

Anyhow, that load seemed plenty! The ball entered at the front edge of the shoulder blade and almost came out at the last rib. The picture is exactly how he ended up, the bulging tuft of hair is the round ball. It was flattened and one side also flattened.

He's not the biggest buck but one of my favorites!
 

Attachments

  • 20200118_100049_HDR.jpg
    20200118_100049_HDR.jpg
    214.9 KB · Views: 237
  • 20200118_100433.jpg
    20200118_100433.jpg
    35.9 KB · Views: 203
  • 20200118_111102.jpg
    20200118_111102.jpg
    38.2 KB · Views: 196
  • 20200118_111105.jpg
    20200118_111105.jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 203
  • 20200118_111054.jpg
    20200118_111054.jpg
    100.3 KB · Views: 190
Sorry, I wish I knew more about the rifle. I bought it used from TOW with no real history. It was simply a nice gun for a good price.

It has a 37" green Mountain barrel, 1 in 70 twist 8 groove square bottom rifling.

Lock and Triggers are RE Davis

The gun its self is a Christian Springs/Edward Marshal pattern.

I need to keep working on it. It has a few little issues despite the fact I can reliably hit what I'm shooting at.

1. Barrel is pinned to the stock with tabs with holes. As I understand this should be slotted to allow expansion/contraction differences to not change point of impact? Probably minor.

2. Sights. I painted the front white, but I think I'm going to get a silver one. The rear honestly I want to find something similar with some adjustment. Maybe fixing problem 1 will help but my point of impact changes with the weather enough to bother me.

3. Patches. I keep the gun loaded a week or 2 at the most so I need a good, durable patch and lube that wont foul the powder. The pre lube patches seem to do this well but with a few years are not holding up. My patches thread suggests the cotton pre lubes deteriorate over time and I'm feeling those effects.

I am happy with how this load performed, but we have a muzzleloader bear season now that I will carry this for and would like to shoot a bit more powder incase a big one would show up...
 
Congrats on your first flintlock whitetail. I'm betting it will be the first of many. I agree with Walkingeagle, your load is fine as is.
 
Nice. A great feeling when it all comes together like that. Congrats. I'll be hitting it hard tomorrow for the last day, then on to Squirrels with the .32 flintlock. What part of NEPA are you in? I'm in Wyoming county just south of Tunkhannock.
 
Great accomplishment all around! You should be proud of that buck. There is something about any game taken with a flintlock that makes it special. The NMLRA has a Longhunter program that affords an "award" pin for flintlock hunting success in several categories including whitetail deer. For a few bucks, it is a nice memoir for your hunt!
 
I live between Tobyhanna and New Foundland. I was hunting public land not far from Scranton.

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I'm already looking forward to next year!
 
Back
Top