cannonball1
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2014
- Messages
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- 472
Seems most of the members are from the East and hunt Whitetails. Would love to see your Mule Deer photos and some information on your hunt?
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Mule Deer Hunting
- Thread starter cannonball1
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
I have hunted mule deer out here for about 40 years now. That's scary!
Probably shot half of them with a homemade flintlock , and a few with a percussion in the early days.
Never did take pictures of the deer I shot
Mainly bucks, as there are always enough bucks to go around, but saw the does as more important breeding stock.
Early on, had a .54 Great Plains with a 1 in 48 twist. Some say they didn't come in that pitch but mine was.
With good tight woven pillow cover of linen, that you can't see daylight through, and lubed with deer tallow, my load was 60 grs for target and doubled it for hunting.
Both shot as good, but the heavier charge was an inch or two higher at 100 yards.
Later I put together a Jim Chambers 'Mark Silver' kit, in .58.
Jim advised 70 grs as a good load.
I tried it and it worked. .562" ball and good patch and lube as above. (never used a short starter with it)
I don't know if I ever recovered a ball. all seemed to exit.
Ranges from maybe 25 yards up to 125. Would not shoot further.
Used that one 9 or 10 years straight to get the feel of how it was back then. Don Getz barrel. 42".
On the farm here we were rotten with mulies as well as whitetail until the winter of '98.
That killed half of them off, then what with more predators moving in, cats, some wolves and such, the numbers went down hill for years.
Coyotes too. they could run them down in deep snow.
Only the last couple of years have we had them show up much here again.
about 20 on the river flat below the house this afternoon.
I put out some spoiled old wheat for them this time of year, as snow has been a bit constant. Not bad, but there. Been cold last week, down to minus 44 without counting wind chill.
A few I also shot with a .45 I made.
Bought a lock and stock blank and made the rest.
It worked too, but you had to be careful where you put that smaller ball.
I rifles that one 1 in 45" barrel is 43" N Carolina sort of style if I remember right!
Best,
R.
Probably shot half of them with a homemade flintlock , and a few with a percussion in the early days.
Never did take pictures of the deer I shot
Mainly bucks, as there are always enough bucks to go around, but saw the does as more important breeding stock.
Early on, had a .54 Great Plains with a 1 in 48 twist. Some say they didn't come in that pitch but mine was.
With good tight woven pillow cover of linen, that you can't see daylight through, and lubed with deer tallow, my load was 60 grs for target and doubled it for hunting.
Both shot as good, but the heavier charge was an inch or two higher at 100 yards.
Later I put together a Jim Chambers 'Mark Silver' kit, in .58.
Jim advised 70 grs as a good load.
I tried it and it worked. .562" ball and good patch and lube as above. (never used a short starter with it)
I don't know if I ever recovered a ball. all seemed to exit.
Ranges from maybe 25 yards up to 125. Would not shoot further.
Used that one 9 or 10 years straight to get the feel of how it was back then. Don Getz barrel. 42".
On the farm here we were rotten with mulies as well as whitetail until the winter of '98.
That killed half of them off, then what with more predators moving in, cats, some wolves and such, the numbers went down hill for years.
Coyotes too. they could run them down in deep snow.
Only the last couple of years have we had them show up much here again.
about 20 on the river flat below the house this afternoon.
I put out some spoiled old wheat for them this time of year, as snow has been a bit constant. Not bad, but there. Been cold last week, down to minus 44 without counting wind chill.
A few I also shot with a .45 I made.
Bought a lock and stock blank and made the rest.
It worked too, but you had to be careful where you put that smaller ball.
I rifles that one 1 in 45" barrel is 43" N Carolina sort of style if I remember right!
Best,
R.
Here in CA, anything west of the I5 is considered a blacktail. Anything east of the Sierra crest is considered a mule deer. Everything in between is classified as a hybrid. None of that geography matters to the deer. I've seen deer tagged on the eastern Sierra grazing on the western side and they regularly migrate back & forth. But coastal deer are noticeably smaller than Sierra deer. They mostly behave the same, other than those high Sierra mulies & hybrids will migrate down when the snow hits.
By and large, my hybrid mulie hunts have been done with unmentionables for various reasons. One of which is just how dry things are during the early hunting seasons we have here. I know the risk is very low. But I still have a hard time spitting out sparks directly over tall, dry cheat grass and <20% humidity.
But I've hunted blacktail during the late season on the coast. I've taken 3 bucks out of that same spot for the last 4 years. Before that, I tried with a recurve but never could get close enough to draw back on one. I've told friends about that spot and, after hearing the details, every one of them hims & haws and otherwise gets psyched out of coming along. For some reason, hiking in several miles over brushy and extremely rugged terrain with rampant poison oak throughout and fearless (un-huntable) black bears just doesn't fit most people's ideas of fun. Oh well. More for me.
By and large, my hybrid mulie hunts have been done with unmentionables for various reasons. One of which is just how dry things are during the early hunting seasons we have here. I know the risk is very low. But I still have a hard time spitting out sparks directly over tall, dry cheat grass and <20% humidity.
But I've hunted blacktail during the late season on the coast. I've taken 3 bucks out of that same spot for the last 4 years. Before that, I tried with a recurve but never could get close enough to draw back on one. I've told friends about that spot and, after hearing the details, every one of them hims & haws and otherwise gets psyched out of coming along. For some reason, hiking in several miles over brushy and extremely rugged terrain with rampant poison oak throughout and fearless (un-huntable) black bears just doesn't fit most people's ideas of fun. Oh well. More for me.
Patocazador
54 Cal.
Photos please.
They're buried in the forum here somewhere. One was fairly recent -- December, I think.
This was from the post I made for a buck I took in 2021:
I managed to take this 4X4 mulie Sunday afternoon above the Snake River in Washington with my .62 T/C Hawken and .595 ball in front of 90 gr of Goex 2f. I spotted him from almost a mile away but couldn't tell if he was a legal 3 point, so I sneaked in and sat just above him on the rimrock. He was bedded about 25 yards below me with a doe and fawn. I couldn't get far enough over the edge without spooking the doe, so I just waited him out. After about 2 1/2 hours the doe and fawn got up and started to feed, but the buck just stayed put. Finally about 45 minutes later the sun hit him and he stood. Luckily I managed to stay awake and alert in the sun and made the shot good. He dropped off the edge of his bed and lay about 30 feet below in the scree. He is a pretty good sized deer for this area of public land. The second picture shows the buck as he lay, his bed near the shade center right, and where I sat just to the left of the bushes on the rimrock near the center of the picture. I'm always solo, so these guys take a toll on the body getting them out. I finally got the last load in the truck Monday afternoon!
I managed to take this 4X4 mulie Sunday afternoon above the Snake River in Washington with my .62 T/C Hawken and .595 ball in front of 90 gr of Goex 2f. I spotted him from almost a mile away but couldn't tell if he was a legal 3 point, so I sneaked in and sat just above him on the rimrock. He was bedded about 25 yards below me with a doe and fawn. I couldn't get far enough over the edge without spooking the doe, so I just waited him out. After about 2 1/2 hours the doe and fawn got up and started to feed, but the buck just stayed put. Finally about 45 minutes later the sun hit him and he stood. Luckily I managed to stay awake and alert in the sun and made the shot good. He dropped off the edge of his bed and lay about 30 feet below in the scree. He is a pretty good sized deer for this area of public land. The second picture shows the buck as he lay, his bed near the shade center right, and where I sat just to the left of the bushes on the rimrock near the center of the picture. I'm always solo, so these guys take a toll on the body getting them out. I finally got the last load in the truck Monday afternoon!
cannonball1
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2014
- Messages
- 620
- Reaction score
- 472
Nice buck.
Nice buck & great story. 2.5 hours of waiting with them just below you -- that's incredible!This was from the post I made for a buck I took in 2021:
I managed to take this 4X4 mulie Sunday afternoon above the Snake River in Washington with my .62 T/C Hawken and .595 ball in front of 90 gr of Goex 2f. I spotted him from almost a mile away but couldn't tell if he was a legal 3 point, so I sneaked in and sat just above him on the rimrock. He was bedded about 25 yards below me with a doe and fawn. I couldn't get far enough over the edge without spooking the doe, so I just waited him out. After about 2 1/2 hours the doe and fawn got up and started to feed, but the buck just stayed put. Finally about 45 minutes later the sun hit him and he stood. Luckily I managed to stay awake and alert in the sun and made the shot good. He dropped off the edge of his bed and lay about 30 feet below in the scree. He is a pretty good sized deer for this area of public land. The second picture shows the buck as he lay, his bed near the shade center right, and where I sat just to the left of the bushes on the rimrock near the center of the picture. I'm always solo, so these guys take a toll on the body getting them out. I finally got the last load in the truck Monday afternoon!
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