This is my deer for the 2009 season. I got him on Nov. 26th, Thanksgiving day. I am limited to one deer per year unless I draw an extra doe tag during the lottery draw. I had no luck on the draw this year.
I was sneaking through the upper edge of a small canyon not far from where I live, and shortly after daylight, I spotted this buck slipping up out of a small brushy side draw and moving toward my location. I was out in the open and had no cover close by so I decided to hold still and wait him out rather than risk spooking him. When he topped out of the draw, he stopped next to a small clump of brush and began looking around. I had a clear shot so I put a .490 cast ball backed by 80 grains of 3f into his lungs. The distance was 70 yards. He wheeled around and ran back down into the draw about 60 yards before going down for good. The entire event happened very fast.
I had this rifle gun built by Don Yerks of Mile Run Muzzleloaders. It is a close copy of the No. 48 Jacob Dickert rifle featured in Shumway's ROCA, volume 1. However, I chose a 44 inch barrel over the original 39 inch and went with iron furniture instead of brass. It has the Chambers Christian's Spring lock on it. Don did an outstanding job on the gun, especially on the relief carving. The gun's profile makes for an excellent off hand shooter. I have had this gun for just over three years now and this is the second deer taken thus far with it.
As a side note, the draw where I got this buck is the very same one where my daughter got her first tom turkey six years ago at the age of 12. She has since graduated and moved away, but she came home later that day for Thanksgiving dinner. She got a big kick out of the connection between the two events. It was neat to reminisce with her about her bird. Had I not taken this deer, we may have not even spoken much about hunting during her visit.
Happy New year to everyone and I wish for success to all in the coming 2010 hunting seasons. They say you can't live in the past, but I sure spend a lot of time trying to do just that.
Take care...Steve
I was sneaking through the upper edge of a small canyon not far from where I live, and shortly after daylight, I spotted this buck slipping up out of a small brushy side draw and moving toward my location. I was out in the open and had no cover close by so I decided to hold still and wait him out rather than risk spooking him. When he topped out of the draw, he stopped next to a small clump of brush and began looking around. I had a clear shot so I put a .490 cast ball backed by 80 grains of 3f into his lungs. The distance was 70 yards. He wheeled around and ran back down into the draw about 60 yards before going down for good. The entire event happened very fast.
I had this rifle gun built by Don Yerks of Mile Run Muzzleloaders. It is a close copy of the No. 48 Jacob Dickert rifle featured in Shumway's ROCA, volume 1. However, I chose a 44 inch barrel over the original 39 inch and went with iron furniture instead of brass. It has the Chambers Christian's Spring lock on it. Don did an outstanding job on the gun, especially on the relief carving. The gun's profile makes for an excellent off hand shooter. I have had this gun for just over three years now and this is the second deer taken thus far with it.
As a side note, the draw where I got this buck is the very same one where my daughter got her first tom turkey six years ago at the age of 12. She has since graduated and moved away, but she came home later that day for Thanksgiving dinner. She got a big kick out of the connection between the two events. It was neat to reminisce with her about her bird. Had I not taken this deer, we may have not even spoken much about hunting during her visit.
Happy New year to everyone and I wish for success to all in the coming 2010 hunting seasons. They say you can't live in the past, but I sure spend a lot of time trying to do just that.
Take care...Steve
