Spencer_Murphy
36 Cl.
During my state's early muzzleloader season in October I took two does and a buck with my .75 Cal Brown Bess. I also took a 10' fall.... I hunted throughout my states general firearms season and no deer... didnt even see one. Now with my state's muzzleloader season back in I decided to head out for another chance at deer. I decided this time to use a rifle. I had decided to use my original 1862 dated 1853 Pattern Enfield from the American Civil War. I wanted to use some "old iron". I had no luck on the 23rd of December but found good luck on Christmas Eve. About 7am a decent sized buck came out of a thicket and began its trek towards me. I was on top of a large dirt bank about 90 yards from him. I let him get into 80 yards and decided I would take the shot. It felt great to touch that rifle off and that .575 slug met its mark and the buck jumped and landed right into a large puddle of water.... after dragging him back out I called it a day and began to dress and quarter it. Today Christmas day I decided to make another attempt and once again found success. This morning I chose a different spot behind an old cherry tree that fell over last month. It sits on a well traveled trail and I figured my odds would be good. Once again a deer began walking up the trail a large doe. I readied my rifle but then another doe came out of the thicket and another and another... 6 does in total no more than 40 yards from me. I aimed at the largest doe and fired. Right behind the shoulder and down she went. There was a doe standing beside the one I shot. This doe fell as well, flopped around and then after about 40 seconds rolled over and stopped moving. I was pretty confused by this and when I walked up to the two does I was suprised to see that my bullet had passed through both deer. The Minié Ball entered the first doe behind the shoulder and passed through then entered the second doe at the left side of the skull and then out the back of the skull on the right. I was quite amazed as this was only the third time I had taken my old Enfield hunting and only the second time I had fired it at a deer. So now I have three more deer bagged and I have limited out on Bucks for the muzzleloader season. I would in the future like to use the proper ammunition for my Enfield a proper Pritchett Ball Paper Cartridge. I also have been entertaining the purchase of a Kibler Colonial. My Bess is nice but is a smoothbore. My Enfield is nice but its an original piece same as my Mortimer Shotgun. My Flintlock Renegade is nice but is more of a "modern" rifle and same with my H&A Underhammer. A Kibler Colonial in either .54 or .58 has been floating around all the same in my mind.
