”˜Twas January 10th, my birthday, and I had not gotten a shot at a deer all season. The official deer season for firearms and muzzle loading guns and rifles had closed on the previous weekend. The State had extended the season for two more days for modern firearms on January 10th and 11th of the new year, and hunters could choose to use a muzzleloader on those days.
It was raining hard that morning, but I had watched the movement of the deer in the area, and they didn’t seem to move much until after noon, and moved mostly an hour before sunset. The rain let up at noon, and I headed out with my flintlock.
At about 4 p.m. as the warmer weather moved in, fog began to form in the field to the East, but the brush and the trees in the wooded area where I was waiting seem to hold the fog at bay. By 4:30 I noticed that I could just make out the edge of the woods, seventy yards away, and the light was beginning to fade with sundown coming up at 5:04 p.m.
Then I head a “blow” to the north of me, and could just see the tip of a deer’s white tail moving to my right, toward the East of where I was standing. I hadn’t moved and the wind was from the West, so I don’t know why the doe alerted, but I noticed that she seemed to stop at the edge of the field though out of my sight, having slowed to a walk and dropper her tail before disappearing. Too much brush in that direction had meant I had no shot. I was thankful that I had at least seen a deer that day.
Knowing that doe often travel in groups, I decided to get ready, taking up a firing stance and shouldering my flintlock rifle. I saw another doe moving to my left though in thick bushes, and I sighted the rifle into a clear area that would give me a shot if she kept moving. A moment later she moved into view, and I cocked my piece and touched off the rifle at about 40 yards from the doe.
She ran to my left and moved out of sight, but then I heard some crashing, and figured she was down. I reloaded, and I was going to wait, but I checked the time and I had a mere 30 minutes to darkness.
Gingerly I moved in the direction of the previous crashing noises, and only had to go a few steps to to a good view and she was clearly down.
It was good that I decided not to wait, as I finally got her prepped and out of the woods just as darkness consumed the land, and the rain came down.
(A photo hopefully will follow)
LD
It was raining hard that morning, but I had watched the movement of the deer in the area, and they didn’t seem to move much until after noon, and moved mostly an hour before sunset. The rain let up at noon, and I headed out with my flintlock.
At about 4 p.m. as the warmer weather moved in, fog began to form in the field to the East, but the brush and the trees in the wooded area where I was waiting seem to hold the fog at bay. By 4:30 I noticed that I could just make out the edge of the woods, seventy yards away, and the light was beginning to fade with sundown coming up at 5:04 p.m.
Then I head a “blow” to the north of me, and could just see the tip of a deer’s white tail moving to my right, toward the East of where I was standing. I hadn’t moved and the wind was from the West, so I don’t know why the doe alerted, but I noticed that she seemed to stop at the edge of the field though out of my sight, having slowed to a walk and dropper her tail before disappearing. Too much brush in that direction had meant I had no shot. I was thankful that I had at least seen a deer that day.
Knowing that doe often travel in groups, I decided to get ready, taking up a firing stance and shouldering my flintlock rifle. I saw another doe moving to my left though in thick bushes, and I sighted the rifle into a clear area that would give me a shot if she kept moving. A moment later she moved into view, and I cocked my piece and touched off the rifle at about 40 yards from the doe.
She ran to my left and moved out of sight, but then I heard some crashing, and figured she was down. I reloaded, and I was going to wait, but I checked the time and I had a mere 30 minutes to darkness.
Gingerly I moved in the direction of the previous crashing noises, and only had to go a few steps to to a good view and she was clearly down.
It was good that I decided not to wait, as I finally got her prepped and out of the woods just as darkness consumed the land, and the rain came down.
(A photo hopefully will follow)
LD
