well here in Mass 12/19/09 it was 18 degrees on the TV @ about 5AM I knew this day was going to special because this would be the first official Full day with my flint lock fowler. I knew at this time of year the odds where against me not only have the deer drives been going on everywhere but it was cold, windy and we would be getting a bad snowstorm later in the afternoon the news said so Iw as worried about my gun not firing.
my gun is a Dave Motto 62. fowler that I bought from TOTW years ago, didn't really know what I was doing when I bought it because I ended up with a gun with a stock of almost 15" long and my absolute max length should be no more than 14 and thats with the basics of clothes on not 5 layers on top where you can barely move your arms.
I love the gun though, I load it with 80gr of swiss, mink oiled patch, home made round ball and Pierce flints which always go off. as long as I remember how to sight the gun I will shoot 6" groups at 40yds but basically I need to ignore the front sight and hold my target right on the top of the end of the barrel and thats dead on at 40, if I have my neck gaiter on then leave my head high on the stock right where it lands and use the top of the front blade sight to hit the target.
Okay, I know its cold so I get dressed in my house and head out for the 30 mile ride to south Plymouth,Mass. down the road from where the Mayflower floats. I get to my spot at about 6am just when the sky was turning blue, its very quiet with no wind unlike the past two weeks that have had up to 30 MPH gusts! finally I can hear these deer, I can hear what sounds
like hundreds of deer making noises all around me but normal sounds of the woods that keeps us all alert until you ignore one and it becomes real,, but I'll take that over what I call the deafening sounds of silence..
I sat there for 5hrs, the breeze had picked up and like everytime it always blows in the wrong direction or swirls which then begins my silent arguement with mother nature about what did I do to you, why do you do this to me everytime???
so after 5 hrs I hear a crash or that unmistaken sound of something stepping on the very edge of a frozen flooded puddle on the dirt rd,,, I turn my head the slowest I possibly can while getting my gun ready and getting my shooting fingers through the holes in my mittens and here it comes a big fat hunter trying to run but slipping and almost falling at almost every step,, OOOOHHHH GAAAWWWWDDDD!
another deer drive is upon me once again and this guy must be a shooter trying to make it to the back line in time for his shot,I've seen it so many times,,,,,, okay whatever me like every other stand hunter in these parts has been here before.. well he heads in to his left which is across the rd I'm sitting near and I say heck with it and get up and head down to the rd too to hear if they kick up anything and also make my way to my truck.
about 10 minutes later I hear boom,, then I hear the deer coming right for me, then I see it and its a small 140lb buck on a medium trott by now and its going to pass my front from left to right at about 40yds,, I bring the gun up and track it fine but my brain says NO don't shoot even though I had that fuzzy feeling that said its doable my brain said its not---> so I didn't shoot..
then all these hunters came out, don't think they believed me when I told them where it went but I don't lie maybe they are used to other hunters lieing to them to keep the deer around IDK, I'd rather be on the cool side with people despite what they shoot rather than on the bad side especially here in Mass where we all will meet up again at somepoint. so after all the stares at my fowler I decided to say my goodbye and head off to hunt some coyotes for a couple hrs.
Coyotes, its really my first time hunting spcifically for coyote, I want just one for now I want to make a quiver or a possibles bag from his hide and my wife wants a coyote head lamp and a gun/longbow rack from his paws would be cool too.
I bought one of them battery powered shaky tail things to give me an edge,, traditionally I guess its done with some hemp twine and a raccoon hat or similer but I'm not fully hardcore into the period thing yet I have alot to learn about shooting first.
set that up at about 25yds and sat there for 2hrs with my wounded rabbit call and nothing, alright I have to get to where the deer are, I havent been home all day and haven't eaten anything since the night before I'm cold and in a way looking forward to this day ending soon, it will be dark in 2.5hrs. so I decided to take a shot at a dead cedar just to check my gun and double check my sight picture, at about 35yds I held ignored the front blade and put the top of the barrel right on a dark spot on the tree and let her blow,, I hit exactly 2" high @ 12 O'clock--> this is as ready as it gets with me being a newbie and me also using a fowler.
my next spot is a cranberry bog where you park outside the locked gate which I have permission to do and then you have to walk about 600yds to the woods on the other side,, nobody pushes this area anymore because its too far for them to walk to. I do the walk and head into one spot that is an old logging rd that goes down to a pond where the cranberry farmers would suck the water out to flood the cranberrys before harvesting (now they have pump houses) anywhay when I head down this rd about 20yds I see a white flag,,,, on the hill to my right about 30yds and headed to the top which is about 45yds up. okay I know one thing this area on the right is surrounded by water and that deer when it comes back down HAS to cross this logging rd,, I take off the nifty seat that is hanging over my back and stick it right there where I stand on the edge of the rd and nestle in for a 2hr sit.
everything is quiet and the wind is perfect, blowing my scent straight down the rd where I walked in, it couldn't be any better and this even allows a deer to come from behind which is the coolest sometimes most nervracking feeling you will ever feel esspecially when you know you cannot look behind you to see what exactly it is.
well just before last shooting light here she comes just I like I knew she wood, actually I was starting to think she swam across the flooded moat on the other side which is about 15' wide and 5' deep.
my heart is racing unbelievably! I think I know its me and my fowler which is kinda unproven with me never taking a deer before I'm always wondering if its the right choice but its the Dave Motto fowler's time to shine now and nothing else so I have to focus on whats happening ,,,,
I see the doe which looks huge about 150lbs come down towards me she stops and looks directly at me stops and then starts coming more down and dowe and down so I quickly see the opening I need to shoot through and focus on that, my fingers are out of my mitten now and the gun is up at my shoulder when she hits that opening I give her the kiss sound and she stops and when she does I pull the trigger and like it was slow motion I hear the pan go off and then booommmm! well the doe spins to the right and weaves around some saplings and she is gone,, so I said to myself what the heck just happend--> did I hit her???
I go up to the spot with my flash light and I see no hair or blood I walked around on the top of the hill and the other side where there is a frozen pond at the bottom and found no deer,,,,,, I walked away saying to myself that I know I did everything right but I could of flinched on the heavy trigger pull and pulled the barrel down to shoot low,, something that plagues me with the flint locks sometimes until I snap myself out of doing it.
so today 12/20 we are getting hammered with snow, I'm the type who is relentless on finding a wounded deer but again I know I didn't see anything that would tell me the deer was hit, my only other deer was hit with a SB 56. renegade and that doe went straight down with a neck shot,, not sure their reactions on body shots in the lung area with a round ball. but i'm chalking it up to a miss, I'm thinking I might of lifted my head to see the hit and then pulled the barrel down when pulling the trig and shot low..
well thats my 1st full day with the fowler story,, I will stick with it and in fact ordered another one from caywood with the right size stock.
thanks for reading this long story,, I hope I didn't misspell to much.
happy holidays, Ted in Massachusetts.
my gun is a Dave Motto 62. fowler that I bought from TOTW years ago, didn't really know what I was doing when I bought it because I ended up with a gun with a stock of almost 15" long and my absolute max length should be no more than 14 and thats with the basics of clothes on not 5 layers on top where you can barely move your arms.
I love the gun though, I load it with 80gr of swiss, mink oiled patch, home made round ball and Pierce flints which always go off. as long as I remember how to sight the gun I will shoot 6" groups at 40yds but basically I need to ignore the front sight and hold my target right on the top of the end of the barrel and thats dead on at 40, if I have my neck gaiter on then leave my head high on the stock right where it lands and use the top of the front blade sight to hit the target.
Okay, I know its cold so I get dressed in my house and head out for the 30 mile ride to south Plymouth,Mass. down the road from where the Mayflower floats. I get to my spot at about 6am just when the sky was turning blue, its very quiet with no wind unlike the past two weeks that have had up to 30 MPH gusts! finally I can hear these deer, I can hear what sounds
like hundreds of deer making noises all around me but normal sounds of the woods that keeps us all alert until you ignore one and it becomes real,, but I'll take that over what I call the deafening sounds of silence..
I sat there for 5hrs, the breeze had picked up and like everytime it always blows in the wrong direction or swirls which then begins my silent arguement with mother nature about what did I do to you, why do you do this to me everytime???
so after 5 hrs I hear a crash or that unmistaken sound of something stepping on the very edge of a frozen flooded puddle on the dirt rd,,, I turn my head the slowest I possibly can while getting my gun ready and getting my shooting fingers through the holes in my mittens and here it comes a big fat hunter trying to run but slipping and almost falling at almost every step,, OOOOHHHH GAAAWWWWDDDD!
another deer drive is upon me once again and this guy must be a shooter trying to make it to the back line in time for his shot,I've seen it so many times,,,,,, okay whatever me like every other stand hunter in these parts has been here before.. well he heads in to his left which is across the rd I'm sitting near and I say heck with it and get up and head down to the rd too to hear if they kick up anything and also make my way to my truck.
about 10 minutes later I hear boom,, then I hear the deer coming right for me, then I see it and its a small 140lb buck on a medium trott by now and its going to pass my front from left to right at about 40yds,, I bring the gun up and track it fine but my brain says NO don't shoot even though I had that fuzzy feeling that said its doable my brain said its not---> so I didn't shoot..
then all these hunters came out, don't think they believed me when I told them where it went but I don't lie maybe they are used to other hunters lieing to them to keep the deer around IDK, I'd rather be on the cool side with people despite what they shoot rather than on the bad side especially here in Mass where we all will meet up again at somepoint. so after all the stares at my fowler I decided to say my goodbye and head off to hunt some coyotes for a couple hrs.
Coyotes, its really my first time hunting spcifically for coyote, I want just one for now I want to make a quiver or a possibles bag from his hide and my wife wants a coyote head lamp and a gun/longbow rack from his paws would be cool too.
I bought one of them battery powered shaky tail things to give me an edge,, traditionally I guess its done with some hemp twine and a raccoon hat or similer but I'm not fully hardcore into the period thing yet I have alot to learn about shooting first.
set that up at about 25yds and sat there for 2hrs with my wounded rabbit call and nothing, alright I have to get to where the deer are, I havent been home all day and haven't eaten anything since the night before I'm cold and in a way looking forward to this day ending soon, it will be dark in 2.5hrs. so I decided to take a shot at a dead cedar just to check my gun and double check my sight picture, at about 35yds I held ignored the front blade and put the top of the barrel right on a dark spot on the tree and let her blow,, I hit exactly 2" high @ 12 O'clock--> this is as ready as it gets with me being a newbie and me also using a fowler.
my next spot is a cranberry bog where you park outside the locked gate which I have permission to do and then you have to walk about 600yds to the woods on the other side,, nobody pushes this area anymore because its too far for them to walk to. I do the walk and head into one spot that is an old logging rd that goes down to a pond where the cranberry farmers would suck the water out to flood the cranberrys before harvesting (now they have pump houses) anywhay when I head down this rd about 20yds I see a white flag,,,, on the hill to my right about 30yds and headed to the top which is about 45yds up. okay I know one thing this area on the right is surrounded by water and that deer when it comes back down HAS to cross this logging rd,, I take off the nifty seat that is hanging over my back and stick it right there where I stand on the edge of the rd and nestle in for a 2hr sit.
everything is quiet and the wind is perfect, blowing my scent straight down the rd where I walked in, it couldn't be any better and this even allows a deer to come from behind which is the coolest sometimes most nervracking feeling you will ever feel esspecially when you know you cannot look behind you to see what exactly it is.
well just before last shooting light here she comes just I like I knew she wood, actually I was starting to think she swam across the flooded moat on the other side which is about 15' wide and 5' deep.
my heart is racing unbelievably! I think I know its me and my fowler which is kinda unproven with me never taking a deer before I'm always wondering if its the right choice but its the Dave Motto fowler's time to shine now and nothing else so I have to focus on whats happening ,,,,
I see the doe which looks huge about 150lbs come down towards me she stops and looks directly at me stops and then starts coming more down and dowe and down so I quickly see the opening I need to shoot through and focus on that, my fingers are out of my mitten now and the gun is up at my shoulder when she hits that opening I give her the kiss sound and she stops and when she does I pull the trigger and like it was slow motion I hear the pan go off and then booommmm! well the doe spins to the right and weaves around some saplings and she is gone,, so I said to myself what the heck just happend--> did I hit her???
I go up to the spot with my flash light and I see no hair or blood I walked around on the top of the hill and the other side where there is a frozen pond at the bottom and found no deer,,,,,, I walked away saying to myself that I know I did everything right but I could of flinched on the heavy trigger pull and pulled the barrel down to shoot low,, something that plagues me with the flint locks sometimes until I snap myself out of doing it.
so today 12/20 we are getting hammered with snow, I'm the type who is relentless on finding a wounded deer but again I know I didn't see anything that would tell me the deer was hit, my only other deer was hit with a SB 56. renegade and that doe went straight down with a neck shot,, not sure their reactions on body shots in the lung area with a round ball. but i'm chalking it up to a miss, I'm thinking I might of lifted my head to see the hit and then pulled the barrel down when pulling the trig and shot low..
well thats my 1st full day with the fowler story,, I will stick with it and in fact ordered another one from caywood with the right size stock.
thanks for reading this long story,, I hope I didn't misspell to much.
happy holidays, Ted in Massachusetts.
