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Successful last week of PA flintlock, 3 kills

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peter hawbaker

40 Cal.
Joined
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PA's late flintlock season is one of my favorite hunts. I have lived in Alaska for over a decade now, and despite bagging most species of Alaska's big game, I still try to get back to my home state of PA every year for flintlock season. I have been hooked since I killed a doe with my TC Renegade when I was 16. This year I was able to make it back to hunt the last week and a half. My season got off to a slow start, missed a bedded doe I spotted and spent half an hour sneaking into position on, only to overestimate the range and shoot right where I was aiming, an inch or so over her back. The second week ended without being able to redeem myself.
On Monday of the last week, I was still hunting up a ridge and spotted a coyote approximately 70 yards away watching me. He was off my right shoulder, and I never expected to be able to get a shot off on him. Every coyote I ever encountered put it in high gear upon sighting me. I slowly pivoted without moving my feet, slowly raising and cocking the rifle when it was in line with my body. I was in an awkward position, feet facing away from the coyote when I took the shot. He took off running at the shot, but despite the odd position the shot felt good. After a moment or two I heard brush crashing in the direction he ran, and I was able to follow an easy blood trail to where he lay. He ran 100 yards or so despite being shot through the heart with the .54.



The next day, Tuesday, some friends and family and I were putting on a drive on State Game Lands. I was a stander on this particular drive and had just seen a large group of deer heading up the mountain, but I could not get a shot because of thick saplings and brush along with their speed. Just as they disappeared from sight, I saw another deer sneaking through the trees about 40 yards below me. I glimpsed a flash of an antler, and he stopped with his chest behind some trees, with his head and neck sticking out. I counted three points on one antler, and put the front sight right at the base of his neck. At the shot, he dropped where he stood, I had hit right where I had aimed. He was a small buck, a 5 point, but as anyone who has hunted PA flintlock season knows, a legal buck on public land in the late flintlock season is a trophy. I was happy with him !



I hunted Wednesday and Thursday without getting any shots. On Friday morning, I was still hunting when I saw the sunlight on a deer's back about two hundred yards up the mountain above me. I stopped, and soon saw two deer headed my way. I waited, and the lead doe eventually gave me a good shot at about 60 yards. She ran, but I was confident I had made a killing shot. I found her piled up dead about 50 yards away. She was a big doe, among the biggest I have killed.



All in all, it was my best flintlock season to date, and I cant wait for next year !
 
That's really neat! Wow that season will be hard to top.
Good shooting and fine game taken..
A hardy congratulations. :thumbsup:
Love the lines of your rifle.
Back home with family and friends is the icing!
Hang on to that lucky horseshoe. :grin:
 
Thanks guys, friends and family is the big part of the reason I enjoy the late flintlock season so much, whether we are putting on drives or just sneaking around I rarely see anybody else (outside our group) in the mountains even on public land. None this year, despite spending 4 or 5 solid days on public land. The rifle is a .54 I built on a Haines precarved stock, with a triggerguard that was listed as being for a Jeager or transitional rifle on Track of the Wolf, no longer available. It has a pleasing ergonomic curve to it, and allows plenty of room for a gloved trigger finger. I shortened the barrel from 38 inches to just under 36 inches, the maximum length that will still fit in my SKB case for airline travel.
 
Congrats!....you sound like you would fit right in our merry band of late season flintlock camp misfits! :hatsoff:
We prowl around 2G in the Sproul state forest.....you guys anywhere nearby?
We dont ever see anyone either.
 
Congrats!You couldn't ask for a better hunt :thumbsup: That is a big ole doe for sure :grin:
 
Great story and photos. Congratulations! :hatsoff:

Coyotes can be some tough critters. Shot one with a bow solidly through both lungs and that thing went rolling and growling down the hill about 40 yards and into a big tall thick bunch of weeds. I bet it was in there for 10 seconds growling and flopping as I could see the tops of the weeds thrashing around. Let's just say that when I got down in the dark, I was extremely careful going into that bunch of weeds to find it! :grin:
 
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