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Booshway |
Friday, Oct 30, I got out for the Antlerless only season in Maryland. Public land. I hunted the morning, until about 2:00 in the woods, then moved up to the fields for the evening. I sat on the edge of a cut soybean field, hiding behind a small cedar and waited for that magic last hour. I was hunting with my Ken Gahagan Hudson Valley Fowling Piece. It is 12 gauge smooth bore with a 56 inch barrel. (I loaded about 90 grains FFG, wool wad, half fiber wad, bare ball, and overshot card.) About an hour before sunset a young doe popped out 18 yards from me and never saw me. She stayed for 5 or 6 minutes, but I finally decided she was a young one, and let her walk away. About 45 minutes later a big bodied 4 point stepped out into the field. He kept looking over his shoulder. A couple minutes later 4 does came out from the bushes into the field. The buck started checking them out. The rut, or pre-rut was in full swing. This one doe wanted no part of him and trotted over to me. She was about 30 yards away, nearly broadside. Accounting for my barrel length, it would only be a 28 yard shot! There was a little bit of delay after the flash then the big boom! I was intent on not missing and held very steady on target. As I looked around the big cloud she was tearing off at full speed for the woods. The light was dimming already as I entered the woods and trails went in several directions. Finally a bit of blood on the leaves! She went about 80 yards total. I've take deer with caplock "Hawkens" with maxiballs, but this was My first flintlock deer and my first round ball deer! First time I ever shot this gun at a deer. It was a heart shot. It feels really great doing it the hard way. The weather was mid thirties overnight, so we hung it on the deck and butchered it at home on Halloween. John Vive le Roy! | ||
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Graybeard |
Very nice, congrats sir! | |||
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Booshway |
Way to go! Congratulations. I sure do like the looks of your fowler. I was rained out for the early muzzleloading season in the Cherokee National Forest. I hunted two days in it and got throughly soaked both days. I didn't see anything. This coming Saturday muzzleloading season opens in East Tenasi outside of the national forest. However, it appears that more rain might be coming then. In fact, it is still raining right now! Know what you believe in. Fight for your beliefs. Never compromise away your rights. | |||
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Factor |
'Grats! That'll make for some good eating this winter! Beer is proof that God loves us,and wants us to be happy-B. Franklin | |||
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Booshway |
Congratulation! Great job. Best regards. RH | |||
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Factor |
There's just something about taking a deer with a flintlock that nothing else can match. My last deer was with a smoothbore and ball. Congratulations on a fine hunt. *Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.* | |||
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Booshway |
Good job !!! The best thing about owning a dog is that someone is happy when you get home. | |||
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Booshway |
Congrats!! | |||
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Booshway |
Congratulations on a fine first flinter deer. Will make for many wonderful meals. My first flint animal was a ground level blond bear at 12 yards. Funny how you remember these moments. Take care Walk | |||
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Free Trapper |
Congratulations John. A fine doe taken in a fine manner! I wish you many more! "They do not live their lives 'by your leave'! They hack it out of the wilderness with their own two hands, bearing their children along the way!" - Cora Monroe - "Last Of The Mohicans" | |||
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Booshway |
Very nice. congratulaitons. | |||
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Factor |
Well done John. Which public area was the location? On the same day in the morning, I had two doe walk near me in the Patuxent River State Park hunting area, I saw the trailing one, which was out of range, first. When I brought my rifle down to set up for a shot when she got closer, the movement of lowering my barrel from vertical to shooting position spooked a mature doe very close to me and she bolted after giving a very loud "blow". I hadn't heard nor seen her, but the trailing one was a youngster, who scampered off behind the one I spooked...so I let that one be. Glad you got one! LD It's not what you know, it's what you can prove | |||
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Booshway |
Dave, I was along River Road at Seneca Creek, at the edge of McKee-Beshers. As the crow flys, it is 10.7 miles from my house. I went west into M-B in the morning, and back up to S C in the field in the evening. I set up on the edge of the field with my back to the strip of woods running along River Road. I could tell that the rut craziness was on, because after I dragged my deer out into the field to field dress it (can't field dress a deer in the woods - that would be woods dressing a deer), anyway... while I was standing out in the field in dim light, the buck and one doe were wandering around in the field,about 150 yards down, looked at me, and ignored me. That doesn't happen often in a busy public hunting area. Getting a deer on public land, from the ground, is even sweeter, because you have to be skilled to put yourself in the right place, and be just a little more clever than the other hunters. I've never been to the Patuxent River State Park hunting area. We used to hunt Green Ridge State Forest years ago. (For those who aren't familiar, at 47,560 acres, Green Ridge is the largest contiguous block of public land in Maryland, located within the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachians.) A lot of bears up there. We had one come into camp when my wife was there alone. John Vive le Roy! | |||
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Graybeard |
Sounds like a great hunt! Congrats! Experience is the best teacher, hunger good sauce. Osborne Russell Journal of a Trapper | |||
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Booshway |
Congrats to ya on a fine hunt Nothing beats the feel of a handmade southern iron mounted flintlock on a crisp frosty morning | |||
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