Success stories with muzzleloaders?

billc_sbio · 01-03-2004, 08:52 PM

I've shot a fair amount of (real) Blackpowder in various firearms, both muzzleloaders and cartridge guns.

But this year was the first time I'd ever taken a big game animal with a muzzleloader.

In my case I shot a Mule Deer (Doe I'll have to admit) with a single broadside shot, offhand, at about 100 yards.

The Deer knew I was there as I'd spooked her and she'd run up near the edge of some woods. I used a home cast 350g .50 cal. "Maxi Ball" in a Thompson Center sidelock percussion rifle.

I had been hunting earlier in the trip with a .58 cal. Flintlock round ball rifle, but that gun was so long and it took so long to prime the pan. I'd put the Flinter up for the time being.

Because this deer was at the outside edge of the range I'd sighted in this rifle for, I held right at the top of her back as I squeezed the shot off.

At the report I saw her flinch and then bolt. I reloaded and went to the spot where she was standing when I took the shot. There I found a profuse blood trail and I followed it about 150 yards to where I found the deer piled up and dead.

Upon examining the wound I was surprised to find that she'd been hit at such an angle that was different than the shot I'd taken. The bullet had entered into her front quarter, on the edge of her neck and front leg and passed through both lungs and exited just behind the off side leg, about a "perfect" shot! I was somewhat surprised that the deer had managed to travel as far as it had with this immense wound. What I imagine happened is that the deer SAW the flash and smoke of the rifle and had time to "jump the string" on me, spinning part way around before the bullet impacted.

Now, what I'd like to hear is other hunter's experiences shooting big game with muzzleloaders and describing how their shot worked and what they were using. Anyone else out there have any stories to share?

[ 01-04-2004, 06:51 AM: Message edited by: billc_sbio ]

Small Fry · 01-04-2004, 08:29 AM

I used my father in-laws .50 cal for a doe hunt this year. I had a spike only tag for the same area and was lucky enough to get my spike opening morning. We had seen deer all over the area we had been hunting so I decided to go to the same spot for my doe the second morning. Right at daylight I spotted something moving through the clearing below me. I figured it was elk again. I waited what seemed like an hour for them to move through ( ok it was only 15min) I moved down hill about 25 yards so I could get a clear view of the animals. It has a bunch of about 25 deer about 100 yards below me. I decided to work my way around a brush pile to get a clear shot. As I came around the lower edge I spotted a good size doe about 75 yards standing broadside, as I was taking aim another doe stepped out at about 40 yards. I held on her neck and let her fly.

I was amazed as it picked her off her feet and slammed her to the ground. 365-grain conical bullet with 100 grains of powder. I'm impressed.

I went out last weekend a purchased my own Knight American .50 cal. Next year I'm hoping to get both elk and deer Muzzleloader hunts.

Wreckless · 01-04-2004, 02:26 PM

I just posted a report on my Elk hunt last week. I took a cow at about 60 yds. and the 460gr bullet had a golf ball sized exit hole on the opposite side of her neck. A friend took another cow out of the same bunch with a 385gr "great plains bullet" and it double lunged her at 80 yds., hanging in the hide on the far side. I've also take a couple of deer with it with DEVISTATING results. The best was a friends shot where the saboted (now illegal) 300gr Hornaday xtp bullet that went in the sternum (sp?) and was hanging in the hide of the rear ham on a large blacktail buck (made the blackpowder books). The bullet almost went end to end! :shocked:

My 2 cents...worth every penny....both of 'em :tongue:

I'd better go get some more fire wood IT'S GETTIN' COLD!!!!!

wade · 01-04-2004, 10:04 PM

In my younger days I shot a cottontail with a .44 ca flintlock pistol.

Kevin

01-04-2004, 10:08 PM

Nerta and me successfully started a small brush fire with my 50 cal :shocked: I've had it for over 20 years and haven't used it for hunting.

James in Idaho · 01-05-2004, 07:13 AM

Two Wyoming antelope. One with a .54 T/C maxi, 80 grns 3F Elephant black powder, and a bore button. One with a .54 home cast roundball, 90 grns of the 3F. I shoot an Investarms Hawkin that I built from a kit. Both kills were under 100 yards.

fishstik · 01-06-2004, 02:28 PM

i had a really short season, shot my elk at eight o clock in the morning first day, quarterd her and had her out by three, next morning legs where shot from packing meat so i went on a little hike shot my buck(2x3) at nine o clock a.m. packed it out by three also.. done deal- lets drink for the next eight days

luck has everything to do with it...knight wolverine, thumbole stock,310gr sabot and 105gr pyro..

[ 01-06-2004, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: fishstik ]

FallRiverGuy · 01-06-2004, 03:46 PM

I have a percussion cap .45 cal muzzle loader that my mom�s boyfriend made for me when I was 17 (26 years ago). I have yet to bag an animal with it until this year. I was using a conical bullet (weight unknown) with 100g of Pyrodex powder. Just before dark I came across a small group of does about 75 yard away in an open wooded area down a somewhat steep slope. As I worked to get a good shot the deer spotted me and started to move. I shot at the closest dear that was broad side to me, or so I thought. The shot knocked the deer flat on her side. She got back up and tried to run. That is when I realized that I had shot her in the back leg. She must have spun more than I had figured as I fired. She did not get far. The bullet had completely shattered her upper leg bone and had ruptured her main leg artery. It was a bad shot but I ended up getting my first deer with my muzzle loader.

Don Becker · 01-07-2004, 12:01 PM

I first started hunting deer with a smokepole in 1984.

Since then, I have taken 8 deer with my CVA .45 Kentucky Rifle (I built it a few years before that, from a kit).

I also hunt Elk with a CVA .50 Mountain Rifle. And, I also hunt with centerfire rifles ('favorites are 7mm.06 and .308 Norma Magnum) . . . depending upon what I put-in for/draw in any given year.

My best smokepole shot so far was about 50 yards and the deer was at a dead run . . . 'put the 220 gr maxi ball right through its heart . . . it went 20 yards and was "dead as a wedge" when I got to it. I'm pretty "deadly" with that .45 . . . so far, it's always been one-shot-one-deer! Into that boast, I guess one also needs to factor-in that I am also known for passing-up questionable shots . . . . I favor a short track and drag . . . . and, 'DO NOT like wounded game becoming "coyote bait." If it's a reasonably certain kill, I favor a head or neck shot . . . 'no wasted meat on a blacktail . . . hence, my CB handle "headache."

One thing I REALLY like about a smokepole-taken "critter" is the relatively small amount of "blood-shot" meat to clean-un/cut away . . . . BIG differrence, in my experience, vs a high powered rifle.

Don

DAB · 01-07-2004, 03:15 PM

Haven't taken any big game with my OLD smokepole,but I have killed many a sage rat with my t/c 50 Cal. Hawken. Now I am not boasting but between the wife and I we have shot up over 40 pounds of dupont 3F black powder. WE were in the comptition end of black powder shooting for a long time and practiced a lot. My wife used to make a lot of men MAD at her cause she could out shoot most any one at the ax blade shoot.You know, split the ball and break the clay birds on both sides of the ax blade. -- Shooting B/P is a blast and a half. Love all the hunting stories , So keep your powder dry.
DAB

ORoutdoorsman · 01-07-2004, 04:03 PM

I have never killed anything with a muzzleloader, But I did see a muzzleloader hunt on a primos video I saw once. Holy mackrel, the guy was hunting Elk with a 54 caliber. That stnikin elk dropped like he got hit with an artillery round! The bull got called in during the rut, and was running and the guy, and bam, square in the center of the chest and that Elk dropped like a ton of bricks. I have never seen a centerfire rifle do that before!

billc_sbio · 01-07-2004, 04:37 PM

DAB,

Just wonderin if you might know some of the same folks?

I used to work with a pard named Wayland Fincher...his dad was supposed to be a FAMOUS BP Shooter from the Medford area...know him?

Also, know and sometimes shoot with Roger McFall...

FishinTechnician · 01-08-2004, 08:42 AM

Did a lot of black powder hunting in Virginia with my White .503 cal. with 430gr White slugs. Shot a fair number of Whitetails with it up to about 90 yds and it performed well. I'm a believer in big slugs. Saw a lot of guys having to chase their deer down when shooting the smaller lighter saboted slugs. One great feature about these guns is ease of loading. Slugs are .500 while the barrel is .503 making it much easier and quicker to load. So easy that I shot two bucks with the second shot. Slug collapses in the barrel on ignition and only then takes on the rifling in the barrel. Must load on a cap dirtied bore. Whites tend to be little more expensive, but I think they're worth the extra $$

Radke · 01-08-2004, 12:53 PM

I managed to get a really big cow elk back in 1999 just above Marion Forks (Detroit Res. area). Got her with a 310 gr. boattail sabot'd slug. I was using 120 gr. of pyrodex and shot her at approx. 40 yards. It was a clean behind the sholder hit, she went maybe 30 yards and piled up. The slug went clear through the body and was laying against the hide on the far side. I managed the shot in an early morning, heavy drizzle in mid November in heavy cover. Point being, it was really dark, still remember seeing the flame come out of the front of that smokepole. There was so much smoke in the air, I could hear her take off, but couldn't see anything. But a 30 yard tracking job isn't too difficult to handle.

buckleydux · 01-08-2004, 06:21 PM

I purchased my first muzzleloader because I was being overwhelmed by orange vests in my usual elk hunting areas so I decided to give it a try. That was in 1991 and since then I have taken 5 cows and 3 bulls. The competition on the muzzleloader hunts in my area of Western Washington is almost zero and I can hunt the first week of october, befor the modern hunters, and from the third week of november thru december 15th, it's great.I have also taken three deer with my Knight inlines in 54 caliber, on years I couldn't make it to the eastside for my family's usual week long rifle season hunts.
I have never had an animal go more than 10 yards after the shot,425gr.maxi-hunters with 90 grains of pyrodex.