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Sat, Oct 28, 06 at 10:29
| Our black powder season just opened yesterday so of course I took the day off work and hit the woods at 6am. For those who haven't tried early season hunting in Florida, let me try to describe it. First the 'skeeters- big enough to drain you dry in a matter of minutes, thank god for thermocell! Then of course the heat- it was only 87 yesterday so it wasn't too bad, but during bow it got into the nineties!
So anyway, back to yesterdays hunt. Sat all morning and saw nothing! Back to the trucks around 10 and chatted with everyone and amoung 5 hunters in the same area I was the only on who drew a blank. Back out that afternoon, sat to dark and still nothing but this time I felt better as only one doe was spotted in the group. During the night we had a "cold" front come thru with a good bit of wind and rain. This morning was great! Cool, about 70, and the woods damp and quiet. Back in the stand before sunrise set up and ready. Then there he was! A nice 6 point appeared from nowhere like a ghost! He was standing broad side about 30 yards away sniffing the air as if he didn't have a care in the world. I drew down and took a deep steadying breath. Gentally I squeezed the trigger and- POP! not boom but POP! Misfire! Mr. 6 point strolled away as I tried to recap the gun but it was too late. He was gone! Disgusted and back at the house I took the gun to the clearing pit to try to clear it. Sure enough first cap and it went off! Darn, Drat and a few other words that I can't use here. AH! The joys of black powder hunting! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by bill_vincent (billvincent@hotmail.com) on Thu, Nov 2, 06 at 22:32
| That's why I won't even TRY black powder!! I'll stay with my 30/06, thank you!! :-) That really sucks!! You ought to come up here and do a little hunting! My son's been in the woods the last 3 days with both a buck tag and a black bear tag. He had a shot on what he estimated to be about a 600 pound black bear yesterday, but as soon as he went to raise his rifle, the bear saw the movement and was gone. And then today, he's been tracking a nice 10 pointer for the last few weeks, just WAITING for the season to begin-- even caught sight of it several times. He's estimating dressed out, it'll go about 190-210 pounds. He had a shot at it this afternoon in the same area he saw the bear yesterday, and the way he tells it, a squirrel "squealed" on him and sent the buck running off!! LOL |
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| I used to enjoy black powder shooting, mostly flint lock for deer and caps for small game. Until recently black powder in Pennsylvania meant flint only. I had a few semi custom guns made, a .32 and a .36 for squirrel and a .54 for large game. Also had a few factory types of which the T.C. Pennsyvania Hunter in .50 cal.was a good one. My favorite black powder arm was a Ruger Old Army stainless. Dont shoot anymore due to loss of vision. On damp days I would empty the pan every 30 minutes or so and recharge, tried to use pan covers but didn't like them. |
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- Posted by muskyhopeful (My Page) on Fri, Nov 3, 06 at 12:00
| I don't hunt myself, but love seeing pics from guys that do. I also enjoy eating venison. Here in WI deer hunting is a religion. Check out some of the pictures in this thread from a forum I frequent mainly for musky fishing. Some of these are mind blowers. Almost seems like you would need a black powder cannon to drop some of them. Kevin I like muskies. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Big buck pics
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| When I started hunting "primitive" in Pennsylvania, you could ONLY use a flintlock, open sights only, round ball only. If you wanted to use a cap lock, you had to hunt during regular rifle season. |
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| I have hunted muzzleloading season with a 50 cal. Lyman now for about 5 years and this is only the second time I have had a misfire. Pretty good in my estimate here in the humid, steamy south. Besides we had a misty rain first thing in the morning that day so it was probably my fault for not "keeping my powder dry!" ha-ha! I actually like bow and muzzleloading seasons here because most people don't bother to hunt them and the woods are much quieter before the general gun people hit the woods with their dogs and atvs. The south seems to have more than our fair share of "lazy hunters" who's idea of hunting is seeing how close to their stand they can drive or dumping a bunch of dogs out to push game to them. But that is a whole 'nother rant! nova |
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| I had a Lyman .54, most excellent shooter and good looking gun too. I liked the 1-66 twist for shooting patched round balls, all I ever used. |
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| Kinda on the subject of black powder shooting- Question - Do you know why black powder guns are so heavy? Answer - Because after your one shot, it makes one H*LL of a CLUB!!!!!! :-] HA-HA [-: |
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| Yep, I been reading a lot of early American history and there was a lot of clubing going on in the battles! |
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- Posted by bill_vincent (billvincent@hotmail.com) on Sun, Nov 5, 06 at 11:08
| Here in WI deer hunting is a religion. Yep-- Alotta guys here in Maine goin to that same church!! :-) |
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- Posted by bill_vincent (billvincent@hotmail.com) on Sun, Nov 5, 06 at 11:43
| Kevin-- I just checked out that muskie forum you linked to. Man there are some HUGE bucks there!! Especially that "Amish" buck, and the one that girl shot up in Minnesota!! |
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- Posted by muskyhopeful (My Page) on Sun, Nov 5, 06 at 16:26
| All the musky guys over there that also hunt are very excited they are starting the WhitetailFirst.com part of that website. Seems some of them have shot a few big bucks, or at least know how to find some cool pictures of big bucks. LOL. Kevin I like Muskies, but missed two on suckers last weekend. |
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