Flintlock

[MadCow]

Got me a decent Buck 01 Dec, meat in the freezer.

[MadCow]

A true die hard hunter hunts with a muzzule loader
Sure you can use rifle and scope with a 5 round magazine if you just want to stock the freezer
But nothing will prove your skills as a hunter like challenge of a flint lock

Unless its the compound bow

Two methods I mainly use to hunt...bow and rifle. Rifle for meat, a compound bow for the challenge/fun. I also Turkey hunt with a compound bow (try that sometime, hardest hunt you'll do).

I have 2 nice scoped muzzleloaders that I rarely use. Unlike a flintlock, a modern muzzleloader might as well be a rifle. A flintlock in skilled hands can be just as effective.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Johnny
TBeck
You guys are awesome
Hunting with a Flintlock and a Bow
Two of the purest forms of hunting
Johnny I think you nailed when you said
" close enough for a safe shot"
Im going to assume safe as in safe and clean because I know your a good person


I myself have only been hunting once and I just went along for the camping part not so much the hunting part Im not apposed to hunting or those that hunt. I just dont see much point and I would need to learn how to dress the kill.
My first experience with a muzzle loader was at the range with my grandfather when I was 14.
I think he was sighting in a new scope on his .308(??) and I was setting up his ,22 Magnum bolt action for target shooting.
Lots of rifles being fired and next to us was the hand gun range. I remember noticing that they sounded different. Then a heard a very loud BOOM and a huge cloud of smoke I asked Grandpa if he knew what that was and He told me that it was a muzzle loader.
It looked longer then I was tall. I had to grow older to really understand the purity of such a firearm. The dedication and patience that it takes to master such a firearm.
My experience with the bow is a bit more extensive
Mine was a re-curve starter set that I got pretty good with and I have been thinking of getting another bow.
Now not to get to far off topic I do have extensive experience with Hand Guns Single and double action.

Anyone that hunts the early ways has my respect
Again you guys are awesome
You keep posting your hunting story's Ill keep reading them

The Safe Shot...

When hunting whitetail with rifles and shotguns your chances of downing a deer with one shot you were almost assured that the animal will go down not too far away, most fall in their tracks.. so very little tracking the animal down is involved.

But bow hunting in creek bottoms where the vegetation is sometimes thick with very few lines of sight available your chances of downing an animal with one shot is slim to done. THEY ARE THE HARDIEST OF ANIMALS and their will to survive is as strong as the human spirit.
When I mentioned the safe shot I was referring to, was attempting to hit the deer in its most vulnerable area so has to hopefully not having to track it's blood trail for too long a distance. Very rare fully will a full-grown buck or doe go down even with a carefully aimed shot and invariably they will bolt away at a full gallop. Gut shots are the worst as no vital organs are damaged and they can cover a lot of ground before eventually bleeding out.
Of the very few we did down in our favorite hunting reserve the furthers we had to track a 8 point, 135 pound buck was a good 150 yards, he was gut shot and the arrow almost went through his stomach. It was still alive when we finally found him in a thicket so bad we were all cut up and bleeding just like him.
Took three of us to finally extract him to where we could load him up in my four wheel Jimmy. That kill was the largest buck harvested that day.
We invited half the campground for a deer stew.

[Tbeck]

SJ, you'd have loved my 9 point shot this year. Wife gave me the okay to shoot one this year, so day 2 I get to my spot (I ground hunt) and clear some leaves, and I look up to see a big whitetail coming across the ridge above me. I'm thinking it's a doe so I swing the rifle on it as it's making it's way through the heavy saplings. Much to my surprise I see antlers but still don't have a clear shot. I had one opening on it's projected path but it was a real narrow path with low debris. So I put the scope in the upper part of the opening and decided I would try a high shoulder shot I had been reading about. As it stepped into my firing lane I guessed it was 75yards out, put the cross hairs just below the neck on the upper scapula, squeezed off the shot and down it went. It was like one of those videos where the rear legs fold and the deer doesn't even twitch. Oh and I ranged the shot after it went down, 198 yard's. My guess was WAY off, but that had to be the most humane kill I've ever made and that sight point is going to be my go-to shot placement from now on.

[MadCow]

SJ, you'd have loved my 9 point shot this year. Wife gave me the okay to shoot one this year, so day 2 I get to my spot (I ground hunt) and clear some leaves, and I look up to see a big whitetail coming across the ridge above me. I'm thinking it's a doe so I swing the rifle on it as it's making it's way through the heavy saplings. Much to my surprise I see antlers but still don't have a clear shot. I had one opening on it's projected path but it was a real narrow path with low debris. So I put the scope in the upper part of the opening and decided I would try a high shoulder shot I had been reading about. As it stepped into my firing lane I guessed it was 75yards out, put the cross hairs just below the neck on the upper scapula, squeezed off the shot and down it went. It was like one of those videos where the rear legs fold and the deer doesn't even twitch. Oh and I ranged the shot after it went down, 198 yard's. My guess was WAY off, but that had to be the most humane kill I've ever made and that sight point is going to be my go-to shot placement from now on.

Exactly my shot placement on my Buck last week. Dropped right there. I have a pic of it...

[Tbeck]

MC, I think I have some pics as well but I gave up on Photobucket and I ain't going to try any other's. Put too much stuff on the net as it is. It is a great shot point. I'm sure you said but what did you get?

For those who don't necessarily follow all the shot placement stuff. The high scapula shot generates a shock to the deers nervous system killing it immediately. The traditional shot placement has always been directly behind the shoulder which hits the deer in lungs or heart depending upon exact placement.
I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to deer hunting. I have traditionally hunted with either a single shot rifle, or pistol, and I won't shoot a buck in it's prime, or take any risky shot's. I'd rather go empty handed rather than wound any animal.
That said I used the BLR this year to hunt, but only one cartridge in the gun. I gotta keep it fair

[MadCow]

MC, I think I have some pics as well but I gave up on Photobucket and I ain't going to try any other's. Put too much stuff on the net as it is. It is a great shot point. I'm sure you said but what did you get?

I got a small Buck. Picked it up from the procesor today..about 50lbs of meat.

[Tbeck]

MC, mine was about 200 field dressed and I butchered it myself to give that a try. Friends of my wife said in order to have really good venison, you have to remove every bit of the sheathing from the meat. So that is what I did and they were correct. Best venison I have ever had, but it took me a good hour to figure the best way to remove the sheathing, and about 8 hour's to get it all done. Freezer is full but I have room for another if I shoot one during flintlock season.
I need to watch a couple YouTube videos to make better cuts but I did pretty good for my first time

[MadCow]

MC, mine was about 200 field dressed and I butchered it myself to give that a try. Friends of my wife said in order to have really good venison, you have to remove every bit of the sheathing from the meat. So that is what I did and they were correct. Best venison I have ever had, but it took me a good hour to figure the best way to remove the sheathing, and about 8 hour's to get it all done. Freezer is full but I have room for another if I shoot one during flintlock season.
I need to watch a couple YouTube videos to make better cuts but I did pretty good for my first time

Deer in maryland are much much smaller than the hosses up North

[Tbeck]

We've been getting more 200 lb deer than the traditional 150 lb variety the past couple years. The 150's are easier to drag out

[MadCow]

We've been getting more 200 lb deer than the traditional 150 lb variety the past couple years. The 150's are easier to drag out

150lb deer here is of the "larger" size...best I have got here is 165 dressed.

[Tbeck]

MC, yah when in Florida they had little deer as well. We're talking St Bernard size was huge, lol. One of my guy's was so proud of the deer he got and I asked him if he tied all four legs together and carried it out like a handbag. Guy's were still laughing at that two days later.

[HARRIS]

HERE IN PA, OUR DEER HAVE RETRACTABLE WHEELS LIKE LUGGAGE

[MadCow]

MC, yah when in Florida they had little deer as well. We're talking St Bernard size was huge, lol. One of my guy's was so proud of the deer he got and I asked him if he tied all four legs together and carried it out like a handbag. Guy's were still laughing at that two days later.

I don't even bother hunting those little puppies in FL.

[Tbeck]

Don't blame you MC. I didn't hunt them when I was stationed in FL.

[Tbeck]

Okay so my son and I went down to my camp Tuesday so he could hunt flintlock on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not allowed to go walking around the woods yet carrying a gun because of the surgery.
Anyhow the weather unfortunately took a turn for the colder, dropping from the mid to upper 30's to very low 20's. Needless to say the deer bedded down tight so no deer, no sign and no shooting.
I sat on the rear deck of the camp with my flintlock and heat buddy heater and still froze my butt off. So hopefully it warms back to the 30's and we can get him back out to shoot a deer.

[Designer]

While this is an informative Thread. isn't there a Guns Forum specific to this?

[Tbeck]

Yes there is and thanks for bumping a post that's MONTHS old because you wanted to make a point.
Let's spell it out for you. Peaceful forum, mostly none confrontational, and very pleasant, NO political personal agendas.
You want to make political points, GREAT, put it in the political forum so the rest of the members can converse about general stuff in a peaceful environment. Thanks!

[Designer]

spelling it out for the pseudo Board Police.

If you disapprove of what someone posts on the Chit Chat Board,....don't respond to it!

And,....practice what you preach in the first place..

[Tbeck]

Back to being the usual Designer, and it took less than a month.

And for the record, this post isn't and wasn't a GUN post, it was about hunting and the seasons.

However in your ATTEMPT to start a fight, you either FAILED to read, or were just desperate to find anything to quarrel over.

And yes I can just not post, OR the political posts can go to the political forum. Or maybe you could limit your copy/paste replies to no more than 2???? Then they'd simply fall off the general forum page.