Lessons learned.

[zeus1gdsm]

As I was walking in this afternoon I was shocked to find a group of does in the field. I was walking in I crested the hill and there they were 50 yards away.

 

I immediately dropped to my belly.

 

I waited a minute and poked my head up. They were feeding across the field on a perpendicular line to me.

 

I belly crawled forward in an attempt to eliminate a hummock of ground being in the path of my shot.

 

I got as stable as I could supporting the muzzleloader and waited for the doe to walk into view. Which would be about 150 yards from my position due to their line and my sight line.

 

She did. And with my reticle shaking I pulled the trigger for the first time on a deer with my muzzle loader.

 

As the smoke cleared I saw 2 run into the woods on one trail and a third farther up on a different trail.

 

Well I searched and searched that field to the best of my estimate where the doe was. No blood.

I then tracked slowly across it to the first trail and went in about 20 yards. No blood.

 

I tracked back to approximate starting point and did another grid still no blood.

 

Tracked the approximate way the other doe went to the other woods entry point and followed that trail 20 yards to the property line. Again no blood.

 

I then walked back to where I shot from. Laid down and got another look at where doe was.

 

Went down to the area. This time did a spiral search out 20 yards. Still no blood or hair.

 

Again searched both lines into the woods 20 yards and grid searched the area of field between woods and entry points.

 

Still nothing. After searching for an hour and a half. And totally not confident in the shot in hindsight

 

Thus I'm sitting here heart broken. I can only assume that either a) I hit the ground in front of me due to the hill I hoped I was shooting over. Or my shakiness straight up caused a miss.

 

So lessons learned :

 

Always always relax as much as possible and try to control breathing and pulse.

 

Pay attention to barrel sightlines when on the ground.

 

Don't rip me apart too bad. I post this in hopes other newbies like myself can learn from it.

 

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[turkeyfeathers]

Not judging at all mind you. Misses happen. What's ML sighted in at ? Very little drop from 100 to 150 though. MLs definitely have a slight delay from ignition to propulsion. You peek ? Cloud of smoke doesn't make it easy to see hit or direction deer took off in either. Imo. Better a clean miss and no blood than a bad non fatal shot. Keep at it. Hunting is a learning curve every day out. And great effort for looking for blood 

oh and I killed a dandy 2" white pine sapling a few ago with a 3" lighfield slug. Never saw it. Big plump doe just stood there. $hit happens. 

Edited October 19, 2017 by turkeyfeathers

[Fletch]

Sounds like some excitement and hopefully a clean miss. I would hope you practice shooting at that range it is a long shot for a ML and if your crosshairs were moving a bit then the farther out the more that shot can be off. Closer is always better. I would make sure I followed both trails a few hundred yards just to be sure.

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

was the view line of your aim very close to the ground horizon?  Enough that the barrel being lower may have let the bullet impact the ground? I would think you would see a big scuff with the bullet going across the ground if it did. 

[zeus1gdsm]

Just sighted her in last week. Shot about 10 rounds with a clean after each 2. Dialed in at 100 yards.

I've never shot a deer with a muzzle loader.

I would assume that a hit with a projectile that large would leave blood and or hair at some point within a 100 yards of the hit site right?

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[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 minute ago, zeus1gdsm said:

Just sighted her in last week. Shot about 10 rounds with a clean after each 2. Dialed in at 100 yards.

I've never shot a deer with a muzzle loader.

I would assume that a hit with a projectile that large would leave blood and or hair at some point within a 100 yards of the hit site right?

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what bullet are you using?

[zeus1gdsm]

I have about 70 rounds through the gun to date. Not just the 10 for sighting in this season.

Yeah culver that was my initial thought. But I couldn't find anything in the 6-8inch tall grass of the field.

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[Culvercreek hunt club]

2 minutes ago, zeus1gdsm said:

I have about 70 rounds through the gun to date. Not just the 10 for sighting in this season.

Yeah culver that was my initial thought. But I couldn't find anything in the 6-8inch tall grass of the field.

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what bullet are you shooting?

[zeus1gdsm]

what bullet are you using?

Thompson center. 250g yellow expanding tip. Seperate bullet and shot cup 2 triple seven blacks

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[Core]

1 hour ago, zeus1gdsm said:

 

As I was walking in this afternoon I was shocked to find a group of does in the field. I was walking in I crested the hill and there they were 50 yards away.

 

I immediately dropped to my belly.

 

I waited a minute and poked my head up. They were feeding across the field on a perpendicular line to me.

 

I belly crawled forward in an attempt to eliminate a hummock of ground being in the path of my shot.

 

I got as stable as I could supporting the muzzleloader and waited for the doe to walk into view. Which would be about 150 yards from my position due to their line and my sight line.

 

She did. And with my reticle shaking I pulled the trigger for the first time on a deer with my muzzle loader.

 

As the smoke cleared I saw 2 run into the woods on one trail and a third farther up on a different trail.

 

Well I searched and searched that field to the best of my estimate where the doe was. No blood.

I then tracked slowly across it to the first trail and went in about 20 yards. No blood.

 

I tracked back to approximate starting point and did another grid still no blood.

 

Tracked the approximate way the other doe went to the other woods entry point and followed that trail 20 yards to the property line. Again no blood.

 

I then walked back to where I shot from. Laid down and got another look at where doe was.

 

Went down to the area. This time did a spiral search out 20 yards. Still no blood or hair.

 

Again searched both lines into the woods 20 yards and grid searched the area of field between woods and entry points.

 

Still nothing. After searching for an hour and a half. And totally not confident in the shot in hindsight

 

Thus I'm sitting here heart broken. I can only assume that either a) I hit the ground in front of me due to the hill I hoped I was shooting over. Or my shakiness straight up caused a miss.

 

So lessons learned :

 

Always always relax as much as possible and try to control breathing and pulse.

 

Pay attention to barrel sightlines when on the ground.

 

Don't rip me apart too bad. I post this in hopes other newbies like myself can learn from it.

 

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It happens. At this point, take your gun to the range again and confirm it is still zeroed. If it is, you either got a weak hit or miss entirely. 

I still struggle with my range abilities and how much harder it is in the field.

[zeus1gdsm]

You've got to be kidding me.

Had another doe walk out 20 minutes before legal on the other side of the field.

137 yards.

Waited till she came across over that 20 minutes to 100 yards.

Good brace. No bobbing reticle. Had all of that 20 minutes to calm down and control my breathing. Nice smooth trigger pull.

And nothing. She trotted off the field. Didn't bolt.

No blood to be found. Flashlight died after 10 minutes.

Going back in am to look for blood again.

Then to the range to check where the he'll this thing is shooting.

Maybe it got bumped off zero.


So unbelievably ticked off right now

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[TACC]

What range finder are you using?

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[wolc123]

Sorry to hear about that.   Lessons learned like that are never fun.   I learned a tough lesson myself with my ML, 13 years ago, so I know about half way how you feel right now.  I shot at a standing, quartering-away buck that was about 175 yards away with my 50 cal T/C, using about the same load.   I had a very good rest and my scope was cranked up to the max of 7X.  I felt confident in the shot because that gun had held a 3" group from a bench at 200 yards.   The buck was standing on fresh snow, which added additional confidence in taking the shot.   At the shot, he charged thru a creek and I watched him cross a field, a road, and into a field on the other side.  I tracked that buck for about 350 yards, before loosing the trail, never finding a drop of blood on the snow.  After a few hours of circling and grid-searching, I assumed a "clean-miss" and gave up.   

A week later, the crows helped me locate the half-eaten carcass in a little clump of brush about 50 yards beyond my widest circle.   The bullet likely struck right about where I aimed, and probably clipped one lung.  It was a little basket racked 8-point, and I left it for the mice.  The last thing I wanted was a reminder of a piss-poor tracking job on my part.  The memories of them "hard-lessons" stay with you longer than those of successful hunts do.  I can tell you what I did to prevent any more "major" screw-ups over the last 12 seasons (there has been a few minor ones, including a poorly placed shot that required a quick followup last season).  

First, I think 150 yards is right about at the energy limit of that load.  I would only fire at a deer at that range or a bit beyond if it was standing broadside.  There is not enough energy there to penetrate much tissue for quartering to or away shots.   That does not explain the 100 yard situation, where energy should be plenty from any shot angle.

The way I have eliminated all the "major-errors" is by going right to the top.  Jesus Christ has the final say where all living creatures end up (somewhere in the Bible is a verse which say's that He "knows where every sparrow falls").   That is the only book I have ever read that does not contain any BS.   I try and read a couple pages every morning.   Over the last (3) years, At least 2 deer have ended up in our freezer as a confirmed direct result of that habit, in addition to (3) more "probables".   Other folks will give you other suggestions, but I can guarantee that this one works.  It also helps a lot with fish.       

 

[Adkhunter1590]

Better check the zero on that gun. Make sure scope rings are tight. What kind of scope? My dad had a Nikon muzzy scope go bad early into its life. Like slug guns, muzzys tend to be a bit rough on scopes. Most of today's scopes handle it fine but there's always the lemons out there.
Other than optics, the only other thing I could think of would be your bullet not expanding. You said your shooting TC shockwaves right? The yellow tipped ones. 250 grain most likely? I use them also, but I've heard multiple times of people having expansion issues with these bullets. I've seen them destroy deer so Idk what to believe. But after the stories I've heard I've always been kinda leery of them since. I've switched to shooting some Hornaday SST's instead. They are red tipped and look almost identical to the shockwaves. But I haven't found any bad reviews about them not expanding and they shoot the same out of my gun as the shockwaves do. So idk if non expansion is your problem, but not finding blood or hair is one of the tell tale signs of small wound channels. At least it's some food for thought.

[Robhuntandfish]

def go back and zero that in.  I once had a bad scope from bushnell and they replaced it for free.  I missed a deer at 60 yards and went and shot the gun and it was all over the place.  Put on a different scope and all was good again. 

[zeus1gdsm]

Bushnell dusk till dawn 1.5-4x shotgun scope. Mounted on see through Leopold rings. Rings are loctited.

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[zeus1gdsm]

Heading out in an hour with my buddy to check blood again on both instances. Then to the range.

Maybe a second set of eyes will help.

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[Robhuntandfish]

good luck! Hope you find a dead deer or a clean miss.   

[zeus1gdsm]

Recovered and processed.


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[Robhuntandfish]

glad you went back and found a hit!!!!  congrats.  Was it a good hit? easy track?  Must be scope is on! 

[jjb4900]

so, which one did you find? I would venture to guess that you maybe hit both since they both reacted the same and from what you're saying left little to no blood trails......

[zeus1gdsm]

Found the second. No blood found.

Found body about 100 -150 yards from hit site.

Deer was slightly quartering too. Hit low behind shoulder and due to shot angle (blind is on top of hill shooting down) it missed lungs and went through an inch behind them deer had about 8 inches of fat/matter out exit wound plugging hole. Entrance wound running down leg.

Found a spot of blood on crick on the drag out.

I held low on the boiler in case it was shooting high.

Searched for the first shot for another 30-40 minutes. Well past 200 yards of shot site. Glassed woods for belly and walked deer trails.

I'm guessing I hit dirt or shot high on the first. Only had top 2/3 of deer in scope (couldn't see legs)

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[zeus1gdsm]

Im guessing i had a case of non expanding bullett someone mentioned earlier.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

11 hours ago, Adkhunter1590 said:

Better check the zero on that gun. Make sure scope rings are tight. What kind of scope? My dad had a Nikon muzzy scope go bad early into its life. Like slug guns, muzzys tend to be a bit rough on scopes. Most of today's scopes handle it fine but there's always the lemons out there.
Other than optics, the only other thing I could think of would be your bullet not expanding. You said your shooting TC shockwaves right? The yellow tipped ones. 250 grain most likely? I use them also, but I've heard multiple times of people having expansion issues with these bullets. I've seen them destroy deer so Idk what to believe. But after the stories I've heard I've always been kinda leery of them since. I've switched to shooting some Hornaday SST's instead. They are red tipped and look almost identical to the shockwaves. But I haven't found any bad reviews about them not expanding and they shoot the same out of my gun as the shockwaves do. So idk if non expansion is your problem, but not finding blood or hair is one of the tell tale signs of small wound channels. At least it's some food for thought.

Shockwaves and SSTs are the exact same bullet lol. Traditions also markets it.

I have had issues with both of them. They are both super accurate, but the bullet goes in, small hole, comes out, small hole. Not much if any blood, deer run 70 - 100 yards, then blood everywhere and dead deer within 10 to 20 yards. I have had it happen at long range (200 yards) and short range (20 yards) on bucks, and everywhere in between on does. Unless you get a head shot, its almost the same scenario every time. Shoulder shots and vitals. Typically a shoulder shot will take them off their feet, but I always have them get back up and run. I do not run a super hot load either. I need to sight my ML back in this year after replacing the scope, so Im going to go ahead and switch bullets as well. Ill be trying the Barnes and Federal bullets to see which one gives me better accuracy.

[chrisw]

I'm not sure if you clean your barrel after sighting in but out of my muzzleloaders I have a noticeable impact difference between a fouled and a clean barrel, like 4-6" difference. I always sight in, clean it and shoot one more round to foul the barrel before hunting. Give it a try next time and I bet you see an impact difference...

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