100 CLICKS

Everybody's seeing shooter bucks these days. A neighbor said he saw a good buck crossing the road somewhere between the bridge and my house. I hunt both sides of the road. Carlito said he saw a 10 in the field below Diamond Dave's about two weeks ago. Add to that the early sighting of the 12 crossing the river and there is at least one very good buck still in the area. I'm seeing nothing. 

Yesterday I hunted Bird's hoping to get a doe. I had my choice of stands and chose his #1. He sat in Wader's stand. He had deer in front of him all afternoon. I saw three tails bounding over the ridge at 4:30 pm. That was it. At dark we got in his little green gator and rode down the hill. That's when he told me that he'd seen one of the biggest buck he'd ever seen. "I was watching the does in Grasso's field when I turned to the right and saw the ass end of a deer less than 50 yards out. When he raised his head all I saw was horns." "Did you have a shot?" I'd spent the afternoon without so much as a squirrel sighting, while 300 yards away Bird had the hammer back on a slammer. "I was on him, but all I had was ass." In this situation I would have bleated, hoping he would stop, turn to the sound, and give me a front shoulder." Bird was too rattled by the rack to remember the effective technique. "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." I instructed obnoxiously. "Works every time." Bird stared straight ahead in silence.

This morning I hunted above the bridge. I pulled out early to come home and butcher up my button buck. I didn't see anything. At 11:00 am I called Savage. He and his brother-in-law UB were hunting Paradise Pond. "I just had a doe rocket by." Savage said over the phone. We made it short. "Come by my house and bring your bolt cutters." He said they would. Along with my house and truck keys I'd also lost my mailbox and shul keys. I had to cut the padlock off the shul. Anyways.......at about 1:30 I called back. "Get anything?" I asked. He had. Like me, Savage had shot a "doe" only to discover testicles. Another button buck. But the big news was that UB had five does and three bucks (two shooters) in front of him. He had a perfect broadside shot at less that 50 yards. "The sun was shining on his vitals. I had a steady rest. I pulled back the hammer and shot. I thought for sure he would drop." UB explained. "But all he did was jump and stand there. THEY ALL STOOD IN FRONT OF ME MILLING AROUND." "Why didn't you reload?" I asked. That's when it got interesting.

It's incredibly difficult to reload a muzzleloader in front of eight deer and get off a second shot. But that's not why UB didn't attempt it. No. He had another excuse. "I remembered that last year when I was putting the gun away it slipped out of my hand and fell down the cellar stairs." "You didn't sight it in this year?" I asked. He had not. "What the fuck? Who is your brother-in-law?" I couldn't believe my ears. We are all old, experienced, well seasoned deer hunters. It was out of character for UB. "I just forgot. It's on me 100%." he admitted. At least he didn't take out the jaw with a gun that was dead on, like I did. So after loading up Savage's button buck they drove to my house to sight in UB's gun.

The first shot was a foot low. UB had luckily shot right under that buck, leaving him unscathed, unlike the one I clipped. Bird did not take an ass shot, instead hoping for another crack at him before the season ends. It took 100 clicks to raise the crosshairs to the bull's eye for UB. As frustrating as late season muzzleloader hunting can be, if you gun is on you have a good chance of scoring a mature buck. Some of my biggest bucks I've gotten while doe hunting with the muzzleloader. If you drop your gun down the cellar stairs and don't sight it in, or your powder gets wet or the bullet falls out of the barrel, you are fucked.  As UB once said, as I repeatedly tried to fire a fouled load at a deer, "It's sounded like two rocks clacking." That looks like 100 clicks to me. That's the beauty of deer hunting. You never stop making mistakes. Tomorrow's another day in the woods. I can't wait for daylight.