I have bowhunted exclusively since 1991 killing close to 150 deer with both a compound and recurve until last week. The reason for this was in 1991 I was hunting the opener of the NJ 6 day firearm season in the Delaware Water Gap waiting on a buck to clear some Mountain Laurel to give me a shot. Just past where he is walking is about an 8 foot deep and 10 foot wide gully going up the mountain. Suddenly I hear a shot that is right next to me. There was a guy walking up the gully! His wad from his shotgun hit my tree a few feet above my head. This was before safety harnesses and since I was only about 8 feet off the ground so I could shoot over the Laurel, I jumped! I know it wasn't the safest thing to do but seemed safer than possibly get shot by a guy who broke probably the biggest safety rule of hunting. It took the guy about 10 minutes to get out of the gully and he had no idea where his deer ran. After I gave him an earful of never shooting without knowing your target and beyond I point out his buck and walk away. I decided to hunt this year because I wanted to use my new gun and two the parks require you to be in a treestand at least 30 minutes before light and there is no hunting on the ground allowed.
I used a CVA Optima Muzzleloader that I won at the NWTF Central Jersey Limbhangers chapter dinner in October. I hunted 2 different county parks before work on Monday and Tuesday. Luck was with me. I got my first & second NJ deer with a firearm. The second is my largest public land buck. I am looking forward to shooting this gun some more it was so fun! I also am looking forward to next years season already because I am Tagged Out!
Had some drama with the first because my new rangefinder refused to give me a range past 35 yards. My gun was sighted in for 50 yards with BDC marks. I thought it was about 75 yards away and I held the mark on it and shot. It was probably closer to 90-95 yards. It ran about 25 yards and stopped like I missed and it was contused what to do. I loaded another saboted xtp and shot again with the same hold and this time I can see I hit it a little low and more center mass. He moved about 10 yards hunched up standing there. I know from my range work I am going to have to swab the barrel to get a third shot seated. As I swab the barrel the patch and jag won't pull back up and I have a mini mental break down struggling to get the ramrod out.
Fortunately it made it's way down the field edge and another hunter was able to anchor him. This took the stress of a wounded animal off my my mind and when I calmed down I realized I could unscrew the ramrod, open the breech and push the jag back up the barrel and pull it out. I reload and when he got down at 9 he waves me over. I told him he should take it because he put it down. He insisted that I take it because I hit it with both shots. I have no idea how the first shot didn't drop him. I hit about an inch below the pocket behind the front leg. I have killed many deer with a bow that died in seconds and didn't make it 20 yards with that hit. The second hit took out the diaphragm and the stomach which is always lethal but takes a long time. He told me both shots were killing shots and to take it, so I did.
The next morning at a different park I was watching for deer I had heard behind me only to hear a snort above me and too my left. I turn and just see a deer tail stopped and sticking up in thick brush. It starts to walk fast on a bench about 50 yards up hill from my treestand and now I see it's a good buck. It's going too fast for me to shoot so when I see an opening I grunt with my mouth to stop it except it stops behind a big tree and all I can see is it's head and tail. It now starts to trot and I see another lane and grunt a little earlier than the last and he stops exactly where I need him slightly quartering away. I shoot and it runs 20 yards farther up the hill and drops!
I need more time behind the gun to experiment with different loads and get my process down. I am hooked!
I used a CVA Optima Muzzleloader that I won at the NWTF Central Jersey Limbhangers chapter dinner in October. I hunted 2 different county parks before work on Monday and Tuesday. Luck was with me. I got my first & second NJ deer with a firearm. The second is my largest public land buck. I am looking forward to shooting this gun some more it was so fun! I also am looking forward to next years season already because I am Tagged Out!
Had some drama with the first because my new rangefinder refused to give me a range past 35 yards. My gun was sighted in for 50 yards with BDC marks. I thought it was about 75 yards away and I held the mark on it and shot. It was probably closer to 90-95 yards. It ran about 25 yards and stopped like I missed and it was contused what to do. I loaded another saboted xtp and shot again with the same hold and this time I can see I hit it a little low and more center mass. He moved about 10 yards hunched up standing there. I know from my range work I am going to have to swab the barrel to get a third shot seated. As I swab the barrel the patch and jag won't pull back up and I have a mini mental break down struggling to get the ramrod out.
Fortunately it made it's way down the field edge and another hunter was able to anchor him. This took the stress of a wounded animal off my my mind and when I calmed down I realized I could unscrew the ramrod, open the breech and push the jag back up the barrel and pull it out. I reload and when he got down at 9 he waves me over. I told him he should take it because he put it down. He insisted that I take it because I hit it with both shots. I have no idea how the first shot didn't drop him. I hit about an inch below the pocket behind the front leg. I have killed many deer with a bow that died in seconds and didn't make it 20 yards with that hit. The second hit took out the diaphragm and the stomach which is always lethal but takes a long time. He told me both shots were killing shots and to take it, so I did.
The next morning at a different park I was watching for deer I had heard behind me only to hear a snort above me and too my left. I turn and just see a deer tail stopped and sticking up in thick brush. It starts to walk fast on a bench about 50 yards up hill from my treestand and now I see it's a good buck. It's going too fast for me to shoot so when I see an opening I grunt with my mouth to stop it except it stops behind a big tree and all I can see is it's head and tail. It now starts to trot and I see another lane and grunt a little earlier than the last and he stops exactly where I need him slightly quartering away. I shoot and it runs 20 yards farther up the hill and drops!
I need more time behind the gun to experiment with different loads and get my process down. I am hooked!
Touche friend, touche.
