# Muzzleloader Season



## WATER FOX (May 7, 2008)

Hey everyone good luck tomorrow with your smokepole .Be careful and post your pics!Saw 8 bucks today at work so it appears that they are moving...


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## bswiger (Sep 21, 2014)

Heading to Washington county with some buddies, im filming. I shot my smallest buck in the 30 yeara of bowhumting, a 4 point. I decided before season that i was going to shoot the first deer the gave me an opportuinty, small buck or not and spend more time this fall walleye fishing Erie and the first time out, my buck aeason was over.It was alot of fun , caught lots of fish, but i missed sitting in a tree with the antcipation of seeing a monster buck and after getting pics of a 14pt that might push 170 on a piece of property my brother owns, i wont be shooting any small bucks again!! Maybe one of my buddies will get a crack at him tomorrow! Good luck everyone!


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## Flatty01 (Aug 9, 2008)

Hunting Belmont Co. Tomorrow. Mixed feelings about taking a deer. Not a big fan of the season being this late. Will be nice to get out and clear my head.


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## WATER FOX (May 7, 2008)

I film also its slot of fun.Be safe out there.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

bswiger said:


> Heading to Washington county with some buddies, im filming.....and after getting pics of a 14pt that might push 170 on a piece of property my brother owns, i wont be shooting any small bucks again!! Maybe one of my buddies will get a crack at him tomorrow! Good luck everyone!


You are a true friend to share this possibiliy(bagging a real trophy) with friends! I've never been able to do that(share hunting/fishing a prime spot with someone other than family)-and never had it happen to me! Hope you get some good video!


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## bswiger (Sep 21, 2014)

At my age, its more about spending time with friends / family and being out in the woods. I domt mind sharing spots with good friends, in 2001 i belive, i had an issue with my back and could not hunt the 2nd weekend of november, i told my buddy (Robert) to hunt a spot that i was waiting until the rut to hunt and he shot a 162 4/8 12 pt. Then in 2008, i had been getting pics of a 8pt with a big dagger coming off his right base every day for almost 2 weeks, between 12pm and 1 pm. I had already shot a 120" 8 pt, so i was taking my daighter too see if she could kill this buck, with no luck the first 4 evenings. Then on a Saturday i said we should go get om the blind about 11am and stay the rest of the dayand at 12:30 he shows up along a creek bank and beds down 60 yards from us in some high weeds. We watched him for and hour, then at 1:30 she says that she told my wife that she would go with her to grandma's to make cookies. I said are you sure you dont want to stay, she said she had to pee anyway, we live 2 minutes from this property. After going home, she came out of the bathroom without her camo on, as you know,you never no if or when you will see a big buck again, so i called my buddy Robert and he came over a few minutes later. We went back and crawled the last 30 yards into the blind, we were there 3 minutes and the buck stood up and walked right to my feeder. He arrowed him, a 163 3/8" main frame 8 with a 12 1/2" dagger on the right base, got it on video. I have 4 Pope &Young bucks on the wall, but nothing over 145" and have killed 5 between 120" & 125" all with a bow. Robert tells me all the time, let me know when you see another big buck that you want me to kill. Lol, hes going with me tomorrow, hope he kills the 14pt! Would post pics, but cant figure out how, not a tech guy!


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## turkeyt (Apr 13, 2006)

I have been getting some bucks on camera but, only one has come in during daylight. I hope that I see one but, if not, I can say it was great to just get out.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

bswiger said:


> At my age, its more about spending time with friends / family and being out in the woods. I domt mind sharing spots with good friends, in 2001 i belive, i had an issue with my back and could not hunt the 2nd weekend of november, i told my buddy (Robert) to hunt a spot that i was waiting until the rut to hunt and he shot a 162 4/8 12 pt. Then in 2008, i had been getting pics of a 8pt with a big dagger coming off his right base every day for almost 2 weeks, between 12pm and 1 pm. I had already shot a 120" 8 pt, so i was taking my daighter too see if she could kill this buck, with no luck the first 4 evenings. Then on a Saturday i said we should go get om the blind about 11am and stay the rest of the dayand at 12:30 he shows up along a creek bank and beds down 60 yards from us in some high weeds. We watched him for and hour, then at 1:30 she says that she told my wife that she would go with her to grandma's to make cookies. I said are you sure you dont want to stay, she said she had to pee anyway, we live 2 minutes from this property. After going home, she came out of the bathroom without her camo on, as you know,you never no if or when you will see a big buck again, so i called my buddy Robert and he came over a few minutes later. We went back and crawled the last 30 yards into the blind, we were there 3 minutes and the buck stood up and walked right to my feeder. He arrowed him, a 163 3/8" main frame 8 with a 12 1/2" dagger on the right base, got it on video. I have 4 Pope &Young bucks on the wall, but nothing over 145" and have killed 5 between 120" & 125" all with a bow. Robert tells me all the time, let me know when you see another big buck that you want me to kill. Lol, hes going with me tomorrow, hope he kills the 14pt! Would post pics, but cant figure out how, not a tech guy!


bswiger, you sound like my BIL. He has permission to hunt private property (a large farm), in Washington Co. where he has taken many nice bucks. His criteria for shooting a buck is now that it has to be at least as good, or better, than the best he's taken there. He has also taken me down there many times trying to put me on a good buck, but the skunk rides on my shoulder! Let me see if I can find a pic.






















Forgot that I downloaded these as full 5 megapixel images. Nice to see that the website can accommodate a full image of them (the last one), which still doesn't do justice to these bucks.

Oh, OK! Learned something here. You can blow up the thumbnails, which I tried to do immediately after uploading, and it didn't look like it would work. Still, like I said before, even the blowups don't do justice. When you walk in the room, these mounts knock your eyes out!


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## bswiger (Sep 21, 2014)

Buckeyebowman, 
Those are some great bucks! I have only taken 2 bucks in Washington county, both 8 pts scoring around 118". I used to have permission to hunt 7 farms that all connected in Harrison county, about 900 acres and over the years, they were all sold and could retain permission. My buddies and i used to just hunt Washington before and after the rut for meat, but now its the only place i have now. Well got to get ready, its a 2 hour drive from Uniontown, post pics if you have any luck!


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## Dirtyworm (May 3, 2013)

Heading up to pickerel Creek for a controlled youth hunt in Sandusky.... Will post results tonight... Good luck everyone be safe & God bless


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## T-180 (Oct 18, 2005)

Gotta love this drizzle & light rain for the weekend !!


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## Dirtyworm (May 3, 2013)

Well the youth controlled hunt was great .... Saw a total of 32 deer by 1030... 2 bucks rest were doe boy ended up making one heck of a shot on a bouncing doe on the run. Just couldn't get the gun up and lined up or we would have been done at first light lol....


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## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

My buddy and I doubled down this evening on some veal


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Hunted Saturday morning till 930 and saw 10 does . Ran home for some family time and got back out about 230 . Took my climber in a took my time to get in slow and quiet . Seen a few does then about 5 3 bucks came by . After sizing em up I decided to kill the lead one and quit looking . Kind of thought it was my target buck , but it was a random wanderer I guess . Either way , I'm done . Shot him at 45 yds and he did that low run with every step getting lower before tumbling after 40 yds .


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Nice buck for sure Carpn.

Congrats to ya!


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

first let me say I hope you all had a great hunting season. with my health I have given up bow and gun season but still hunt our muzzle loading season here in Indiana. but even though I still love getting in the woods and setting up in a tree the main reason I hunt is to spend time with my oldest son who hunts with me and his wife usually hunts with us but she fooled around and got pregnant so she wasn't able to hunt this year anyway. but they both had to work 7 days during our ml season so I didn't get to hunt.

last year the 1st weekend my daughter n law had the flu and didn't hunt with us. the 2nd weekend my son had the flu so we didn't hunt. the 1st weekend I had a nice doe coming in about 80 yrds I caught her behind some trees and got my gun up and ready. she kept coming to about 60 yrds then stopped and looked at me then started walking getting even closer. then at about 50 yrds she looked at me again and I didn't move. but she got a little spooked and turned to her left and I couldn't get a good shot. she went about 50 yrds away from me and turned back to her right. I started bleating and she stopped. but before I could get her in my scope she started moving again and I could never get a clear shot. I guess in hindsight that I should have taken the 60 yrd breast shot. but I thought she would get closer and give me a short shot. but that's why its hunting and not killing. but I did really love the time I spent with my son and the time in the woods.
sherman


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

sherman51 said:


> first let me say I hope you all had a great hunting season. with my health I have given up bow and gun season but still hunt our muzzle loading season here in Indiana. but even though I still love getting in the woods and setting up in a tree the main reason I hunt is to spend time with my oldest son who hunts with me and his wife usually hunts with us but she fooled around and got pregnant so she wasn't able to hunt this year anyway. but they both had to work 7 days during our ml season so I didn't get to hunt.
> 
> last year the 1st weekend my daughter n law had the flu and didn't hunt with us. the 2nd weekend my son had the flu so we didn't hunt. the 1st weekend I had a nice doe coming in about 80 yrds I caught her behind some trees and got my gun up and ready. she kept coming to about 60 yrds then stopped and looked at me then started walking getting even closer. then at about 50 yrds she looked at me again and I didn't move. but she got a little spooked and turned to her left and I couldn't get a good shot. she went about 50 yrds away from me and turned back to her right. I started bleating and she stopped. but before I could get her in my scope she started moving again and I could never get a clear shot. I guess in hindsight that I should have taken the 60 yrd breast shot. but I thought she would get closer and give me a short shot. but that's why its hunting and not killing. but I did really love the time I spent with my son and the time in the woods.
> sherman


Great post sherman51. 

I know the extra special feeling of being fortunate enough to be able to hunt with loved ones. Used to be I would hunt daylight till dark, everyday I could regardless of who else hunted. From deer, turkey rabbit to groundhog, if it was in season, I was hunting it. And again, about half the time alone.
Today, sometimes it's hard to go and stay out even half a day deer hunting by myself. I just get so much enjoyment taking especially the young nephews out and helping them to experience the outdoors and hopefully pass a few things onto them. This last past gun season, one of the nephews got his 1st kill. What a pleasure!
Took his older brother 4-5yrs. Ago and helped him get his 1st turkey. To add icing to the cake, it was a monster bird with a 12 3/4" beard and a tad over 1 3/4" Spurs. He has talked smack to his (much more experienced hunter) dad a couple times when his dad has tagged and he hasn't. Ha! He is off to college now and hasn't had time to hunt and when his dad called him about his turkey kills the boy always ends the conversation with something like "that's great dad...keep at it and one day you'll get one as big as mine". 

More related to the topic of the thread....brother(nephews dad in above paragraph)was supposed to come down and m/l hunt but is sick so couldn't. Guess I gotta go out in this bit of snow and see can I kill me something so I can call him and rub it in as well. Nothing beats m/l hunting in the snow.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

thers is just no better time to ml hunt then when you got snow on the ground. I love being able to see a bird flying through the woods at 100 yrds.

back many yrs ago I would do my morning hunt from my stand, then go in for lunch then I would go back out and still hunt until time to get back in my stand for the afternoon hunt. I just cant walk like I once did. so I hunt from my stand about 150 yrds from the road. I started deer hunting back in 81 and have been blessed. I've taken at least 1 deer every year but 2 until the last 2 seasons which have been dry. but I don't really mind not getting deer as long as I have my son to hunt with and spend time together with him. and when his wife hunted with us she was great. she made the morning coffee and did the cooking for us. and she hunts as hard as most men I've hunted with over the yrs. hopefully next yr they can both hunt with me again.
sherman


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## sirwalleye (Jul 25, 2010)

Was able to spend the one and only day I could muzzleload in the woods sunrise to sunset. Wish I had another day or two but with the wife's and god daughters birthdays this weekend I know when to not even try lol. Saw 13 deer throughout the day a lot of does and yearlings the shooter deer never gave me a shot and the ones who did give me a shot were the size of dogs so while I had a lot of action I didn't get to let the smoke fly this year


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## WATER FOX (May 7, 2008)

Carpn said:


> Hunted Saturday morning till 930 and saw 10 does . Ran home for some family time and got back out about 230 . Took my climber in a took my time to get in slow and quiet . Seen a few does then about 5 3 bucks came by . After sizing em up I decided to kill the lead one and quit looking . Kind of thought it was my target buck , but it was a random wanderer I guess . Either way , I'm done . Shot him at 45 yds and he did that low run with every step getting lower before tumbling after 40 yds .


Nice buck congrats!


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## WATER FOX (May 7, 2008)

WISH IT WAS YOU said:


> My buddy and I doubled down this evening on some veal


Congrats guys!!!


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## bradley4 (Mar 31, 2014)

Shot a decent doe Saturday around 4:30. Watched it bed down from 1:15-4:30. It got up, noticed it was limping badly so I decided to take her. She had a club/broken foot.


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## WATER FOX (May 7, 2008)

bradley4 said:


> Shot a decent doe Saturday around 4:30. Watched it bed down from 1:15-4:30. It got up, noticed it was limping badly so I decided to take her. She had a club/broken foot.


You did right thing good job!


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## TDD11 (Aug 5, 2015)

I had these same 3 does within 20 yards of my stand 4-5 times over the gun/muzzleloader seasons. They were alert in this video, as I had the wind to my advantage, but they were on the path that I walked in on not 15 minutes before this.
I couldn't bring myself to shoot the large doe, as I didn't know what the yearlings odds of survival was without her. At one point during gun season, while tiptoeing through a thicket, I pushed them and looked into some brush, and she was standing looking at me, maybe 10 feet away. We both froze and looked at eachother for maybe 30 seconds before she casually walked off. 100% wild deer mind you.





I did manage to push 6 deer to within 30 yards of my girlfriend Saturday afternoon, but none had antlers and she thought they all looked small.


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## Mike_13 (Jun 11, 2007)

Filled my last tag yesterday. Actually shot her the evening before but apparently my scope was bumped and hit far back. Follow up shot yesterday also hit off the mark. But none the less was able to find her and seal the deal after tracking her 200 yards the first night. Then jumping her out of her bed yesterday morning and tracking her another 200 yards before getting a shot.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

Mike_13 said:


> View attachment 200433
> 
> Filled my last tag yesterday. Actually shot her the evening before but apparently my scope was bumped and hit far back. Follow up shot yesterday also hit off the mark. But none the less was able to find her and seal the deal after tracking her 200 yards the first night. Then jumping her out of her bed yesterday morning and tracking her another 200 yards before getting a shot.


Your gun is bigger than that deer...good eating though.


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## Mike_13 (Jun 11, 2007)

It's funny you say that. A few others have said the same. She was actually a really nice sized 2.5 y/o doe. Must be a funny angle.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Called it a season and came home this morning to try and beat the bad roads later this evening.

Couldn't pull the trigger, had over 20 different deer each of the last 3 days including a few young bucks but couldn't do it. I even purchased a second tag last Friday thinking I would kill a couple since Josh couldn't hunt this year, but..............

Took lots of pictures


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

Lundy said:


> Called it a season and came home this morning to try and beat the bad roads later this evening.
> 
> Couldn't pull the trigger, had over 20 different deer each of the last 3 days including a few young bucks but couldn't do it. I even purchased a second tag last Friday thinking I would kill a couple since Josh couldn't hunt this year, but..............
> 
> Took lots of pictures


 Finding myself doing that more and more. Passed up 14 deer on Saturday. I am fine with it and still enjoyed the day very much.


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## catfishhunterjames (Mar 29, 2010)

Shot that small buck Saturday around 8:40 am with smoke pole and today I have 13lbs of sausage.


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## Snook (Aug 19, 2008)

Ended up passing 13 on Sunday evening feeding in a couple fields I was watching. One good buck that I said to myself "he will be a really nice one next year". So I just watched him through the 16x scope. As much as I would like to shoot I have more satisfication knowing I let them live anymore. Still waiting on that BC buck...


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## idontknow316 (Mar 21, 2008)

You guys passing on 13, 14 , 20. I've seen that many deer all season. Must be nice lol.


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## kparrott154 (Mar 26, 2007)

idontknow316 said:


> You guys passing on 13, 14 , 20. I've seen that many deer all season. Must be nice lol.


I'm with you there. I wish I saw that many deer this year!


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## UNCLEMIKE (Jul 23, 2014)

kparrott154 said:


> I'm with you there. I wish I saw that many deer this year!


Hunting public land I have not seen that many deer in the past three years combined. I go out each weekend from start of bow to gun and a few times after gun. I have been hunting over 40 years. Don't consider myself a great hunter but have taken my share. As we know it is not rocket science. Pay attention to the wind and remain still being the key factors. That is if the area is holding deer. When you can walk public lands for hours with week old snow down (as I have done the past several years but not yet this year) and cut few tracks you know the population is not there. It's all about the location even with private land but public is going down hill fast.


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## Dirtyworm (May 3, 2013)

Got to put in the time knock on doors ask around whatever it may be to locate properties.


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## fishforfun (Apr 9, 2005)

Well I hunt private lands and the deer aren't there anymore . I use to see a lot of deer bucks and does . The last few years less and less deer . Plus the land owner hasn't seen many deer either. So it isn't only public land. The cameras dnt lie either I only shot one deer this year there a 1.5 yr old doe. But I dnt know what is being killed on the surrounding properties. Since the EHD kill off the last cpl years the hunting sucks. All I can say is the odnr has there head up there you know what . But I grew up when it was a big deal to see a deer so I am use to it. I went to Cosh. cty for Muzzy season and saw very few deer there also. I could of shot a cpl does but just didn't because of low sighting . Sorry to be long winded .


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