Closest I ever got to harvesting a deer with a Muzzle loader.

[Alleyyooper]

Got a brand new Remington 700 ML in 54cal for Christmas from my wife about a year after they came out. not my first ML as I had a T/c Hawkins 50 cal and a T/C plains rifle 50 cal.
I shot it all summer long I was using 100gr of Clean Shot and a 250gr XTP bullet in red MMP sabots.
Got an invite to go ML hunting in Sothern Michigan for does. Fellow who invited me put me in a deer blind with a hay field to the front and woods to the rear hay field on both sides.
I was there about an hour when a small heard of does showed up in  the hay field to the right. I pick out the biggest body one about 40 to 50 yards out. Set the cross hairs on the spot just behind the shoulder and squeeze off the shot. When the smoke cleared all the deer had disappeared. I had to step out of the blind to reload so I decided to go see if I saw any blood in the 4 inches of fresh snow. Yup there is blood a lot of it. I track it to the edge of the woods, Don't know if I have permission to be in there or not so look up the fellow who invited me. He has permission so we start tracking it. It goes about a half mile to a gravel road does not cross but angles deeper into the woods. Track it a half mile back to just behind where the blind I was in was. Fellow tells me that he thinks he knows where it will go so I am told to go stand by a fence post a corner where that woods meats the corner of another woods. Pretty soon I see deer coming but hold fire as the one I had shot should show blood as she was bleeding real well. Finally I see a lone does sneaking to the fence. once there  she turns and heads back the way she came I still am not sure it is my doe. Soon a boom sounds and a call from the fellow who invited m. I get there and he had shot her when she came sneaking back with his T/C renegade 54cal and Maxi ball.
I had shot her in the brisket about 4 inches off in my aim.

Mine you this is not the first deer I had ever shot in my life. In fact I had just returned a week earlier from our UP deer camp with two nice bucks.
I don't have a clue what I did wrong.  Got my first Muzzle loader in 1976. Started hunting the season for them in 1977. I have never harvested a deer with my muzzle loader.

   Al

[iddee]

And in the other corner, we have..........................................

My father only harvested one deer in his life. He was sitting on a stand one morning, waiting for one to come by. He perked up when he heard shots ring out about a half mile away. Sure enough, a nice 8 pointer came by from that direction. My dad raised hie rifle, took aim, and the buck fell. He walked down to it and waited 30 minutes or more to see if the shooter came tracking it. No one ever showed. He took the deer home.

[LazyBkpr]

Iddee.. I have had that happen to me..   Hunting with a friend I heard him shoot.. three does came running and stopped about 70 yards away.. I take aim, pick the biggest, lean into the trigger, and the one I am aiming at falls over dead...

Alley..  I have been shooting since I was about 6, and I have had quite a few different muzzle loaders..  90% of the time I see fellows CLEAN their rifles REALLY well, then load them for the hunt the next morning..  usually that first shot is OFF a few inches.. after that first shot it will hit dead on again.. the first shot is called a fouling shot, then the next shot is for effect.
   I got a doe last year by sneaking up on her through a field.. my wife said I couldnt do it.. but I did...  so then, SHE had to one up me, and got within about 20 feet of he one she got an hour later..

   Not happy with the Bone Collectors we have now..  I cant get a better group than 4" of so at 100 yards with either gun..    Yes, 4" at 100 yards will kill a deer every time if well aimed, but thats NOT what I want in a gun...

[Riverrat]

I never tried ML deer.  I used to regular season firearms hunt.  I had a similar tracking story.  I shot a doe with the youngest son. Waited about 30 minutes then started looking.  I followed the blood trail about a mile when I found an area with lots of blood, footprints and 4 wheeler tracks.  Yep someone loaded it up and took care of the butchering and eating for me.

[Alleyyooper]

Never did figure out how my aim was so far off. I had shot that rifle a lot so knew all the little things it did.
Even today with different powder different sabots and bullets it fires a perfect shot out of a clean barrel. Can fire a second shot with the same results. If I don't swab for the third shot the groups open up and get bigger every shot taken after if I don't swab.

   Al

[LazyBkpr]

Sounds like a keeper!  Wishing I had your rifle 

   I have seen some strange things when supposed long time hunters are confronted with a NICE deer..
    My brother in law and I took a friend of his up to a field in Maine.. there was an apple tree in the middle of the field. We set up the friend in the middle on one side, my brother in law and I each took an end..   A tall 14 point walked right under me out into the field.. I turned to watch the friend.. he had a lever action .35..  He aimed, and then proceeded to ratchet all five shells through the action without ever firing..
   Another time a fellow forgot to take the safety off.. he aimed at a nice ten point, squeezed the trigger, and then lowered the gun with a stunned look on his face, exclaiming he had aimed dead on what did he do wrong?  Somehow he thought he had fired..
    In your case.... there could have been a branch etc that ticked the bullet or any of another dozen reasons. It may not have been anything you did, so dont kick yourself..  We practice, and make sure we are confident in what we have, after that we just do our best. Mother nature and Old man Murphy will get in the way every once in a while.

[Alleyyooper]

It was so long ago I am over it have switched powder bullets and sabots.

I even got a 50 cal to go with it.

   Al