After fooling around with muzzle loaders 40 years.

[Alleyyooper]

Got two new springs 30 pound ones and installed them in the bolts of the Remington’s  Firearm season 2014 I harvested a nice 7 point opening day, Missed another nice buck in some brush 5days latter. Saw at least two really nice bucks but they were chasing does and moving right along so I never got a shot at them. Muzzle loader season comes. I decided I am going to wait for a chance at those bigger bucks rather than shoot a spike I had been seeing right along all thru both firearm season and ML season. As I was going out in the afternoon on the 6th Kare asked if I was going to shoot a spike. I told her not right away I was going to wait to see if I could get one of the big guys. 30 minutes latter a spike walks by my blind 35 yards away. Never seen a buck after that except when I was out walking the dog seeing the same spike twice in as many days. Season is coming to an end quick figure I have 3 days left as I went out the door Thursday morning. When I came in for lunch Kare said she wanted to go to her mom’s on Friday as her birthday was Saturday the 20th. I decide at that time any legal buck I saw I was going to try to harvest. After lunch I walk to my blind in the front yard and get settled in. The first doe comes out of the pines at just after 4:00 PM to feed slowly across the lawn to the woods on the other side of the driveway and then go to the corn field across the road. They kept coming till I had counted up to 9, I was talking on the radio to Kare who said there were deer in the back yard that had got my pup to barking. She also said there were a few out the living room window across the creek. It had been over cast all day so never was what you could call bright. About 5:00 PM I decided to start packing things up for the walk back to the house when another deer walks out of the pines at my 70 yard marker. I look at it with the binocs and see it is a spike I had never seen before. I turned the scope up to 6 power on the 50cal Remington loaded with 80gr. of triple 7 MMP green sabot and a 300gr. Speer gold dot bullet. He was quartering to me at about a 50 degree angle so I put the cross hairs just in front of his left shoulder and touched it off. Fire jumped out the end of the barrel and the blind filled with smoke. I got a very quick glimps of the buck hunching up and running. I grab a quick load dump the powder in the bore then start the sabot and bullet down the bore, pull the ram rod and drive it home. Kare comes on the radio and asked if that was me who had shot. I tell her yes it was, she asked where I was I told her reloading in the blind as I searched my coat and pants pocket for my capper. Kare said I didn’t need to reload as he wasn’t going any place he was laying just off the lawn by the barberry bush along the creek; he had run about 45 yards. I go to the house strip off my hunting duds turned on the flood lights, went down to him with Kare and got pictures of my first muzzle loader deer with 5 inch spikes. Since it was now dark it was nice to have the flood lights to field dress him by. Small body deer, am torn now if I should have waited longer for a bigger buck.









   Al

[iddee]

Congrats on the first one with the M.L.
That one will be better eating than a bigger buck.
I dressed out a fair sized doe yesterday morning. Have it packed on ice until after Christmas. Then plan to make summer sausage and bratwurst.

[lazy shooter]

Shooting deer in your yard!  Now that's convenient.  Our deer are small in West Texas, and I shoot a couple for my neighbor.  I shoot old mature doe or a spike.  Hopefully, I find an old doe without a yearling.  I have most of my deer made into hamburger meat, but that young spike will make some good fry meat.  I often shoot with a black powder cartridge rifle.  I use Swiss black powder and 540 grain lead bullets over 73 grains of powder in my 45-70 Shiloh Sharps.  I use the same bullet and 110 grains of double X Swiss in my Shiloh Sharps 45-110.  When you touch it off there is a serious cloud of black powder and a strong smell of sulphur.  Dang, how I do love it.

[lazy shooter]

@Iddee:

Bratworst is good, good, good.  Oh, how I love brats.  My youngest son makes brats and summer sausage out of venison.  Both are very good.  We have a local butcher that make excellent brats with venison or beef.  It my favorite sausage type meat, and venison will make our cardiologist's so much happier.  We eat grass fed beef, but it is still much higher in cholesterol than venison.

[Alleyyooper]

I save the tender loins and back straps to butterfly. every thing else goes to burger. We use so much burger when we can afford it the venison helps a whole lot.

I have 5 summer sausages recipes I am going to try our. Wouldn't mind some more either to try.

Had to buy a new freezer a upright whirlpool 16.6 since our old chest freezer died last summer. Was on sale thru the holidays at 10% off and still gave me another 10% off for being a Viet Nam vet.

   Al

[lazy shooter]

It warms my patriotic heart that some business man gave an additional 10% discount to a Viet Nam veteran, and they call us the forgotten vets.

[Alleyyooper]

Korean, Viet Nam and Granada vets the most for gotten of all.

   Al

[lazy shooter]

Korean, Viet Nam and Granada vets the most for gotten of all.

   Al

I was in Korea after the "police action."  Like Iddee and some others on this forum, I was in Viet Nam during the conflict.  Good on you for your service Alleyopper.

[efmesch]

Eat the meat----I follow that, but what do you people do with the pelts?

[lazy shooter]

Eat the meat----I follow that, but what do you people do with the pelts?

The people that process my deer keep the hides and sell them for tanning to make gloves.  There is a company in South Texas that will take the raw hides, tan them and make them into really nice gloves.  I'm sure some of our forum members tan their own hides.  I was never tempted to do so, as I do not think deer hides with the fur on them are desirable.  I wouldn't be surprised if river rat and Iddee couldn't tan hides.

[iddee]

Haven't tanned one since I was about 14. More work than it's worth. I give some away and toss the rest.

[lazy shooter]

Haven't tanned one since I was about 14. More work than it's worth. I give some away and toss the rest.

That's my opinion also.  I tanned some rattlesnake skins for hat bands several years back.  They turned out well, but it is too time consuming to do in my old age.

[Alleyyooper]

Sell them for a five bucks to the same guy that buys our coyote hides.

    Al

[riverbee]

"as I do not think deer hides with the fur on them are desirable."

fly tyers use them lazy, or folks who tie their own flies to fish with.  i prefer elk hair (floats better) but do use some deer hair for certain flies.

[Alleyyooper]

Deer hair is used a lot with buck tail spinners too.

   Al

[brooksbeefarm]

Tried to make moccasins out of deer skins years ago, decided i might as well go bare foot Probably would make good house shoes, but not knowing how to tan the hides, mom wouldn't let me bring them in the house, said they stunk to bad . Jack