Opening Weekend Muzzle loader-2011

Wow! What a morning. I got the truck loaded up last night and ready for this morning. It is opening weekend for the Muzzle loader season here in Tennessee and I was ready to rock.

I got up early this morning but not early enough for the time change last night. I was running behind all morning so it was not off to a good start. I got to the woods a lot later than I had planned and my daddy-in-law was there ready and waiting on me. Needless to say, I took some good ribbing for being late and taking so long to get ready to go into the woods. 

I got to my tree  and climbed up. I got settled in about 0730. It was cool and the wind was blowing pretty hard. The tree I was in was rocking in a nice steady rhythm and I was having trouble staying awake but I did. Lol. I started hearing a lot of shots from the dove field on the WMA I was hunting and figured it would be a slow, dead morning. 

I made a few posts on Facebook about my morning and responded to several comments about my inability to close the deal in years past. All in good fun from my hunting buddies but at least I still have all my shirt tails. Lol. I texted a buddy of mine to see if he was in the woods and having any luck.

Now a little history on my buddy Sam and our texting from the field. For the last three years, during turkey season, we will text in the field and exchange strategies and just general chit chat to pass the time. Every year, while I am texting him, turkey always decide to come out in the field; always just out of range. So, with this information, you can figure out what happened this morning.

Okay, back to the story. While doing all of this, I heard a shot from the direction of my daddy-in-law and sent him a text to see if he had one down. He said no and that the shot was to my right but in front of him. I got this text while sending one to Sam, so when I got through typing and sending to Sam, I replied to my daddy-in-law. It was now about 0815.

I had just dropped my phone back into my vest pocket and caught something out of the corner of my eye to my left. I slowly looked over and down and there was this little what I thought was a spike. Now being in the middle of a good long dry spell and being on public land and caring more about meat than antlers, my decision was easy.

I eased my muzzle loader up, got him in the scope and readied for the shot. I flipped the safety off and he stepped behind a tree. I'm thinking, "Holy crap, not again", as this has happened before. It happened twice last year with not shot ever presenting itself. But I stayed on him and then it happened, he stepped out. He was about 15 yards away. I placed the cross hairs right behind his shoulder, he dropped his head to eat and I squeezed the trigger. 

I waited for the smoke to clear and he was running like crazy and stumbling all over the place. He ran to the right and circled back to the left. He was about 20 yards away and made a hard cut back to the right and that was his last turn. I watched him hit the ground and flip about 10 feet and not move again. 

I reloaded and kept my eye on him to see if a follow up shot would be needed. I sat there for what seemed like forever but was only about 10 mins. Then my phone vibrated and brought me back to reality. It was Lloyd asking if I had meat and I said "yep". I then said he was on his way.

When he got to my stand, we both started slowly walking to where the deer was laying, looking and ready for anything. He never moved again and when we got to him I realized it was a forked horn spike.

It may be small but it ends my dry spell and is meat in the freezer. I sent out a few text messages and took the good-natured ribbing about the size along with congrats all around. I got him field dressed and carted out to the truck. Then took him out to Lloyd's and got him processed, vacuum packed and in the freezer. We had dinner and came home.  

Not a bad day in the woods but over too quick, but sometimes that's how we like it. He may not be a Booner but he eats just the same. I fried up the tenderloins and a few other bits and it was just as good as any other deer I have eaten. I enjoyed being out in the woods and I'm thankful to live in a place where I can do that and I always enjoy spending time with Lloyd, my daddy-in-law and hunting buddy. 

In the end, it's always about the memories we make in the field and the people we share them with. Good luck and God Bless.

*On a footnote, while I was waiting on Lloyd to return with the cart, I had a doe bust me. What a morning it would have been to have two deer on the ground. Lol.