2007 Muzzle Loader Deer Hunt

This is the story of my hunt last year for those of you that care.

We were hunting the southern unit on a 4 day hunt. My Brother Rick took his deer the opening morning. We knew exactly where these deer were hanging out. So I tried had my brother and Dad push them into me. I set up about 1,000 yards away on a wheel line sprinkler pipe. I watched a little 2 point walk with in 50 yards of me while watching all of the other deer about 1,000 yards away. Although it was the last day I didn't want a 2 point. When my brother and dad came over the ridge the 8 deer started to take off into the sage in the opposite direction from where I was standing. I thought the morning hunt was over. Then 1 minute later they popped back into the field on a dead run headed in my direction. I watched them head down the field just being able to see there heads pop up and down over the sage. I saw where they were headed, and took off on a run with my head hunched down to see if I could get close to where they were going to jump into the next field where I was standing. I saw them at about 250 yards from me. I stopped and set my self up. One knee on the ground and the other as a base to rest my elbow on. They jumped the fence. There was only one buck in the 8. He looked like a decent 3 point and it was the last day so I was committed to take a shot. Once they jumped the fence they made a 90 degree turn to the left and headed straight toward me, they ran over a small stream culvert. Once they crossed the culvert, they made 90 degree turn to the right heading back in the same direction they were going in the first place. This positioned the buck perfectly broadside at about 60 yards. He wasn't going to stop so I took the shot at him on the run. BOOOOM!!! The shot felt good but I couldn't tell if I hit him because there was so much smoke from the muzzle loader. The smoke cleared about 5 seconds later. I looked for the buck but he was not there. Questioning if I missed him and he ran down the creek bottom to safety. I watched all of the does look back for a split second and then bolt out of there. But still no buck with them. I started to head in the direction where I last saw the buck. Nothing, The brush was so tall that I couldn't see any sign of him. I looked for 5 minutes with the assistance of some spotters from above and finally found him inches from rolling into the stream. I hit him right behind the shoulder with a double lung kill. He only ran about 30 yards from where I saw him last but the brush was so tall I couldn't find him very quick. To my surprise he was a little 3X4 and was starting to fork on the side with only 3. I use a Knight .45 caliber muzzle loader with 195 grain sabot slugs and 120 grains of powder. In the 3 deer that have been taken by this gun, this was the only deer that took another step after getting hit. The knock down power of these muzzle loaders are unbelievable. I would recommend the muzzle loader hunt to anyone that is interested in hunting. This was a great hunt and tons of memories were made.