Muzzleloader 2019
Looking from the outside, one might ask why we even show up. I’d have to go back and look to see when we last shot a deer during Kentucky’s early Muzzleloader Season. This year was much the same. However, I would say everyone had a great time. At our camp, it has become a dress rehearsal for the big show in November. If a major hatrack showed at our stands, we would not hesitate.
Mooselette and Daddy Moose went out to the tower at Hollywood. There is plenty of room up there for a father/daughter team to hang out and work the kinks out. Angus went to the new stand at Hundred Acre. SuperCore went to Jagende Hutte, and I trudged out to Campground.
I had the most action. The red oaks are dropping acorns like crazy on the south-facing hillsides. I bumped a couple of doe as I entered the woods, but it was a good hour before legal hunting. By sun-up they were filtering back in. I counted coup on six doe before coming in. SuperCore had a few opportunities on doe as well. There just is no good reason to take anything this early when you know the serious freezer filling will all be done by Thanksgiving. It is a good thing too. We went out to the store at Lenoxburg for a late second breakfast. They’re all filled up with beef carcasses, and were not taking in deer.
Saturday afternoon, I had a couple of nice doe in my sights. I could have taken them a hundred times over from Hollywood. They did give me an important data point instead. SuperCore decided to drive back early from Jagende Hutte, a good hour before the end of legal hunting. This was when the doe were feeding a hundred yards away from me. To understand this story, you have to understand the layout of the property. From the house, there are three major ridges that stretch out to the east, south and west. Jagende Hutte is out to the east and Hollywood is on the central ridge the goes roughly south. Between the two is a deep ravine called Hootin’ Holler. The two blinds are about 350 yards apart across the hollow, even though you would have to travel a thousand yards to go between them. As SuperCore started up his ATV, the heads on the two doe jerked up. They intently followed the sound as he drove out, and sensing danger, they took to the woods. Only after SuperCore had reached the house and the woods had settled down for another quarter hour did they come out and resume their feeding. I have witnessed this before; the woods surrounding Hootin Holler erupt with deer scurrying through the leaves as SuperCore fires up his ATV. For those who think the deer pay no heed to the sounds of ATV’s, be cautioned.
Mooselette, Angus, and Moose all drove back on Saturday afternoon to attend a friend’s wedding. SuperCore and I went out for late second breakfast and then drove the S-10 over to the mechanic on Salem Ridge. It has been stalling recently, and I want to have it in best order before rifle season.
Sunday was bit of an oddity. Shortly after arriving at Hundred Acre, I started noticing a light drizzle starting to form. I checked the radar on my phone and nothing was showing. Precipitation continued for the next two hours, but when I got up to leave before 1000, my clothes were still dry. This has to be the lightest precipitation I have ever witnessed. Back at the house, the pavement on the county road was wet, but that was it. SuperCore came in shortly after, having seen nothing but a doe and a couple of coyotes that were moving too fast for a shot.
The best line of the hunt came from the lips of Mooselette, hunting with her father. She was bouncing around the blind, talking to her father about everything she could imagine. Moose finally got her to settle down by explaining her job was to be like a tree, to sit motionless and use only her eyes to scan for deer. This made Mooselette a bit sullen, and she took to her chair and pouted until Moose let rip with a monstrous bit of wind. Moose is known for his capacity in this regard.
“Daddy,” remonstrated Mooselette. “Trees don’t fart.”
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I’ll second that notion about ATV’s. The deer know they mean danger, no doubt. I had a first this early muzzleloader season. I had been getting a beautiful 8 pointer on camera frequently in the past weeks. I got out of the blind opening morning around 8:45, and he showed up right in front of it at 9:30. That evening, he decided to show again at 5pm. That time he wasn’t so lucky. I harvested him with a heart shot at 20 yards. He went 40-50 yards and piled up. It was my first buck harvested with a muzzleloader, and one of my biggest 8 pointers to date. Beautiful tall tines and almost perfect symmetry.
Any time to get to deer camp is a good time I’m sure. I can’t wait until we’ve got a cabin on our place.
Every Rifle Opener, I try and get in the stand well ahead of everyone else. About 10 minutes before legal hunting, the neighbors (I call the Orange Army) light up their ATV’s and start driving into their stands. The woods come alive with deer running well out ahead of them. It’s a freaking circus! The Orange Army have no idea they’re pushing all the deer onto my property.