Well, since we're now sharing our hunting stories, I should explain that this is only my second year out. I'm now 37, and it took me that long to get off my duff and go and get my license (funny story about that too...I was forced to take a hunters safety course because I wasn't old enough).
So I am not what you'd call an old hand at the hunting game, but I've got 30+ years of firearms experiance, so I'm more than familiar with a broad range of firearms.
Anyhow the place I've been going to is private land owned by one of my fathers friends, and he's happy to have us hunting there with him, but this year was the big disappointing one for me.
Don will only allow muzzleloading for hunting, and I agree with him 100% as to why it's more sporting to use them, and to be honest...listening to the war zone for several miles around, I think it is a VERY good thing. It seems that in the fields to the east of us that there was a 3-shot minimum at every deer, meaning that if you took a shot, you were forced to take at least 2 more...seemed that way anyways.
So last year I wasn't able to take any good shots at anything, even though we saw a few, but the ones I saw were too far away, or behind cover so I couldn't take any shots, but this year was different....at least Saturday was.
On the walk out to the stand I was going to use, I spooked up a nice racked buck (it was still o'dark thirty so I didn't even get a point count on him), and a fairly good sized doe, so I'm thinking that this was a good sign for this year. It was probably a little less than 100' from the trail as they ran out into the open field beyond, so I'm getting a good case of buck fever now.
I'm up in the stand for about 20 minutes after the first automatic fire begins half a mile away (sounded like it anyways) so it's good to go, I see the first nice pair across a field to my west (way out of range for a muzzle-loader) And I'm just sitting being patient.
I look to the north, and these two pretty doe just come trotting down along a treeline right into my line of sight, the lead doe turns to her left and follows the corn field and stops dead spot right in my shooting lane..probably about 50' from my position. I'm already turned towards her, and I think this probably has to be what I can only describe as the perfect shot opportunity.
Now as I said this is only my second year, but I'm feeling confident that I can take this shot (hell, I couldn't have missed at that point), So I use my trigger set to turn it to a hair trigger, take careful aim...breathe in....breathe out...relax...and squeeze.
I was in what Ted Nugent called "The Moment". It's that point that you know you can take the shot and KNOW that you will take that animal...you don't have to take the shot, but if you do, you just know that you drop your quarry.
I want some venison this year so I finish the squeeze, and CLICK!
The doe hears the sound (probably my intake of breath also from a misfire) so she starts to walk calmly behind some tree cover...I don't have time to fumble around in my pocket for another percussion cap, so I pull the hammer back and give the cap a little twist hoping that I didn't have it seated properly, and that a second strike would set it off, kneel down on the platform, take aim again (I had the perfect shot again at her vital zone between these two trees) I went through the breathe in and out routine, and squeezed again and CLICK!
This time they both took off running down the line and out of range.
Then of course the next two days it was miserable and wet, and I only saw ones tail as I was again heading towards my stand the next morning...and a flash of a tail way down the cornfield to the north...and not another deer all the time I was out.
Well, there's always next year.
