Had a recently met friend reach out a little after opening deer rifle and had to what I could tell was a painful question for muzzle loader season. His wife that he has got into hunting the last few years from bow to rifle and now muzzle does could use a backup place beings their original plan was not going to be doable. It was a pretty easy decision for me and after talking to my buddy that hunts with me his was just as fast, SO GAME ON TO THE TWO OF US. If you have read my 2019 Rifle post you get an idea with the transition that is going on of my parents moving out and my wife, kids and I will be moving out you can fill in the blanks.
The point of this story is about what quality/ethical hunters are and the community that exists with the land owners, the respect they have and the chance to enjoy the outdoor experiences and opportunities with others another recent. Another recent acquaintance has told me that some of the best people he has met is through hunting and looking back he is very write when I count the friends I have because of hunting and it also makes me realize it isn't just hunting but also the conservation of the land and animals and the respect they show for all of it.
The second Sunday of muzzy she sits and watches does and fawns but no buck, yet as my wife and I were cleaning house with the kids playing and muzzy hunter's husband hanging out and taking care of hitheir 2-3 month old daughter we see deer are walking around 30-40yds away from the house as dusk falls and with that a really nice 4x4 decides to bed down with the kids just getting a front row seat to observe, unfortunately she is 200yds away with her back to these deer. From then there is on and off scouting of the area and trail cameras checked from 3 of us and a new blind set. This past Saturday there is my good buddy hunkering down with bow looking for a meat doe and the muzzy hunter north of him looking for his buck in zero to negative temps. My buddy ends up shooting a really nice body young buck as it was the only deer he had a clean shot at and muzzy didn't see anything with horns. The husband gets a little worried and goes to check and get her back in the dark as we watch all the kids in the house and then she walks in like a popsicle and joins the warmth with my buddy sitting with bow. little did we know that her husband was only behind because on his way back he found the bow buck and just drug it back and had it waiting. Sunday comes and it is last chance and now trying a new blind where the 4x4 that we saw a week before is pretty consistent. Last chance and there is a deer here and there that I can see from the windows working, then there is more and then a spike and fork. The husband is already driving out with the kids and I tell him what I can see through the trees and as I turn away a muzzy shot goes off! She lets him know she thinks she missed and we all know how that feels. With all 3 of us able to go check there is no blood with what her faint view is. There is no blood so we spread a little bit and still no blood in the white snow. Unfortunately this does not end in a recovery. What it ends in is a shot that was a clean miss, a miss that many including myself have felt and for the first time I am trying to help with confidence along wit her husband but that does not always help. It is heart breaking to work hard or fight the cold she did and it is easy to get down on yourself and say "I screwed up". I hope see can understand that a clean miss is so much better than a wounded animal, it hurts but I am confident that there is not a suffering animal. We are sure we know what her mistake is but it is still not a wounded animal and misses happen, it's part of hunting and its part of life.
Hopefully you good folks can share a story or two and hopefully she can see that it is not her husband and a friend tying to make her feel better and hopefully she happens to see this.
Thank you
The point of this story is about what quality/ethical hunters are and the community that exists with the land owners, the respect they have and the chance to enjoy the outdoor experiences and opportunities with others another recent. Another recent acquaintance has told me that some of the best people he has met is through hunting and looking back he is very write when I count the friends I have because of hunting and it also makes me realize it isn't just hunting but also the conservation of the land and animals and the respect they show for all of it.
The second Sunday of muzzy she sits and watches does and fawns but no buck, yet as my wife and I were cleaning house with the kids playing and muzzy hunter's husband hanging out and taking care of hitheir 2-3 month old daughter we see deer are walking around 30-40yds away from the house as dusk falls and with that a really nice 4x4 decides to bed down with the kids just getting a front row seat to observe, unfortunately she is 200yds away with her back to these deer. From then there is on and off scouting of the area and trail cameras checked from 3 of us and a new blind set. This past Saturday there is my good buddy hunkering down with bow looking for a meat doe and the muzzy hunter north of him looking for his buck in zero to negative temps. My buddy ends up shooting a really nice body young buck as it was the only deer he had a clean shot at and muzzy didn't see anything with horns. The husband gets a little worried and goes to check and get her back in the dark as we watch all the kids in the house and then she walks in like a popsicle and joins the warmth with my buddy sitting with bow. little did we know that her husband was only behind because on his way back he found the bow buck and just drug it back and had it waiting. Sunday comes and it is last chance and now trying a new blind where the 4x4 that we saw a week before is pretty consistent. Last chance and there is a deer here and there that I can see from the windows working, then there is more and then a spike and fork. The husband is already driving out with the kids and I tell him what I can see through the trees and as I turn away a muzzy shot goes off! She lets him know she thinks she missed and we all know how that feels. With all 3 of us able to go check there is no blood with what her faint view is. There is no blood so we spread a little bit and still no blood in the white snow. Unfortunately this does not end in a recovery. What it ends in is a shot that was a clean miss, a miss that many including myself have felt and for the first time I am trying to help with confidence along wit her husband but that does not always help. It is heart breaking to work hard or fight the cold she did and it is easy to get down on yourself and say "I screwed up". I hope see can understand that a clean miss is so much better than a wounded animal, it hurts but I am confident that there is not a suffering animal. We are sure we know what her mistake is but it is still not a wounded animal and misses happen, it's part of hunting and its part of life.
Hopefully you good folks can share a story or two and hopefully she can see that it is not her husband and a friend tying to make her feel better and hopefully she happens to see this.
Thank you
