Post by spence on Nov 21, 2020 12:20:20 GMT -7
It has been three years since I killed a deer, and for the last few months my venison larder has been as bare as Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. I fixed that yesterday, killed a fat buck. I’ve done that many times before, but this one was special to me, because I killed it with my 20-gauge double flint shotgun. This is the gun I used to shoot my first roundball from a smoothbore with, and this was a sort of final exam. I passed.
I bought that gun, my first flintlock smoothbore, in 1990. At the time I was impressed with the thought of the versatility of smoothbores, and planned to use it as a test bed to try some of the historic wads and loads and to take all my normal game, large and small. The wad/load testing has been a continuing and fascinating activity since the beginning, and great fun. I have also been fairly successful at taking game with the gun, and have collected squirrels, rabbits, groundhog, a few quail and doves, one turkey, and one javelina. The biggest game, whitetail deer, has always been my idea of the ultimate test, but I’ve never worked up the nerve to try that one. Both barrels shoot very small groups, but the Getz barrels are not regulated to the same point of aim, and I have to use a bit of Kentucky windage when aiming. The possibility of wounding a deer while trying that has always been very intimidating. I’m coming to the end of my deer hunting days and decided “now or never”, so I packed the double yesterday.
Sometimes things just work out. At 1400 hours a buck sneaked up on my blind side and I didn’t know he was near until he was at less than 25 yards. He walked slowly through a dense patch of tall weeds, almost completely out of sight until he came to the edge of a small clearing and the end of the weed patch. There he stopped with only his head showing, his body totally hidden. He did something I’ve never seen one do, began raising and lowering his head. I wondered if he were sensing another buck, or maybe a doe, since the rut is on, or if he was catching my scent, since it was breezy and he was straight downwind. He kept that up for what seemed a long time. I was afraid he would leave in a hurry when he decided to go, and I certainly didn’t intend to take a moving shot. I put the bead on the only thing showing, his head, between and below his antlers and ear, adjusted the windage , waited until he held his head still for a moment, and took the shot. He dropped straight down. My now rather ancient idea of taking all my game with a double flintlock smoothbore had finally happened. Damn, that felt good.
Mother Hubbard says "Amen to that."
Spence
I bought that gun, my first flintlock smoothbore, in 1990. At the time I was impressed with the thought of the versatility of smoothbores, and planned to use it as a test bed to try some of the historic wads and loads and to take all my normal game, large and small. The wad/load testing has been a continuing and fascinating activity since the beginning, and great fun. I have also been fairly successful at taking game with the gun, and have collected squirrels, rabbits, groundhog, a few quail and doves, one turkey, and one javelina. The biggest game, whitetail deer, has always been my idea of the ultimate test, but I’ve never worked up the nerve to try that one. Both barrels shoot very small groups, but the Getz barrels are not regulated to the same point of aim, and I have to use a bit of Kentucky windage when aiming. The possibility of wounding a deer while trying that has always been very intimidating. I’m coming to the end of my deer hunting days and decided “now or never”, so I packed the double yesterday.
Sometimes things just work out. At 1400 hours a buck sneaked up on my blind side and I didn’t know he was near until he was at less than 25 yards. He walked slowly through a dense patch of tall weeds, almost completely out of sight until he came to the edge of a small clearing and the end of the weed patch. There he stopped with only his head showing, his body totally hidden. He did something I’ve never seen one do, began raising and lowering his head. I wondered if he were sensing another buck, or maybe a doe, since the rut is on, or if he was catching my scent, since it was breezy and he was straight downwind. He kept that up for what seemed a long time. I was afraid he would leave in a hurry when he decided to go, and I certainly didn’t intend to take a moving shot. I put the bead on the only thing showing, his head, between and below his antlers and ear, adjusted the windage , waited until he held his head still for a moment, and took the shot. He dropped straight down. My now rather ancient idea of taking all my game with a double flintlock smoothbore had finally happened. Damn, that felt good.
Mother Hubbard says "Amen to that."
Spence
