So I get my new used muzzle loader last week in a two gun swap. I'm loving it. I added new sights and tuned her in. My friend calls me Friday night and asks me to go to this new land he bought. I said of course and met him at his house at 6 am Sunday morning. We have had lots of cold sub 20 degree air lately and also had a snow front roll through Saturday that dumped 3-4" on top of 2-3". I parked my truck and we jump out to get dressed....WOW!!! its cold, blowing and snowing still. Bad idea, we are each thinking but not saying, of course. As we trudge through the snow taking turns leading I see an end to the tree line, we stop and he tells me to walk to end and look left, cant miss it. So I do as instructed. Its a 4 foot square plywood box on stilts(1).....
. Not my flavor at all, but there where no ground spots to be found. So I climbed up the half an aluminum extension ladder, which was stupid loud(2). Once I laid a foot unto the blinds floor I knew I was in for a mess. It was full of snow, and being so cold it squeaked horribly(3). I said piss on it and just busted in and sat down. I was grumpy, I'm not a box blind fan for a myriad of reasons. I found a corner to lean my gun, got a general idea of the mini box's layout and settled in. 10 minutes later a deer strolls into view at 70-75 yards. It didn't take long to see it had antlers, and it didn't take long for me to realize I needed my gun! I still had my gloves on because it was early and I just plowed my way into a frozen OSB box, why should I be ready I thought? I grabbed the tip of my glove with my teeth and yanked it off, he heard it and stopped. Looking right at me for 10 seconds, then started coming towards me again, that's when I got my gun through the right window(4). I yanked the hammer back and got my sights settled on his chest waiting for him to turn either way as he walked towards me. Ill take a quartering to shot every day with a 310 grain bullet at 50 yards. He did just that, quarted to my right, I found the off leg and centered my sights. The gun blazed and huffed like a cannon when I pulled the trigger! I heard the hit and seen the deer get shoved back a bit. I knew he was hit. He ran out of view quickly.......this is where it gets interesting.
I wait until 9 am before I got up. I walked over to the area he was standing in and found nothing at all. Not even snow tossed around from a speedy exit. I started making bigger circles looking for anything, soon my buddy that invited me shows up and starts looking. Nothing. So we follow his general escape route and hit a 75 yard diameter pot hole in the woods. He walked one side and I walked the other, we met up on the back side, which is his line and about 150-175 yards after the shot.......blood in the snow right at my feet. Now we are unto something. We followed his tracks in the snow and he never stopped bleeding. We went over a half mile and finally found a bed spot, which was full of blood. I started to feel a bit better. So we continued on as it was snowing madly and we had no choice but to go on. Its about 11 am by now. We continued with the same trail we'd been. Only his tracks and blood all along. It was odd. We tracked him all the way up to the highway about 3/4 mile away. Across the road, two houses and a garden between them. He went right through the garden and a back yard. By now we are both just whipped, baffled and MOTIVATED! My buddy wants to walk the hwy back to my truck and grab a drink, then drive over to where we popped out by the houses and garden. I agree. Before we can get far a local stops along the ride and asks if we are tracking. He says that's 15,000 acres of nasty public land over there, and good luck! We both grinned because we knew he was ours now. We had 15,000 acres of no mans land to catch up with him on. The walk back to the truck was miserable, but motivating. We made it back and found a spot to park. I go cut the deers track in the guys back yard, no cap on my gun, and follow it back unto public land. I'm following the track and look up to see man eating autumn olives. Uh oh. I was looking at blood in the snow as I walked, it starting get very heavy and I look up just in time to see him rise 30 feet away and amble deeper into the brush, no shot. The bed was covered in blood and the area around the bed is covered. We backed out, I called in sick and am leaving the house in 15 minutes to go try to recover him. I hope he be will laying about 75 yards ahead in a frozen ball. Ill report back to finish the story, good....or.....bad.....
