Got my first buck with a muzzleloader, a nice wide 8 point.

My friend, my 8 year old son and I, decided to take a walk back to the powerline right of way behind my mothers house and, being that it was the second day of muzzleloader season we took our front stuffers, namely my cva St. Loius Hawken 50 cal. (about as fancy and modern as my muzzleloader political point of view will allow me to carry) in case we got a chance to fill a doe tag.

We saw a couple deer come out of the tree line down the powerline right of way, about 300 yards out (way to far) and then mill about and go back into the tree line. My friend decided to cut the distance while we had some breathing room and I backtracked to a phone line right of way that crosses the powerline in case they stayed in the trees, hoping to get a doe.

My son came with me and was making all kinds of racket in his excitement. We could hear what sounded like bucks sparring near were the deer had come out. As I started down the phoneline right away we decended a small slop and as I looked ahead I saw this buck standing there about 30 yards away just looking at me. All I could see was his head and about 8 inches of neck. I know thats not the best target but I pulled up and fired, and the deer disappeared into a cloud of smoke. When I could finally see I saw absolutely nothing, I listened for a few seconds to try and see if I ould hear him running off but heard nothing. So we moved forward to try and see if there is any blood. As my angle changed I see my buck had dropped in his tracks.

Since this is my sons first time witnessing a kill, I start explaining to him about how you never approach a deer near its legs in case they start flailing and all that and explain about touching them in the eye to make sure their dead. As I did this a put my foot on his antler and grab the other and touch his eye with my knife. and he blinked and grunted.

I got this oh crap feeling washing over me and it was a little dark to see exactly how big he was, but I could tell he was the biggest buck I had ever shot, and one of the biggest I have ever seen, and I was apprehensive about cutting his neck (which would have been my usual course of action) in case I wanted to get him mounted. So it take my knife and plunge it in right behind his shoulder.

Holy crap he went ballistic!!! I let go of him as he is flopping around and grunting and bellering and finally after a couple seconds he stops. I walked up to him again, after finding my knife, and check him again. There is a little blood coming out from my knife wound. As I touch his eye again he blinks again and tries to pick his head up (I was standing on his antler again) so I stuck him again and this time work the knife to finally finish this mess. I hate it when they don't die nearly immediately, so I made sure it was done and was rewarded with huge amounts of dark red blood pumping out the wound.

By this time my friend arrives (I called him on my cell phone) and we drag him the 50 yards or so to the powerline, out into the open where we can see better. We look to see were I had hit him at and find that I really hadn't given him anything more that a flesh wound. The ball went thru the bone that supports his antlers just under the bases and basically traveled under the flesh and exited without doing anything more that just knocking him out. Had that buck collected himself before I knifed him My son or I could have very easily been hurt BAD. Several tines are 8 inches or better, and he was one scarred up old buck. He weighed close to 200 pounds, which I know for most of the country isn't much, but the average deer around here is only about 90 to 120 pounds. He has a black eye, a cut on his nose, bald patches on his neck and face, tine punctures on his head and face, the tips of 2 tines have been chipped off, his neck is swollen bigger than his head, and he hasn't even got all the velvet off yet.

Once I find the usb cable for my wife's phone I'll post pics.

My only guess as to how I was able to get that close to a dominant mature buck, on the ground in shorts and a t-shirt, no cover scent, or camo, with my noisy 8 year old is me must have mistoke the noise my son was making for another buck making a scrape.

Wow! What a story!! Essentially, the only fatal wound on that deer was a knife wound!

That took some balls! I would have just shot the thing, capes are cheap.

Great story! Congrats!

Great story,Iwould have that battle scar old buck mounted & would be one of my proudest trophys,not everyone can say they killed a buck with a knife!Good for you!Congratulations on a terrific buck kill with a knife hunt,that one could go in the old outdoor adventures..This happened to me stories...!Yes you & your son was very lucky! I hope i get the chance to do the same thing someday!WOW

My son wasn't as impressed, it was a little on the graphic side, but we're good now that he understands that I was trying to end it quickly and wasn't just acting out some pshycotic urge.

I would have preferred that it died as it hit the ground, I was just in such a hurry to see if I connected that it didn't even dawn on me to reload the muzzleloader just in case. I guess I was just lugging around a powderhorn and enough balls and patches to wage a battle for nothing.

When I hunt with a muzzleloader it's usually a very period affair, with a flintlock longrifle. But I took the Hawkin because my longrifle stands almost a foot taller than my son and is hard for him to hold, let alone fire. I was hoping that he might even get to fill one of my doe tags but we were not even hunting really. I was wearing shorts, t-shirt, and sandals. I never thought in a million years I would have come into close quarters with a buck like that while hunting, let alone just out for a walk.

Just goes to show that luck, and the unpredictability of a rutting buck, are a big part of the equation.

Just hoping my luck holds out, 2 weeks ago I got my first Alligator, this week my biggest buck, and bear season is 2 weeks away.

Great story for your son to tell his kids years down the road!

This reminds me of a story that took place just south of Reserve, New Mexico, back in the early 1960s!

We were camped on the Pueblo Creek in the Saddleback Mountain area, at about the 7000-foot level. The dirt road that passes right by our camp goes all the way up to the fire tower on top of Saddleback. In our camp were myself, my five-year-old son, and a friend who had his 18-year-old twin sons with him. My friend was to go up the mountain with myself, and my son to hunt the rim-rock, while his two sons were to take his Jeep out by themselves.

The twins left early on opening day, while we were still eating breakfast. About ten minutes we heard a shot echo through the canyons! My friend said, “Well one of the twins got a deer!â€

About 20 minutes later we heard the jeep coming into camp, and went to see what they got. Both boys were covered in dirt, blood, and wearing torn cloths. When asked what had happened, the boys both started talking at once. My friend told them to stop, and asked one to tell the story.

The boy started off with his tale. “We were driving up the road to the cliff dwellings, when my brother spotted a deer on the ridge, about 200 yds away. He got out of the jeep, and rested his rifle against a tree, and fired. The deer dropped in his tracks. Then we went up there to gut the deer, and drag it back to the jeep, through the brush, and rocks. We left the rifles in the jeep. When we got to the deer, my brother grabbed the deer’s antler, and when he did the deer got up, but didn’t go anyplace. At that point my brother, again took hold of the deer’s antler, to cut the deer’s throat, and the deer took a step forward. He tried it again and the deer would walk along as led. My brother said, lets walk him down to the jeep, and then kill him and we wont have to drag him. He started down the slope, with the deer following like a pet. All at once the deer came to his senses, and started trying to get away, with my brother holding on fast to the deer’s antler while I laughed. The deer seemed to be getting the best on my brother so I decided I’d better help him, and I grabbed the other antler. At that point, my brother let go, and said now! You hold him a while! The deer got away!†After about ten minutes of laughing, we got out the first aid kit, and patched the two Davie Crockets up!

I reserected my thread to add my pics, the cable I needed to transfer tham from my phone happened to be in India with my father.





You can see were the ball chipped the burl of his right antler as it exited. (and my use of camouflage hunting clothing)

Real nice deer and a great story.

I had a similar thing happen a couple years ago on an Antelope hunt. When we walked up to the goat we saw he wasn't dead, so my brother suggested I shoot him again. The goat was close to 16" and I was having a shoulder mount done so decided to knife him instead. When I grabbed his horn he started to stand up so I straddled him as if I was going for a ride and wrestled him to the ground, with my legs wrapped around him and my left hand holding his horn I stuck my knife into his heart and held on until he passed. It was quite exciting.