So after years of shooting deer with centerfires I thought it was time to make it more interesting. I've owned my Lyman GPR flintlock for a couple of years and shot it quite a bit. I put the tang mounted aperture sight on in the spring and loved it.I'm shooting 90 gr fff and a .495 ball, printing about 4" or better at 100yds.
On wednesday morning I went out for the opener of rifle season with a muley doe tag. I passed up a couple of longer shots, one 70 yard shot with a lot of brush in the way and a 4 pointer who new I only had a doe tag.
I spotted 2 does heading into a bedding spot, so I put myself as close to the trail as I could get. The closest one was passing at 96 yards when I unloaded on her. A beautiful supported shot(on a pile of rocks) with the front sight right behind her shoulder about half way up (allowing for a couple of inches drop at 100). I heard it hit her and saw a tuft of hair fly. She jumped a little bit(did'nt kick her back feet) and ran. She jumped a fence, all 4 legs looked good, but she stopped and swayed a little like she was lungshot.
She went out of sight over the brow of a hill towards a coulie. No problem I thought, she'll be dead in a few seconds. I loaded the gun and went to where she was hit.Nothing. No blood, hair, green, nothing. Nothing where she jumped the fence, nothing on the trail. Over the hill, no deer. 2 hrs later, no sign found. I even came back to see if she swelled up and was visible in the sage and grass. Was back on saturday thinking the magpies would give her away, but she just is'nt there.
Was she too far at 96 yds for a .50 over 90 gr powder? What did I do wrong? I know that it's hunting, but I hate to hit an animal and lose it. I'm already thinking of changing my barrel to a .54, and I'm using my .243 till I get some meat wrapped.
Your thoughts?

I believe a .50 caliber muzzle loader should be sufficient for deer. I use a .45 caliber and have killed many deer with it with no problems. I do, however, shoot conical projectiles. Round balls do not retain energy well over long distances and they don't seem to be good options for deer sized game. My brother-in-law uses round balls and has lost a couple of deer he has shot. I would suggest you try something like a Thompson Maxi-ball (a conical, all lead, projectile), or some other conical projectile.

My gun is the Great Plains Rifle, which I believe is more suited to RB's. I have'nt tried anything else in it, but I certainly would shoot lead conicals if I thought it would stabilize them.

Have you tried the saboted hornady xtp's for accuracy? The expanding bullet makes for much better blood trail if the shoot accurate in your gun.

a .50 PRB at 96 yards will kill deer cleanly if you put it in the ribcage. smaller round balls, and make no mistake-in the muzzleloading world .50 is small, don't have bone busting penetration at greater range. it kills much better the closer you are. problem is you can't be sure exactly where you hit her.