Black Powder Huntin with Cowboy Guns

[Cohagen]

Howdy Pards,

I often wondered how a 45-110, loaded with BP would handle a huge Wisconsin Whitetail.  (100 lbs or so) Well I found out this last season, third day of the hunt.  A trophy deer about the size of a nanny goat came prancin up to my stand, nice as please.
I was protected with a Sharps, fancy sights and all, and 400 gr. loads in front of about 1/2 a cup of genuine BP. Talk about compaction....A12 pound rifle and 10 pound load.
Well sir this deer is hangin around pretty good and I decide to convert it to steaks and chops.  The problem was that little round hole sight in front was plugged with a burr dock, so's I cant get it  out and can't see the sight.  Well sir, it seems to me that with 400 grns. of lead and a fist full of BP in that shell, that if I even get close we should have liver and onions in camp tonight.
All of the sudden that trophy deer decides she'd prefer more friendly company and takes off straight away from me.  Now if you ever seen a whitetail run, you know all you see is that big white tail.

I lines up the Sharps as best I can and touches her off.  The blast blew my hat off, and knocked me flat, but I did see that deer in real trouble.  The flame from the muzzle  was right on and this is one Texas Heart Shot that went true.  Some of you with real good eyes might have noticed that slight indentation on the rear end of a deer runnin away from you, well sir, I hit it square.  Problem was the flame from the Sharps lit the trophy deers backside on fire and the smoke ring from the muzzle blast looked like Hula Hoop at full throttle.  Not only was the fire somethin to see, but the 400 gr. lead Big Lube Bulltet completely gutted that deer, slick as you  please.  I figured what the hell, might as well let her burn and burn she did.  In a half hour I had the nicest venison Barbecue you ever saw.

Thats how the first Black Tail Deer was ever shot in Wisconsin.  Camp was a little quieter after the barbeque feed.  I guess all that salt peter in the meat might have had something to do with it. 

Your Pard

Cohagen

[Dalton Masterson]

 
DM

[hellgate]

That sounds like a tale ol' Jim Bridger woulda told.

[Dick Dastardly]

Congratulations Cohagen,

You hunted better than I did.  I  never saw a live deer during season.  Now they are running all over the South lawn.  I really would rather not poach so close to home, so I'll just let 'em live and kill some next fall.

Good story you wrote tho.

DD-DLoS

[Deadguy]

That story is funny.  In Wisconsin, a 100 pound whitetail is a baby!  Other than that, good stuff! 

[Forty Rod]

I want to see how you do when trout season opens.   

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

 


                                                 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

So!  Now we are telling fish tales.

[Dr. Bob]

I always cut off the fish tails when I wuz cleaning them!!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

YEAH!  Every once in a while I get my spellin' wrong.

[Cohagen]

Don't see tooo much wrong with fish tales, as long as you kill um with the Holy Black....Now there is this 42 lb. Musky.......

Cohagen

[Coyote Hunter]

Uh, I guess I'm showing my redneckness...but I have shot at big old carp in the spring when they start mudding up the shoreline of a local water inpoundment. and I was using a CVA .44 brass framed Navy at the time....

[Fairshake]

Careful now with them hunting stories. Before long y'all being talking about your one- eyed beagle and how good he is. THen I would have to chime in and defend my one-eyed beagle because I know for a fact that he has accounted for more Louisiana rabbits than any other anywhere!!

[Cohagen]

Now if that beagle lost his eye in a black powder shoot out....Sir,  you got yourself a real dog.

Cohagen

[Dick Dastardly]

I had me a good rabbit dawg once.  Thre legged mut with one blind eye and half an ear bit off.  His tail was broke and he had bad breath.  Answered to the name of Lucky.  That dawg was gone three days once and when he showed up he was pushin' a rabbit, then bayin' then pushin' it again.  Rabbit was so wore out he was nothin' but a rack of bones and hair.  I shot him and he was so tough you couldn't stick a fork in the gravy.  Lucky liked it tho. .

DD-DLoS

[Jamie]

Reminds me of adventures huntin' the griz here in Western New York.  While there aint so many as there once was, due to the predations of the mighty coyote, you kin still pick off one now and again.  A 45-70 loaded with 65 grains of real powder, a lubed piece of felt and a paper patched 500 grain will do the trick, or so I assume.  See, every one I get the drop on, I get too much drop on it and seem to shoot right under them.  The results are more fun that way anyhow.  These New York grizzes are short legged bad boys, and gain some real elevation under the right circumstances, that bein' a 500 grain paper patched plowing the sod directly underneath 'em.  I had one once that went three feet in the air at the first shot, and then hit the ground.  I was busy stuffin' another shell in the chamber as he collected his thoughts and started runnin' again, directly away from me.  Yep, did the same thing on the second shot.  By the third shot, he was haulin' the mail and leavin' vapors, but still runnin' directly away from me.  "Third time's the charm," sez I.  "Bite me" says the griz.  You guessed it.  He finally figured out that takin' a fast right turn into the weeds was in his best interest.  My only hope is that all that smoke gave him lung issues. For sure the concussion of the sod puttin' him 3 feet in the air at every shot got him discombobulated enough for me to reload every time.  Mind you I' ve put three shot groups into 2" and a bit less at 100 yards with this gun, so maybe he wasn't the only one discombobulated...
I realize that it's hard to get permission to shoot grizzes out West, but here in New York you jist need a small game license.  Farmers are glad to get rid of them, and from what I've seen, ours aint near so dangerous as those out West, I've shot hundreds and never once been seriously injured.  Course how much damage a 15 pound marmot can do is open to question...
Jamie