Overall I had a good week of muzzleloader hunting. I took a decent six pointer Monday morning. It wasn't a big rack but was a big deer. It was a clean shot through the vitals at about 40 yards. He took two steps and dropped. I would consider him a management buck since his horns were much smaller than they should have been given his body size.

 

 I took another big-bodied small, screwed-up racked buck Wednesday morning. I had to shoot him twice as the first bullet (another 40 yd. shot) clipped a tree limb and deflected into his paunch. He didn't even act like he was hurt and actually ran toward me. I thought I had missed him completely. I reloaded quickly while he stood about 10 yards behind my tree stand. I shot him through both shoulders with the second bullet and he ran about 20 yards and headlong into a tree. I think the impact with the tree was what actually killed him...lol. I guess I've been doing more "management" hunting than trophy hunting, but at least my freezer is stocked now. Or at least it will be once I get my meat back from the processor.

 

I also killed two coyotes this week. The first was Wednesday evening as I was leaving my tree stand. I walked out of the woods and was walking the field edge back toward my truck and a coyote was standing in the middle of the field watching me. It didn't run away or act afraid at all. I shot it and it ran into the woods and fell. I heard it kicking and growling and thought about putting another bullet in it, but given that it was getting dark rapidly and I only had one shot, I didn't think pursuing a wounded coyote into the woods was a great idea. What bothered me most about that coyote was the way it stood and stared at me. In my experience they mostly will avoid people. Mostly.....

 

The second coyote walked under my tree stand Friday afternoon at about 4:30. I took it with a head shot at about 30 yards. There were two more following it that ran off when I shot the leading dog. He was smaller than the first, but big enough to do some damage especially in a pack of 3.

 

My father in law takes the coyote prize for the week though. Monday morning (about 30 minutes before I killed the six pointer) he shot a coyote that weighed nearly 50 lbs. It was a male and was absolutely huge. We carried it out of the woods on the back of his 4 wheeler to show it to the landowner. The thing's head hung off one side of the cargo rack and his hindquarters hung off the other. I took pictures with a disposable film camera and will scan and post when I get them developed. Needless to say the landowner (dairy farm) is pleased that we don't hesitate to thin the coyote pack at any opportunity. They are becoming a real problem for him and are getting bolder every year. He's seeing them closer around his calf barn lately and he's had a couple of cats and chickens go missing.

Usually by this point in bow season I've got at least one kill and usually 2 or 3 under my belt. So far this year, nada. I've seen a few deer including a nice buck that I jumped walking to my tree stand. He saw me well before I saw him and he was gone in a flash. I shot at a doe a couple weeks ago but underestimated the range and shot right under her. The arrow passed so close to her that it shaved a few hairs off.

 

I've hunted this year as much as I normally have so I don't know what the issue is. I'm not seeing the deer around my usual stand locations like I have in seasons past. I'm deep sea fishing this weekend. Next weekend is the last weekend in bow season so it will be my last shot at an archery kill this year. If I strike out it will be the first time in four years that I haven't tagged a deer in bow season.

 

I'm taking the entire week of muzzleloader season off work to hunt. Hopefully my luck will improve as the season changes.