DOUBLE LUNG
Active Member
Details to come.
Well the season started off great. Besides the missed opportunities that I messed up on my own. I was seeing alot of buck and plenty of shooters to top it off. I give all the credit in the world to the people that hunt muzzleloader season with iron or opens sites. I sure take for granted that I can use a scope in iowa.
After the forth day i had seen 24 bucks and 13 of them were over 170 inches. The biggest was a 200+ that had around a 36" spread. Sure wish I would have had that scoop on.
On the 4th and 5th day I had my uncle Stan riding shotgun with me. Around 8:00am we could see these 2 buck feeding on top of this mountain. We could see the on was a shooter and started to come up with a game plan. So we drove back up the mountain so that I could walk the ridge of the mountain about 3/4 mile as the crow flys to get to these bucks. My Uncle Stan stayed at the vehicle and waited to hear a shot.
As I am walking to these bucks I was pretty sure they were another ridge over. I pop up over the ridge and they are standing there at 80 yards. They never saw me so I drop to my side. By this time my heart is beating out of my chest, thinking that I had just screwed up my chance to harvest this buck. When I peaked up to check and saw that they where both still feeding I tried to get myself together. The plan I came up with was to stand up get a firm stance and shoot this buck off hand.
I stand up put the bead on him and pull the trigger. Complete miss, these two buck lift there heads look and go right back to feeding. I drop to my side and am trying to figure out how in the world I just missed, how are they still standing there and how in the heck am I going to reload this muzzleloader as I am laying on my side. Trying to load a muzzleloader shaking like a leaf is tough. Try doing it on your side. Not easy!
So i get it loaded and I am not sure if they are still standing there while I did this. As I look up and over this rock I can see they are still stand there feeding. So I try to compose myself enough to try and get another shot. I can see their antlers still there and decide to stand up and try it again. I get to my feet, put the bead on him and his buddy is standing in the way of him. So i drop back down to my side. (Mind you that my uncle is watching this whole thing take place.)
As I am laying on my side again I take another peak over the rock to see if the other one had moved out of the way. I can see that he had moved and decided to give it another try. By this time I am an absolute wreck. I stand up to make an off hand shot again, put the bead on him and pull the trigger. He was quartering away from me when I shot him and hit him in the back hind quarter. He takes off running down the mountain.
I reload and can see his antlers about 100 yards down from where I am standing. I start making my way down to try and get another shot on him. Also I am glassing and not coming up with anything I can hear something coming from where I had just walked down from. Without even thinking I turn pull the gun up and here he comes running down the mountain. Put the bead on him and pull the trigger. Put it right through the front of his shoulder and drop him right where he stands. It works better when you don't think about it. Not brains, no headaches theory. It was a great hunt and was happy that my uncle Stan got to watch and experence the whole thing with me. Through the 4 1/4 days I had seen 26 bucks and 14 where over 170 inches. Never saw another person when I was out hunting. It was awesome.
