Ohio's Muzzle loading season ran Jan 5th thru the 8th. The opening day found me hunting acrossed the road from my Son's home. We had gotten permission from the owner, John, to hunt earlier that fall. I slowly worked my way back to a bottleneck where I'd built a natural blind weeks before, took off my pack and settled in for the day. About 10am a shot rang out about 100 yds east of me and within seconds 7 deer came running towards me and one was a buck. As I mounted my Encore and started to line up the buck he did a nose dive, flipped over and died, less than 40 yds from me. Looking down his back trail I could see the hunter walking the blood trail, turned out to be a 15 year old Amish boy. John had told us that 3 other guys also had permission to be there. When he got to the buck I walked over to check out the deer. That young man was as proud as a Peacock with two tails. It was a very old 8 pt with about 22 inch inside spread, short tines but decent mass. He actually apologized to me thinking he had messed up my hunt, I thanked him but said he didn't mess me up and I was pleased his shot was true. While we were talking a second Amish boy walked up, his older Brother. He also said he hoped they hadn't messed my hunt up. I told him I knew they had permission to be there and was happy the boy made a good shot. Talking to the older Brother while the youngster gutted the deer he said he wouldn't hear the end of this, it was bigger than any deer the older boy had shot and we both laughed. The young guy didn't have any way to split the pelvic arch so I took out my zip saw and showed him how to use it, bet he has one in his pack next year. As I watched them drag the buck away I thought back to my first buck and smiled the whole way back to my blind. The rest of the day was uneventfull and as I walked out at dark I was still smiling about the two young hunters and that buck.
Sunday I had things to do and only got to hunt for a few hours in the morning with no luck but Monday was to be a different story. Monday found me hunting behind my Sons house by a small grove of pines, deer sign was heavy and my expectations were high. The morning went by kinda slow but about 2pm a big doe and a yearling came within 20 yds of my blind. The doe picked me off and ran towards the pines. I got the shot off just as she entered the pines but with the cloud of smoke I couldn't tell if I connected or not. I loaded the gun and followed up the shot. Found a tuft of hair and a little blood. Within 5 yds the blood trail really took off, nice bright red against the snow. She went about 80 yds and piled up in a corn field. While I was gutting her my phone rang, it was my Son. He had gone to Southern Ohio to hunt and was on his way home. Told him about the doe and he said to stay put, help would be on the way. I was about 1/2 mile from his house and with about 10 inches of snow it would be a tough drag. After a few minutes I heard a 4 wheeler, two of my Grand daughters came out to see the deer and also to haul it back for me. The youngest of the two told me not to forget to save the heart and liver, they were her favorite parts of a deer. I smiled and told her I would give them to her for her supper. My Son got home shortly after we got the deer home, he put her on the scales and she weighed 165 lbs, by far the biggest doe I ever shot. Tim always cuts up our deer and a few days later I had backstraps on the grill. Can't wait until next year to do it all over again, God I love this sport....