Hard-luck hunter conquers phobia

My muzzleloader jinx is finally over.

It ended Friday at 5 p.m., when I downed a doe with a star-crossed muzzleloading rifle.

That’s misleading because all muzzleloaders have been troublesome for me in recent years. The latest misadventure was in late Octo- ber, when my Knight KRB7 had a slight delayed fire that caused me to miss a doe at about 60 yards.

That had previously been a reliable rifle with which I had killed half a dozen deer. It did very well with Triple Se7en pellets and Winchester 209 Triple Se7en primers, but there was always an element of suspense when I pulled the trigger. The pellets were the reason. When I seat the bullet, I often feel the upper pellet crush under pressure. When that happens, the powder charge is no longer a uniform composition, and that causes inconsistent ignition. It is a delicate balance to seat a bullet tight enough against the pellets without deformation. Seating it too loose will cause hangfires and delayed fires, too.

The nadir of this phenomenon occurred in 2016, when I missed four deer, including two in one day. The second was a mature buck at pointblank range. The other was a doe in the last minutes of the December muzzleloader season. That one cost me a Triple Trophy Award.

This scenario also caused a delayed fire in 2016 that resulted in my missing a magnificent buck at Madison County Wildlife Management Area. That rifle was a Thompson/Center Omega Z5 that I modified with a VariFlame II breech plug adapter. Instead of 209 primers, it uses Large Rifle Primers or Magnum Large Rifle Primers.

That season shattered my confidence with muzzleloaders. I resigned myself to the inevitability of missing. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

After missing the doe in October, I dedicated myself to conquering the muzzleloader medium. First, I shelved the Triple Se7en pellets in favor of loose Triple Se7en powder. I also replaced the cheap Bushnell Banner scope on the Omega with a Nikon Omega 3x-9x40 scope. An Omega for an Omega. That scope is discontinued and was succeeded by the Nikon Prostaff P3. It has Nikon’s highly regarded Bullet Drop Compensation reticle that gives you reliable impact points to 250 yards with a 100-yard zero using a 250-grain bullet.

The Knight wears a Bushnell Banner Wide Angle scope with a circular reticle that is ideal for muzzleloading and shotgunning with slugs.

And then I practiced. I zeroed the Omega using 250-gr. Thompson/Center Shockwave bullets. I got a couple hundred on clearance a few years ago, and I powered them with 100 grains of loose Triple Se7en. I dialed in to hit 1 inch high at 100 yards, and I shot until I consistently printed three touching holes. That is only possible if you keep your head down throughout the shot and ignore the smoke.

I used the same charge with the Knight, but topped it with a 250-gr. Nosler MZ Partition muzzleloader bullet. I ranged the first shot and put the second through the bull’s-eye. I did not practice as much with that rifle and load because Nosler no longer makes the MZ Partition. I found four flats on clearance, and I don’t waste them on paper.

On Friday, I took the Omega

to the Grant County pines. At 4 p.m., four does entered the clearing. The wind had shifted unfavorably. The does caught my scent with every puff of breeze, but the whiffs were too fleeting for them to pinpoint their sources. Every time they settled down, it happened again, so they were in a continual state of unrest.

Finally, an odor from an

over-indulgent lunch hit the does like a brick. Their heads shot up and locked on my stand. A mature doe made three steps toward me and glared. The game was up.

The doe turned sideways and tensed. She was about to bolt.

She stood 123 laser-verified yards away. I put the 150-yard reticle circle on the doe’s shoulder, squeezed the trigger and held steady as the smoke plume obscured my sight. I heard the bullet strike.

When the smoke cleared, the deer were gone, but I knew my shot was true. I found the doe in thicket about 30 yards away. The bullet passed through.

On Saturday, I used the Knight to kill a young doe at about 100 yards.

I am confident again, but I will continue to practice until my muzzleloading mechanics become instinctive.