Congrats to Connie Williams...2 deer!

Got the e-mail below from Connie Williams today. She and her husband went on a charter with Kenneth this past year and you couldn't find two nicer folks. Anyway, she tried hunting with a muzzleloader this year. Ended up with 2 deer in the same day! Congratulations Connie! I hope you and your "hunting guide" have a great holiday season.

Connie's E-mail:

Hi everyone,

Well, opener of muzzleloader is behind us and it left me with a fantastic
memory. Do you want to hear about it? Nevermind, you're going to hear
about it anyway because it was a real "first" for me.

I didn't get a deer during the gun season preceding muzzleloader season so
my husband Faye asked if I wanted to try muzzleloading. I had never shot
a muzzleloader before so I said I would like to do it if I could handle
the gun recoil due to neck/shoulder problems that I have. The day before
the opener, Faye took me target practicing. I tried his Remington Inline
50 cal with a scope on it and discovered that it leaves a huge black and
blue bruise on your upper right arm!! I then tried his White Mountain
Carbine 50 cal that I bought for him for Christmas several years ago, and
it suited me fine, even without a scope. So this was my gun of choice.

Faye dropped me off at home and he went on to the doe yards which are over
an hour away to set up my "Doghouse" blind and to throw a little bait
around it. We had sufficient snow already to drive the deer south to the
yards, and this is the area in which I have a doe permit.

Opening day we arose at 4:30 a.m., had a light breakfast, packed a lunch,
and by 5:30 a.m. we were heading south. It was only -4 degrees outside
and I was questioning my sanity at this point, but we continued on with
the excitement already building. The sky had no clouds in it but was
sparkling with a fantastic display of stars.

At 6:40 a.m., we zipped ourselves into the Doghouse, unzipped the windows, and waited for daylight. Last year my step-daughter Vicki introduced me to those foot warmers that you put in your boots to keep your feet warm, so this year I tried them. I won't go without them anymore! I found that if you keep your feet warm, the rest of your body can tolerate the cold better.

Some time around 8:30 a.m. Faye spotted a deer disappearing into the woods
but I didn't see it. By 9:30 a.m., we were both really cold and decided
to go back to the truck and warm up. We drove around for awhile and
checked out some other locations and warmed up. We returned to our spot,
ate lunch, and rested for awhile. Faye checked his GPS for the most
likely time that deer might move around and it said that between Noon-2
p.m. and between 5-7:00 p.m. were the best. It was about 11:45 a.m., so
we walked back to our Doghouse.

I climbed into the Doghouse while Faye walked around and checked the
little piles of bait that he had thrown out the day before. He joined me
and was just getting settled back in his chair when I looked out and
spotted a deer near one of the bait piles. How that deer didn't see Faye
just a few minutes earlier when he was out there we will never know. And
how that deer could walk into the bait pile without me seeing him is
another mystery. It just appeared out of no where!

I remained motionless and reached over and grabbed Faye's knee and told
him not to move because there's a deer in the bait pile. He told me to
get my gun up and shoot. The deer didn't seem to spot us and proceeded to
roam around. I lifted the White Mountain carbine up, aimed, and pulled
the trigger. If you have never shot a black powder gun, you aren't
familiar with the black cloud of smoke that appears immediately after
shooting! Once that cleared, I could see antlers on the deer as it tucked
its tail and slowly ran off into the woods. I was shaking like a leaf at
this point and couldn't believe that I missed the buck! Faye and I walked
out and tracked the deer for about ten minutes and finally found blood!
Now I was really pumped. We decided to return to the Doghouse for about
an hour and then start tracking it.

Around 1:30 p.m., Faye decided to track the wounded buck while I remained
in the Doghouse in case he kicked out another deer while tracking it. He
wasn't gone five minutes and I heard him shoot. I assumed that he had
found my buck and that it wasn't dead yet so he ended it. It was then
another 15 minutes before Faye called me on our walkie talkies and said,
"Congratulations hon, you shot a nice 4-point buck!" He had spotted the
deer running ahead of him when he first walked in and shot at it but
missed. By the time he found it, it had run out of energy and was barely
moving. He told me to go back to the truck, get the sled, and follow his
tracks to the deer. He then told me that he was going to shoot once more
to kill the deer because it was suffering. I agreed.

I found Faye and my buck in the woods about ¼ mile from our blind. I
knotched my buck license and put it on the antler Unfortunately, I had
shot the buck in the gut, so Faye volunteered to clean it out for me ( I
know, I'm spoiled!). He cleaned it out and dragged it back to the truck
while I carried his gun.

It was now about 3:30 p.m. and bitter cold. Faye asked if I wanted to
take the Doghouse down and head for home, but I wanted to stay til dark,
so we crawled back into it. Around 5 p.m., three deer stepped out of the
woods heading right for one of the bait piles. They didn't seem to even
notice that we were there! Both of us spotted them at the same time, and
I wanted Faye to shoot this time, but he told me that I should shoot
again. The doe was behind a small tree and all I could see was her head
and a portion of her neck. It was getting dark fast and if I didn't shoot
now, I probably wouldn't be able to. Faye said "shoot" and I did. After
the smoke cleared, I saw one deer run off to the left but couldn't see the
other two deer. Faye said that one of them was standing at the bait pile
looking right at us. It was getting really dark by now and we dreaded having to track a wounded deer in the woods but were resolved to do that if we had to. It turned out that we didn't have to, because laying in the bait pile was a nice big doe! I had shot her in the neck and she dropped right there!

I don't know who was more pumped at this point, me or Faye! He said that
I had done something that not too many hunters have ever done - kill both
a buck and a doe in one day! I didn't know if I was shaking from that
news or from the bitter cold that was now totally engulfing us! Faye told
me that this time I had to gut the deer out myself, so we dragged it back
to the blind and brought the truck closer so that I could use the
headlights to see better to gut her out. When I finished, I put my doe
tag on her ear, we lifted her up into the truck beside the buck,
dismantled our Doghouse, and headed home.

Whenever you accomplish something like this, you always want to share the
exciting news with someone and tell the story over and over and over
again, until you actually realize it. We stopped at our friend Gary's
camp to tell him the news, but he wasn't there. Half way home I called
my son Guy in Wisconsin on Faye's cell phone and told him and his wife
Tiffany the news. They were both so happy for me. I then called Faye's
mom in Kalamazoo and told her the story and she was really happy for me
too. And then I wanted so badly to call my mother and tell her about my
adventure, but mom died a year ago last summer. Her absence brought
tears to my eyes, as she always got such a "kick out of her fussy daughter
who hunts and guts out deer!" Mom, if you're reading this, I really,
really did get a buck and a doe in one day! And, yes, I did gut one of
them out myself!

So, that's my story. My first ever muzzleloader hunting season began and
ended in one day! I know none of this could have happened without my
favorite hunting partner beside me. Hopefully, Faye enjoyed this as much
as I did, because he is now stuck with me for all of our future
muzzleloaders.

Now I'm wondering what bow season might be like...........

Connie Williams