Southern Maryland muzzleloader and rifle seasons - 2009

The Maryland muzzleloader season is always interesting. We get first crack at the big bucks in almost undisturbed mode. The property we hunt is way back off the road. If you go any further you will be in the ocean. It is a nice mix of crop fields and heavy woods with a big resident deer population. We really enjoy this hunt. We are not expecting to get giant bucks but they are there. This year we had an encounter that proved our theory.

The weather this year cooperated and was a nice 3 days. We hunt out of ground blinds that have been in place since late summer. The deer are totally oblivious to them. Several are set in the woods and a couple in the fields. The #1 blind location is in the woods on a logging road. It benefits from a back and forth movement every AM & PM heading to and from the feeding areas. The first evening, Walt was set up in this blind and I was in one of the field blinds. A little while before dark, Walt saw a nice buck (nothing huge) step out on the woods road at about 150 yards. You can see a long ways down this straight-arrow road. Walt decided he was going to try out his new muzzleloader so he took the shot and the 8 pointer took off through the woods. He stood the gun up in the corner of the blind and sat back to settle down. No more than 5 minutes later but getting darker, he looked out the blind. Standing there 5 yards from the blind was a giant buck (160 class) looking at the blind. He was not spooked and just stood there looking at the blind and finally just walked on down through the woods. Walt is sitting there kicking himself for shooting too soon and out steps another big buck (140 class) that does exactly the same thing. Now he is really unhappy but thrilled to see these two big deer.

I tried this stand a few times during the 3 day hunt but never saw those two bucks again. I held out until pitch dark every time but no luck. I saw several good deer out of the field blind but I was holding out for one of the big ones. In the end, I went home empty handed but had a really exciting, enjoyable hunt.

We were back at the end of November for Thanksgiving weekend and the opening of rifle season. We were really looking forward to this hunt after our experience in October. Everything was set-up the same and there had been no hunting pressure since we were there four weeks earlier. Conditions were ideal with no rain in the forecast.

Walt was in the woods blind and waited until late on Saturday evening to take a long shot at a nice buck way down the logging road. We found it the next day in those ultra thick woods. Very nice deer but not the giant.

On Sunday AM, I was in the field blind on a beautiful sunny morning. This was one of the few weekends each year when Maryland allows Sunday hunting on private ground. My blind was neatly situated. It was tucked up under a cedar tree next to an old abandoned house in the middle of this humungous field that must be 700-800 yards long. I had a good view of the whole field but the blind was positioned facing the east end where we expected to see the deer. About 7 AM the sun was coming up nicely. I took a quick look behind me at the west end of the field. I saw three smaller bucks chasing each other around in the sun-lit field. I could see them clearly but they were far away. I wasn't paying much attention until they all took off and left the field in a hurry. That's strange, I thought.  I took another look and here came a much, much bigger buck strutting out into the field. His rack was out beyond his ears and right away I knew he was a shooter. I put the rangefinder on him and it read 347 yards. In years past, I would have said it was too far but we had spent the summer practicing long range shots like this and our guns were set up out to 750 yards. I knew it was doable with a good rest. I opened the back window  and pulled over my stool. I got into a real solid rest and put the 350 yard dot on him and took the shot. The bullet went out across the top of the beans and I could hear it smack the deer. He ran twenty yards and piled up. I was thrilled and was jumping up and down in the blind. I got out and started walking back across the field. It sure seemed like a long way but there he was laying there. The buck was a 20" wide nine pointer with good mass. It was not one of the giants but a very nice buck taken on my longest shot ever. Walt had shot a big 162" deer in Missouri a few years ago at 535 yards so we know it can be done. The key is the right equipment and ammo.

Well, we both came home with deer and some lifelong memories. Very much looking forward to 2010.