Thursday, December 9, 2021

The Ole' Smoke Pole

Warning, this post contains no pictures of dogs and a couple pictures of dead animals. If that is not your thing than this would be a good post to skip....

Here are two pictures of me.... back in the early 80's, 1983 to be exact and no, that is not a mop on my head that is actually my hair. Earlier that year I had purchased a muzzleloader kit, a Thompson Center Renegade .54 caliber to be exact. After putting it together, sanding, staining and varnishing the stock I was ready for my fist muzzleloader hunt!

The article below was written by my friend Dan Sobieck detailing that hunt. Back then he wrote articles for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Yes, that's right, I am kinda a big deal with my name in print. Signed copies are available, to receive yours, just send $9.99 and you will receive your own signed copy of this article! Well, actually Dan is the big deal. 

Dan was not kidding when he says it was cold. I remember that cold, well below 0F, we were freezing! And yes, we did sleep in the back of my truck in an uninsulated topper. I remember we had one of those old Colmen dome heaters. You know, those one that you fill with kerosine (or something like that) and the dome glows orange as it heats. We were lucky that that window was broke out or we might have died of carbon monoxide poisoning!

I did harvest one other animal with that rifle a couple years later when we went bear hunting up near Dryden Ontario.... 
As you can see from this picture it was about the same era... in the early '80's. But since then that gun has pretty much been sitting idle for the last 35 or so years. 

This year I was determined to dust it off and get it out hunting again! But first I needed to sight it in. Sighting in a muzzleloader is not exactly like sighting in a centerfire rifle. There are so many variables when it comes to muzzleloaders. First is the powder. You have to measure and pour the exact same amount of the powder down the barrel each time to make things as consistent as possible. Then you place a patch between the powder and the ball. Next, you seat the ball on top of the patch and push them down the barrel with a ramrod. Back then we shot round balls sized exactly for the caliber rifle one has. This is what that combination looks like. 
Powder, patch and ball. Quarter for comparison

I was not sure if the rifle would even fire. The balls, powder and patched were purchased over 38 years ago but I loaded it hoping for the best. Next comes the percussion cap. 

This tiny little cap is what ignites the powder charge and makes everything go boom. All set, I went outside to sight it in. I put out a target, lined up the sights and pull the trigger. POP! The cap goes off but not the powder. Now, this can be a very serious situation as if just the tiniest ember reaches the powder, it could ignite it several seconds later..... or not at all. So you have to continue to point the rifle downrange for several seconds before checking to see what went wrong. Eventually I put another cap on, lined up and pull the trigger....POP! Dang it! Something must be clogged. After a minute or so I take the firing mechanism apart and sprinkle a couple of particles of powder under the cap next to the port that ignites the main powder charge and try again...BOOM! After years of sitting idle the ball hit the target just an inch low. 

Now I was ready to see if I harvest a deer with it! I knew just the deer I was hoping to get. A couple of days before I saw a nice wide 8 pointer come by, and he was dragging his hind leg. He was obviously injured and there was no way he could outrun a pack of coyotes. Out I went in the hopes of seeing him again! I saw several deer but not The Wide 8. Just as I was thinking he was not going to show up, here he comes limping through the wood....As he got into range, I lined up my sights, and slowly pulled the trigger....BOOM! Through the smoke I could not see if I hit him as he ran/limped through the woods out of sight.  

I decided to wait overnight before I go looking for him as the roundball does not do near the amount of damage as a conventional bullet or an arrow. Plus, it was plenty cold (in the teens) so the meat would not spoil overnight. Early the next morning Barb and I took up the trail and found him piled up a couple hundred yards from where I shot!

I could not have been happier, after 38 years I shot my second deer with that gun! Although not TBO, he is definitely a nice one!

As long as the gun was out, I thought I would make a video shooting it, some in real time, some in slow motion. It is only about a minute long and I think it turned out pretty cool!
Our friends Doug and Connie from Wisconsin showed up later that day. If you recall, Doug is a very talented taxidermist who has done all our mounts. The reason for their visit was not only to see us but also deliver our two mounts from last year. My archery whitetail.....
Doug positioning the new mount

.... and Barb's very first archery harvest, her nice tall mule deer!
Barb's very first mount!

The next day we butchered The Wide 8 and got most of him in the freezer. Unfortunately, one hind quarter was too damaged from that previous injury to use the meat. Doug then aged the deer by studying the buck's teeth. The teeth were well below the gumline aging the deer somewhere around 7-8 years old. Doug said even if this deer was not injured, he probably would not have made it through the winter given his age and the condition his teeth were in. Definitely a good one to harvest and more than likely saved him a lot of pain and suffering. 

Doug and Connie left on Tuesday and headed back to Wisconsin. It was so nice seeing both of them, just wished it could have been longer. I was a bad host and did not even get a picture of Connie this trip!

So now it is time to oil up the gun and put it in the safe, store the powder, balls and caps in a dry place and wait until 2059 when I will be 96 to see if I can do it all over again!

18 comments:

  1. It looks to me that those muzzleloaders are to blame for all those mysterious hunting accidents. Good thing you are locking this thing up ;-) As to your report that you put this poor buck out of its misery I then forgive you for shooting it. Quite the article and it was well written.

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    1. Although I have heard that it can happen, I have never had a muzzleloader go off due to a misfire.

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  2. Very cool. Has anyone told you that you look like Jimmy Fallon? Especially when you were younger. :-)

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    1. No,I wonder if anyone ever told Jimmy Fallon he looks like me?!?

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  3. Congrats!!! He's a beauty for sure, and you probably saved him lots of suffering. It's hard to look at it that way, but nature isn't very pretty sometimes. I dabbled in muzzleloaders for a time. It was something different, just weird that the BOOM happens so long after you pull the trigger. Turns out it was not my cup of tea. So what's for dinner????

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    1. You will not find anything much crueler than nature whether it be from a pack of wolves taking down its prey or an animal living a full life and dying of old age. We, as a society, are so removed from nature that we just pretend it does not exist and think our steaks come from a package in the grocery store.

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  4. Cool blog and video. That’s a beauty buck you got and your mounts look great on the wall. You have the right kind of place for them. Merry Christmas!

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    1. That is just what we designed our house for, and we love it! Looks like you are enjoying the sun down there, we got 4" of snow last night!

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  5. Hunting stories make great memories. I remember one time my friend Rich and I were deployed to England during the cold war. We were patrolling around our reventment when he saw a rabbit. We had no weapons at the time because we were Air Force, so we ended up capturing that rabbit in Rich's helmet. That was a good story you told though. The video was cool.

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    1. And then you released Thumper to go join his other woodland friends. Man, I bet he had a story to tell! "These two crazy Americans were chasing me with their helmets....."!

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  6. Your video is cool. Very, very old school. lol Glad it fired safely. :) Nice to have your freezer full for the winter.

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    1. Thanks, now that the freezer is full, I have put the stands and blinds away and are settling in for the long winter.

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  7. Heck, that second photo looks like me in high school! Very cool slo-mo videos. Could you tell what injured the wide 8?

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    1. We could not tell, it was just seriously damaged and bruised. Hit by a car perhaps?

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  8. WOW, after nearly 40 years you dust off the muzzleloader and get a nice old deer with it. Muzzleloader season in Arkansas is a big thing, and I can remember hearing the BAM! in the distance from where I lived in my 5th wheel. At least I felt safe knowing that ball was not going to travel far enough to hit my trailer.

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    1. I couldn't be happier harvesting that guy with my old rifle! One I will always remember for sure!

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  9. I sure wish I had that mop of hair now...................

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    1. The barbers always told me I had really thick hair when I was younger, guess that is paying off now!

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