First time shooting muzzloader

[jcscofie]

First time shooting muzzloader - first shot taken! Iowa Stephens State forest - White Breast Unit - Started working birds(we were surrounded) at 5AM - We split up around 9AM - and I moved in slowly in this guys direction - finally got him to come in struttin at 10AM - about 30 yards.... 20 lbs - 10 inch beard - 7/8 in spurs ... then we moved to another location and my buddy scored a 25 pounder with 1 1/4 inch hooks at 1PM ....

[JPH]

Congrats! Stephen's Forest is a beautiful area, but I've never hunted it. Is there a lot of pressure from other hunters?

[ct swamphunter]

Tagged with a muzzleloader, how cool is that. Congratulations

[allaboutshooting]

Congratulations. That's a good looking bird and quite an accomplishment with a ML shotgun. What kind of load did you use?

Thanks,
Clark

[jcscofie]

Hey JPH, sorry to take so long to get back to you....
If you can hit Stephen's during the week - you can find it pretty lonely ... it get's a little more busy on weekends - specially during mushroom hunting weekends...
It get's hunted - but In 5-6 trips there - we always see and hear plenty of birds... and only had one season there where I was skunked....

[jcscofie]

Thanks ct - it was pretty cool .... sure makes you patient when you know you only have one shot!!! Was even cooler when my huntin buddy and I left the woods and met back in the field ... and I asked him where we were going to get his bird.... and he said "yeah right" - he hadn't even heard my shot ... so I turned around and showed him the tail feathers sticking out of my pack... his jaw dropped and I think he was just as happy (and surprised) as I was .... the ML is sure more work .... but it sure is fun...

[jcscofie]

Hey Clark, thanks.... Yeah that gobbler really made me work for it.... but after 5 hours of "conversation" with him... I wouldn't even minded too much if I missed the shot ... he kept coming closer - then leaving - then coming closer - then leaving - on and on ... and he answered nearly every one of my calls for those 5 hours....
Anyway ....  the load - hard to remember since it took so long to get back to you(sorry) ... it was 100gr Hodgson 777 ... Knight #5 lead shot (probably about 2oz - I'm not sure - I measured it in a knight shot cup and left the cup about 1/4 inch short of full) ... and a Knight black foam overshot wad....    Looking at Larry's posts - I think I will try going with an over-powder wad - and forget the shot cup (it does leave a lot of melted plastic in the barrel) .... I just feel lucky to have hit the bird being a rookie with the ML - and taking him with my first "live" shot...  I guess patterning it with 4-5 loads at 35 yards - gave me the confidence I needed to hit him when I had the chance...

[ljmelea]

Great looking bird,100 grns of triple 7 is quite a load.I've been using goex true black powder lately and it seems to pattern really well.If the geese will cooperate,i'll let'm see some real smoke and mirrors.