The-Daily-Record.com – A deer story nearly 9 years in the making: Is this buck from the famed “Kaser Buck’ bloodline? And one hunter’s unlucky fate

By ART HOLDEN

Daily Record Outdoor Editor

If you hunt long enough, you’ll come to realize that it’s sometimes better to be lucky, than good.

While luck is often the result of preparation, being in the right place at the right time always trumps hard work.

This is a story of just such circumstances, neighbors in pursuit of the same thing, just different approaches.

It’s a story you can’t make up.

It’s a tale of a late-season muzzleloader hunt that produced the biggest deer of the year, and the best story in a long time.

The details stretch over 8 1/2 years, and also includes a monster buck from yesteryear.

The successful hunter is 72 years old and has just one arm, while the hunting-savvy neighbor comes up empty again.

It all started when I got a call from Bob Yoder this past Monday. He said his neighbor had shot a monster buck down by the Killbuck Marsh Wildlife Area refuge. In the conversation, Yoder often mentioned that the buck was similar to the Kaser Buck.

That bruiser was shot in 2003 by then 17-year-old Jeff Kaser. News of that harvest quickly spread, and even Gordon Whittington of North American Whitetail magazine showed up to get a look at the 27-pointer. The deer was scored several times, as high as 244, while the Buckmasters BTC score sheet tapes it out at 229 3/8.

Kaser wound up selling his buck to Cabela’s, and it now sits in the Wheeling, W.Va., store as part of the outdoor chain’s homage to whitetail deer.

After hanging up the phone from Yoder, I went back and revisited the Kaser story that I wrote, and one peculiar point came out of it — a Bob Yoder helped the teenager track down his deer on that late October night in 2003.

So, I called Yoder back, and asked him: “Are you the same Bob Yoder that I wrote about in the Kaser story?”

And thus, the story begins….  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via The-Daily-Record.com – A deer story nearly 9 years in the making: Is this buck from the famed “Kaser Buck’ bloodline? And one hunter’s unlucky fate.

Hunting Deer With My Flintlock – NYTimes.com

Seamus McGraw

Bushkill, Pa.

SHE took me by surprise. Though I had been stalking her through the dense undergrowth for about 40 minutes, I had lost sight of her as the afternoon light began to fade. It was getting late and I was about ready to call it a day when, just as I hit the crest of a shadowy depression in the mountainside, I caught a glimpse of her, a beautiful doe, the matriarch of a small clan that foraged behind her.

She saw me, too.

She stepped out from behind a shagbark. Even in the spreading dusk I could see her eyes as she glared at me. She stomped out a warning on the rocky ground.

I had to admire her guts. I dropped to one knee, fumbled in my pocket for my old brass powder charger, freshened the powder in my frizzen, and pulled back the hammer on my .50-caliber flintlock. I took a deep breath and then I drew a bead on her.

An instant that felt like an hour passed before I squeezed the trigger. The hammer fell, the powder in the frizzen flashed, startling me even though I was prepared for it, and a heartbeat later, the whole world exploded with the thunder of 90 grains of black powder erupting in fire and blinding acrid smoke from the barrel of my gun, sending a lead minié ball rocketing toward the doe at a lethal 1,400 feet per second.

In the smoke and the confusion I couldn’t tell if I had hit her. And then I saw that I had. The impact of the bullet had knocked her to the ground, and as the rest of the herd high-tailed it over the ridge, she struggled to stand, staggered a few yards and then collapsed again. I had hoped for a clean kill. But I had failed. I knew what had happened — I had flinched when the powder in the pan went off. Instead of hitting her in the heart or lungs, which would have killed her instantly, I had mortally wounded her. Now I would have to finish the job. Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Hunting Deer With My Flintlock – NYTimes.com.

Ohio Deer Hunters Prepare for Statewide Muzzleloader Season, January 9-12

COLUMBUS, OH – Ohio's popular muzzleloader deer season is set to open statewide January 9-12 according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife. Last year, hunters checked 20,659 white-tailed deer during the statewide hunt.

A total of 227,748 deer have been harvested so far this season when combining the adult and youth gun seasons, early muzzleloader season, gun weekend, and the first nine weeks of the archery season. That compares to a total of 218,890 killed last year during the same time period. Hunters took a total of 252,017 deer during all of last year's hunting seasons.

Prior to the start of the hunting season, Ohio's deer population was estimated at 650,000. The Division of Wildlife expects as many as 210,000 hunters will hunt deer during the muzzleloader season.

Ohio deer hunters must possess the proper permits. Regardless of zone, method of taking or season, hunters may take only one antlered deer during the 2009-2010 deer hunting season.

Legal hunting hours during the statewide muzzleloader deer season are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Deer must be checked by 8 p.m. on the day after harvest, except those killed on January 12, which must be brought to a deer check station by 8 p.m. that day.

Ohio's small game, furbearer and waterfowl seasons also will be open during the muzzleloader season. During those overlapping four days, small game hunters and deer hunters must visibly wear a coat, jacket, vest or coveralls that are either solid hunter orange or camouflage hunter orange in color.

Hunters have been encouraged to kill more does this season and donate extra venison to organizations assisting Ohioans in need. The division is collaborating with Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help pay for the processing of donated venison. Hunters who give their deer to a food bank are not required to pay the processing cost as long as the deer are taken to a participating processor and funding for the effort lasts. Counties being served by this program can be found online at www.fhfh.org.

The white-tailed deer is the most popular game animal in Ohio, frequently pursued by generations of hunters. Ohio ranks 6th nationally in annual hunting-related sales and 4th in the number of jobs associated with the hunting-related industry. Each year, hunting has a $1.5 billion economic impact in Ohio. Hunting related retail sales in Ohio total more than $700 million.

Additional hunting regulations and maps of deer zones are contained in the 2009-2010 Ohio Hunting Regulations. This free publication is available where hunting licenses are sold and from the Division of Wildlife by calling 1-800-WILDLIFE or on the Internet at wildohio.com.

The 2009-2010 licenses will not be printed on weatherproof paper. Sportsmen and women should protect their licenses and permits from the elements by carrying them in a protective pouch or wallet.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR web site at www.ohiodnr.com.

via ODNR News Releases.