Is it muzzleloader season?

[melensdad]

Was up about 5am sipping on some coffee and heard a loud gunshot in the woods out back (maybe the field on the other side of the woods?).

I'm not into black powder but am curious, is it muzzle loader season?

 

[HICKMAN]

it's squirrel season, so you might be hearing the shotguns.

Firearms season is next week, so they might be sighting the ML's in.... but not at 5am....

 

[melensdad]

I've never seen anyone squirrel hunt on the back of my property.

It was a single shot and nothing more, which is why I figured it was a muzzlerloader.

I was up about 4 with the dogs and didn't leave the house until about 6:30, there were no other shots prior to that shot and none after. The dogs didn't seem altered to anything moving in the woods back there, but I didn't let them out of their fenced area to go looking.

 

[snapping turtle]

Only legal hunting at 5 am would be coyotes and raccoons.

 

[woodsie57]

Sounds like a poacher- But... isn't it still way too dark to see at 5 AM?

 

[mike4sigs]

Sounds like a poacher- But... isn't it still way too dark to see at 5 AM?

Alll they had to see is ,it is a deer .I dont think MOST poachers care if it is buck or doe !

 

[nate1865]

No it is not muzzleloader season.

I'd like to assume the best. This is why we all complain when there's a "man with a gun call".

How many of us would appreciate a visit from a CO when we had been up in the morning, saw a coyote by our chicken roost, and shot in the air to scare him off?

 

[melensdad]

. . . and shot in the air to scare him off?

First off, I NEVER shoot in the air.

But back on topic, this shot was fired on my land, sounded reasonably close to the house (within 100 yards).

Now I don't have a problem with hunters on my property, I don't invite them, but I've never stopped any. I don't have a lot of land but am surrounded by some large farms and part of my 'back yard' is a 30+ acre field cropped by the farmer up the road because I don't have equipment large enough to farm it myself. Up at the road where there are some houses things are pretty civilized and looks like a neighborhood, but behind the homes are woods, creeks and fields for miles (literally the closest house behind me is about 2 miles straight west, but only 500' to my north or south are homes on my road.)

 

[EPD1102]

Could have been someone finishing off a deer hit by a car, someone shooting a coyote, or several other legal options also. It surprises how we, as gun owners, are just as quick as the anti-gunners to assume that some gunshots are up to no good.
My wife says I'm too much of an optimist though.

 

[Jack Ryan]

It was a single shot and nothing more, which is why I figured it was a muzzlerloader.

It's dead then.

One shot = it's dead
Two shots = it might be dead
All their shots = he's some dip wad that probably just ruined a trophy animal at bests.

 

[redneckmedic]

It's dead then.

One shot = it's dead, or he missed completely and the game ran off.
Two shots = it might be dead, him and his buddy missed
All their shots = he's some dip wad that probably just ruined a trophy animal at bests.

FTFY
Don't rule out spotlighting, as that is a very popular form of poaching. Deer are nocturnal right now and if someone is too lazy to hunt at 2am they just might go out and break the law before work