I was hunting in NW Kansas this past week, and had my first mis-fire with 209 primers in my CVA Accura 50 cal. Unfortunately, it was on a good buck. The first morning I had one of those gift moments with a muzzleloader, under 100 yards, standing still broadside, looking the other way - perfect! Ffffttt! Barely a pop, didn't ignite the Blackthorn powder, just kinda pushed the bullet and powder out onto the ground. Darn it. Of course all the deer ran off.

We were hunting on public ground, in a WMA and there were about 5 other groups hunting there also. Some one shot the deer I missed, a couple hours later, and either lost it, or didn't make an attempt to find it after shooting. It ended up laying in the hot sun at about 65 degrees all day, until we noticed it that night going back to the truck. It had bloated badly, and was soured by then. No one admitted to shooting it, but many had gone home already. This was a beautiful mature deer that got wasted, and was a real shame.

That's a damn shame and perfect example of why you should follow up on every shot!
With a little effort that buck looks like he could have easily been recovered

Dangit man

That is a shame.

Yes, when we went back to the truck, you could see the white belly from 100 yards away! The next day no one had claimed it either, so I called the game warden and reported it. He came out and we got CWD samples, cut the antlers off, and they are now taking a piece of ear tissue for genetic testing. He said he was sorry he couldn't give me a salvage tag and the antlers, but if I wanted to put my buck tag on it he would give them to me, and a note saying no meat required for any check station I might come across. Told him thanks, but I'll just keep hunting!!

I hate muzzle loaders because of stuff like this.

It’s not the muzzleloader’s fault. It’s someone not doing their due diligence after the shot. I’ve killed a lot of deer with muzzleloaders over the last 30 years. They are as effective as any other method when operated inside their limits.

Yep. Blaming the tool rather than the man/woman wielding the tool doesn't make much sense. Anybody doubting the effectiveness of muzzleloaders needs to read about some of the Civil War battles. A man and a deer are roughly the same size on average and a whole lot of men went to meet their maker due to muzzleloaders.

Muzzleloader with the right projectile is very effective I would suspect more lost animals to archery hunting but if you make every effort to find your wounded animals it almost always pays off . In40+ years of hunting haven’t lost a single animal shot with black powder. Lost a nice buck shot with a 30-30 in San Saba a doe with a bow in Ranger and a nice buck was knocked down in Hunt county hunters nearby told me it survived and passed on a picture later showing the healing wound that was really good to hear. I think thats pretty good record.

That sure sucks. I understand lost deer, i dont understand making every effort to recover after you make the shot. If you shoot in the morning and know you hit one, i would spend all day looking if I had to.