11-30 smokepole report... unfortunately :(

[Bird Boy]

well, the whole morning started off wrong. didnt wake up till 5. rushed out to the spot i wasnt going to go to. then my luck began to change. at first light had a spike come right in from behind me. stayed at the pile. 15 minutes later a doe books out from my right about 80 yards. right behind her is the buck. have to turn my whole body still with that spike below me and take an 80 yard shot on a hard angle. clean miss below him. tried to reload real fast but he was already way in the brush. 1st missed shot... 5 minutes later had a button buck come out to my left right to the pile. 10 minutes later had a doe come out wayyy far to my right coming straight in. look behind her and two bucks are trailing her. she stops at 40 yards and sees the button buck and turns around and walks straight behind me. the bucks are behind her and just before the biggger one steps into the brush i take another hard shot to my right at about 65-70 yards. felt like a good shot. waited an hour and climbed down. no blood. :mad: thats alright though, i still have another month to get one.
oh, the afternoon hunt was crappy. got busted around noon and then the rain came and didnt see anything the rest of the night.

[grtwhthunter/fisherman]

Whats wrong with gettin up up 5 it dont get daylight till 640am .lol goodluck

[bassassassin8]

tough break.. might wanna take a little more time to get a more favorable shot so you ain't shootin' uncomfortably :cool:

[DV1]

If you are a good shot with your ML, you might want to check very closely for blood. I have been on several trailing jobs on ML shot deer that did not bleed at all, or very little.

My brother was shooting powerbelts for years, and he never had a good blood trail. We found some of his deer after following tracks in the snow for over 100 yards, with not one drop of blood, but a dead deer at the end.

[squidly]

i agree with the powerbelts not leaving a blood trail. when they first came out i convinced some of my friends they were easy to load and easy to sight in. i thought best bullet going. BUT after about the third year of using them, and not having good blood trails if any at all, i switched back to my old bullets. i recovered the deer with powerbelts but it was a job. who knows, some of the ones i shot at and thought i missed, maybe i didn't miss. i've shot deer and seen them fall and tried tried to back track them to where they were when i shot, and in most cases there wasn't a good blood trail. maybe a drop of blood here and there. and they were good hits. so anyway, i'm back to shooting hornety (don't think i spelled that right) 245 gr. and they leave a great blood trail if you even need one. alot drop in their tracks. and yes i still have my friends who have said the same thing, no blood trail. most have switched back. good hunting:thdown:

[smokey]

better than work or school . keep at it.

[grtwhthunter/fisherman]

shot a doe with powerbelts lastnight it went 30 inches straight down.lol i aim at shoulder while its covering chest youll know the deers hit for sure broken leg and not going far .and it will b crashing away.i shot hornady liked them but hard to load ,couldnt find them so bought power belts im not sorry yet you guys scare me...lol

[boatliftman]

i shot a deer the other day with my muzzleloader with a power belt and not a single drop of blood it was a perfect shot and the deer still ran 110 yards, i back tracked after i found the deer and there was only blood 20 yards from the deer so it ran 80 yards before leaving a blood trail, but it was dead:confused:

[Bird Boy]

yeah, i dont know. i looked around where it was when i shot and did circles around it gettng wider and wider and found not a drop at alll. i think i just rushed the shot. that mixed with an uncomfortable position equaled clean miss im hopin. thats alright, thats why its called huntin, not killing. ill be after him 6 day.

[MRSFISHERMAN]

Been using powerbelts for 4 years now. The bigger the better. Am using the 338 platiniums with 150 grains of tripple seven.Was using the 300s They make two large holes and seem to work for me.
Been doing this for 20 years now, started when we were melting our own lead. Have tried alot of bullets. Have killed deer, black bear and a wild boar with my smokepole. They work fine for me.
Joe Termite