Gallery

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Tools of the Trade
Muzzleloaders mean primers, powder and projectiles. Vista Outdoor happens to offer all three. That's a sleeve of Federal's 350-grain B.O.R. Lock Lead muzzleloader bullets, accompanied by Alliant Powder's new Blue MZ pellets.

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Target Practice
After we got ourselves zeroed in, it was time to have a little fun on the range. Here's a watermelon ...


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Feathered Friends
The private property we were hunting had no shortage of turkeys, at the least. The author spent the first morning of his hunt surrounded by them.

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Mission Accomplished
We'd been warned that few, if any, velvet bucks remained in the area. As luck would have it, though, one came to within 25 yards of the author on the first evening of his hunt. Moments later, the hunt was over. Velvet buck achieved.

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Seeing Double
Just minutes later, nearly a half-mile away, another member of our hunting party—Field & Stream's Will Brantley—knocked down a velvet buck of his own! Talk about a lucky night.

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B.O.R. Lock
In a bit of a surprise, both fatal bullets were recovered. That's the author's there on the left, the B.O.R. Lock Lead. Brantley had zeroed his muzzleloader with the original B.O.R. Lock MZ Trophy Copper projectile, seen on the right.

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Real Work Begins
When you tag out on the first day of a hunt, there's time to enjoy the small things—like butchering and processing one's own deer.

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Get Grinding
When in doubt, burger it up. Fortunately, the outfitter owned a high-grade grinder. The results? Keep clicking through the gallery.

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Tastes Like Victory
The author's buck was killed on a Tuesday evening. By Thursday afternoon, he was lunch. Talk about field to table service.