A hunter in Pennsylvania harvested a huge buck using his flintlock muzzle loader while walking slowly in the woods.
Larry Oswald, 25, of Crawford County felt lucky to get up close and personal with an older buck late in the primitive weapons hunting season.
On the afternoon of Jan. 2, Hartstown residents were hunting on a property filled with white oak and hemlock trees that provide food and cover for deer.
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Larry Oswald scored eight points with a flintlock muzzleloader shooting 20.5 inches outside in Crawford County.
He still hunts the area into the wind, observing deer movement. “I know deer like to sleep there. It’s a great sleeping area and the snow is deep,” Oswald said.
“It was really quiet in the woods and I was wearing a white suit,” he said of blending in with the snow. Soon he spotted a deer standing near a tree. Using binoculars, he could tell it was an antlered deer. “As I was glazing down on this doe, the buck I killed was blocking my view. I thought, ‘Wow. She’s 50 yards away.’ I put the binoculars away, raised the gun, and cocked the hammer,” he said.
But soon Oswald realized he couldn’t determine whether it was safe to shoot in the direction because he remembered there was a home in that direction. He let the two deer go away.
As Oswald slowly walked in their direction, he spotted another herd of deer. He took cover behind a large hemlock tree. “I was watching them and there was a group of four does and they ran right toward me,” he said.
Another deer with a small rack followed the doe, and he watched them approach at about 25 yards. “I had no idea there was a big buck in the herd, and sure enough, it was right behind that little buck,” he said. “The next thing I knew, he was 25 yards out.”
Oswald bleated a few doe bleats at the big stag. “He stopped and looked right into my soul, and there was a big old stump that covered his whole lung, right behind the front shoulder. There was nothing I could do at the time. He pinned me down. I mean, I was standing 25 yards away eye to eye with this 150-inch buck – it was now or never. So, I grabbed the front half of his front shoulder, pulled the trigger, and I let her go,” he said.
The stag jumped. After a while, Oswald checked the deer’s tracks and saw no blood immediately. However, he soon received a call from his brother-in-law and learned that he was hunting there. The relative was driving through the area and had just seen a buck lying in a field.
“I didn’t think things were going to go the way they did,” he said as he walked along the tracks to the field. However, he soon discovered the expired deer. “I was just in awe,” Oswald said of seeing how big its antlers were.
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Larry Oswald holds a flintlock muzzleloader he got on Jan. 2 in Crawford County.
The tall buck scored eight runs and had a small kick spot on one of the bases.
Oswald had the buck scored by his taxidermist, and the green score was 150.25 inches. He said the photos didn’t do it justice.
“You have to see him in person,” he said of Longframe. “He has a 25-inch main beam and 20.5 inches to the outside. But he hides it well,” he said.
The Pennsylvania State Record Program, administered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, recognizes gun bucks with a net score of at least 140 inches.
“Eight points away from 150, I can’t believe it,” Oswald said.
Obtaining bucks can be a challenge during the flintlock season, which occurs after the early archery and rifle deer seasons.
In the 2024-25 hunting year, muzzleloader hunters harvested approximately 1,210 antlers across the state, the game commission reported.
The buck wasn’t the first deer he’d seen late in the primitive weapons season. The week before, he had shot a doe with a flintlock while hunting on the edge of a field.
Looking back on the day, Oswald said it was an exciting experience, even if it was just seeing the old buck for the first time.
“Just crawling in the woods, late in the season, there was snow on the ground. It was snowing. You know, I had that encounter, and it was a beautiful thing. I was like, that’s awesome, I didn’t even shoot. Little did I know, about 25 minutes later, I was going to catch him at 25 yards, and then I felt like I screwed it all up and completely missed the deer. So I was really low, and then I was all over the place,” Oswald said.
While it was his first fusilier deer, it wasn’t his largest. In 2023, he harvested 10 points, about 6 inches more than the deer. “I’m really lucky,” he said.
The buck is mounted on a base on a fence post. He plans to show it alongside a large buck his wife, Bella, harvested with a crossbow last year. “He’s an absolute hammer, too,” he said of her deer.
Oswald enjoys the challenge of hunting with a muzzleloader late in the season. “Just going out there and you know the chances of getting one are very slim, and that’s the beauty of this thing,” he said. “I love the challenge and how it humbles you.”
Of his deer, he said, “I thank the good God for giving me the opportunity. I’m grateful and blessed to be able to do what I do.”
Brian Whipkey is an outdoor columnist for the USA TODAY Network in Pennsylvania. Please contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on the homepage of this site using your login. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared in the Erie Times News: Pennsylvania hunter scores big bucks at 25 yards with his muzzleloader
