That is a gorgeous rifle! I would also like to bag a deer with my Hawkins...maybe next year. My son and I are just getting into black powder rifles...we are learning through some mistakes.
The main difference I noticed between the deer here in Illinois and the deer out west (we lived in Utah for 13 years) is the midwest deer have a thick layer of fat on them. Especially along the back, the one we just got was about an inch and a half thick. We have seen up to about two inches thick fat! I don’t remember the western deer having that much fat, I think it is the quality and ease of feed available. Our deer here eat corn, alfalfa, nuts, soy beans, mushrooms, etc.
I am hoping to hunt Black bear, elk, deer, and antelope this coming fall out west with my son.
Check this site out:
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=9e6a6hk5jp7rjpper59atm99o3&;
My first gun was a Thompson Center Rifle. Until then I wasn’t really a gun guy. But one day I walked into a Sporting goods store and saw a .50 TC Hawkins flintlcok hanging up there and it called out to me “BUY ME!!!” It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.Still have it.
Now I have quite a collection and have even built a .54 caliber hawkins flinter myself from a pre-inlet stock.
Now I have two in the building stage - a .58 Edward Marshall kit from Chambers and a .58 caliber Jaeger from Tip Curtis. I’m finishing up a Tip Curtis French and Indian War style flintlock now.