How often do you run into other muzzle loader hunters?

[bud in pa]

Outside of early muzzleloader season for deer, when hunting with my friends, never.

 

[MTGUNNER]

Never. But if I do bump into another hunter and I have a muzzleloader they usually do one of two things!
1: go into denial at what they are seeing or 2: look at me as though I am crazy!

And you ARE! But that has nothing to do with your choice of weapons :>))

 

[Britsmoothy]

And you ARE! But that has nothing to do with your choice of weapons :>))

Yes I know but they don't know that! Not at first anyhow!!

 

[wry]

I've never encountered another hunter using a muzzleloader of any type.

 

[Pork Chop]

There is a management area not too far from me that is muzzleloader only. I have only ever seen one other person there - he wasn't interested in talking, so I left it at hello and continued walking out. Nice little swamp, but I have never seen anything there bigger than a raccoon...

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

I hunt in two states currently--MI (my home state) and PA (where I'm from, and my brothers still live there).

PA has both a muzzleloader deer season, and also a flintlock season --JUST for flintlocks. My brothers and I hunt with flintlocks during both of these seasons. I've seen in-line guys during muzzleloader season, but we don't ever see anyone carrying a flintlock. The flintlock-only season is pretty dang quiet, which is nice, but I admit to having heard "pow, pow, pow" off in the distance that seemed awfully fast for any sort of barrel-stuffer.

 

[hanshi]

Other than a friend I hunted with often, I can recall only one time seeing another deer hunter with a muzzleloader (sidelock). We were on our way to find a spot down a dirt trail when I glimpsed a woman just emerging from the woods and carrying a sidelock. She wasn't alone and I think (difficult to tell for sure) her companion may have had one also.

 

[Spikebuck]

Other than two friends of mine, I've never seen anyone in the woods with a traditional muzzleloader...not even at a range I was once a member of. I have seen the scoped unmentionables in people's hands.

 

[Dale Lilly]

I no longer hunt. However I have hunted Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, California. Oregon, Alabama and Mississippi. Oops! Also Alaska while it was still a territory. {USAF Retired]. The only other ML hunters I have ever met in the field were my wife and sons. Oh yeah, and an Airman who worked for me, using my guns. Love it! Polecat

 

[Greg Blackburn]

The only other traditional muzzleloader guy I ever saw was my (then) best friend. The same guy that told me to buy a muzzleloader.

By 1996 or so he had bought an inline and stuck with that.

 

[JBrandon]

I hunt in Iowa with a friend, we use real muzzleloaders (caplock and flintlock), in muzzleloader and shotgun seasons, but none of our other friends do.
I looked at 2 yrs of Iowa Sportsman, which every year prints whatever 'deer harvest' photos hunters want to send in. Over 250 photos, only about half showed a weapon. Of those there were a handful of inlines, not one traditional muzzleloader. Also not a single traditional bow among the archery hunters' photos. I reckon we're a minority, but still... do any folk here post photos to something public like Iowa Sportsman?

 

[toot]

On state land here in CT I often see fellow muzzle loaders during the BP season when I get back to my truck. As there are few state hunting areas, it is not unusual to see other BP hunters during the deer season. In 40 years, I have never run into another muzzle loader hunter during small game season. All the deer hunters I see during the muzzle loader season are using in-lines with scopes. I don't think I have ever seen a hunter using a percussion side lock, or heaven forbid flintlock. I get lots of " he must be crazy using a flint lock looks".

I have as you said-I have seen a lot of BP, hunter in the deer hunting, what I alluded to was as you said, SMALL GAME HUNTING.

 

[Tanglefoot]

It depends on when and where I'm hunting. If it's "ML Only" season, there are plenty. If regular season, not many. Here in Texas a lot of hunts are on leased land and then the only hunters on the place are muzzleloaders. On public lands it's back to which season, which legal arms, etc.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Kind of off topic but still regarding people getting confused when seeing a shooter using a muzzle loader.

Was at a public shooting range once. Had my Lyman GPR with me. My first Flintlock. Anyway, I'm shooting at the 100 yard target. Some guy comes up to me to check out the rifle. He then asks me which target was mine. I say " that one on the third board at 100 yards." He comes back with " oh, I didn't know they'd go that far". Mustve watched too many revolutionary or civil war documentaries and thought they got got so close to each other was because they couldn't shoot 100 yards. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

 

[59sharps]

Only one but it’s every time I hunt. It’s my son and it’s my property.

 

[Jaeger]

It depends on when and where I'm hunting. If it's "ML Only" season, there are plenty. If regular season, not many. Here in Texas a lot of hunts are on leased land and then the only hunters on the place are muzzleloaders. On public lands it's back to which season, which legal arms, etc.

Only 2% of land in Texas is public land, right?

 

[hanshi]

I've been fortunate to have private land to hunt on for much of the time. I was often the only hunter there even during rifle season. Since I ONLY use muzzleloaders that's what they find me carrying all season long. I like solitude and this has always suited.

 

[appalichian hunter]

The mountain I hunt no one else is allowed on it was just me and my dad but since his passing it is just me.

 

[Mad Professor]

One May spring day, in a state forest, I was working my way up a small mountain stream collecting: native brook trout, morels, and wild leeks/ramps. An old timer came down the drainage carrying a smoothbore flintlock.

He was dressed in traditional buckskin and was carrying a haversack. We traded hellos, and I told him how the fishin was, and he told me about the turkey hunting. He'd been in the woods three days and just made primitive camps each night. He'd seen some gobblers but hadn't got a shot yet.

We both pulled up a log and traded stories for a while. It was great hearing stories about years of hunting in a traditional way.
I wished I'd got his full name and address. He'd be a fine hunting partner.

 

[Sparkitoff]

Never have, anywhere