Saturday, October 14, 2006. Town of Forestport (WMU 5H), Oneida County, State of New York. 50 caliber percussion, 1:48 twist, Remington #11 cap, 70 grains Goex FFFg, .490 Speer round ball, T/C prelubed patch. 110 pound (dressed weight) whitetail buck (small 'un!) at 75 ACTUAL yards, not guessed. In and out. Took only one lung, not sure how that happened, also left the heart intact. Ball entered at exact piont of aim.
I have taken deer with 50 caliber PRB's every year but two since 1979. Conicals have never shot well from any of my other muzzleloaders until this little CVA Bobcat that I used on the above date. If they make PRB's illegal, I'll be an outlaw. PERIOD. What insanity! The bow season and the muzzleloading seasons were originally created to be "PRIMITIVE" Seasons!!! Now, people with compound bows actually INSIST that it is a "PROVEN FACT" that any longbow or recurve is incapable of taking deer-size game! So help me, I have been told that to my face by sincere, solemn hunters who think that "I" am giving the sport a bad name! Now inlines and powerbelts and such are going to do the same? So help me God, I take more deer with muzzleloaders in any given year save those two mentioned than any of those "hunters" have ever taken in total with their infernal gadgetry. Their poop don't stink, nope, it's just like little rose petals falling from their butts. Just yesterday I was chided by a bowhunter over the telephone for NOT using a compound. "What do you shoot, then?" he asked me. When I told him, he went nuts on me. THEN, he begins to tell me that he has to go because his "buddy" needed help tracking a deer he shot, TWO DAYS EARLIER, but they couldn't find it because he hit it high in the chest and it was a pass-thru shot... THROUGH THE SHOULDER BLADES! - ...and that was where he was aiming... Two days of tracking, and still no retrieval. Absolutely an awful shot to take with a bow. If you bowhunt, you know what I mean... if you don't, well -- ask. My parting comment to him was, "Oh, so sad... and when they find it dead on an anti-hunter's lawn, you and your bunch will say that it was shot by a RECURVE OR LONGBOW guy without half a brain's worth of sense to KNOW that those kinds of bows CAN'T KILL DEER, right?" Yes, he laughed (sarcastically) and said he had to get going and then hung up.
PRB's, lonbows, recurves -- worked for centuries in warfare and hunting alike. I have absolutely nothing against technological advances, my evidence being that I am even visiting this site and typing a response - something that only a dozen or so years ago would have been a laughed-at concept. What I AM against, and what every thinking man and woman should also be against, is the stupidity of people thinking that technology is so much of a "shortcut" that it will also make up for THEIR SHORT-COMINGS. I mean, it's like the TERRIBLE idiot driver that buys a 4-wheel drive vehicle and thinks that they can drive the same as they used to, but now everything will be better... we've all seen the ditches filled with the results of such stupidity. Blithering idiots. No, surely not all, but by gum just find out the truth and USE COMMON SENSE!
As for me, I shoot my muzzleloaders better than I shoot any of my modern centerfire rifles and handguns. And I have consistently taken more deer each year with those same muzzleloaders, SHOOTING PRB's, than with all other means combined. And, it's worth mentioning this important fact: Where I live, and have always hunted, the shortest seasons are muzzleloading. ALWAYS. Which means this -- I carry my muzzleloaders afield LESS toatl carry time than any other single hunting implement. Now, that may just make sense to some, and help them realize that my hunting SUCCESS RATE with muzzleloaders is significantly higher than any other weapon. Period. Hands-down winner is PRB, at least in my hands. And I am not so vain as to think that my experience is unique among hunters; anyone hunting with the PRB is LIKELY (not an automatic given) to put in more time and care in the proper preparation and execution of both practice and hunting endeavors. Not an idiot mindset of "I just bought me a _____, let's go kill sumpin'!!! I'm a HUNTER!!!" yeah right... The absolute worst thing that happens is, when that sort actually DOES get lucky (little else that it can be called) and makes others think that they, too, will have the same experience.
Sorry for the long post. But, I've been keeping this to myself for way too long. I guess when I read where you said something about making them illegal, and that being the first time I'd heard about it, well -- sharp flint striking steel, and my powder went off. And naturally, I launched a PRB... with appropriate force.
Take care.
- Tim
