Just one well-placed shot

[dave951]

I learned marksmanship from my uncle, really my grandmother's brother. He was USMC 1st Div and Guadalcanal was his first engagement. He didn't say much about the war till deep into his second six-pack. My dad, while in army was asked to join what is now the AMU. He refused and got sent to Panama and the Jungle Warfare Training School. I've been blessed to have two great teachers in riflery.

 

[DuncNZ]

A lot of the USMC formed up and trained here in New Zealand before shipping out to the Pacific war . We have never forgotten them , and never will .

 

[Walaw717]

When he got smacked up my father was a gunner in an M3 Stuart , the commander got blown out of the turret and escaped unhurt .

I glad he got to come home.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

I just read your original post on page 1. Nicely said. I can hardly believe sometimes the connection I feel to the past that my muzzleloader gives me. At the risk of sounding odd, it brings me close to actual time travel in a way. I can lose myself in this lifestyle (hobby doesn't do it justice in my opinion), so much so that I really don't want to come back sometimes. I don't know if anybody else gets that but I find the experience a little surreal sometimes. Most enjoyable, and quite unique.

 

[Walaw717]

I just read your original post on page 1. Nicely said. I can hardly believe sometimes the connection I feel to the past that my muzzleloader gives me. At the risk of sounding odd, it brings me close to actual time travel in a way. I can lose myself in this lifestyle (hobby doesn't do it justice in my opinion), so much so that I really don't want to come back sometimes. I don't know if anybody else gets that but I find the experience a little surreal sometimes. Most enjoyable, and quite unique.

Thank you

 

[dave951]

I just read your original post on page 1. Nicely said. I can hardly believe sometimes the connection I feel to the past that my muzzleloader gives me. At the risk of sounding odd, it brings me close to actual time travel in a way. I can lose myself in this lifestyle (hobby doesn't do it justice in my opinion), so much so that I really don't want to come back sometimes. I don't know if anybody else gets that but I find the experience a little surreal sometimes. Most enjoyable, and quite unique.

I used to get that feeling when Civil War reenacting at times. Only happened twice during a battle- both at 125th of the Wilderness. It happened several times otherwise. One very strong one, night at 125th of Wilderness, on picket duty on the edge of camp, nothing modern in sight. My post had a great overview of the camp with the fires, drums and fifes, stars overhead.

I enjoy that connection with those who went before and I also enjoy the challenges that shooting well with those guns presents.

 

[dave951]

One other comment on my uncle, we know today what PTSD is. In 20/20 hindsight, many of those guys were seriously affected with it. Knowing some of the symptoms and looking back, I can clearly see that he had PTSD for the rest of his life. My dad told me stories of how after he came home a car backfire would have my uncle diving for cover under the tables and chairs. He got past that but was still affected the rest of his life to a degree.

 

[user 49399]

I just read your original post on page 1. Nicely said. I can hardly believe sometimes the connection I feel to the past that my muzzleloader gives me. At the risk of sounding odd, it brings me close to actual time travel in a way. I can lose myself in this lifestyle (hobby doesn't do it justice in my opinion), so much so that I really don't want to come back sometimes. I don't know if anybody else gets that but I find the experience a little surreal sometimes. Most enjoyable, and quite unique.

I get it.

 

[Walaw717]

One other comment on my uncle, we know today what PTSD is. In 20/20 hindsight, many of those guys were seriously affected by it. Knowing some of the symptoms and looking back, I can see that he had PTSD for the rest of his life. My dad told me stories of how a car backfire would have my uncle diving for cover under the tables and chairs after he came home. He got past that but was still affected the rest of his life to a degree.

Been there, got that. Had good help. Yes, the old battel fatigue and the idea it was a form of cowardice did no one any good. Think of all the trauma and unrecognized PTSD the pioneers on the frontiers had as well.

 

[Walaw717]

I used to get that feeling when Civil War reenacting at times. Only happened twice during a battle- both at 125th of the Wilderness. It happened several times otherwise. One very strong one, a night at 125th of Wilderness, on picket duty on the edge of the camp, nothing modern insight. My post had an excellent overview of the center with the fires, drums, and fifes, stars overhead.

I enjoy that connection with those who went before, and I also want the challenges that are shooting well with those guns presents.

sounds like a good moment. You used to have a place in southern NM where I could get that feeling, no one within 60 miles as I sat ont eh top of a cliff overlooking a 1200 foot drop to the canyon.

 

[Walaw717]

sounds like a good moment. You used to have a place in southern NM where I could get that feeling, no one within 60 miles as I sat ont eh top of a cliff overlooking a 1200 foot drop to the canyon.

i used to

 

[dave951]

Probably one of the coolest "time travel" moments was at one Boone Hall, SC reenactment. There is a warehouse on the river that was rebuilt as it was when the plantation was in full operation. It was used one night to hold a "ball". Lighting was period, music was period, and the dancing was period. Everybody was dressed appropriately. It was like going to a party during the War.

 

[Robby]

Of all the senses we possess it seems to me that smell is the most omnipotent in its power to transcend time and space, as an errant wisp of familiar scent can instantly surround one with the warmth and comfort of a better time. The other side of that coin lie events best not relived but thankfully separated by time and space their impact is lessened.
Robby

 

[kopelli]

I feel like I never learned to hunt. Or shoot, until I started hunting with muzzleloader.

 

[Kodiak13]

My philosophy on teaching myself, children, grandchildren, and soon the great grandchildren is to start out with a single shot weapon. And muzzleloading is even better at teaching to make that first shot count!!!

 

[Muzzle57]

I reflect a great deal about a childhood and youth of hunting in the woods of the Appalachian Plateau and the Blue Ridge with my father and grandfather back in the 1950s and ’60s. We all hunted with simple guns, and my grandfather always carried his single-shot rifle and shotgun. He rarely missed and learned to shoot in the 1910s and ’20s.

Of course, we did not use muzzleloaders, so reloading was faster and simpler.

And hunting clothes were simple as well. Maybe a canvas over-suit. But usually just a shooting jacket and casual trousers, no camo and only later orange vests.

I also think about Sunday’s spent watching The American Sportsman with Curt Gowdy and the charm and sophistication he and his guests displayed. I have attempted to watch newer hunting and fishing programs and generally find myself turned off by the lack of sophistication and the mossy oak gimmick-filled hunting conversations and quasi redneck delivery. Gowdy and crew made the shows about the hunt or the fishing, the new shows are about the host and his gimmicks. The old American Sportsman had a feel like a movie we all love to love, Jeremiah Johnson, some talk but more about visuals and telling a story through actions and a soft narration about the land and the “game.”

Thinking about and reading about frontier hunters and muzzleloaders has taken me even more into the thought that the past hunters were much more proficient than today – no mossy oak, no commercial gimmicks, no semi-auto with mags bristling with high-powered ammo.

View attachment 119229

(frontier mossy oak??? hmmmm)

Just one well-placed shot as if your life depended on it. And it did. That is how my grandfather learned to hunt.

I am looking forward to not only building this Hawken gun when it arrives but working on that one-shot mentality my grandfather had.

I do not want to start an argument, simply sharing a thought like one might among a group at a local restaurant over coffee.

Will Law

Outstanding!

 

[Daveboone]

Too many of todays hunters and shooters are more concerned with rate of fire or capacity, than making the first shot count. Media hype influenced doesnt help. Our media influence were Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone! Making the first shot count is what I emphasize to folks I talk with. In almost all hunting situations, there is NO second shot offered.

 

[Ninering62]

My philosophy on teaching myself, children, grandchildren, and soon the great grandchildren is to start out with a single shot weapon. And muzzleloading is even better at teaching to make that first shot count!!!

I think that all kids/new shooters should learn with a single shot, whether it be a shotgun or rifle, for the first few yrs of shooting & hunting. I got handed a .410 single shot at 7, spent that yr learning safety & shooting basics. Then started hunting at 8. For my first 5 yrs its all I used. Then I got an old beater Rem .22 bolt action & then a 12ga pump. It took a few yrs of using them to get me to realize that I had more than 1 shot avail. To use that dang bolt & pump. That beginning teaching practice & mentality made transitioning into muzzleloader shooting in my mid 20's no big deal. Now more than 5 decades later, I still very rarely miss or need any follow up shots & enjoy knowing the challenge of only having that one shot. Aim small/miss small - that principle is worth its weight in gold.

 

[deerstalkert]

i started my hunting life with a .45 cal rifle that was handed to me by a Col. with long yellow hair. well i imagined it was him.
it burned 70g of ffg powder in a funny yellow thingy. i was so young i had trouble steadying that great long barrel.
i soon simplified things due to financial constraints to a rifle that eliminated those funny yellow thingy's. i still had trouble steadying that long barrel.
i grew and got to the point i could hold those long heavy barrels like they were fixed.
i aged and now am back to waving those long barrels at my targets! have learned to touch off in mid wave!
i went through the plethora of weapon types and capacities over the years. i have many still. but. i only have a single shot front loader in my hands when i venture forth to slay something.




skunks excepted!

 

[GeronPG]

Guys, I'm late to this party, but wanted to say thanks and I get what you're talking about. I'm not a die-hard traditional muzzleloading hunter, but I enjoy it from time to time and have taken a few deer with a traditional one, and a few with a modern scoped muzzleloader. My grandad hunted, but had stopped by the time I was a child, and I only heard a few of his stories. If I'd only known to get him to talk more about it...

I have a couple of his guns, and it's a real privilege to harvest game with them. I started hunting as a young adult, and it grew on me the last 40 years. I think the longer you hunt, the more you appreciate the basics, like scouting and still-hunting, as opposed to hunting from a stand over a corn pile. . Though I put out some corn and minerals to keep deer coming through the areas I hunt, the greatest satisfaction is in figuring out the trails, rubs, scrapes (figuring out is too strong a word - it's more like making more informed guesses), and then putting yourself in a place to catch the deer unaware. I still don't use a trail cam. The last 4 deer I've taken were on trails, not over corn piles.

I had a most satisfying hunt last year: after a rainy November night, the morning was clear and cool. I was able to still hunt a small plot of creek bottom very quietly for about 2 hours, taking a few steps, waiting for several minutes. At about 8:45, a cruising buck just about walked past me. That few hours in the woods, ending with harvesting a buck, was as satisfying a hunting experience as I've ever had. Sad to admit, I was using my modern scoped muzzleloader. Silly me, it would have been even better if I'd had my T-C hawken, instead and the deer would have been just as dead.

No matter what you use, it's all hunting. But in my opinion, it's more satisfying when you use traditional hunting skills instead of technology. It just feels more like really living.