PA flintlock late season flintlock hunters

[Eric Krewson]

I have been watching a lot more YouTube videos this winter and seem to be watching every PA flintlock hunt that is posted. Most of the guys are carrying a TC or CVA type gun, what surprises me is the huge number of klatches these guys have, it seems like they have two or three klatches to every successful ignition. They all say "well. that flintlock hunting" when they have a klatch.

I can tell they love the drives and the hunting but appear to be not that much up on what it takes to get a flintlock to work. When I started out with a TC flintlock I had the same problem, it wasn't until I started shooting guns with Roller and Siler locks that I learned just what it took to make a flintlock go off reliably every time.

Another thing I notice is they all try to shoot offhand at spooky driven deer, I aways think when I am watching them "there is a tree right next to you lean up against it". I have yet to see anyone carrying cross sticks to shoot off of, their miss rate is about 5 misses to one hit.

Leatherwood Outdoors post a lot of videos, these guys know what they are doing, klatches and misses are few and far between.

 

[Dutch7]

Most hunters that hunt this season rarely fire their guns except to prepare to hunt. I know several that do this , they think it is a gun and it should shoot when the trigger is pulled but fail to learn what it takes.
I have a good friend that has great success with his TC but he takes care of it and knows how to use it.

 

[user 53891]

Most hunters that hunt this season rarely fire their guns except to prepare to hunt. I know several that do this , they think it is a gun and it should shoot when the trigger is pulled but fail to learn what it takes.
I have a good friend that has great success with his TC but he takes care of it and knows how to use it.

I believe you are 110% correct. Usually not the gun, but, the operator.

 

[pamtnman]

OK I also confess to watching the YT and Rumble flintlock hunts. Season is over in 90% of PA, and unless I can get down to SEPA for one last hunt, my guns are getting hung up, sad to say. I had a wonderful season and just have such a difficult time letting it go. Thanks for making it easy for me to make this admission, Eric.

 

[Campbell]

Eric, I did the same thing this winter and completely agree with your observations. I understand the mentality of using a flintlock for the sole purpose of extending the deer season. I guess many of those people have little interest in the firearm and what is required to make it function reliably and shoot accurately. What surprised me was the cavalier attitude towards misses (or what they assumed were misses). Hopefully those videos aren’t indicative of the majority of PA flintlock hunters.

 

[JamesT]

I finished out the season yesterday evening with seeing a doe around 3pm. Too far for a decent shot. Stayed out until dark with no other opportunities. Oh well.looking for to next year already. I did find an old grave marker at the top of a hollow.

 

[bushytail]

I didn’t get a deer in PA this year. When I was done deer hunting I took the flintlock to the club to shoot the ball. At 25 yrds it went boom and I hit right beside the bullseye. I would’ve got my deer, “if it was a deer”.

 

[bushytail]

I did find deer sign, but no deer.

 

[good ole boy]

The big give away on these wannabes fake hunters is that they are playin around shootin videos Eric.Don,t group us true blue late season veterans on these clowns.

 

[Campbell]

The big give away on these wannabes fake hunters is that they are playin around shootin videos Eric.Don,t group us true blue late season veterans on these clowns.

Now that’s a darn good point!

 

[JamesT]

The big give away on these wannabes fake hunters is that they are playin around shootin videos Eric.Don,t group us true blue late season veterans on these clowns.

HuhWhat videos?

 

[Juniata]

I agree 100 percent with you Eric.
That's partly why I started doing more videos, hoping to show what a flint can do when you treat them right, and go about the remainder of the year continuing to shoot. Plus there was not much content or there.

As we all know, it doesn't matter how much you tell people, the majority of them will let it loaded from one year to the next, and shoot it off a bench a few times then go to the woods.
Procrastinating is just what people do. I'm guilty of it in some aspects of life and some may view me the same way. I try to do whatever I do 110% though. I always thought something worth doing is worth doing well or don't do it at all.

I hate when they say that's flintlock hunting when the gun doesn't go off.
No..... that's a piece of garbage lock with a dull flint. That's all.

 

[Toneloc]

I’m a PA resident…We get a group of 15 or so together every year for a Saturday hunt during the late season. Haven’t seen the video you are talking about, but sounds a fair bit like my crew, lol.

I myself don’t practice nearly the amount I want to and as a result miss more than I should. I’ve learned a lot from this forum that has helped tremendously with gun reliability for me and some of our crew I’ve been able to help. I figured out early on that I shoot way better with a rest and have passed that tip on….so your observations are spot on Eric….but you can only lead a horse to water.

Yes we have a bunch of guys that only get their muzzleloader guns out once a year. Guess what though, they are a still a great bunch of great guys. Not everyone that hunts with a flintlock in late season is going to be a passionate black powder enthusiast, nor do I care….I’m glad to have them out there with us and having a good time. It’s probably my favorite hunting day of the year….and that’s because of the camaraderie….which has nothing to do with how good people shoot or how reliable their guns are. I get it some of you are purists and won’t understand that and that’s just the way it is.

We even have a had few guys that take crossbows over the years…..O the indignity! Guess what? After seeing and hearing our muzzys go off…a few of those guys we have converted to rifles ….which is a win!

 

[Juniata]

I’m a PA resident…We get a group of 15 or so together every year for a Saturday hunt during the late season. Haven’t seen the video you are talking about, but sounds a fair bit like my crew, lol.

I myself don’t practice nearly the amount I want to and as a result miss more than I should. I’ve learned a lot from this forum that has helped tremendously with gun reliability for me and some of our crew I’ve been able to help. I figured out early on that I shoot way better with a rest and have passed that tip on….so your observations are spot on Eric….but you can only lead a horse to water.

Yes we have a bunch of guys that only get their muzzleloader guns out once a year. Guess what though, they are a still a great bunch of great guys. Not everyone that hunts with a flintlock in late season is going to be a passionate black powder enthusiast, nor do I care….I’m glad to have them out there with us and having a good time. It’s probably my favorite hunting day of the year….and that’s because of the camaraderie….which has nothing to do with how good people shoot or how reliable their guns are. I get it some of you are purists and won’t understand that and that’s just the way it is.

We even have a had few guys that take crossbows over the years…..O the indignity! Guess what? After seeing and hearing our muzzys go off…a few of those guys we have converted to rifles ….which is a win!

I hope you don't think I'm a purist.
I just am not going to take time and effort of going to the woods, of getting a deer into range and then maybe get an opportunity and lastly hope my gun goes off. So I made it a priority to learn what it takes to make a gun go off everytime and how to shoot tight groups offhand, so that if they stop within 50, it's nighty night bucko haha

 

[kyron4]

I just watched one with a "kid" in a tree stand with his buddy and he yanked that trigger so hard it wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun it was; clean miss on a doe 25 yds. away. His first words to his buddy " did I hit it ? "


I got my first flintlock deer this year and I had practiced all summer getting to know the gun, tuning it, and developing a load. It's not that hard, and this was with a "cheap" Traditions kit build.

 

[erhunter]

Eric, I did the same thing this winter and completely agree with your observations. I understand the mentality of using a flintlock for the sole purpose of extending the deer season. I guess many of those people have little interest in the firearm and what is required to make it function reliably and shoot accurately. What surprised me was the cavalier attitude towards misses (or what they assumed were misses). Hopefully those videos aren’t indicative of the majority of PA flintlock hunters.

I am a Pa. Flintlock hunter and I agree practice makes perfect. I take my flinter out during the year and especially before and during flintlock season here in Pa. to practice. I think a lot more hunters should practice more and try to fine tune their rifle. I also agree that a lot of hunters don't follow up on a "miss" more and at least look 100 yards around from where you take your shot on a deer. I am sure this happens with unmentionables very much because with the high power rifle they think the deer should "drop in it's tracks". Let's all try to strive to really look around more after an assumed miss. We owe it to the animal and respect for the animal.

 

[Toneloc]

Juniata it’s all good. You have some great content and even learned some things from your videos.

I agree with you guys and points you’re making….just felt like the thread was going in the direction to look down on the guys that don’t live, breathe and eat muzzys. Everyone has to start somewhere. And some people will never put the time in to perfect the art….and that’s okay. Like most everything else in life you generally reap what you sow.

 

[Ditt44]

January 9, 7:00 AM. 25 yards. Lancaster County. Thank the red gods it snowed overnight. Nice button buck, we have/had five on the property all year so being the only opportunity I'd had since early archery... Pedesoli Scout in .50 with 60gr 3F, .490 round ball and .010 patch. It's a great little gun I did from a kit in the winter of 2020 and is very accurate for me and probably has a lot more potential in it than I do My limit is 70 yards on a big deer, and that would have to be ideal circumstances for me to shoot.

To erhunter's comments on follow-up: Absolutely. Too few do that. Even with snow and a double lung hit, the ball on that little guy laid up against the far shoulder hide. Broke two ribs and the right upper leg bone. The ball was half-flattened and still weighed 176.2 grains out of 177! Point being, very little blood. I knocked him down, he thrashed about trying to get up and stumbled off hunched up. Where he fell there were two spots of blood. Neither bigger than a fifty-cent piece. I tracked about 20 yards and backed out. The blood was not easily visible on snow. It looked like someone went along with a spray bottle squirting out a trigger pull every 15 feet. I went back to the house for an hour and called my buddy who reminded me, lung shots don't always bleed "out" without a pass-thru. The deer ran into heavy cover so with brush pants on, back I went and tied my marker tape at each 'spray'. 50 yards later, finally large blood splatter and then I found him piled up under a bunch of scrub. Only at the last few yards was there good blood. Both lungs hit, two broken ribs and a broken front leg and he made it 50 yards with minimal blood on the ground. Without the snow, it would have been a hard job but there is no way I would have not spent the entire day and then some looking for him otherwise.

 

[Retired18Z]

Monday morning I sent $11.97 to the Game Commission so I could spend a day in the woods with one of our boys (in the foreground) hunting whitetails on the last day of the season. We had fun, saw deer, all safely out of range. Did our son spend hours at the range shooting in the gun he was using this year? No. Yet, I'm fully confident in his marksmanship and ability to put a killing shot on a deer within 50 yds with a flintlock (loads that I spent the time developing). If one of our boys is coming home during the season, we are going hunting! I'll do the work up front, let them enjoy the hunt. That $11.97 for one day with one of our sons in the woods, with me at 62 years of age? Priceless.

 

[user 53891]

I’m a PA resident…We get a group of 15 or so together every year for a Saturday hunt during the late season. Haven’t seen the video you are talking about, but sounds a fair bit like my crew, lol.

I myself don’t practice nearly the amount I want to and as a result miss more than I should. I’ve learned a lot from this forum that has helped tremendously with gun reliability for me and some of our crew I’ve been able to help. I figured out early on that I shoot way better with a rest and have passed that tip on….so your observations are spot on Eric….but you can only lead a horse to water.

Yes we have a bunch of guys that only get their muzzleloader guns out once a year. Guess what though, they are a still a great bunch of great guys. Not everyone that hunts with a flintlock in late season is going to be a passionate black powder enthusiast, nor do I care….I’m glad to have them out there with us and having a good time. It’s probably my favorite hunting day of the year….and that’s because of the camaraderie….which has nothing to do with how good people shoot or how reliable their guns are. I get it some of you are purists and won’t understand that and that’s just the way it is.

We even have a had few guys that take crossbows over the years…..O the indignity! Guess what? After seeing and hearing our muzzys go off…a few of those guys we have converted to rifles ….which is a win!

For the sake of the animal, practice is extremely essential. If you miss more than you should, that animal has a good chance of being wounded and dying a miserable death. Do yourself and that animal a favor, practice until you are good enough to hit that kill zone and know your limitation on distance.