So..... why a muzzleloading?

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miglee279

32 Cal
Joined
Mar 31, 2023
Messages
14
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Location
mexico
There's got to be a story behind everyone's choice made to shoot and hunt with a muzzleloader. Me? I got tired of all the crap with shotguns and the ammunition. Plus, I seldom needed more than the one shot.

I grew up using a smoothbore shotgun and foster slugs to hunt deer, starting at the age of 14. I shot deer and got pretty good at killing them. I put together a slug gun over time that sported a scope and rifled barrel and that made the hunting that much more humane. What griped me was the constantly changing world of ammunition and with each change the price of using it going straight uphill. I'd shot a handful of deer with a TC Renegade .54 during the regular gun seasons which is where I started developing my attraction to the "one-shot theory" that I'd always adhered to and pushed at my hunting partners, but they were firm in their shotguns.... and making the woods sound like a war zone.

I stumbled across a Winchester bolt .45 muzzy and bought it new at a locally new Cabelas. I scoped it and shot a hundred pounds of bullets and sabots through it getting ready for the next deer season. For the next four seasons this gun and I took as many deer as shots to collect them. BUT, I still played with shotgun game too and ran out to buy the newest and latest and greatest sabot slugs, usually spending $100.00 on them so I could shoot the gun in to them and then use one to kill my deer. Back then I hunted a second season which usually meant hunting on snow or in falling snow. Generally, it was cold, but it was also back when we started to see much warmer weather and hunting in slop was as common as hunting while it was below zero. The shotgun afforded me a reliable first shot while sometimes that front stuffer would balk at the trigger pull and I'd get to see a white flag leaving the area. Over time I was able to find some confidence in what I was shooting in in my muzzy during this late season and somehow just made the switch to using is while my buddies were blazing away and their deer harvest boasted of their lack of accuracy, often sporting two to four hits on a deer. to them it was a deer take. To me I saw waste.

About 25 years ago I got the opportunity to manage a property for an elderly couple. This gave me specific permission to post the property on their behalf and control who was on or using the property. The property was an absolute deer haven, so I decided to hunt it myself, as in by myself. I used my muzzleloader and enjoyed the peace in waiting out deer or the peace of still hunting. After 5 years both of the elderly couple had passed and their kids sold the property. While I managed the place I gave a neighbor permission to come in and harvest downed trees for his firewood as he heated with wood. Not only did he help clean up the forest floor but he help eliminate to a great degree the threat of fires. When the property was lost for me I asked him about hunting on his parcel just up the road. He was more than happy to let me on to hunt and to this day he is one of my best friends. I can count on one hand how many deer I have taken off his land with a shotgun. I have no idea how many I have taken with the muzzies.

Over the years I have added to my muzzy collection, mostly in-lines but also a couple sidelocks. I'd sold that Renegade I hunted with earlier hoping to find a single trigger model. I finally found one only a few years back here on this site. I still haven't shot it and as far as I can tell its never been shot. I sold the Winchester.45 too and hope to someday find another. I have a couple older .45 TC Hawkens that I don't shoot, but they are fun to handle occasionally. There's a lot of memories tied up in those sidelocks and the beginning of the muzzleloader love affair. I seriously shoot at a local club where I'm a long time member and some of the rifle shooters there are simply shocked to see a front stuffer poking holes in holes at 100 yards, so over time my shooting has evolved and gotten much better. So back to the original question.....
Shooting these muzzleloading either at the range or in the stand has taught me to relax and not be so hurried to shoot. They've taught me several things by the most important is to have confidence in what I am shooting and what I am shooting at. We all go thru little trials with the smoke belching guns, but the trials become teachers and we pay attention. Hunting with muzzleloading has taught me to appreciate that first shot, and except for twice in all these years, is the only shot that really matters. Hunting with muzzleloading has allowed me to thoroughly look at the experience, each and every day different from the day before, not so much from the standpoint of the kill but to simply experience what the woods has to offer: the snow falling, the still and quiet, the birds and other animal life, sunrises and sunsets that so many others simply don't see or can't see. I'm getting older and know it... feel it. I don't go to the woods with my muzzies to lament what is coming someday, probably sooner than I'd like, but I go there with my old friend the muzzleloading to be thankful for being there today. I'm a sausage maker and I really do intend to kill deer for that purpose, so I struggle with the idea that I am going there to kill, because the whole experience is so much more than that. Over the many years of hunting with the stink stick I've learned to be more selective in what I take. Horns are nice if what I am aiming at has them but the long nosed, tall eared, does are welcome too. I watch an awful lot of deer come and go while I have that muzzy in my lap. And I don't have to listen to that terrible racket of a shell being racked up.
So, to say that making muzzleloading my choice over the years is a matter of evolving, the statement would be correct. Being a part of this family here at MM has allowed me to spend time with other who have sauntered down a similar path in their hunting/shooting life. Its given me a chance to watch posting as newcomers go thru the trials and tribulations that making smoke seems to bring with it early on and watch them grow to confidence. My grandkids ask why I don't hunt with a rifle. I tell them I do. The oldest grandson has a muzzleloading but he's still stuck on the cartridge hunting. One day though, he'll get the bug and like all of us here, the evolution will begin in him.
 
There are several WMA's in Florida that are bow and muzzleloader only. One was not 2 far from were I lived so a TC hawken seemed a logical choice. This was around 1985. Been going strong ever since
 
I was always drawn to old stuff. As a kid I couldn’t figure out why there were so few westerns of the time before cowboys. While other kids built model cars I built model wagons and ships. When I went to an air show I ignored the fast planes to go look at the Jenny
My dad bought me a 22 auto, but as soon as I could save my pennies I got an Ithaca lever action.
I came of age during the bicentennial so there were lots of ml and easy to find.
After my first range time with my Mowrey breechloader lost all interest to me.
 
History for me, fascinated by how little French colonial history was taught in school even in Illinois where there is a very rich history, and have bought almost every book I can find on the subject. The guns and accoutrements just seemed to follow.

Did lots of my hunting back in the day with handguns, today, don't care if I ever shoot another animal I just enjoy shooting ML's (especially woods walks) and learning more.
 
I grew up in Vicksburg MS. Worked at the military park from age 14-19. Obviously we worked with BP firearms. Got a TC Hawkin kit at age 14. Bought a percussion pistol at age 15 for $25. A man up the street built Flintlocks and as a kid I would go look at them and ask questions. Later I went back to visit my parents and spent a few hours at his shop with him teaching me how he built them. I like all guns but I have a special place for BP. ( no inlines though)
 
For me it's hunting, and centerfire hunting just doesn't appeal to me much anymore. A lot of hunting here in Texas is necessarily sitting in a blind and shooting deer when they come to a feeder or cross an opening. There isn't a practical way to hunt a lot of Texas otherwise. I took up bowhunting again after a 25ish year layoff and love it, and muzzleloader for me was started to extend my hunting season (bag limit here doesn't change, I just get to hunt more). 100 yards and in I don't see a big difference between a caplock and open sight centerfire, so I went flintlock and it's been really enjoyable. I bowhunt from a stand or blind a lot, but the flintlock is a good chance to get out and still hunt and that is really what I enjoy most.
 
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To me it’s another hobby. I like that I can make the blackpowder, cast the ball, make the percussion cap. I like the appeal of muzzleloading, from flint, percussion to cap and ball pistol. Even cleaning the weapon after shooting it under the patio with a cup of coffee Is appealing to me. Gives me a satisfying feeling.
 
The first rifle I ever bought with my own money was a Remington 514 single shot .22. I started deer hunting with a muzzleloader in the early 1960s and when my wife bought me a box of ammo for an old Win. 94 30/30 I started mostly using modern rifles. It was too easy with a "modern" rifle and not as sporting as I wanted it to be. That's when I started hunting deer with revolvers. I used two different .357 mags, a .41 mag and a .44 mag. Small game was also hunted with .22LR revolvers and pistols, .38 spl, .45 Colt & acp. That became less challenging and I switched back to muzzleloaders. Flintlocks were my main tool and so I "mostly" left percussions behind. I hunted all seasons with a flintlock rifle and NEVER needed more than just the one shot to take a deer. Interestingly I usually did better than my friends with their latest magnum-long range rifles. Deer, bobcats and squirrels were taken with various muzzleloaders.

I always loved history and it felt so satisfying carrying an 18th century rifle or smoothbore into the hunting woods and experiencing, if for only a few hours, what our ancestors experienced. I cast my own ball & bullets and had to buy only flints and black powder. I no longer hunt the woods and shoot only inantimant targets now. And I rarely shoot a modern gun nowadays.
 
There's got to be a story behind everyone's choice made to shoot and hunt with a muzzleloader. Me? I got tired of all the manure with shotguns and the ammunition. Plus, I seldom needed more than the one shot.

I grew up using a smoothbore shotgun and foster slugs to hunt deer, starting at the age of 14. I shot deer and got pretty good at killing them. I put together a slug gun over time that sported a scope and rifled barrel and that made the hunting that much more humane. What griped me was the constantly changing world of ammunition and with each change the price of using it going straight uphill. I'd shot a handful of deer with a TC Renegade .54 during the regular gun seasons which is where I started developing my attraction to the "one-shot theory" that I'd always adhered to and pushed at my hunting partners, but they were firm in their shotguns.... and making the woods sound like a war zone.

I stumbled across a Winchester bolt .45 muzzy and bought it new at a locally new Cabelas. I scoped it and shot a hundred pounds of bullets and sabots through it getting ready for the next deer season. For the next four seasons this gun and I took as many deer as shots to collect them. BUT, I still played with shotgun game too and ran out to buy the newest and latest and greatest sabot slugs, usually spending $100.00 on them so I could shoot the gun in to them and then use one to kill my deer. Back then I hunted a second season which usually meant hunting on snow or in falling snow. Generally, it was cold, but it was also back when we started to see much warmer weather and hunting in slop was as common as hunting while it was below zero. The shotgun afforded me a reliable first shot while sometimes that front stuffer would balk at the trigger pull and I'd get to see a white flag leaving the area. Over time I was able to find some confidence in what I was shooting in in my muzzy during this late season and somehow just made the switch to using is while my buddies were blazing away and their deer harvest boasted of their lack of accuracy, often sporting two to four hits on a deer. to them it was a deer take. To me I saw waste.

About 25 years ago I got the opportunity to manage a property for an elderly couple. This gave me specific permission to post the property on their behalf and control who was on or using the property. The property was an absolute deer haven, so I decided to hunt it myself, as in by myself. I used my muzzleloader and enjoyed the peace in waiting out deer or the peace of still hunting. After 5 years both of the elderly couple had passed and their kids sold the property. While I managed the place I gave a neighbor permission to come in and harvest downed trees for his firewood as he heated with wood. Not only did he help clean up the forest floor but he help eliminate to a great degree the threat of fires. When the property was lost for me I asked him about hunting on his parcel just up the road. He was more than happy to let me on to hunt and to this day he is one of my best friends. I can count on one hand how many deer I have taken off his land with a shotgun. I have no idea how many I have taken with the muzzies.

Over the years I have added to my muzzy collection, mostly in-lines but also a couple sidelocks. I'd sold that Renegade I hunted with earlier hoping to find a single trigger model. I finally found one only a few years back here on this site. I still haven't shot it and as far as I can tell its never been shot. I sold the Winchester.45 too and hope to someday find another. I have a couple older .45 TC Hawkens that I don't shoot, but they are fun to handle occasionally. There's a lot of memories tied up in those sidelocks and the beginning of the muzzleloader love affair. I seriously shoot at a local club where I'm a long time member and some of the rifle shooters there are simply shocked to see a front stuffer poking holes in holes at 100 yards, so over time my shooting has evolved and gotten much better. So back to the original question.....
Shooting these muzzleloading either at the range or in the stand has taught me to relax and not be so hurried to shoot. They've taught me several things by the most important is to have confidence in what I am shooting and what I am shooting at. We all go thru little trials with the smoke belching guns, but the trials become teachers and we pay attention. Hunting with muzzleloading has taught me to appreciate that first shot, and except for twice in all these years, is the only shot that really matters. Hunting with muzzleloading has allowed me to thoroughly look at the experience, each and every day different from the day before, not so much from the standpoint of the kill but to simply experience what the woods has to offer: the snow falling, the still and quiet, the birds and other animal life, sunrises and sunsets that so many others simply don't see or can't see. I'm getting older and know it... feel it. I don't go to the woods with my muzzies to lament what is coming someday, probably sooner than I'd like, but I go there with my old friend the muzzleloading to be thankful for being there today. I'm a sausage maker and I really do intend to kill deer for that purpose, so I struggle with the idea that I am going there to kill, because the whole experience is so much more than that. Over the many years of hunting with the stink stick I've learned to be more selective in what I take. Horns are nice if what I am aiming at has them but the long nosed, tall eared, does are welcome too. I watch an awful lot of deer come and go while I have that muzzy in my lap. And I don't have to listen to that terrible racket of a shell being racked up.
So, to say that making muzzleloading my choice over the years is a matter of evolving, the statement would be correct. Being a part of this family here at MM has allowed me to spend time with other who have sauntered down a similar path in their hunting/shooting life. Its given me a chance to watch posting as newcomers go thru the trials and tribulations that making smoke seems to bring with it early on and watch them grow to confidence. My grandkids ask why I don't hunt with a rifle. I tell them I do. The oldest grandson has a muzzleloading but he's still stuck on the cartridge hunting. One day though, he'll get the bug and like all of us here, the evolution will begin in him.
My reply to that question is, "So, why breathe"? Semper Fi.
 
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I started doing ACW living history... Dement's Battery, Maryland Light Artillery, Army of Northern Virginia, CSA
Then off to college and the only way for me to try to hunt deer was with a muzzleloader, as I'd get home too late for any other season than ML season...
Then off to The Marine Corps, and not much time for hunting or living history,
After The Service, I went into Law Enforcement, and then saw Last of The Mohicans in 1992, and also read Allan Eckert's The Frontiersman. Turned out Simon Kenton was born about an hour South of me. I thought, I'd like to make a flintlock rifle as a pastime totally unrelated to being an LEO. Turned out I wasn't the only cop at my station that did that, and several got me into doing Rev War Reenacting with The Maryland Militia.
That lead to my looking into what a "Loyalist" was all about, and I joined The Maryland Loyalist Battalion (hence the screen name)
Meanwhile I started hunting deer and small game as well as upland birds with black powder, and haven't really "gone back". I've also taken up some 18th century "angling"..., loads of fun.
Currently I do living history with The 1st Bn New Jersey Volunteers.

LD
 
I like old stuff and BP-ML's will eventually have their usefulness and they are fascinating, I love the old west lore. Being self-sufficient is no brainer as we see things start to go south' and it is quickly! Self preservation, family protection and survival is paramount in todays world. When the Modern arms are blocked then we digress back and use the tools that are hopefully available! Many factors make muzzle loaders a good idea mainly because they can easily be kept alive with a few tools and know how, but the modern stuff can have it's limits because eventually you might run out of resources, but anything is possible. 🇱🇷 God bless America.

"We do what we must"
 
I started bow hunting when I was 8 years old. I did get a modern rifle when a senior in high school but eventually military service and marriage/children weighed on my time and pocketbook. I continued to bow hunt but upon purchase of our first home I no longer had a place or time to practice regularly. In '74 it seemed like the new muzzleloader season was a solution. I had always been a good shot with a rifle so daily practice wasn't necessary. The wife gave me a 50 cal TC Hawken for Christmas. And reading the owners manual had me shooting in no time. I heard about local shooting matches and attended several. There I met experienced shooters who added to my knowledge. At my first shoot I was loading by scooping powder with a measure out of a bowl. 😀 One of the shooters noticed and came over and gave me some great advice on managing and shooting my gun. Guys name was Ron Long. I learned later that he was a top shooter and I felt lucky to have met him.

I continued to attend matches whenever possible and still do. I'll just take a little space here to address any newbies reading here. I think many both new and experienced shooters shy away from formal shoots and for many it seems like an aversion to competition born of that natural feeling of not wanting to be the one who shoots a low score. That only robs one of some great experiences and friendships. I and everyone I shoot with have been up and down the score board. Just go, shoot and enjoy the day.

Guess I've gone way off track here. Hopefully it doesn't run the topic into the ditch.

Anyway I eventually became able to shoot bows at home and still do. Most years I hunt bow and ML.
 
First year I could deer hunt. My grandfather asked if I had bought my tags yet. Being a freshman in college I had bought tags. I barely had enough for my fishing license and small game. Grandpa bought me regular deer and I asked about muzzleloader tag. I borrowed dad's. 45 Kentucky rifle he built in college. I taught my self to shoot that old muzzleloader. I was hooked from then on
 

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