What is your favorite game hunted using muzzleloaders?

[user 31257]

Muzzleloader shot gun should be legal?

Yes, muzzleloading shotguns are legal, they just never interested me. Hunting turkeys with a small caliber muzzleloader does.

 

[Flintlock62]

I really enjoy flintlock hunting for whitetail, followed by bear and hopefully one day elk and moose, and I would love the chance for Bison.

 

[Carbon 6]

Squirrels.

 

[CoHiCntry]

Really surprised by all the “squirrel” replies, lol! I guess small game hunting lives on...

I guess if pressed, I’d have to say elk would be my favorite. Although I thoroughly enjoy hunting all western big game.

I think the ultimate would be a successful Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep hunt with traditional muzzleloader.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

Whitetail deer for me....but I've only hunted squirrels, turkey, and deer in my entire hunting life experience anyway.

My favorite deer hunt was with muzzleloader at Green Bank Radio Astronomy Observatory, NRAO, a controlled hunt in September or October where I used my muzzleloader.

 

[Kan-do]

I'm not sure I can pick "one" critter over another. I like chasing squirrel, rabbit, crow, turkey, puddle ducks mainly but will take a swipe at a sassy goose when I can, deer & bear. What ever is in season and I have the tags/permits for really.

 

[Eutycus]

Wild hogs.

 

[user 36911]

When this thread started I never would have guessed that squirrels would be the most popular.

How many squirrels does it take to equal the amount of meat in one elk?

 

[Bob McBride]

I fill the freezer with deer and hogs but a half dozen squirrels equals a whole mess of ‘hot legs’ for supper. I surely wish it wasn’t raining....

 

[Brokennock]

The question was favorite animal to hunt, not to harvest.
If it was favorite animal to harvest, I would be unable to answer. I could make a good argument with myself in support of all three of my favorites to hunt. I like the meat equally.

 

[pab1]

When this thread started I never would have guessed that squirrels would be the most popular.

How many squirrels does it take to equal the amount of meat in one elk?

As I posted earlier, I find I enjoy small game hunting (not just squirrels but snowshoe hares, rabbits and grouse) more as time goes by. Small game definitely doesn't fill the freezer as as efficiently as deer or elk. There are other aspects to it though.

Some of the enjoyable parts are the ability to take multiple animals (or have multiple opportunities) in a day. The ability to hunt day after day since even if you've been successful your season isn't over. There's also less pressure to succeed and fill the freezer that is often felt on big game hunts. That's just a few reasons why I find myself enjoying small game hunting more.

 

[user 36911]

The question was favorite animal to hunt, not to harvest.
If it was favorite animal to harvest, I would be unable to answer. I could make a good argument with myself in support of all three of my favorites to hunt. I like the meat equally.

It depends on how you define the hunt. For me the hunt starts with trying to get the tag to swallowing the meat. Everything in between is the hunt including the scouting.

 

[user 36911]

As I posted earlier, I find I enjoy small game hunting (not just squirrels but snowshoe hares, rabbits and grouse) more as time goes by. Small game definitely doesn't fill the freezer as as efficiently as deer or elk. There are other aspects to it though.

Some of the enjoyable parts are the ability to take multiple animals (or have multiple opportunities) in a day. The ability to hunt day after day since even if you've been successful your season isn't over. There's also less pressure to succeed and fill the freezer that is often felt on big game hunts. That's just a few reasons why I find myself enjoying small game hunting more.

I agree and it's why I make my hunts as hard as possible. If I can get the kill on the last day of the hunt or maybe not at all. It was a good hunt. I can remember dad telling me and my brother.........."If the hunt was too easy. Don't pull the trigger or release the arrow."

 

[pab1]

I agree and it's why I make my hunts as hard as possible. If I can get the kill on the last day of the hunt or maybe not at all. It was a good hunt. I can remember dad telling me and my brother.........."If the hunt was too easy. Don't pull the trigger or release the arrow."

I've done my share of hard, backpack hunts in wilderness areas. I killed a 300 class 6X6 bull with a muzzleloader in Colorado at 11,500' elevation that involved a long, difficult pack out. I also have no problem if the "gods of the hunt" smile on me and give me an opportunity much less strenuous.

I'm bone on bone in both knees along with bone spurs in them now. My right hip, right shoulder and right elbow are shot. I can no longer hunt the same way I did when I was younger. I'm grateful I was able to hunt the type of country and game I did years ago.

I'm also proud to say that I don't know anyone that's been as successful on snowshoe hare and cottontails as I have been. Not bragging, I've put a lot of time and effort into learning how to hunt them. There's an art to hunting them without dogs using a single projectile like a patched round ball.

 

[CoHiCntry]

How many squirrels does it take to equal the amount of meat in one elk?

I’ll take a stab at it & say 300???

 

[Jay Templin]

Deer are my favourite, hands down, but any hunt with a smokepole is good.
Jay

 

[user 36911]

I've done my share of hard, backpack hunts in wilderness areas. I killed a 300 class 6X6 bull with a muzzleloader in Colorado at 11,500' elevation that involved a long, difficult pack out. I also have no problem if the "gods of the hunt" smile on me and give me an opportunity much less strenuous.

I'm bone on bone in both knees along with bone spurs in them now. My right hip, right shoulder and right elbow are shot. I can no longer hunt the same way I did when I was younger. I'm grateful I was able to hunt the type of country and game I did years ago.

I'm also proud to say that I don't know anyone that's been as successful on snowshoe hare and cottontails as I have been. Not bragging, I've put a lot of time and effort into learning how to hunt them. There's an art to hunting them without dogs using a single projectile like a patched round ball.

Glad you found a replacement for elk hunting. I never could. I agree the back country and altitude make an elk hard but it's a given and I don't consider it the hard part of the hunt. It's where the elk are and we all have to go there. I have a long list of ways I make the hunt harder but they're personal and i'll keep them to myself. It's probably why i've hunted solo most of my life.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Actually, paper targets and rocks at unknown distances. Nothing to field dress, nothing to cut up but then once a year It seems that I weaken and I have to try for a deer.

 

[RB POWELL]

I wish the rabbit population would rebound around here...

Quit shootn' at them and they might come back.

 

[Bob McBride]

Quit shootn' at them and they might come back.

It’s the Coyotes and Bobcats brother but that’s real good thinkin.

We’re working with the TWRA to try to knock back the Coyote population in this part of the state. There’s hundreds within just a dozen miles and they go after deer, our goats, calves, and chickens (we have to concrete under the chicken run door and fold the fence) and all other small wildlife. They even gang up on our dogs except for the Pyrenees. He’s a bit of a Coyote killer. I have two dozen trail cams and they snap dozens of pics a night of the buggers, which is, thankfully, less than just a few years ago. That said, the rabbits are starting to make a bit of a rebound as we’re starting get the packs under some kind of control. It’s nice to see. I might even consider putting one in the pot in the next year or so.