What would the Rev Forsyth think?

[FishDFly]

"An idle thought. What would Alexander Forsyth make of people still hunting with flintlocks 200+ years"

Probably wonder why these people had not caught on with the times.

Comparing hunting in the 1800s to hunting in 2020 is not the same. Totally uneducated game and a lot less hunters.

I read the Patrick Gass book on the Lewis and Clark Exp. It is totally amazing at the amount of animals killed to support that number of men each day. The game of that day had never heard the sound of a rifle. Their only fear if so, was an Indian flinging arrows.

 

[ppg1949]

old wood, you have hit on something I didn’t think of before. It wasn’t the first shots at game that were a problem so much as the reloading and firing of the next shots. Thanks
FDF, I just finished Patrick Gass’s journal and one is truly astonished at the quantity of game needed to feed their party. Thanks

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Way to many years ago I read about the good Reverend. Eterry was correct in that he was an avid water fowler. If I remember correctly, his hunting was in the damp and sometimes raining wetlands. His problem was his pan powder would become damp and not fire. I don’t fully understand how this came about, so if there are any flintlock hunters out there maybe you could tells us of your experiences hunting in a damp or wet environment. Thanks

Years ago, I was deer hunting on a cold, snowy day. Never saw a deer, and at the end of the day I decided to fire the rifle rather than pull the load. The rifle had a thin coating of ice on it. I scraped the frizzen and flint,
took aim at a suspicious oak stump and it went off without delay. To my surprise, the stump didn't seem to notice the pan flash. Flintlocks are reliable and I trust mine completely.