Why do you hunt with a muzzleloader? I'm not asking why did you start hunting with a muzzleloader but rather I'm asking why do you continue to do it. I'll answer first by saying I started hunting with them for the challenge but anymore I really don't care what the challenge level is rather I just look at which will make for a more enjoyable hunt with a chance at success. For me the fun factor is in it for when I hunt deer and squirrel with a muzzleloader but anything else a muzzleloader just kind of gets in the way for quail, rabbit, turkey, ducks & geese. Plus when I deer hunt with a muzzleloader I just feel like bada**.
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Why Do You Hunt With a Muzzleloader?
- Thread starter luieb45
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Been drawn to these guns both flint and percussion (98% flint) since I was around your age an just do not have any intrest in modern guns. To me its the only way to hunt :thumbsup:
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Not only muzzleloaders but since 2004 flintlocks only. I simply enjoy hunting with flintlocks much more than with any other firearm. Its that connection with our forefathers and sitting out in the woods with a beautiful custom made gun made just for me.:thumbsup:
Richard J.
40 Cal.
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Just love blackpowder. Been doing it for around 50 years. Flintlock rifle and pistols, and double barrell percussion. Doesnt get any better.
RJ
RJ
Flintlocks & blackpowder with PRBs or lead shot offer challenge + history...mastering them really put the hunt back into hunting for me.
And tagging deer, squirrel, turkey, dove, crow as close to the way the settlers did is the most satisfying of all hunting in my life time...
And tagging deer, squirrel, turkey, dove, crow as close to the way the settlers did is the most satisfying of all hunting in my life time...
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GOOD QUESTION! :thumbsup:
shoot them all year at bp shoots,
the challenge of one shot, think made me better hunter,,,
the challenge and mystery of weather related shooting
I can fix it if it don't go off!
personal satisfaction ...
but after last year,,,the number 1 reason to hunt with a flinter............the look on an Encon officers face when he asked to check yer weapon! :rotf:
or 2,,,the guy givin us every detail of hunting/shooting with a musket cap,then realized i had a flinter and said "damn! yer serious!" :wink:
shoot them all year at bp shoots,
the challenge of one shot, think made me better hunter,,,
the challenge and mystery of weather related shooting
I can fix it if it don't go off!
personal satisfaction ...
but after last year,,,the number 1 reason to hunt with a flinter............the look on an Encon officers face when he asked to check yer weapon! :rotf:
or 2,,,the guy givin us every detail of hunting/shooting with a musket cap,then realized i had a flinter and said "damn! yer serious!" :wink:
Oh, and I thought of another reason. I like making fun of my cousins and the rest of my friends and family when I have a deer down on opening morning and the rest of them don't and they shoot really nice slug guns. The only bad thing is the next evening they usually shoot at least a 140" deer or better where I'm lucky to see that type of deer all year on the farm I hunt :haha:. But oh well, I still got on the board before any of those guys. But that has nothing to do with my weapon, just my highly classified opening morning stand that no one is ever allowed to use before I kill a deer out of it.
It's just plain satisfying. Hunting/shooting the historical way they did 150+ years ago and the connection with history. You have to be a more disciplined hunter/shooter to make the shot count.
While deer hunting, you have to be in his living room, not waaayy down the street or next county to put 'em down cleanly.
For the challenge.....seems I could go on and on, as the feeling just comes to you while in the woods or field. Good question though!
While deer hunting, you have to be in his living room, not waaayy down the street or next county to put 'em down cleanly.
For the challenge.....seems I could go on and on, as the feeling just comes to you while in the woods or field. Good question though!
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I've always got a giggle out of hunting close. Started with archery in the 1960's, went to open sighted revolvers in the early 70's, and finally to muzzleloaders. Sure I forayed into long range modern rifles, but it wasn't nearly so satisfying. I'll risk missing an opportunity for an animal I could have shot at 100 or 75, just for the hoot of getting inside 50 yards, or even better, inside 25 yards. Same has always applied for open-choked shotguns on waterfowl, upland and small game, rather than nosebleed-high shots and bragging rights.
Because sometimes I don't kill one with my recurve and want a lazy out. ;-)
Muzzleloaders add something to hunting that I came up missing with centerfires.
Because I sold my slug gun to help pay for my flintlock. :grin:
:hmm: No, that ain't it, because I hadn't used my slug gun for several years anyway. I was totin' my percussion GPR mostly. Some ML or other always.
Just because I get a lot more personal satisfaction from hunting with a muzzleloader. It just feels right. Using blackpowder guns, especially flintlocks, requires more attention to the details, more user input. It gets me closer to the real... everything.
:hmm: No, that ain't it, because I hadn't used my slug gun for several years anyway. I was totin' my percussion GPR mostly. Some ML or other always.
Just because I get a lot more personal satisfaction from hunting with a muzzleloader. It just feels right. Using blackpowder guns, especially flintlocks, requires more attention to the details, more user input. It gets me closer to the real... everything.
For me it's the whole " feeling" of being out in the woods and hunting like our fore-fathers did.
Big John
45 Cal.
I think it makes me a better hunter, knowing I have one shot, to me it's a game who wins the deer or me, I enjoy having a deer out smarting me if it can. note: 89 bucks, have not
Synopsis:
The aesthetics of the hunt are challenging,
The aesthetics of the hunt are enjoyable,
The bragging rights are superb! :thumbsup:
Full Story:
I was taught in the Corps how to reach out and touch a "target", say at 1000 yards, in high winds, even when the target was walking..., so using a high powered rifle with a scope to drop a buck or doe at 300+ yards was zero challenge. :shake:
I have zero interest in using modern kinetic energy devices to harvest deer. [Bows folks, bows]. I have lots of respect for bow hunters, but around me it was/is, all too modern, and these days, way too expensive if I did it as my friends do it! :shocked2:
Plus in the past when I got a chance to hunt in my state, for deer, it was muzzleloader season as I'd get military leave around Christmas. So I started muzzleloader hunting. Never got anything though. I used a caplock, CVA "long rifle" in .45. I didn't miss..., I just didn't see anything, and I didn't have the opportunity to scout the area prior to hunting so... :td:
I left the service, got a job, got a used, crapped up flintlock "kit" at the same time Last of The Mohicans hit the screen..., restocked it into something not so ugly that actually shot well. Just as something to do to relieve the stress of my job. Up graded a couple of times from that rifle to a really nice rifle...,
And then the state introduced "early muzzleloading season". So I took my current rifle, Trudy out..., and dropped a buck in his tracks, in the drizzling rain. BOY HOWDY that was fun and took some skill. :applause:
The Monday after the hunt I was at the gunshop showing off my photos, and a fellow came in talking about his .308 harvest of a deer at 350 yards...., so I asked him if he'd ever taken a deer at 60 yards in the drizzling rain with a flintlock..., he paused and blinked, and said, "Um, well, ..., no."
enuf said.
LD :grin:
The aesthetics of the hunt are challenging,
The aesthetics of the hunt are enjoyable,
The bragging rights are superb! :thumbsup:
Full Story:
I was taught in the Corps how to reach out and touch a "target", say at 1000 yards, in high winds, even when the target was walking..., so using a high powered rifle with a scope to drop a buck or doe at 300+ yards was zero challenge. :shake:
I have zero interest in using modern kinetic energy devices to harvest deer. [Bows folks, bows]. I have lots of respect for bow hunters, but around me it was/is, all too modern, and these days, way too expensive if I did it as my friends do it! :shocked2:
Plus in the past when I got a chance to hunt in my state, for deer, it was muzzleloader season as I'd get military leave around Christmas. So I started muzzleloader hunting. Never got anything though. I used a caplock, CVA "long rifle" in .45. I didn't miss..., I just didn't see anything, and I didn't have the opportunity to scout the area prior to hunting so... :td:
I left the service, got a job, got a used, crapped up flintlock "kit" at the same time Last of The Mohicans hit the screen..., restocked it into something not so ugly that actually shot well. Just as something to do to relieve the stress of my job. Up graded a couple of times from that rifle to a really nice rifle...,
And then the state introduced "early muzzleloading season". So I took my current rifle, Trudy out..., and dropped a buck in his tracks, in the drizzling rain. BOY HOWDY that was fun and took some skill. :applause:
The Monday after the hunt I was at the gunshop showing off my photos, and a fellow came in talking about his .308 harvest of a deer at 350 yards...., so I asked him if he'd ever taken a deer at 60 yards in the drizzling rain with a flintlock..., he paused and blinked, and said, "Um, well, ..., no."
enuf said.
LD :grin:
To me it is the quality of the hunt, not how much game is taken. I really enjoy my muzzleloaders, and want to use them as much as possible. I started hunting exclusively with flintlocks in 1976, got laughed at a lot, but didn't care, it was what I wanted to use. It is hard to explain to someone what the appeal is, I guess if they have to ask, they wouldn't understand.
Jason Lewis
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BP is just way more fun for all game.
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If the traditional bow did not provide meat (becasue the weather was way too warm, I was too lazy or too busy at work), then the 275 year flintlock will come out. But even then, I will often take longbow and Jaeger Rifle out into the woods. A lot of times I don't even make it to the treestand without having a shot. Deerhunting with any gun doesn't take much skill. It is just a little more fun than with a modern gun. Especially if you see the faces of other hunters: "You killed it with this???" :grin:
