Why Do You Hunt With a Muzzleloader?

[VEARL]

I've hunted with a muzzleloader since mid 70's. Quit bow hunting in the 80's due to bad shoulders. ( couldn't pull a bow back anymore).
I guess the real reason why I hunt with them is because I look so damn good holding a muzzle loader. :haha:

 

[Britsmoothy]

Cos muzzleloaders come from a time when there was no such notion as "more is better" and ego's where more modest :hatsoff:

Brits.

 

[hanshi]

I became interested in muzzleloaders at about your age. Now, I like all kinds of guns and have had much experience with many types. I got my first ML in the mid 1960s. I gradually added a few others that I used/sold/forgot. I drifted into cf rifles big time and took many, many deer. Even then I was a "use the least to get the most" sort of guy. Finally I started taking deer with a series of revolvers to increase the challenge. I used MLs during primitive weapons seasons but still went back to revolvers & rifles during the regular season.

Finally I saw the light and went strictly muzzleloader. That quickly lead me to strictly flintlock some years back. So:

1. the challenge
2. love old timey things
3. actually feel better armed with one (go figure)
4. more satisfying
5. watch my deerless friends cringe
6. they require "more of the hunter" to be
successful
7. back to basics
8. cheaper
9. cheaper
10. longrifles are the most beautiful, civilized,
elegant, well crafted, smokiest, wonderful
things ever created by the hand of man.

 

[Ben Grace]

If your anything like me when I was at your age, having success with any gun or bow was a challenge in the deer woods so naturally you go for what make it easier on you. Figuring deer out takes quite a few years and several notches in your belt before your really start putting two and two together on em. That's when ml's come in and put a whole new challenge on things that really never changes because your held to one shot and at a much closer ranges, and getting in the back yard of any deer much less mature ones ain't as easy as simply climbing over the fence without them knowing you just did it. As you grow and mature the game will change and so well you, hang in there and keep asking questions that's how you learn. Best of luck.

 

[VTdeerhunter]

There is nothing as great as pulling the trigger on a flintlock, the cloud of smoke and the way it smells...then that second of anticipation as the smoke clears and you get to see the results of your hard work....

 

[Robert Egler]

Because it makes a really lousy boat! :haha:

Basically, because its fun. :grin:

 

[Swede50]

I like to hunt with a big bore gun.
What other rifle/pistol lets you reload in the field.
I went to flint lock for more challenge.
Loads of fun.

 

[broknaero]

I bowhunted for many years. Cartridge guns were no longer a challange after taking many deer, small game,a bear, and several turkey with stick and string. Too many years of daily shooting with heavy draw bows have given me the shoulder clunk. If I draw anything over 40lbs it starts clunking and hurting, preventing me from practicing like I should.

My legs are still fine, and as long as they will still take me up the mountain I will hunt. Now I just do it with muzzleloaders. Nothing like dragging out a fat buck taken with a flintlock you built with balls you cast while everyone else is hunting 100 yards from the road with their highpowered rifles complaining there isn't any deer. :rotf:

I still hunt the same way I used to bowhunt. Just from the ground now and my stick is a little bigger! It has brought the fun back into hunting that was lost to me using highpowered guns.

 

[Supercracker]

sounds a lot like me. I made and hunted with a longbow exclusively for years and years. Then I got threw off a horse and messed up my shoulder. I can shoot the bow occasionally but not every day. If I can't practice all the time I'm not shooting at critters. So a flintlock was the next logical step.

Now that I've gotten into them I LOVE it. The simplicity and satisfaction of primitive DIY is the antidote to modernity.

Not to mention that the muzzle loading rifle is our national weapon. The longrifle is to us what the longbow is to the English. (a bit of a history dork)

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I hunt withe a flintlock because using a rifle is more like "shooting" than "hunting," and I'm not good enough with my longbow (homemade) to consistently bring home meat.

 

[stormcrow]

So that when I miss a shot I can now blame it on the primitive technology :grin:

Actually, after my first fall ML deer hunt (at which I bagged nothing) I realized that I enjoyed that hunt more than the gun opener when I did get a deer. Like flyfishing, it was more about the woods therapy and the challenge than it was filling tags. My enjoyment of hunting with an ML in the fall then migrated to other seasons. Turkey is next on the list, and after that I see very few occasions where I'll be hunting with a modern firearm.

 

[GBG]

In addition to reasons already given, MLs are viewed as less threatening by most LEOs and non-hunters. When seen with a ML, almost no one doubts that I am in fact just a hunter. Questions or apprehension may be replaced with curiosity or a 'teachable moment'.

 

[cynthialee]

In addition to reasons already given, MLs are viewed as less threatening by most LEOs and non-hunters. When seen with a ML, almost no one doubts that I am in fact just a hunter. Questions or apprehension may be replaced with curiosity or a 'teachable moment'.

I like them for similar reasons. No one thinks I am preparing for nefarious doings with a muzzle loader. Muzzle loaders are seen as so archaic by some folks they fail to even see it as the fire arm it is. Had one guy try and tell me that past 75 yards a round ball wouldn't penetrate skin far enough to be deadly. :slap:
:shake:
I still doubt he believes me to this day, seems to some men having a pair of boobs means you are a boob...
Whatever he wants to think....

When I hold a black powder fire arm there is an essence of history and a feeling of raw power that requires brains to operate properly. Any idiot can point and shoot a modern semi automatic and if they pull the trigger enough times while pointing in the general direction they probably will hit something. Muzzle loaders encourage good marksmanship.

Also, it is allot cheeper on my shooting budget to go with BP revolvers and rifles. First I shoot alot slower and the other it is cheeper by the shot with BP.

Also, I figure that if I shoot at a critter and I miss, then god has spoken and he says that animal doesn't go on my diner plate.

 

[jamesthomas]

ff Cynthialee, I and everybody on this forum owe you a great big thank you for joining us on here. You have brought a breath of fresh air with your participation. :hatsoff: Keep it up!

 

[cynthialee]

ff Cynthialee, I and everybody on this forum owe you a great big thank you for joining us on here. You have brought a breath of fresh air with your participation. :hatsoff: Keep it up!

Well thank you.

Chances are I will stick around for awhile, learn what I can and slowly drift away over time. Then some day I will drop in after I haven't been around in a long time and say howdy evry once and awhile.
Presently I am in the honeymoon phase of my relationship with this forum. So I am very much focused into the group. I have always been fond of my ball and cap revolvers and I am now finding the joy of a percussion rifle. The amount of information and quality of minds here is very refreshing. I am on other forums for some of the other interests in my life and the general tenor and tone here is so much more friendly and helpful.
I am hopeing that I am able to go hunting come fall and using the information I have learned here to put meat in the pot. (provided I have the time, the weather cooperates and no other complications of life come up...)

So back on topic:
Because black powder is nifty and there are less idiots in the sport than other pursuits. Darwin weeds them out...

:rotf:

 

[Spikebuck]

I bowhunted exclusively for 27 years. My wife and I have always liked to walk through Rendevous and I always thought traditional muzzleloaders where pretty cool. In 2000 I took the plunge and bought one. At the time my state was bulging with deer and they were finally allowing multiple tags.

Today, many areas of the state are back to allowing a single deer, but I continue to hunt with muzzleloader during the open gun seasons because I still consider it a "primitive" hunt that requires significant skill and gives the game a fair chance. Since I started hunting for only mature, large bucks (or does)it gives me some additional range advantage rather than using bow during gun season when they get quite spooky and that much harder to hunt with bow.

In addition, I love just carrying the gun and a simple possibles bag, sitting my hinder on the ground against a tree wherever the sign looks hot, and enjoying the day. I probably miss seeing some deer while I'm staring at the beautiful wood patterns in the stock too!

Other than one week with a Red Hawk .44mag pistol, I've never hunted deer with a modern firearm and at this point, cannot imagine I will ever have the desire to. I just personally have to hunt "the hard way" to feel right about it. Hunting with a traditional muzzleloader makes you a part of a very special group of woodsmen & women and is something you can truly feel good about whether you bring home game or not.

 

[kopfjaeger]

Got interested in flintlocks in the mid 1970's, but still hunted with modern rifles back then.

Joined the Army in 1980, after eight years on active duty and four more years in the national guard I got sick of useing modern weapons. So I got back into flintlocks again, I just love everything about the flintlock rifle and its use.

 

[jrmflintlock]

Wow, what a great question! I have enjoyed reading all the awesome responces!! I love the reaction I get from folks when I tell them I hunt with flintlock rifles. Like many of the other great folks have said, there is no greater satisfaction than harvesting an animal (any animal) with a rifle/smoothbore that you built with RB you cast! I hardly shoot center fire any more even though some of the tags I draw are legal for any weapon, I prefer to hunt in my "old timey" clothes and toteing my smokepole!

 

[Shine]

Ive killed most everything with everything else. I got bored. :grin:

 

[KHickam]

I love the nostalgia and the challenge. Plus, it is so much fun.