Your Blackpowder Hunting Mentor?

My Grandad and my Dad were my hunting mentors, but neither of them ever owned a muzzleloader to my knowledge--although I can't be sure about Grandad, who was raised in a log cabin in the Ozarks and born early 1890s (the first gun of his I remember was a mod 11 Remington auto). A friend in high school in PA introduced me to BP with his .58 Zouave ca. 1961. I bought a .36 H&A about 1970 in VA and a gunsmith friend helped me fine tune it and learn about it....I built my own rifle in 1978--a .45 PA longrifle with help from a gunsmith/cabinet maker in Tulsa: here I was influenced by lock and gunmaker Willie Cochran and others of a local buckskinner club. But as an actual ML hunter, I am "self-taught"....I don't do alot of big game hunting any more, but shot squirrels this year with my new .32 Tenn rifle.

 

KyFlintlock -- I just read through the responses to your origianl post. Thanks for asking the question. I bet that in them answeres a lot of fine old memories were brought to mind and not only by the folks who responded. Its a good thing to stop and reflect now and then.

 

[Slamfire]

My youngest son came wanderin in here with a .45 caliber swivil cannon and a 44 Remington Replica. That next Christmas I found a CVA Bobcat under the tree. I'll bet I spent twice as much as he did just pickin up thing I needed to make the danged gun shoot. He watched me put prb with 50 grains of RS into the same group as 245 Ballettes pushed by 80 grains of the same. He said I was ready and returned to New Jersey. :blah:

 

[KyFlintlock]

Chet,

Isn't that what muzzleloading is for many of us, "A connection to the past"? ...and how could you not honor the memory of those that kindled that "connection"?

YeeeeeHaaaaaa!!!
Wess

 

[shmrck1]

KyFlintlock,
in all honesty i would have to say the movies and TV shows lit my passion. john wayne, robert redford,
brian keith and of course mr.NRA carlton heston!!!!
snake-eyes eace: :thumbsup: :hmm:

 

[Rebel]

Brian Keith and Charlton Heston, why you must be talking about THEE all time greatest movie of them all. THE MOUNTAIN MEN. :: ::

 

Either you misunderstood what I ment to be acomplement or I am misunderstanding your response. In any case I appoligize for stating the obvious.

 

[KyFlintlock]

I understood you meant it in a positive manner and I was agreeing.. :thumbsup:

 

[mowolf]

BP mentor? Well I guess it was a life time of being a history nut, as some have called me. I have always thought I was born at least a century too late. My father bought me my first gun when I was 16, I mhad hunted many years but not with my own gun. The first was a Mauser 98 in full military stock with bayonnet attachment, 48 and half inches long and 11 pounds, $25 bucks from Sears.

back to BP, I moved to Iowa in the early 80s and they only allowed shotguns with slugs for Deer hunting. Quickly became disallusioned to that. Visited and old Navy buddy in Nebraska one summer and commented that I was considering buying a ML for deer hunting. he then told me had one somewhere around the house. He went looking for it and finally pulled out this really crappy looking halfstock Perc. He said he got it from a friend but had given up on it and put it away in the closet (had not even cleaned first!). Anyway he gave it to me and I took it back to Iowa and restored it, turned out it was an Investarms Hawken in .45. Killed my first deer that fall at 65 yrds, prb right through the lungs. I was hooked. Since then I have switched to the point that the only smokelss firearm I use on a regular basis is my 12 ga SxS. The others mostly all family heirlooms get taken out the range once or twice a year fired, cleaned and put away.

So as for a BP mentor, Sam Fadala and other writers. Now it is this and other forums. Oh the .45 came to me in 1987, it must have been 10 years old at that time. Killed my 8 pter this fall with it. Still the one I call my "go-to" rifle.

Waya :m2c:

Thanks for dredging up the memories :master:

 

[16gauge]

Hunting mentors? My granddad (maternal) got me interested in shooting, but I have always had an interest in the outdoors, so I guess it would be natural that hunting and fishing would follow. I didn't get many times to hunt with my grandad....just a couple of short deer hunts....before he passed away. My dad died when I was 16, and he never hunted, so I guess I really didn't have too many "mentors"....nobody wanted a "kid" tagging along on a hunt. So most of my learning was done by reading magazines (specifically, Petersen's HUNTING) and books, and then going out into the woods and applying the theoretical to the practical.
Black powder was the same......wife bought me a .54 Hawkin as a graduation present, but I have always had an interest in BP & history ever since I was old enough to stay up and watch Fess Parker as D. Boone on Thursday nights. However when it came to learning to shoot that Hawkin, it was "read the book, then try 'er out"!

 

[Bob J]

My Dad and Granddad were my hunting mentors. I remember the first time I carried a rifle in the woods, a .22 Stevens Favorite, with Granddad Thanksgiving afternoon, 1972 (I was 7). Dad was the muzzleloader, and me being the oldest and a little more patient than my brother, he took me on the blackpowder hunts and shoots, giving me a tiger-striped T.C. Hawken when I was 13. Since he passed on, several friends of Dad's have helped me along the muzzleloading path with advice on load development, powder charges, lubes, etc. And the 'Forum has been great :thumbsup:!

 

[caplock28g]

Fess Parker aka Davy Crockett-- King of the wild frontier

 

[Tahquamenon]

My Father and Grandfather - shooting with and taking care of smokeless rifles, shotguns and pistols.
Bagged my first pheasant at age 5 with a .410.

My Uncle on the otherhand, was really into BP and gave me a T/C Hawken for Christmas in the early 70's. He and I often would shoot BP. He is long since gone but really taught me the fundamentals of muzzleloading and caring for them. Without him, I would have missed out on a great deal in my view.

 

[jim gray]

My dad started muzzleloader hunting in the mid-70's and I was curious about it and loved the idea of shooting a .54 caliber muzzleloader whenever he would let me. None of my buddies had ever shot a flintlock, and I thought it was pretty cool to be the only kid in town, except my younger brother, who had shot a muzzleloader.

When I was 11 years old a mobile museum came to my school, and the museum's director let me demonstrate how to load the Pennsylvania longrifle because noone else knew anything about it. I thought that I was holding a gun that had been used in the American Revolution (I know now that if he left an 11 year old hold it it was probably a replica), and I was in awe of that gun (this was only a couple years after the bicentennial). I still remember the look of that tiger-striped stock and the balance of that unbelievably long weapon. It was absolutely beautiful.

I read everything I could find about the Revolution, the battles, the guns used, and the people invloved. I started hunting with my dad's flinter as soon as he would let me.
I talked to everyone I met that knew anything about muzzleloading and remembered everything they told me. I learned real soon, too, that I should research everything that I was told to separate the myths and misconceptions from reality.

Later when I was old enough to shoot on my own, I learned a lot more by trial and error. I missed my first deer because I had filled the flashpan with as much powder as it would hold and then moved the gun too soon after I pulled the trigger launching that .54 caliber round ball almost straight up.

 

[Maestro]

I wish I'd grown up with hunting & shooting as a family tradition but unfortunately the bug didn't bite me 'till I was 45 yrs. old and even after that, I looked at blackpowder shooting as a "bother". Last year (at age 49!) I started rethinking blackpowder shooting because of my lifelong love of all things (esp. music) 18th century. With my first shot with a flintlock I was hopelessly dumbfounded IN LOVE! I started doing some research and discovered Dixon's Muzzleloading shop here in PA. Chuck & Greg Dixon have been my mentors by patiently explaining and answering all my "newbie" questions. I have some "cyber" mentors as well - I've learned alot from Bob Spencer's site Black Powder Notebook as well as alot of you on this forum! Thank you! You all never make a question seem "dumb" and show alot of patience when answering the same question for the millionth time! :thumbsup: Now I own a custom .50 cal rifle and a TVM 20 ga. fowler and I can foresee using nothing else for hunting! (Except, of course, maybe a .54 cal. Jaeger, a .36 cal. squirrel gun, etc., etc., : I made the mistake of saying to my wife, "I think I can sell all my guns and just shoot flintlocks" I think she took me seriously! ::

 

[JackAubrey]

I learned to shoot B.P. by reading everything I could find on the subject by various authors but Dr Sam Fadala in particular.

 

[Gametracker]

I learned to shoot B.P. by reading everything I could find on the subject by various authors but Dr Sam Fadala in particular.

Ditto. My neighbor, 5 years my senior, was sorta my "in-line" mentor. But the more I read frontier history, the more I had to have a throw-back. He shook his head as I sold my in-line and started shooting roundballs. In Illinois, the only friend a traditional hunter has is good literature. Now I'm relyin' on Mr. Fadala and you guys :winking:

 

[mothernatureson]

my old neighbor and pal, Fat Buff Olson. He got me started back in the early 1980's. Man, the stories I could tell. Hope you're doing well Fat Buff, I hear you are the mayor now!

mothernatureson