Muzzleloader Deer Hunting

Muzzleloader deer hunting seasons are about to open
in many states. If you haven’t tried this kind of primitive hunting, odds are you will---muzzleloading is the fastest growing of the shooting sports. But there’s more involved
with the charcoal burners than just loading from the front end.

We were sitting around the campfire when one of the boys brought up in-line muzzleloading rifles. There was a lot of snorting and derisive comments.

These boys, you see, were a group of reenactors, dressing and living the part of longhunters. For them, a long gun is a flintlock. Many of them don’t even use rifles, preferring smoothbore muskets.

So it’s understandable that they don’t like in-line rifles or the people who use them.

Me, I kept my mouth shut. There would be nothing served by arguing the point. But the fact is, while I won’t use one myself, I have nothing against the hunters who choose the more modern systems. A small part of this is a live and let live attitude. But a greater part is my belief that anything which gets you out in the woods more is a good thing. And if an in-line lets you take advantage of the muzzleloader deer hunting season when you otherwise might not, than what’s the harm?

Whether you use an in-line system invented the day before yesterday, or choose to arm yourself with a flintlock musket, the real question is: Are you ready? Indeed, do you even have any rifle yet?

Don’t laugh. It isn’t a joke. “I guarantee,” says Darrell Muncy, owner of Wild Cody’s, a gunshop over in Richmond, “that the Friday before the muzzleloader deer hunting season opener they’ll be pouring in here, first looking for muzzleloading rifles, or powder, or ammo.” Muncy’s experience is not unique. And I, for one, have never understood why that happens.

It’s bad enough buying a modern firearm just before you need it. But a muzzleloader? I mean we’re talking about guns that are finicky at best. Yet someone is willing to plunk down a bunch of money, and head to the woods with a firearm he or she doesn’t understand, doesn’t know if it will really work, and doesn’t know if it will shoot where it’s pointed.

Before you start laughing at that sort of idiocy, ask yourself this: When is the last time you checked your own muzzleloader? I have no doubt that many of you haven’t touched your charcoal burners since you put them up at the end of the last muzzleloader deer hunting season. Some of you, in fact, haven’t even unloaded them. The powder and ball you dropped last year is still sitting in the barrel.

Well, muzzleloader deer hunting openers are only a short way ahead, so I suggest you do something about getting ready.

First off, give that smokepole a good cleaning. Strip it down (what that means depends on the type firearm you have), and go over it with either soap and hot water or with a cleaner designed for black powder. Regular bore solvent won’t do it.

Now go over the gun carefully, making note of anything that needs fixing, replacing, or modifying. Maybe you need to replace a nipple, for instance. Or the touchhole on a flinter needs lining. Or you’ve lost that special tool needed by your in-line rifle.

Whatever it is, the time to take care of the problem is now, not the day before the muzzleloader deer hunting season opens.

Those of us who shoot traditional side-hammer blackpowder guns are, perhaps, more aware of how sensitive they can be than are those who use in-lines. With some justification, hunters tend to think of in-lines as modern guns that just happen to load from the front. There’s a tendency to take that in-line down from the rack, blow off the dust, and head out to the woods.

Well here’s a little secret. While they do shoot a little tighter than traditional guns, those in-lines are nowhere near as forgiving as a modern high power rifle. If you don’t do a little target shooting ahead of time, you are likely to miss that deer. Or, even worse, wound it, and have it run away to die elsewhere.

Whether you shoot a traditional side-hammer or modern in-line, a little target shooting will accomplish several things. First, if there is anything malfunctioning with your gun it will immediately show up. Next, as with any target shooter, you’ll become a better shot. The more you do anything, the better at it you become. You’ll also be reminded of the idiosyncrasies of your gun. Does it have a slow hammer fall? Does it shoot slightly to the left? Is there an unusual amount of flash and kick-back? You can cope with these things if you are aware of them. But you won’t first learn how to do that opening morning of muzzleloader deer hunting season.

At the range you can also determine if the load you’ve been shooting really is the right one for that gun. A friend of mine once was so frustrated with a gun he was ready to toss it in the lake, because it wouldn’t shoot to center. Turns out he was using a ball that was undersized. Changing to thicker patch material solved his problem.

There are numerous components to a black-powder load, including the powder, the ball, the patch (or sabot), and the ignition system. Every one of them affects downrange performance. A simple thing like upping (or, often enough, reducing) the amount of powder can seriously impact accuracy.

You should also do at least some of your practicing under conditions that replicate your hunting style. Are you the type who uses a tree stand? If so, you should practice shooting from an elevated position, so you can develop a feel for how that affects performance. Are you a still hunter? How adept are you at smoothly mounting and firing that gun when there are bushes and branches in the way? Only practice will make you proficient.

Keep one thing solidly in mind. Muzzleloaders, even the most state-of-the-art in-line variety, do not shoot like high-power rifles. Their projectiles move slower, their trajectories are more rainbow-like, and they don’t pack as much wallop. But most of all, they do not make up for pilot error the way a modern rifle does. A modern rifle, out of the box, is better than you are. But the same cannot be said for muzzleloaders. If you’re going for a clean, one-shot kill, come opening day of the muzzleloader deer hunting season, you have to make it happen. And that takes practice.