[Koanbred]

These days, I own enough guns to probably open up a small gun shop. As I peruse all of my guns, the black powder muzzleloaders are the ones that mesmerize me the most and take me back. They take me back to the days of Daniel Boone, Davy Crocket, and the all of the Frontiersmen that I imagined them to be.

Before my first hunt with my Hawken muzzleloader, I stayed up half the previous night just thinking about how Daniel Boone and all of the Frontiersmen must have felt whenever they hunted. Of course, they would go into the fields or the woods looking for just about anything moving, but would be more than happy when what was moving, turned out to be a deer, a possum, or a turkey. When you really think about it, that's what everyone was doing. Male friends and neighbors, would go hunting frequently with these same types of weapons that we so love today, called muzzleloaders.

Of course, you could only take one good shot at a time, so the first shot was often crucial because you might not get another opportunity due to the deer being too fast and skidish. Your first shot might also be so very important due to another reason__, bears! Bears, mountain lions, and other meat-eaters who are just as hungry, if not hungrier than you are!

So muzzleloaders are nostalgic instruments of history for me. They remind me of a time when life was less taken for granted. Food on the table was truly appreciated and viewed as being harvested from nature as a blessing from god. The muzzleloader reminds me of that part of American history when a man without a gun was considerably reduced in status and had no actual means to provide food for himself or his family. A man without a gun could just not be perceived as real. Of course, there were a few religious exceptions to this rule that took the form of preachers and priests.

Whenever I go hunting, it's usually in the spirit of the days of the old west and the days of the old frontier. Somehow the muzzleloader validates my old frontiersman spirit and lends an element of genuine history in realtime to an old American guy like myself. An old man, who loves to hang onto the old days of a past that will all too soon be forgotten.

So I sit here today, in my coonskin hat, and in the long tall boots of a mountaineer.
Muzzleloader in tow, I ride my old mule to town, and buy all the saloon girls, a beer!


That's why I like muzzleloaders!

Why do you guys like 'em?

PS.

Somehow the newer inline bolt-action muzzleloaders and electrically primed muzzleloaders are beginning to crash into my dream...

 

[cayugad]

I first for into muzzle loaders for a couple reasons. Using a center fire rifle, I killed a lot of game. And I could do it at some very respective ranges. In fact deer season got to where I would go out in the morning and tell the wife, I'd probably be home by noon and normally was. Hunting started to loose the charm it had when I was younger. It was more of a meat gathering week. The area I hunted was full of deer. We'd count 50 deer some mornings. At least 20 of them. You'd see a buck come through and decide if you wanted to end season or not.

Then I had an old friend that hunted and shot a .58 caliber CVA mountain rifle. He told me to come shoot it one day. As we were on his range shooting it, he told some hunting stories of stalking the deer, trying to get close, changing his hunting tactics, (he also had numerous center fire rifles) and finally getting close enough to close the deal. We had a great time and I loved shooting his original Springfield Rifle .58 caliber and his CVA Mountain Rifle.

Then a gun shop owner and I were talking shortly after my exposure to muzzle loaders. He told me they had a T/C Renegade .54 caliber kit on sale. Well I bought one. Put it together, and that year almost got skunked deer hunting. I had to break out a center fire and knock one down at a couple hundred yards. But I really liked that sneaking around with that Renegade. So I changed my tactics and soon began to harvest deer with the Renegade. I was hooked.

So I have hunted with muzzleloaders for almost thirty years now. And in that time have gathered a number of muzzleloaders, both inlines and traditional rifles. I can not say I live in the spirit of my ancestors when I hunt with my muzzleloaders, but I do enjoy the fact that the animals I hunt have a little better chance of me not winning.

 

[Koanbred]

I first for into muzzle loaders for a couple reasons. Using a center fire rifle, I killed a lot of game. And I could do it at some very respective ranges. In fact deer season got to where I would go out in the morning and tell the wife, I'd probably be home by noon and normally was. Hunting started to loose the charm it had when I was younger. It was more of a meat gathering week. The area I hunted was full of deer. We'd count 50 deer some mornings. At least 20 of them. You'd see a buck come through and decide if you wanted to end season or not.

Then I had an old friend that hunted and shot a .58 caliber CVA mountain rifle. He told me to come shoot it one day. As we were on his range shooting it, he told some hunting stories of stalking the deer, trying to get close, changing his hunting tactics, (he also had numerous center fire rifles) and finally getting close enough to close the deal. We had a great time and I loved shooting his original Springfield Rifle .58 caliber and his CVA Mountain Rifle.

Then a gun shop owner and I were talking shortly after my exposure to muzzle loaders. He told me they had a T/C Renegade .54 caliber kit on sale. Well I bought one. Put it together, and that year almost got skunked deer hunting. I had to break out a center fire and knock one down at a couple hundred yards. But I really liked that sneaking around with that Renegade. So I changed my tactics and soon began to harvest deer with the Renegade. I was hooked.

So I have hunted with muzzleloaders for almost thirty years now. And in that time have gathered a number of muzzleloaders, both inlines and traditional rifles. I can not say I live in the spirit of my ancestors when I hunt with my muzzleloaders, but I do enjoy the fact that the animals I hunt have a little better chance of me not winning.

Hey there Cayugad!

You sound like a really decent human being, intuned with both himself and nature. I feel honored to have your met your e-acquaintance!

Happy hunting and playing chess with those chessmasters!

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I guess for me it is a combination of the challenge of getting them to shoot reliably and accurately and just the beauty and elegance of the guns. Nothing matches the graceful lines of a longrifle or fowler, just something really fine to hold and look at. And where as anyone can buy a centerfire rifle and a box of ammo, spend 15 minutes at the range and be ready for a 300 yard shot, it takes some time, effort, knowledge and dedication to get deadly accuracy at 100 yards with a patched ball muzzleloader. When I get a new centerfire I may spend a day or two working up and trying out handloads, then it goes into the safe and is forgotten. With a traditional flintlock there is always something to try out, something to tinker with, something to keep my interest.

 

[Wazz13]

While I have only been using a muzzleloader for the past 10 yrs, my reasons for starting are a little different than you guys. Growing up here in Western NY we are still limited to shotguns and slugs.

I had a difficult time getting my rifled slug gun to produce groups that I found acceptable. Accuracy is relative and I don't need 1/2 MOA to call my gun good enough to head to the deer woods with. As slug ammo got better the price seemed to go up faster and faster.

I was lucky enough to have a friend that had been using the new in-lines. I shot his and WOW, my groups were great. I saved up my money and bought a used Knight ML. I then spent the next 6 weeks shooting different loads to find my hunting load. I harvested a Buck and 2 Does that year with that gun.

Since then I have come to appreciate the one shot aspect of ML hunting. As I looked back thru my years of hunting, I can only recall 3 times that I missed the deer with the first shot, and was fortunate enough to harvest them w/ a second. This is also why I enjoy archery hunting.

Now I use my ML to hunt all of the NY season, and I even take it to PA with me at least 1/2 of the time.

Here is the real cool part of ML, my 2 oldest children 9 & 7, think dads ML is awesome. When I take them out back, so they can shoot their .22's, they want me to bring my ML so they can watch the smoke after I shoot. Both of them are excited to one day get to shoot my ML and make all of that smoke!

 

[nigonjac]

My reasons are a bit different as well...
Living in Wisconsin, my dad got me started on bows, and from there on, I have always loved that you only get one shot to make it count (maybe 2 if your very lucky). However, my family also always participated in the 9 day deer gun season. With that being said, I always believed that you have a better chance getting a really nice buck with a bow than you did with a rifle, or well for me, I never seen a nice one during the gun season. It seemed like year after year, all the big boys in my hunting area would disapear right around rifle season, and then the week after gun season, when muzzleloader season opened, they would start popping up on the trail camera again. That gave me the drive to want to get a "smokepole".

Well this is my first year with a muzzleloader as I found an awesome deal on a T/C .54 Renegade. I ended up finding a great deal on another barrel, as the old was pitted too much for my liking. I fell in love with it immediately after the first shot!

I took it out with me during the early T-Zone hunt this year (antlerless only/but you can use a gun) and I worked up enough courage to shoot at one at 140 yards, and I dropped her.
I have never felt such a rush before with a gun, it felt almost like harvesting one with a bow, where your first, and probably only, shot counts. the only reason it didnt quite feel like harvesting one with a bow, is because the distance.

The more I shoot a muzzleloader, the more I fall in love with it.

 

[cowpoke1955]

I was raised on my grandfather's cattle ranch out west. I was given my first .22 rifle when I was 4. Carried that rifle every where and killed a lot of ground squirrels, jack rabbits, coyotes and packs of wild dogs. At 10, I started shooting small bore competition and did that until I enlisted in the Army. Towards the end of my military time, my XO found out about my shooting and asked me to try out for the rifle team. After shooting a course at 500 meters, I was in. Those NM M-14s were sweet! After the Army I shot combat pistol and rifle for a couple of law enforcement agencies. Finally, I just got tired of modern weapons. The Challenge was no longer there. In 1980, I saw an ad in Shotgun News for a Lyman GPR for $160. I read everything I could find on that rifle and the calibers. I ordered that GPR percussion in .54 caliber. After shooting that rifle, I knew what I have been missing. I started useing that GPR for everything. I started casting my own balls, cutting my own patches and making my own lube. I was asked to join a mountain man club and attend their shoots. After I started placing high at these shoots, my wife asked me what I wanted next. My reply was a flintlock. That was how my love affair started and it's still going today.

 

[GMFWoodchuck]

I originally got my muzzleloader only to extend the hunting season. Now....I just like it. It's almost a "part of me" as many of my prized possessions are. Without some of these things some of us would not be what we are. Imagine Jesse James without a motorcycle, Dale Earnhart without a car, or even a kid without his dog. People say things are just things, but sometimes that's easier said than what it is true. Without my ML or some of my other guns my life would be different at some level or another. I also can't imagine my life without my favorite fishpole.

 

[SFT]

For me it is the up close and personal aspect of hunting with a muzzleloader, plus I am getting into the historical re-enacting end of it too.

 

[greyfox]

My father-in-law got me hooked. I always admired his t/c hawken cougar when we went hunting, so I went out and bought a T/c renegade and was forever hooked, I pretty much only hunt traditionally now. last year my father -in-law passed away from cancer, 1 week before he died he gave me his hawken cougar. Now hunting with that rifle just makes it that much more special.

 

[crazydave]

My first deer was taken when I was 15yrs old. The bbl was stamped ".45cal Black Powder Only" and "Investarms, Alexandria, VA." It was my Christmas present. I cast the round ball myself....

That was 31(!) years ago....

 

[zachaliles]

well, at the time when i got my muzzle loader(that i no longer have) it was kind of my way to get closer to my father in law, considering no one in my family hunts. he has hunted almost exclusively with his muzzle loader for the past 10-15 years. even though some places he hunts allows rifle. and i guess it worked, he still likes me. and funny story about when i bought it. my wife had just given birth to our first child and my father in law and i were outside talking about hunting. i went inside and asked my wife if i could go buy one. this is one of the many many reasons i love my wife so much, she said i could, as long as i bring her back something to eat. so off i went and got a CVA Wolf. and a turkey cheese and miracle whip hoagie.

i ended up really liking the challenge of it all, and thats why im in the market for a new one.

 

[22 MAG]

I was raised with bolt actions, pumps and semi autos. Can't complain. I brought home plenty of ducks, ring necks, deer, elk, proghorn and hawgs and at that time I was having tons of fun. I used to shoot a wheelie bow with all the horns and whistles and at the time that was fun but now as I get older its more about enjoying the outdoors now. I shoot a recurve now with no extras and I've put away all my pumps, semi's and bolt actions.
Muzzleloaders make you slow down and enjoy your suroundings and it makes you think more about what your doing. Making that shot, your only shot most times. It's a whole new world for me when I'm out in the woods with my ML'er.

 

[RonBurgundy]

To me muzzleloaders just give me a sense of fairness to the game. It's also why I appreciate bow hunting. I really don't like taking a deer from more than a hundred or so yards. If my target has no chance of seeing me, it just feels like I cheated them.

With that said, if I've hunted all season and not taken any deer, I'll reach out a little further for the sake of putting meat on the table.

 

[tacklebury]

Simple, straight forward and shooting at it's most basic level and lots of smoke!

 

[Crosshairs10]

I become more of an integral part of the ML. I have more detailed control over the actual dynamics involved in each shot taken. I can disassemble my ML within seconds, clean it, and lubricate it, in less than half the time it would take me to do the same with my Remington 700. I control both the type and weight of bullet that goes into my ML barrel. I control both the type and amount of propellant that preceeds the introduction of my conicals.

Finally, I give my prey a better chance of survival when shooting at greater distances due to the inherent inaccuracies of a ML at those distances.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Sorry to say I don't care for your final reason. It sounds like you are in the habit of taking risky shots beyond the range of reliability for yourself and your rifle. I find that totally unacceptable. Whether with my flintlock or a scope sighted centerfire I would never squeeze a trigger if I don't feel pretty darn sure I can put the shot into the kill zone. That philosophy has always worked both for me and for the animal.

 

[Crosshairs10]

Sorry to say I don't care for your final reason. It sounds like you are in the habit of taking risky shots beyond the range of reliability for yourself and your rifle. I find that totally unacceptable. Whether with my flintlock or a scope sighted centerfire I would never squeeze a trigger if I don't feel pretty darn sure I can put the shot into the kill zone. That philosophy has always worked both for me and for the animal.

I only shoot at squirrels and small varmints from greater distances. Prey that even if I touch them, they're gone!

PS.

Most of my shots are well under 80 yds. I'm pretty accurate with my .54 cal T/C ThunderHawk under 80 yds...