Montana Heritage Season Opener

[Urban Coyote]

December 9th, today, is the 3rd year for Montana's muzzleloader season. It's a real deal heritage muzzleloader hunt, no 209 primers, pellet charges (loose powder only) or modern projectiles (lead ball or bullets only).

The one person I know who hunted the first two of these hunts scored on elk both years. That fellow is out there again this morning along with another guy I sold a muzzleloader to and coached.

Good luck to Montanan's and others participating. Cherish your season, I'd wished for one when I was a resident there, and protect it from those who will with certainty try to get modern muzzleloader approved for future seasons. Speaking from my experience in Washington state, it's a sure way to ruin a good thing. All you end up with is a bunch of opportunists in the field who could give a rip about tradition and just want another opportunity to kill game.

 

[mtfishn]

I took a young lady out for deer in Central MT Sat and Sunday. She had never fired a ML before....with glove over the nipple, we dry fired my .54cal. Hawken 3 times in the pickup before going out. Later that morning she got a doe with a heart shot at 30yds. Then Sunday pm got a nice 4/4 Whitetail buck at 75 yds, resting the barrel across my shoulder. That deer was hit in the neck and dropped instantly. I think she is hooked.

 

[Rendezvous Valley Trading]

I sure wish we could get a season together like this in Wyoming. It’s just silly how much push back the idea receives. I really want to hunt the Montana season and the Pennsylvania flintlock only season. Some day I will. I pretty much hunt here in Wyoming with a muzzleloader only and have for thirty years and usually get my critters, but would love a traditional only hunt. Would be great. I think we only have one designated area and it’s for antelope and it’s muzzleloader or handgun. I don’t bother with it because I get my antelope in regular areas with my ML anyway.

 

[sb 54 cal.]

Could be like Mo. they call it alternative weapons anything but centerfire rifle and shotgun.

 

[Spikebuck]

It's always good to hear about states that hold a traditional-only hunt. I hope these states can continue to hold off attempts to bastardize the season by allowing modern aids (verified medical condition exemptions allowed).

I have nothing against people using modern weapons. For proper game management it's needed to have enough hunters. I just think that it's nice when traditionalists are recognized and rewarded with a true traditional only hunt and it would also be nice if "modern" hunters would quit bellyaching and crying to invade those seasons with technology.

 

[Urban Coyote]

I knew some of the men who got the first muzzleloader seasons established in Washington State. At that time H&R made a muzzleloader using percussion caps, not 209 primers, on thier break open single shot action. Because of this the ignition system was not exposed to the elements. To resolve this, as I understand it, a hole had to be drilled through the top of the action making it "exposed" to the elements. The first modern inroad into an otherwise "primative" season. Later, allowances were made for blackpowder substitutes.

So here's the deal. I seriously doubt that without the establishment of muzzleloader seasons, originally intended for traditional muzzleloaders, that what we know as the "modern muzzleloader" would ever have been developed and marketed. People saw how they could use technology to high jack muzzleloading seasons and flocked to them.

 

[mtfishn]

I knew some of the men who got the first muzzleloader seasons established in Washington State. At that time H&R made a muzzleloader using percussion caps, not 209 primers, on thier break open single shot action. Because of this the ignition system was not exposed to the elements. To resolve this, as I understand it, a hole had to be drilled through the top of the action making it "exposed" to the elements. The first modern inroad into an otherwise "primative" season. Later, allowances were made for blackpowder substitutes.

So here's the deal. I seriously doubt that without the establishment of muzzleloader seasons, originally intended for traditional muzzleloaders, that what we know as the "modern muzzleloader" would ever have been developed and marketed. People saw how they could use technology to high jack muzzleloading seasons and flocked to them.

I was part of that crowd...in the 70s while in college at WSU. Didn't take long to sell that H&R and build a kit gun (1976)I still shoot. Got a cow elk that first year with the kit gun. I agree with your comments and expect pressure to "include" more modern stuff as this season develops.

 

[mtfishn]

Enjoyed a couple more days afield with my .54 cal. Hawken kit gun. After some enjoyable hunts I still had a deer tag so decided to try for some deer I'd studied for a while that were nearly impossible to get close to. They would come in evenings to some alfalfa fields and bed during the day on a slope about a mile south of the fields. problem was not all deer would do this at the same time so often I would bump into a stray doe somewhere along the stalk and once one deer ran every deer for 1/2 mile would be alerted. Tried it several times over last 10 years, no success. This year there was some cattle in the fields and the rancher would check them every day...mid-day. The deer would All move south and stay till evening then start down. between the feeding and bedding area was an old RR grade no longer active, but provided a few feet of relief to hide behind IF all the deer were on the same side. By 2pm I was in position with about 25 deer anywhere from 3/4 mile to 400yds away, bedded, about 4pm they were up and feeding toward me. Then for no good reason, the best 5 bucks in the bunch split off and started my wayI could move freely on "MY" side of the berm so repositioned trying to find which trail they may be on and get me on the downwind side. There was a lot of tall grass this year and deer were barely visible at times. Finally 2 popped out on my side of the berm at about 65yds....before I had a shot it was 85yds walking. I held low where vitals were screened by heavy grass....maybe as much a 15-20yds of heavy grass(?) touched of 90gr. and a PRB and nothing happened...they just stood looking around. The ball was deflected or failed to reach its mark (bad judgement on me). I couldn't believe they didn't spook. I slid down off the berm and reloaded. Deer at 150, I had to move parallel to get a closer shot. Still in the tall grass, I shot again, holding a touch higher due to grass, at about 85yds and hit, but couldn't tell where. Wind was blowing about 15mph. Buck went over the berm and out of sight, I loaded one of 2 remaining pre-measured charges. I popped over the berm and spooked the buck from about 100yds. He was moving pretty good, but stopped again at 175....running out of light, I tried a shot knowing where gun was sighted at 150 and missed, downwind by nearly 2 feet, but saw where the shot went. Deer ran, I reloaded the last of my powder charges, broke my ramrod in the process... and went after him...again. I found the deer standing at 250yds across open prairie (no tall grass here) I crawled to within 170yds, light really fading now, aimed at the light background to get see my sights then moved onto the target and held a lot of windage, right over his rump allowing full body length for wind...shot...and he dropped! Found the first hit (second shot) had hit the neck just ahead of the shoulder, but high, just missing the spine and stopped under the hide. Last shot had drifted left and struck him in the shoulder blade and exited behind offside shoulder. I dressed him in the dark, dragged him 300yds to a fence where I could find him again and set out for the truck about 1.5 miles away.

 

[Christophero]

Now that was a hunt! Thanks for sharing, mtfishn.

 

[Thingamajiggy]

Enjoyed a couple more days afield with my .54 cal. Hawken kit gun. After some enjoyable hunts I still had a deer tag so decided to try for some deer I'd studied for a while that were nearly impossible to get close to. They would come in evenings to some alfalfa fields and bed during the day on a slope about a mile south of the fields. problem was not all deer would do this at the same time so often I would bump into a stray doe somewhere along the stalk and once one deer ran every deer for 1/2 mile would be alerted. Tried it several times over last 10 years, no success. This year there was some cattle in the fields and the rancher would check them every day...mid-day. The deer would All move south and stay till evening then start down. between the feeding and bedding area was an old RR grade no longer active, but provided a few feet of relief to hide behind IF all the deer were on the same side. By 2pm I was in position with about 25 deer anywhere from 3/4 mile to 400yds away, bedded, about 4pm they were up and feeding toward me. Then for no good reason, the best 5 bucks in the bunch split off and started my wayI could move freely on "MY" side of the berm so repositioned trying to find which trail they may be on and get me on the downwind side. There was a lot of tall grass this year and deer were barely visible at times. Finally 2 popped out on my side of the berm at about 65yds....before I had a shot it was 85yds walking. I held low where vitals were screened by heavy grass....maybe as much a 15-20yds of heavy grass(?) touched of 90gr. and a PRB and nothing happened...they just stood looking around. The ball was deflected or failed to reach its mark (bad judgement on me). I couldn't believe they didn't spook. I slid down off the berm and reloaded. Deer at 150, I had to move parallel to get a closer shot. Still in the tall grass, I shot again, holding a touch higher due to grass, at about 85yds and hit, but couldn't tell where. Wind was blowing about 15mph. Buck went over the berm and out of sight, I loaded one of 2 remaining pre-measured charges. I popped over the berm and spooked the buck from about 100yds. He was moving pretty good, but stopped again at 175....running out of light, I tried a shot knowing where gun was sighted at 150 and missed, downwind by nearly 2 feet, but saw where the shot went. Deer ran, I reloaded the last of my powder charges, broke my ramrod in the process... and went after him...again. I found the deer standing at 250yds across open prairie (no tall grass here) I crawled to within 170yds, light really fading now, aimed at the light background to get see my sights then moved onto the target and held a lot of windage, right over his rump allowing full body length for wind...shot...and he dropped! Found the first hit (second shot) had hit the neck just ahead of the shoulder, but high, just missing the spine and stopped under the hide. Last shot had drifted left and struck him in the shoulder blade and exited behind offside shoulder. I dressed him in the dark, dragged him 300yds to a fence where I could find him again and set out for the truck about 1.5 miles away. View attachment 276259View attachment 276259

Good story and great buck! Way to stick with him, especially knowing he was already hit.

 

[ETipp]

Cool story and a fine buck. Congrats.

You definitely earned that one.

 

[Mad Yeti]

Enjoyed a couple more days afield with my .54 cal. Hawken kit gun. After some enjoyable hunts I still had a deer tag so decided to try for some deer I'd studied for a while that were nearly impossible to get close to. They would come in evenings to some alfalfa fields and bed during the day on a slope about a mile south of the fields. problem was not all deer would do this at the same time so often I would bump into a stray doe somewhere along the stalk and once one deer ran every deer for 1/2 mile would be alerted. Tried it several times over last 10 years, no success. This year there was some cattle in the fields and the rancher would check them every day...mid-day. The deer would All move south and stay till evening then start down. between the feeding and bedding area was an old RR grade no longer active, but provided a few feet of relief to hide behind IF all the deer were on the same side. By 2pm I was in position with about 25 deer anywhere from 3/4 mile to 400yds away, bedded, about 4pm they were up and feeding toward me. Then for no good reason, the best 5 bucks in the bunch split off and started my wayI could move freely on "MY" side of the berm so repositioned trying to find which trail they may be on and get me on the downwind side. There was a lot of tall grass this year and deer were barely visible at times. Finally 2 popped out on my side of the berm at about 65yds....before I had a shot it was 85yds walking. I held low where vitals were screened by heavy grass....maybe as much a 15-20yds of heavy grass(?) touched of 90gr. and a PRB and nothing happened...they just stood looking around. The ball was deflected or failed to reach its mark (bad judgement on me). I couldn't believe they didn't spook. I slid down off the berm and reloaded. Deer at 150, I had to move parallel to get a closer shot. Still in the tall grass, I shot again, holding a touch higher due to grass, at about 85yds and hit, but couldn't tell where. Wind was blowing about 15mph. Buck went over the berm and out of sight, I loaded one of 2 remaining pre-measured charges. I popped over the berm and spooked the buck from about 100yds. He was moving pretty good, but stopped again at 175....running out of light, I tried a shot knowing where gun was sighted at 150 and missed, downwind by nearly 2 feet, but saw where the shot went. Deer ran, I reloaded the last of my powder charges, broke my ramrod in the process... and went after him...again. I found the deer standing at 250yds across open prairie (no tall grass here) I crawled to within 170yds, light really fading now, aimed at the light background to get see my sights then moved onto the target and held a lot of windage, right over his rump allowing full body length for wind...shot...and he dropped! Found the first hit (second shot) had hit the neck just ahead of the shoulder, but high, just missing the spine and stopped under the hide. Last shot had drifted left and struck him in the shoulder blade and exited behind offside shoulder. I dressed him in the dark, dragged him 300yds to a fence where I could find him again and set out for the truck about 1.5 miles away.

That's awesome! I'm still taking my rifle on walks everyday.

 

[mtfishn]

Thanks for the comments. I don't like shooting that far but felt out of options on that last shot. I 'm studying up on round ball wind drift...had no idea they drifted so much......and ...just finished making a new ramrod!

 

[Stykbow]

Nice buck @mtfishn. Congrats!

 

[Dan O]

Congratulations on a nice buck. I found the web site shown below. The wind drift of a PRB is amazing. It's way more than I thought it would be.

www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/rbballistics/rbballistics.html

 

[SeaRun1]

That’s great! Thanks for the story I enjoy reading about others hunts.

SR1

 

[Redturd Reloader]

Talkin' about the pressure to open MT traditional ml season to inlines...Yes. I received a letter from FWP a few weeks ago, asking for feedback. Said they had requests to do just that. They said the rationale was the shortage of roundballs. You would think they would have said the shortage of #11 caps which are still pretty much unobtainable around here, but it was the alleged shortage of round balls. I wrote them that I noticed no shortage of lead balls, and urged them to maintain the integrity of the ml hunt. Hope they do.

 

[Mad Yeti]

Talkin' about the pressure to open MT traditional ml season to inlines...Yes. I received a letter from FWP a few weeks ago, asking for feedback. Said they had requests to do just that. They said the rationale was the shortage of roundballs. You would think they would have said the shortage of #11 caps which are still pretty much unobtainable around here, but it was the alleged shortage of round balls. I wrote them that I noticed no shortage of lead balls, and urged them to maintain the integrity of the ml hunt. Hope they do.

I hadn't heard anything about that, damn I hope they don't open it up. I wonder if they're taking input online?

 

[MTguy]

..Yes. I received a letter from FWP a few weeks ago, asking for feedback. Said they had requests to do just that. They said the rationale was the shortage of roundballs. You would think they would have said the shortage of #11 caps which are still pretty much unobtainable around here, but it was the alleged shortage of round balls.

Not surprising that FWP would be kicking around a terrible idea such as that, basically just an extension of rifle season.

 

[mtfishn]

Congratulations on a nice buck. I found the web site shown below. The wind drift of a PRB is amazing. It's way more than I thought it would be.

www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/rbballistics/rbballistics.html

Thanks Dan O! I downloaded that program...plugged in my load data and ... I had previously estimated that the shot went about 30" downwind at 170yds. The program indicated 33" with my estimated wind of 15mph.. I could very easily be off some on the wind. The hold was on top of the rump and the ball struck the shoulder blade....in the pics you can see (sort of ) the exit side behind the shoulder, but the hit was a little farther forward. I believe this a very useful tool to tell me when not to shoot!!! I do some long-range shooting with BPCrifles so have some idea of wind estimation but it is still just estimating, no wind meter while hunting.