Get a Load of This from the New York Times

[MSW]

Just another wannabe know-it-all gun writer who's in love with himself.

Obviously lacks very much first hand hunting experience. Article is very self serving, contains multiple inaccuracies, and puts traditional muzzleloading hunters, particularly Flintlock hunters, in a poor light.

I get so tired of these wannabes who write and publish articles on the Internet and in newspapers as if they're some font of actual knowledge and experience when in fact they're not.

Articles like these do a dis-service to us all.

i couldn't agree more ... he just LOVES to see his name in print, and what better place than the New York Times.

 

[MeatStick]

Whats funny, is that he writes he's gotten better since then. I am assuming that story would have been an account from this season. Why did he not include the stories of his evolution as a hunter?

 

[rabjr]

He must have gotten hit with quite a few negative emails and stopped replying to them. :haha: Hasn't responded to mine yet anyway.

 

[S.Kenton]

IMHO..heres a guy who is at least bringing to the newspaper an experience about hunting with a primitive firearm. I've read MANY posts on this site about the need for more exposure.. well here it is. Might not be the greatest nor grandest exposure, but exposure indeed..I did enjoy the article .. to a point. The article shows a side to hunting not often seen.. a nervous, inexperienced hunter who is obviously not the most experienced with Ml'ers.
I'm not gonna knock the guy for his writing..it could have been presented in a better "light" though.My 2 cents...

 

[Spikebuck]

Every good writer, no matter the topic, should first consider the audience. If he had done that he may have thought twice about how he presented the story. The situation had the makings for a great story, but it was very, very poorly thought out and presented for a media like the NY Times which is going to have a very broad base of non-hunting readers.

While exposure may be good, it has to be the right exposure in the right place. Bad exposure in the media is worse than no exposure. This kind of article made Flintlocks appear to be inadequate hunting tools, not just because he didn't shoot well, but because he outright stated that Flintlock's are notoriously inaccurate (blame the gun). We recognize this as erroneous because we're deeply involved in the sport, but this "exposure" to hoards of non-hunters who will believe it is true because A) It's in the NY Times & B) A Flintlock hunter himself said so, is not good no matter how one looks at it.

Maybe because of the emails he's received due to these postings, he will not repeat that mistake.

 

[TFoley]

I think it was a bunch :bull: too. Bulky? inaccurate? I call :bull: on this too. I don't think he has even shot a flintlock before, and just used a description he read in a book somewhere.

Well, I have to agree with the detractors of this pile of mawkish carp. 'specially as I'm one of the main critics of this piece of teen-age prose.

One of the things that really p!sses me is the inaccurate description of the gun he uses - either it is a percussion gun - it has a 'hammer' - or it is a flintlock - which has a 'cock'.

I'd also dearly love to know about the precise shape and dimensions of his .50cal projectile that comes out at 1400 fps.

Apart from those points, the rest is pure hokum.

tac

 

[TFoley]

He must have gotten hit with quite a few negative emails and stopped replying to them. :haha: Hasn't responded to mine yet anyway.

He has not yet replied to me, either.

Mind you, I had advised him to write more for Doctor Zeuss and less about a serious subject like the inept and drawn-out killing of a wild animal with a tool that he frankly knew little or nothing about.

mrs tac tells me that I should have been a diplomat.

tac

 

He has not yet replied to me, either.

Mind you, I had advised him to write more for Doctor Zeuss and less about a serious subject like the inept and drawn-out killing of a wild animal with a tool that he frankly knew little or nothing about.

Could it be that nasty letters will only give people a bad impression about the muzzleloading community, rather than opening a serious dialog?

 

[S.Kenton]

:thumbsup:

 

[shortstring]

I'll give the guy credit for trying......I think. In some ways he's no different than individuals on this forum who will offer advice on everything from 19th century womens undergarments to case hardening 1018 steel to properly drying tobacco. Every now & then they write about something I actually know something about & expose there lack of knowledge. One person can't know it all.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Um, I think you may be too much mistaken in this fellow's motives. He has a book out that is about the evil gas mining corporations and the fracking of gas from Eastern PA. He got paid for this piece, and he got free advertising for his book, which is mentioned at the bottom of the piece as it appeared in print. The tree is known by its fruit.

This piece is so inaccurate, if I had the time I'd fact check his book. The leopard doesn't change its spots.

LD

 

[Marc Adamchek]

What "tools" did he need to fix the "flash in the pan"? By his own writing, this clown put powder in the "frizzen" but at no time did he re-load the "notoriously inaccurate flintlock".

Are we to believe he took out his knife and slit the doe's throat?

 

[ken.clements]

:haha: Haven't gotten a response to mine yet and I don't really expect one. :shake:

Maybe the sport / hobby of ML just got lucky and some animal rights lawyer is in the process of suing him”¦.one can only hope (and smile if it happens) :blah:

 

[Brasilikilt]

So what!?!?....This guy shows his obvious inexperience with hunting and muzzle loader terminology. His 'minie ball' and 1,400 fps are the result of getting the bulk of his information from the sales guy at Bass Pro Shops, or Cabelas. I've met more than a few guys out there like that who are caught up with the romance of a muzzle loader, but have never met people like us to show them the proper way.
But he's still getting out there with a FLINTLOCK, and PUBLISHING his experiences in a publication read by MILLIONS every day...Possibly prompting more than a few to do google searches for flintlocks, which eventually lead them to this site.
My first gun was a scratch-built long rifle, and that's what I was used to for a long time. When I shot my Grandfather's Winchester 30-06 with the Leupold scope, I was very impressed with how light it was, and how easy it was to make those shots which were very challenging with my flintlock.
To someone accustomed to modern hunting rifles, muzzle loaders do all seem 'balky and inaccurate'