Hello from Pennsylvania!

[Hota]

Hi all, I am new to the forum as well as muzzleloading and I just wanted to introduce myself. I am excited about getting started and am so lucky enough to have Dixon's Muzzleloading shop and Cabelas within an hour drive of me. I am located in the Lancaster/Chester County area. The guys at Dixon's have been a huge help in getting me started in this the right way. I have been shooting for close to 20 years. I have been in both the military and in law enforcement. I am now in the private sector as a forensic computer examiner and I will exchange my services for indepth insight into muzzleloading and particularly the mountain man era, 1800-1840. I am also a guitar player of 24 years. I play Merle Travis/Chet Atkins style country/bluegrass. Hopefully I will meet some other folks close to me who can help me get started as well. I shoot at New Holland Gun Club in PA. Well a long winded hello, glad to be here. Oh, some of you may want to know what the hell Hota is. My kids are into indians at school and wanted me to come up with an indian name. I chose Hota. How? because I had to go to the hospital a few months back for chest pains, they siad to lay off the cheeseburgers or you will get H.ardening O.f T.he A.rteries! Sounded like a good enough sounding name to me. Happy Holidays

 

[RussB]

Hi HOTA, Welcome to the forum.
When you say; "I am excited about getting started and am so lucky enough to have Dixon's Muzzleloading shop and Cabelas within an hour drive of me."
I can only say the excitement gets better as you go along.

Now for my self, if I lived that close to both Dixon's and Cabela's....it would be worse than "hardening of the arteries", or HOTA....it would be TOMTCATS, Yep it would be TOMTCATS for sure,...good old indian name meaning "Too Many Toys Can't Afford To Shoot".

Just kidding of course,Welcome to the forum, pull up a log, break off a chunk of that coffe, and let's talk.
Good to have ya.
Russ

 

[Bill Bounds]

Hey Hota:
Good to see another PA guy here, I'm WileyHunter, Sort of the kind of hunter that reminds ya of Wiley Coyote. Got all kinds of schemes that don't work out. I have fun tho.
Hope to see ya here often.
Bill

 

[shmrck1]

Hota,
welcome to the forum glad you found us.there are lots of friendly people and loads of information here :imo:
i'd hate to think what my name would be if it involved everything the drs have told me to do or not do :crackup: :crackup: hope you will join in whenever you can.
again welcome and stay active
I am snake-eyes eace: :thumbsup:

 

[Mtn-Man2u]

Hota, Welcome to the Camp ! Glad to have you here. I'm not close to the stores like you are, but I have their catalogs. And it seems I have every one elses too. It fun to be doing something that you love doing.
Again welcome, and take care, Mtn-Man2u

 

Hota,

Welcome, this is a nice place to be. Informative and fun.

I have a visual of you sitting by the computer undoing things deleted long ago and pickin & grinnin' on your guit-fiddle. When I hit age 50, I became diabetic, got high blood pressure and my cholesterol was too high. The doc said "Don't Eat Anything Dude." I didn't want to hear that or the acronym! :crackup:

BTW, I looked up Hota in my Lasasquennasha to English dictionary and you would be surprised at what it really means! :crackup:

 

[Hota]

Thanks for the warm welcome all! I really appreciate it. Alright Smoked Frank, let me have it! What does Hota really mean? :results:

You pretty much got the picture right, picking, typing, shootin, and I have three kids climbin on my arms and back and a big yellow dog to make sure we all topple into a big ruckus. All the while my wife, whos indian name is Stands Shakin Her Head, acknowledges me as a total kook.

Well I got some questions about things and if y'all are willing to help me out, I'll see you on the threads. I understand we aren't sposed to be askin questions in the welcome column so thanks again all, much obliged. :applause:

 

[B.Habermehl]

Welcome, we need more Pa. ridge runners. Perhaps we will meet at the Gunmakers fair at Dixons. I used to live down in Delaware Co. Please don't hold that against me! Now I live in central Pa. Hunting and fishin moch beter! Wilkommen

 

[Hota]

Wherabouts in Delaware County did you start out. I grew up in Delaware County as well. Aston/Media area. Made the move to Amishland 7 years ago after coming back from Ft. Knox. We are trying to get to Northern Berks county now. I think I can make the commute to my job from there without blowin too many shoes. Hope to catch you at Dixon's

 

Well let's see, if there was such a dictionary I would think hota would probably mean "friend"! Stands Shaking Her Head might like that one and give ya a break when you ask her for that new rifle this Christmas!:thumbsup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Well, in the Lenni Lanap

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hello Hota,

I'm a new member too. Welcome.

You do realize that Lancaster County was one of the primary places where the American longrifle evolved. The Pennsylvania rifle was developed there by gunsmiths such as Jacob Dickert, Isaac Haines, and John Bivins. These rifles and rifles from Virginia and the Carolinas evolved into and later became known as Kentucky rifles - not because they were made in Kentucky, but because Kentucky was the frontier and that's were they used. There's a fair amount of muzzleloader history in your neck of the woods. I'd be interested in hearing about it in the flintlock section of the forum if you have any tidbits of history to share.

Welcome :thumbsup:
Twisted_1in66

 

[Jack Walker]

Hallo, Reading Pennsyltucky here! Lancaster, your a neighbor. I like the idea of meeting at dixon's Gun Fair, I am always up on the hill at the COHT fly. :thumbsup:

 

Hi Hota
I am a PA. transplant in the southwestern VA area now.
I am originally from the northwestern part of PA, the Alleghney National Forest Area and miss the hunting there. I,also like you,am new to this loading guns from the opposite end that I am previously use to. :crackup:
I have been reading alot of the questions,and answers that many folks have posted here ( so as to not be a repeater in asking the same question that has been answered for someone else) but believe the folks here would be more than glad to answer it if asked.
This is my first post on here and hope to make new friends to hopefully have the pleasure to meet in the future at one of the events.
I am sure when I get hung up on a problem while building that someone on this forum will be more than willing to aim me in the right direction.
I oresently am building my second Black Powder piece, which is going to be for my 11 month old grandson when he is old enough to shoot. It is a 38 cal. flintlock.
My first piece to put together was a kit from Traditions.
Nice meeting everyone and hope to be as active here as I can.

 

[Barney]

Hi Hota,

New here also. Born and raised in Washington county. My sister lives near Pittsburgh. Everyone seems to want to hunt here in Wyoming but I sure miss the woods of PA & WV.

Barney

 

[Hota]

Thanks again all for the warm welcome! I have also been doing alot of digging not wanting to make the mistake of wasting people's time.

I will post some info on Lancaster rifles, also known as pennsylvania rifles, also known as Kentucky rifles. I am no expert and most of what I can say about them I am getting from books. I am sure there are some folks here who could (and probably have) wrote their own books on the subject but I will let you know from the Lancaster, PA perspective. I will repost this in the Flintlock area but I have read this and an Amish gentleman had confirmed that lanc flintlocks and perc rifles included a crooked heart inlay with the bottom or point turned to one side as a charm against an enemy. "The barrel is sometimes found with X-marks, usually on the underside, to protect the owner from evil spirits, witches, and demons, and especially against a hexer, which could either be a male or a female praticing witchcraft." Gun's of the Old West, Charles Edward Chapel, Pg 22

Again, I will repost this in the Flintlock area if you are interested. I will start a discussion under Lancaster Rifles.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Welcome Woodhick,

I've boated on the waters above the Kinzua Dam a couple times. The forest looked like a good place to chase whitetails.

 

[Hota]

Pa has great hunting with an average of nearly a half a million dear harvested anually. Our bear hunting is great as well. I used to have property in the north central Tioga county region but never got to use it properly since I am located about 4.5 hours southeast of the land. But from the residents who live there, trapping is also good. Bobcat is a season here and the fall and spring turkey are my absolute favorite. We have a special flintlock season for deer which begins the Monday after Christmas. This will be the first time I partake in the event. I will be spending my second weekend at the range getting my new Lyman Great PLains and my CVA Hawken both .50 broken in. I keep detailed shooting logs that I will be happy to post if anyone is interested. It is a habit from when I was into the long range big bore stuff.

 

[Jerryd68]

Hey Hota, My father and I have been involved with muzzleloading for over 30, we have decided to use our summer vacation to come to your neck of the woods this july. We are coming out to the dixon gunmakers fair. As we are going to be there for a week are there any other local attractions that you would suggest? Nice to meet you
Jerry in Idaho.

 

[Hota]

Hi BP Blood,

I can certainly recommend some attractions for you to see. Let me know where you are staying and I can let you know where to go from there. Welcome to the group!