Just one well-placed shot

[deerstalkert]

Guys, I'm late to this party, but wanted to say thanks and I get what you're talking about. I'm not a die-hard traditional muzzleloading hunter, but I enjoy it from time to time and have taken a few deer with a traditional one, and a few with a centerline. My grandad hunted, but had stopped by the time I was a child, and I only heard a few of his stories. If I'd only known to get him to talk more about it...

I have a couple of his guns, and it's a real privilege to harvest game with them. I started hunting as a young adult, and it grew on me the last 40 years. I think the longer you hunt, the more you appreciate the basics, like scouting and still-hunting, as opposed to hunting from a stand over a corn pile. . Though I put out some corn and minerals to keep deer coming through the areas I hunt, the greatest satisfaction is in figuring out the trails, rubs, scrapes (figuring out is too strong a word - it's more like making more informed guesses), and then putting yourself in a place to catch the deer unaware. I still don't use a trail cam. The last 4 deer I've taken were on trails, not over corn piles.

I had a most satisfying hunt last year: after a rainy November night, the morning was clear and cool. I was able to still hunt a small plot of creek bottom very quietly for about 2 hours, taking a few steps, waiting for several minutes. At about 8:45, a cruising buck just about walked past me. That few hours in the woods, ending with harvesting a buck, was as satisfying a hunting experience as I've ever had. Sad to admit, I was using my centerline with a scope. Silly me, it would have been even better if I'd had my T-C hawken, instead and the deer would have been just as dead.

No matter what you use, it's all hunting. But in my opinion, it's more satisfying when you use traditional hunting skills instead of technology. It just feels more like really living.

GPG, may i inquire as to what a centerline is? my deepest lust is for flintlocks, followed by cap locks. but if it goes bang i am interested.

 

[Trapper Scott]

I started out with a single shot 16 gauge Revelation and still have it in my gun safe. I was in my twenties before I got a repeater and it took me years to trust it like I did my old single banger. Hunting back then was about spending time in the woods by myself and enjoying nature. I have or have had just about most of the repeaters out there from lever guns to semi's and I have enjoyed them all. I have always had a deep respect for firearms designers and have learned a great deal about them as time went by. As a gunsmith, I have worked on about all of them except the full auto toys, but I had my fill of them in the service, but I do appreciate the engineering advances even if one particular design doesn't really tickle my fancy. Where would be today if they stopped at matchlocks? As I get older I find it necessary to teach our younger children in the family about our heritage and share stories of their simple life. I have four grandchildren and every one of them got their first rifle which was a 22 single shot.

 

[GeronPG]

centerline is what I call the center-ignition, shotgun-primered modern muzzleloaders. Maybe not the right term. Maybe shouldn't be mentioned at all on this forum? I've edited my previous post to try to be clearer.