Carrying muzzle down on a standard hunting rifle can easily get your crown beat up out here. Learned this from experience. The only ones I can carry muzzle down are things with 18" barrels & such (not muzzleloaders). Even then, not all the time. It can work when walking the trail one direction but not the other.
When the trail gets tough, my rifles get slung muzzle up across my back or are in my hand on the downhill side where I can control the gun with one hand & my fall with the other hand. I can't even imagine the damage that would be caused by carrying muzzle down on something like a kentucky rifle. The crown would be hanging below my shins & would scrape the side of the hill as I walk. If the rear sling attachment hung from the trigger guard, like an older musket, then I might be able to keep the muzzle around knee level. Better. But still not great. Probably fine for flatter, wider sections of trail. Those are few & far between, though. This is very rugged country.