KarlSchrader
32 Cal.
- Joined
- May 27, 2004
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 0
After reading most of the postings in this forum, I am realizing that this is quite a group of very sophisticated members and I will be hard pressed to contribute anything along those sophisticated lines. As this is my first posting, I think it will be appropriate to introduce myself as far as my connection with the muzzeloading fraternity is concerned. Coming from a long line of genetically preprogrammed hunters, I came to Canada 50 years ago escaping the East German communistic oppression. And of course, Canada was always protrayed as the hunters paradise. And I must say, that in these 50 years that proved to be quite true. So, I went hunting whenever I could scrape together the time while still trying to make a more modern living by working as a researcher in electrophysiology at the local University.
Being located in Ontario, I paddled literally hundreds, maybe even more than a few thousand miles, on the streams of northern Ontario hunting for moose. This went on for about 30 years until time was catching up with me and it became harder and harder to get a moose out of the bush. So, I bought myself 100 acres of prime hunting territory closer to home, build a log cabin on it, drilled a well and proceeded to develop a hunting area along the lines I learned in Europe. And it paid off well, the deer on my property flourished so that a friend and myself each could harvest our deer every year.
Now, what has all this to do with muzzleloading ? The concept of selfsuficiency was burned into me to sustain myself since my escape from the communists, in other words, keep it simple and sustainable over a long period of time. In the beginning of my hunting in Europe, I used modern equipment of course and also during my moosehunting days here, however, this to be independent urge was always with me and with modern equipment one always needed the modern supplies. So, I begun to look back in time to find out how the oldtimers did it and how the old longhunters could sustain themselves for long periods of time in the woods without any supplies nearby available. All they had was a flintlock rifle, a powderhorn full of powder for about a 100 shots, some leadballs, a knife and a beltaxe and off they went for a long time without any connection to the civilization at that time. Now, this sounds a bit too romantic and I know, it was a lot harder than that to live that kind of life. But, what intrigued me was the simplicity of their hunting equipment and that one could do most of the necccessary repairs oneself. So, the time periods were overlapping and about 30 years ago, I obtained my first muzzleloader, a T/C flintlock Hawken. I got the roundball mould, and all the other paraphernalia and started practicing with it on my own territory. So, to make a rather long story shorter, I have the place now set up so that I practically can sustain myself for peanuts as compared to living in the city. The most expensive item being the property taxes.
I hope this is not too long a story and I will have more specific questions regarding certain aspects of muzzleloading as it is today later on.
Being located in Ontario, I paddled literally hundreds, maybe even more than a few thousand miles, on the streams of northern Ontario hunting for moose. This went on for about 30 years until time was catching up with me and it became harder and harder to get a moose out of the bush. So, I bought myself 100 acres of prime hunting territory closer to home, build a log cabin on it, drilled a well and proceeded to develop a hunting area along the lines I learned in Europe. And it paid off well, the deer on my property flourished so that a friend and myself each could harvest our deer every year.
Now, what has all this to do with muzzleloading ? The concept of selfsuficiency was burned into me to sustain myself since my escape from the communists, in other words, keep it simple and sustainable over a long period of time. In the beginning of my hunting in Europe, I used modern equipment of course and also during my moosehunting days here, however, this to be independent urge was always with me and with modern equipment one always needed the modern supplies. So, I begun to look back in time to find out how the oldtimers did it and how the old longhunters could sustain themselves for long periods of time in the woods without any supplies nearby available. All they had was a flintlock rifle, a powderhorn full of powder for about a 100 shots, some leadballs, a knife and a beltaxe and off they went for a long time without any connection to the civilization at that time. Now, this sounds a bit too romantic and I know, it was a lot harder than that to live that kind of life. But, what intrigued me was the simplicity of their hunting equipment and that one could do most of the necccessary repairs oneself. So, the time periods were overlapping and about 30 years ago, I obtained my first muzzleloader, a T/C flintlock Hawken. I got the roundball mould, and all the other paraphernalia and started practicing with it on my own territory. So, to make a rather long story shorter, I have the place now set up so that I practically can sustain myself for peanuts as compared to living in the city. The most expensive item being the property taxes.
I hope this is not too long a story and I will have more specific questions regarding certain aspects of muzzleloading as it is today later on.