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Wildlife Photography and Writings of Harry Morse |
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Muzzleloader Hunting a Challenge
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Break out the buckskins
and the coon-skin cap and take the muzzleloader down
from the mantle. Check the "possible pouch" for powder
horn, percussion caps, round balls and patches. Get
ready to stalk through the woods with the ghosts of Davy
Crockett and Daniel Boone.
Thanksgiving season is here, and it is time to hunt deer
and elk with traditional muzzleloaders. A time to return
to our pilgrim roots and pioneer heritage. Time to enjoy
and endure pleasures and frustrations of primitive
weapon hunting.
From Payette to Preston muzzleloaders are checking the
hunting regulations and circling their favorite
traditional muzzleloader hunts. Some of these hunts are
open to anyone with a license and a deer or elk tag.
Other highly prized hunts required applications to be
mailed in May and a lottery type draw to determine the
winners of the coveted permits.
"Traditional muzzleloader hunts are a way to offer an
excellent hunting experience and opportunity for a late
deer or elk hunt," says Brad Compton, of the Idaho
Department of Fish and Game. "Late traditional
muzzleloader hunts out of Payette, Ashton and Grace,
Idaho give hunters the chance to see and hunt some
really fine mule deer bucks."
What the heck is traditional muzzle-loading? Can any
hunter master the art of traditional muzzleloading?
According to Pocatello gunsmith David Crockett, just
about anyone with the interest and stick-to-it-tiveness
can learn the basics of traditional muzzle-loading.
Modern-day man tinkered and engineered improvements to
muzzle-loading rifles. Traditional muzzleloader seasons
eliminate most of these improvements, from scopes to
specialized powder packets and sealed ignition systems.
Space-age improvements are prohibited for traditional
muzzleloader hunts.
Modern-day rifles chamber shells are assembled to
rigorous safety specifications. You pull the trigger,
and the bullet hurdles through the barrel at speeds
exceeding 3,000 feet per second. No problem. Just put
another shell in and shoot again with precise accuracy.
Not so with traditional muzzle-loading. The hunter
builds the load on the spot by measuring the powder and
pouring it into the barrel, wrapping a patch of cloth
under a round lead ball and pounding it down the barrel
of the gun with a long wooden stick. It's kind of like
building a pipe bomb.
The hunter must place a percussion or musket cap over a
striking hole or nipple for the muzzleloader's hammer to
strike and explode. This sends a miniature ball of fire
to the powder loaded in the barrel. If all goes well,
the powder ignites, sending the round ball down the
barrel at about 1,500 feet per second. Sounds easy?
Long-time friend and traditional muzzleloader Bill
Gillespie tells of hunting elk and missing a fine bull
on the first shot. Distracted by the giant bull elk
tearing up a tree in front of him, he frantically
reloaded but forgot one step. Putting the powder in.
Oops.
After crawling through cactus on my hands and knees
sneaking up on a pronghorn antelope, I cocked the
hammer, sighted, pulled the trigger and the percussion
cap popped, but the powder didn't ignite. The antelope
vanished.
With a giant buck in his sights last year, a veteran
hunter pulled the trigger on a buck of a lifetime near
Grace. The percussion cap did not ignite. Off went the
deer.
How did those pilgrims put food on the table? The list
of things that can and do go wrong for traditional
muzzleloaders is as long as the human experience with
muzzleloaders. Nothing is a sure thing with traditional
muzzleloaders. That is the fun of it. Break out the
coon-skin hat!
Grace muzzleloader hunt
Snow conditions are favorable for the controlled
traditional muzzleloader hunt out of Grace. Lucky
hunters should see more deer than last year due to snow
conditions.
Considered one of the best mule deer opportunities in
the state, it became so popular that biologists limited
hunter numbers at 200 and switched it to traditional
muzzle-loading equipment to limit the harvest of mature
bucks.
Just three years ago as an unlimited controlled hunt,
the numbers of permit hunters soared to a record 800.
Success over the past three years using in-line
muzzleloaders averaged 35 to 40 percent on bucks on this
hunt. Biologists decided to take the conservative path
by reducing hunter numbers and switching to traditional
muzzle-loading equipment to limit harvest. The hunt was
changed from an either sex hunt to bucks only this year.
From 1982-2002 muzzle-loading success state-wide was 20
percent on deer.
Success with traditional muzzleloaders is consistently
less than with the new generation of improved
muzzleloaders.
"We will see how these restrictions work and how hunters
do," said Corey Class, regional wildlife biologist for
IDFG. "Can we keep more opportunity by reducing
technology rather than cutting down on permits?"
Traditional muzzleloaders must use patch and ball,
percussion or musket cap, black powder, Pyrodex, or
synthetic black powder and have an exposed hammer that
pivots. No telescopic sights are allowed. These
restrictions eliminate many modern muzzleloaders with
in-line ignition systems, specialized powder pellets,
bullet casings and scopes.
Travel restrictions for ATVs are also in place. This
will limit hunter mobility over the snow. In units with
new travel restrictions, hunter success declines.
Colorado muzzleloader success was 29 percent last year
on bucks with similar traditional muzzle-loading
restrictions, without travel restrictions, according to
big game manager John Ellensburg with Colorado Fish and
Game.
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