Some of My Muzzleloader Harvests

[Gamestalker]

I thought I'd try to encourage some of the inline crowd to try using a traditional muzzleloader. Here's some proof that they are plenty capable of taking anything that you want to hunt:


8-pointer taken December 1, 2001 with a percussion T/C Renegade .54


6-pointer taken December 30, 2006 with a custom .54 Pennsylvania longrifle.


5-pointer taken November 19, 2007


A Two-Fer
I killed both of these deer with one shot at about 40-45 yards from my custom .54 December 15, 2007

All of my muzzleloader harvest's have been with a patched round ball.

[buckfever]

Where is Hunting Man at?? He is a fan of the traditional ML's..

Its neat to see deer taken the "old school" way.. Congrats to you on each of those..

[timberghost]

I've never seen one of those before. Are they the same kind as the ones used in the civil war???? Very impressive Gamestalker and congrats on your success.

[Hunting Man]

TG, flintlocks had been replaced by percussion caps and mini bullets by the time the Civil War took place. I'm not sure the actual style of rifle in the pictures but maybe an early Pennslyvania Lancaster style???? I think all the pictures show someone who really gets into the traditional hunting thing and very productive too. Shooting flintlocks is a load of fun. Congrats Gamestalker!!!

[Gamestalker]

Originally Posted by Hunting Man

I think all the pictures show someone who really gets into the traditional hunting thing and very productive too. Shooting flintlocks is a load of fun. Congrats Gamestalker!!!

Thanks, Hunting Man
You sure got that right! Flintlocks are really addictive. I've been hunting with them off & on since the mid-1970's & I haven't deer hunted with anything else in my home state for the last two years.

I gave a little info about the gun in my other picture thread.

[Hunting Man]

gamestalker, I too started muzzleloading in the 70's. I got my first rifle from Midway, a flint Lyman Hawken in 54 cal. After many rifles/years later I built a 54 fullstock Hawken with some nice maple. After some shoulder and then neck surgery the heavy hawken sits in the vault and I hunt with a TC PA flint hunter in 50 cal, its a lot lighter. Now its getting hard to see both sights clear and I need to set one up with a rear peep. Thinking of building one last gun, maybe a flint 1/2 stock hunter Leman style??? Its hard to convince people how much fun hunting the old way is but maybe we should keep it a secret anyway!!!! I leave Jan 5th for PA to meet up with three others for a 4.5 day hunt. I hope the deer cooperate. Good hunting to you!

[Gamestalker]

My first muzzleloader was a replica of a Remington Zouave in .58 caliber. Shortly after that I got a .50 percussion T/C Hawken kit. I never even put that kit together because Pennsylvania started their late flintlock season & I immediately bought my first flinter. That is a .54 cal T/C Renegade. I've used that gun a lot to take deer & my first black bear. At one point I felt like I wanted a percussion Renegade for inclement weather so I picked one up in my favorite caliber, .54 of course. I found out that percussion guns aren't any more reliable than a flintlock if you take the time to learn how to use them. I've probably had as many mis-fires with percussion as with my flinters. After I took that big eight point buck with my percussion Renegade in 2001, I pretty much put that gun away. It's been all flinter's since. I still need to get a flint smoothbore though.

Hunting Man, you should try a rifle with a swamped barrel. A long barreled gun with a swamped barrel is actually easier to hold than the heavy barreled half stock guns and you have the longer sight radius too.
About sights......it's hard to see in the picture, but my percussion Renegade has a tang mounted peep sight. I like them, but you have to be aware that they aren't the best during the prime hunting times of first light & evening twilight. Another concern about peep sights is that some areas don't recognize peeps as traditional sights & you can't use them during the traditional flintlock seasons. I had lasic surgery several years ago & that has allowed me to still be comfortable with traditional open sights.
I'm going to be hunting PA the rest of this week myself. It's real convenient for me. I live only four miles north of the PA/NY line.

Good luck in PA when you get there.