Adkhunter1590

Pic is from last Sunday but my wolf will be out and ready to bark in the AM!

Been working like a dog all week and haven't made it out. Hoping to shut these mills down at 5am and get home in time to sit a couple hours behind the house. Thinking of going for a walk around some state land from midday to evening. I'll be out there one way or another tomorrow!

Same here. I have a ball starter but it never leaves my work shop. I've never had a issue using my ramrod to get a sabot started

Plenty of time this winter to brew beer! Go get one of those muzzys and start burnin up some powder! I had my wolf sighted in with around 8 shots if I remember correctly.

Lol nice! My boys think every gun is a "shotgun". My 3 yr old stayed home today so he came out back to shoot my muzzy with me. I brought along a gamo air rifle I have so he could shoot too. He thinks they are both shotguns and refuses to call them anything else lol. I spent a few mins showing him how to load the muzzy and why it's called that. He was attentive to the whole process but at the end still calls it a shotgun haha. He had a blast shooting the air rifle though. Can't wait till he's old enough to start hammering targets with the big guns.

I sure did. You can learn just about anything on google. I read really fast so I can rip through tons of websites and forums and find all the bits and pieces of info in no time. Cross reference with multiple sources to confirm what's true and what's not. I spent a couple weeks reading up on CVAs before I went with the wolf. There wasn't anything to be found that convinced me the optima was worth the extra money. For the range limitations imposed on muzzleloaders by design, the wolf is just as accurate as the rest of them for a lower cost. I took that $150 I saved and put it towards a higher quality scope to shore up and doubts. Any gun is only as good as the scope you put on it in my opinion. And if anyone was wondering when they started using Bergara barrels...from what I could find, it happened after the few lawsuits that CVA got when their barrels were blowing up some years back. That's where the bad opinions of CVA stem from all over the internet. But once they hooked up with Bergara their barrels are now all covered under lifetime warranty on all models and I have yet to find anyone who has blown up a new generation of CVA. This was also the same time CVA stopped making a "magnum" version of the wolf. You used to be able to buy a regular wolf only capable of 100g of powder and the mag version that could shoot 150g. Now all CVA muzzys are "magnum" load capable.

SS wolf here. Came with the konus scope but I didn't even mount it on there. Went with a Vortex 4-12x44 instead. My wolf is shooting awesome and I'm highly impressed with it. Seems to like 95-100g of Blackhorn 209 powder and 250g Shockwaves or Hornady SST's in 250g with Remington 209 primers. I went with the wolf over optima for the shorter barrel. I'm primarily a bow hunter but towards the late season I like to walk around with a gun. The wolf is a great carrying gun, especially in the thick stuff. I've never read or heard of anyone saying the 2 inch shorter barrel made them feel it wasn't accurate out to 200-250 even. I haven't shot 200 yet with mine but I have no doubts it will do it no problem. Both the wolf and optima have Bergara barrels. The optima is branded as a Bergara while the wolf is not. I guess the Bergara branded barrels go through one final polishing and fine tuning process while the wolf barrels don't. All made in the same factory I guess. From the research I did, it looked like there isn't a huge difference between the two as far as quality, more so in appearance since the optima barrels get fluted as well. I felt it was a better investment to get better optics than pay for a fluted branded barrel that got a extra shine job. We are talking muzzleloader barrels here, not a rifle that your looking to shoot 1200 yards with. Breech plugs are the same in both guns. If you plan to shoot blackhorn powder, I suggest ordering the specific breech plug they make for it. Will get you a more consistent burn. I did shoot mine with the regular breech plug and it did work fine, but I've read a lot about guys who couldn't get it to shoot at all. Leave it loaded in the garage like others have said. I usually don't like to leave it loaded more than 2 weeks. If it's going to be any longer than that I will just unload it. Blackhorn powder will hold longer than pellets as it doesn't absorb moisture like pellets do. But you should always cover the barrel with a ballon or some tape.

Alright. I slacked off big time this week. I think hunting every spare second I had and getting 3-4 hours of sleep at most a day since November 1st did more damage than I thought. I've been exhausted this week and just haven't been able to pull myself out of bed in the afternoons to shoot or hunt. Anyways....I stayed up this morning after getting home from work and waited until the temps came up a bit and went out back to shoot. Using the new BH209 breech plug. Without a good rest it's hard to tell exactly how much of a difference the new plug makes. But I'm pretty sure it's hitting about a inch higher than before. My groupings weren't all that tight, maybe 3-4 inches at 100. But I blame that purely on not being able to get the gun settled good. I'm going to build a nice shooting bench over the winter once hunting is done with so I can do some real accurate testing. But for now I'm happy with the way it's shooting. Even though the groups weren't tight, it appears to be hitting exactly where the cross hairs were when I squeezed the trigger. Powder appears to be getting burned much more efficiently now. Barrel and breech plug were much cleaner after every shot. It's amazing how clean the barrel gets with just a quick dry patch in between shots. I should be all ready for Ohio now, well, as far as my gun goes at least. Still need to pick up a few things like new cold weather boots and hand warmers! It was cold as mofo last year and I got caught with my pants down lacking appropriate boots. Not gonna have that problem this year!

I'm headed out to Ohio for the late muzzy season. Me and 2 other guys have been going the last couple years. It's a fun trip and I look forward to it every year. I'm by no means a expert on where to hunt in Ohio. I've done a ton of online research and there's really no good answer on where the best hunting land is, as far as public land goes at least. All of Ohio has monster buck potential and just about every county has produced booners. Where you should go is more based on what kind of hunting your looking to do. There's state lands that have more flat terrain with more agriculture lands around, but they get hammered HARD by the orange army. Then there's bigger chunks of state land that also get hunted pretty hard, but there's a lot more land to spread out on and get back away from the crowd. These bigger blocks of state land are usually in the SE area of the state and the terrain can be pretty rough in a lot of it. Plenty of hills and thick undergrowth. Similar to most NY terrain. Me and my buddies prefer the bigger blocks of state land that we can get spread out on and have a lower chance of bumping into a lot of other hunters. We've been going to Vinton Furnace experimental forest. It's 15 thousand acres. There's a few other state lands close by that are also very big. Haven't checked those out at all since vinton is so big we just never have time. It's a short season and we go in with little to no pre scouting. Odds are against us every year but regardless, it's always a awesome trip. We always get there early Friday morning and scout around for a couple of hours and get our stands hung up. Lodging is easy to come by. Lots of different ways to do it. Some of the state lands have primitive camp grounds you can stay at in a tent for free. Motel/hotel. Cabin rentals. Or our new favorite way, Airbnb. You can find houses and cabins to rent for either cheaper or same price as a decent hotel room. The cabin we are renting this year sits on 8 acres bordering the state land we hunt for only $500 for Friday-Tuesday. Not a bad price at all split between 3 guys. Plus you have the hunting camp feeling when you stay in a cabin in the woods vs a cramped hotel room. Search around the Athens, vinton county areas for the different state lands in the area. You'll find there's ALOT of land available to hunt. And just about all of it has potential to give you a shot at a great buck. But beware, Ohio has a lot of resident hunters and a lot of non-resident hunters who show up for the late season. So don't be surprised when you see a lot of trucks Saturday morning!

Go with Leupold or Vortex. I personally don't trust Nikon or bushnell products. Never had any good luck with either one, nor has really anyone I know. Leupold is my usual go to for any type of optic. But I recently picked up a Vortex crossfire II 4-12x44 and have been really impressed with it. I have been hearing a lot of good things about Vortex the last couple of years and I can now say I agree with the positive claims. And their warranty is pretty much the best your ever going to get. Regardless of how you break something they will fix it or give you a brand new one. I suggest looking into the crossfire series or diamondback series Vortex scopes.

I'll be out there with the muzzy. Gotta get warmed up for my Ohio muzzleloader trip in a few weeks!

Watched a decent 8 dogging a doe on my way into work tonight. About 10pm and snowing and he was running her down hard. Actually chased her head on at my truck for a second then turned and ran parallel to the road in the ditch right on her butt. Nice to see some action still going on!

Well I overslept today and didn't get a chance to shoot. Tomorrow I'll get it done though.

I've been told it fouls the powder. They say you can use a little bit if your storing the gun for awhile but to clean it out before using. Some guys say they get away with a light coating followed by a dry patch to get most of it out. The makers of blackhorn make a bore conditioner that's supposed to be good stuff. I'm gonna give it a try

Got my BH209 breech plug in the mail yesterday. That was the slowest shipping I've seen in a long time. Over a week and a half. Anyways....it's here...and I plan to shoot it today and see how it goes. I'm guessing if it burns the powder better, it should hit high now. I'm gonna find out!

No deer down this morning. Lunch at the pizza joint in town. Waiting on pizza but enjoying a cold beer. Gonna head back out once we are done here and see what happens.

Up in the state land outside oneonta. Sitting on the edge of the property my dad used to own. His old ladder stand is still here so I climbed up in. It's a little bit grown into the tree and the straps seem iffy but someone must of been up in here cause there's a iced tea bottle here. Might have to bring a new strap next time. This stand has been here for years. Seen better days but still works. Hope me and my buddy get a crack at some bucks. I haven't seen anything yet. He's down the hill and I'll meet him around 930. Good luck today everyone!

I'm pretty sure that's what I have here That's the thing I was talking about earlier. Just couldn't think of what the hell it was called. Works great though. I usually dip it in solvent and ream out the breech plug

I have this little nifty thing my old man gave me that I use to clean the breech plugs. Idk what it's technically called and I don't wanna sound like a dummy calling it the wrong thing so I'll take a pic later and show ya. I think on the CVA breech plugs you can clean out the bigger hole with a 3mm drill bit. And then basically shove something small through the flash hole to clean that up. There are solvents out there that come in little plastic tubs that you soak the breech plugs in and shake them around in there too. But since switching to BH209 I've never had to deal with real messy breech plugs. Don't forget to add some lube to the threads on your breech plug!

Live from the mill! Here for another 12 hr day. At least my buddy is out hunting behind my house today. He even brought me a coffee since I was headed off to work as he was getting ready to head out to my north swamp stand. Hope he gets something back there. Me and him will be headed towards oneonta by 430am tomorrow morning. I hope we come back victorious! Weather looks perfect for killin deer. High in the low 30s with a slight wind. Good luck to every one today. And congrats to everyone with deer down!

Congrats rockspek!

I'm gonna have to go pick up some shockwaves from Walmart at that price! They have always been great shooting bullets for me

That's what I thought too lol. I noticed the other day that CVA actually guarantees that the accura will be the most accurate MZ you've ever shot or your money back. Pretty ballsy guarantee but pretty cool at the same time.

I think it has something to do with getting uneven burn when you stack too many pellets in there. If the pellets don't seat real tight your not going to get a good burn. And you can't really ram jam them in there cause you'll crush the pellets. Which then leads to messed up burns. I'm pretty sure that's what I've been told in the past.

It's a great diy get away hunt. Cabin is costing us $500 for the 4 days and we will be bringing all the food we need from home. Cabin is all setup with all the kitchen stuff you could need. Wife usually just prepares dinners before we go and we just need to heat it up. Saves a lot of money this way. Last year I only spent $500 in total on the trip. This year we are gonna be down a man so it might cost me $600 this year. I consider it a extremely cheap trip with chances for a booner buck