Why do we still have a muzzleloader season?

[DanD]

I grew up in PA and love the late season/Flintlock only season they have. Less for the actual chances of killing something and more for the entertainment and seeing all of my cousins and uncles. Can't tell you how many deer have been missed at point blank range or guns not going off on deer at less than 30 yards. Some great memories that I will never forget. 

[Northcountryman]

5 hours ago, DanD said:

I grew up in PA and love the late season/Flintlock only season they have. Less for the actual chances of killing something and more for the entertainment and seeing all of my cousins and uncles. Can't tell you how many deer have been missed at point blank range or guns not going off on deer at less than 30 yards. Some great memories that I will never forget. 

Yup , happened to me last year - frustrating .

[Northcountryman]

11 hours ago, BowmanMike said:

If anybody wants to save money on guns here is what I did. I bought a scoped used wolf muzzleloader from a friend for $100 and that is the gun I hunt with in regular and muzzleloader season.  I tried a shotgun for my first season and didn't like it,the recoil and weight were not fun. 

The accuracy of a muzzleloader is amazing and no handicap in my opinion.

I got a Wolf too ; so I take it you like yours ? Have you been successful with it ? Haven’t taken a deer yet with mine but hoping to this year .

[chrisw]

I always wondered why the muzzleloader season came after and not before southern gun season, like the northern zone.

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[WNYBuckHunter]

13 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Yesterday I got my muzzleloaders out to make sure they were still on although I knew they would be as they were for Nz early season. I shot 2 shots with each that all touched each other at 100yds and reloaded them, both first shots have been loaded since before Nz early muzzleloader. My woodman arms was in the rain for 2 days straight while hunting out of a tent and it still went bang and landed exactly where they were supposed to. Things have changed a lot since I started playing with them 20yrs ago. Before we could use scopes and the knight inlines were just coming out. It makes me wonder why we still have to use them. I honestly don’t understand why we still have a muzzleloader season. Modern inline muzzleloaders are as accurate as many rifles, as reliable when proper care is taken, have a range beyond what many are comfortable or should be shooting. If it’s the reloading why not make it a single shot season? It’s about the only difference.
 
I put a ton of time and money into my setups and shot pounds and pounds of powder to get my loads developed but now it’s boring.
 
 
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So make it less boring and limit yourself and re-up the challenge. There’s nothing that says you have to use all of the available options. If you have 2 muzzleloaders, get rid of the scope on one and run iron sights. 
 

I hunted strictly with muzzleloader through all of gun season plus late season for years. I loved it, killed a ton of deer and some of my best hunting memories involve hunting with my ML. Once I finally get a buck with a rifle (the only weapon I havent Killed one with yet), I’m going to go back to mostly ML hunting. 

[BowmanMike]

1 hour ago, Northcountryman said:

I got a Wolf too ; so I take it you like yours ? Have you been successful with it ? Haven’t taken a deer yet with mine but hoping to this year .

I have not killed any deer with another gun. This is my 8th season I think? So at least one a year,sometimes two and a few years three of them.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Id love for the season to be flintlock like Pa. Right now its nine more days of rifle


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[The_Real_TCIII]

So why not just iron or peep sights at that point as I possess to a 1x optic.


I have been toying around the idea of a flintlock for a while. Went to a local colonial day with the wife and kid a month or so ago and thought it would be cool to buy a replica of a revolutionary war rifle and hunt with it.

I was shocked how unopposed the wife was to this.


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Shes always hayed the South


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[Lucky118]

What they should do is put all the guns back in the gun season and go back to just flinging arrows. All these different seasons are getting stupid.

[WNYBuckHunter]

5 hours ago, Lucky118 said:

What they should do is put all the guns back in the gun season and go back to just flinging arrows. All these different seasons are getting stupid.

Late ML season isn’t anything new. 

[Fletch]

Late ML season isn’t anything new. 

Right lol
Except Cbow all these seasons been around a looong time. DEC has been balancing years of declining hunting participation with loosening primitive seasons to try to keep deer take up.


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[Buckmaster7600]

So make it less boring and limit yourself and re-up the challenge. There’s nothing that says you have to use all of the available options. If you have 2 muzzleloaders, get rid of the scope on one and run iron sights. 
 
I hunted strictly with muzzleloader through all of gun season plus late season for years. I loved it, killed a ton of deer and some of my best hunting memories involve hunting with my ML. Once I finally get a buck with a rifle (the only weapon I havent Killed one with yet), I’m going to go back to mostly ML hunting. 

Like I said hunting with them isn’t boring, it’s that they’ve came so far that playing with them is boring.

My woodman has a peep.


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[Buckmaster7600]

Id love for the season to be flintlock like Pa. Right now its nine more days of rifle


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That’s exactly the point I was trying to make.


From a management perspective and sportsman’s perspective a modern muzzleloader is a single shot rifle.


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[DirtTime]

Simple fix, if you don't like a certain season then don't hunt that season. If you don't like the late ML season then stay home. Why so many people feel the need to make our season like other states baffles me. If you like those other states so much then pack up and move there, or just hunt those states. Then you don't have to worry about hunting here at all. Or, if you don't enjoy hunting with a certain type of implement then just don't use it.

 

The late seasons are also for archery, so go get a re-curve or long bow if you feel you need a challenge. All this "I don't like this or that so lets take this and that away from people who enjoy it!" sucks! If you want to use an old flint lock what's stopping you? YOU are the only thing stopping you.

[luberhill]

What’s considered a max shot with a 50 cal using 45 cal sabots and two 50 grain pellets ?

Ive shot it decent at 100 yards freehand , is that pretty much a good limit ?

[WNYBuckHunter]

45 minutes ago, luberhill said:

What’s considered a max shot with a 50 cal using 45 cal sabots and two 50 grain pellets ?

Ive shot it decent at 100 yards freehand , is that pretty much a good limit ?

Depends on the gun. I’ve taken deer out to 200 yards using a similar load. 

[mowin]

49 minutes ago, luberhill said:

What’s considered a max shot with a 50 cal using 45 cal sabots and two 50 grain pellets ?

Ive shot it decent at 100 yards freehand , is that pretty much a good limit ?

I've taken several deer at 150-200yrds with that combo. 

[wolc123]

3 hours ago, luberhill said:

What’s considered a max shot with a 50 cal using 45 cal sabots and two 50 grain pellets ?

Ive shot it decent at 100 yards freehand , is that pretty much a good limit ?

I’d say 150 yards, unless it’s a standing broadside shot from a good rest, when you might stretch it to 200 for a behind the shoulder shot.  The energy gets insufficient in that range.

 Freehand, I wouldn’t shoot at a deer with any weapon over 100 yards away.

Edited December 8, 2021 by wolc123

[Lucky118]

10 hours ago, WNYBuckHunter said:

Late ML season isn’t anything new. 

I didn't  say  it was.