Running out of time
Massachusetts
In past years, I got my deer early during bow season. This year is looking grim. With only a week left, and family stuff coming up, I will be lucky for one more day. I tried hunting once during shotgun season with my bow in the past. It was not a good experience. I do have the advantage of being able to sneak out here and there during the week now, so that may be quieter and safer.
Will you guys bow hunt through December, and if you do, what do you change as far as tactics? I have kicked around the idea of buying a muzzleloader, but I always preferred the challenge and closeness of the bow. I am a bow snob, gun just seems too easy..... I do love my guns though :)
I am bow only I tend to stay away from the woods during shotgun unless I have private land to hunt. Late season bow for me requires warm days. When it's fridgid out it is too hard to pull a bow back and get a good shot because of all the extra clothing
Buying a muzzleloader and using both gun seasons is another option for you. Depends how much of a snob you are. Lol
The easy part for me is hitting a deer with a gun. The hard part is actually seeing a deer to shoot at.
Muzzleloader is a pretty nice tool man, I love mine, not too expensive either......it's still primitive :)
What spike said,.. must be a zone 6 thing LOL as I recall spike you are a bit north of me in b town
I hunt shotgun too but still sit my stand with my muzzleloader with scope and walk new places by myself slow and quiet with it too, all by yourself gratification is the whole thing for me
BB I’m in Hampden. Used to live in Granby
Same as DFA, bow hunt only.
Rage, Rage... Against the dying if the light
Last year 8 did bow, then shotgun, then bow for muzzleloader. I got my deer Christmas eve. Went back after Christmas and when I came out of the woods with my bow, there were about 12 guys with muzzleloaders about to go in. Pretty scary being with a bow and all other with a muzzleloader. So last January I bought a muzzleloader. Now I go in wit what the season is. That is me. You need to do what you are comfortable with. Tactics? I go in early, sit in a nice spot, around 8 am I start to stalk hunt if I haven't seen anything by then. I enjoy stalk hunting. Gets my big butt moving and warm. Best of luck either way you go.
Okay, I guess it is time to learn about muzzleloaders :) It does not appear that there are any restrictions on the type of muzzleloaders in this state, and skippah, you are right, not a lot of money. The ammo don't look cheap though. I guess you guys are not going to the range each week and firing 50 or so rounds off :)
Spike, you are right, seeing the deer is the challenge, especially once they start to get pushed around by the gunners.
I only hunt w/ my muzzleloader once bow ends.. but I don’t hunt a ton once gun season starts. Usually more last couple weeks when I can since there are less people chasing the deer all over
I hunt through Dec 31 using bow only and I only hunt public land in towns that do not permit the discharge of any firearms. For the record I have a huge fear of being shot by accident so I wear the hunter orange items anyway and until I get in my stand. The deer are still there although bucks get a little scarce and I am told late season deer on a bow taste better too lol.
Pete, I use my muzzleloader for shotgun and muzzleloader season. I usually go to the range and shoot a few at the 50 and 100 yard lines before the season as I’m not really expecting longer than 100 where I go so you shouldn’t go through too many bullets. The bullets actually cost less then a 3 pack of broadheads. I probably only shoot 10 - 15 rounds at the range if the scope is dialed in.
Picked up a Thompson Impact couple yrs back...entry level price point muzzleloader. Just under$300 Didn't make sense to me to spend $500 on a higher end model when I may only get a few hunts out in the woods as the season comes to a close each year. Not only that my body is running ragged by muzzleloader season. I get lazy then. Haven't filled a tag with it yet but it is absolutely a tack driver out of the box with powerbelt ammo. Won't take much range time to be a killer. I have alot of confidence this thing will do the job out to 200yds if it came down to it. Yes it's modern but still primitive. But worth every penny and a great tool in my collection
The one thing you have to remember is that the gun will last a lifetime and possibly all the accessories so you are just replacing bullets, primers, and powder so in the grand scheme of things way cheaper then a new bow every few years not counting the heads, arrows, etc.
Lot of time left. I've shot my first deer of the year on the last day of archery before and killed a few during muzzleloader with my bow. I have my best luck during the muzzleloader season when there a bit of snow for some reason
After the first day much is quiet wher I hunt I hav privet land but also big woods that’s many don’t hunt where I do to hard to see deer never mind getting one when you do get one or have a incounter you know you have done your homework I will carry the gun the first day then it’s back to the bow for me
For those who haven't tried it yet give blackhorn 209 powder a try. I just came in from sighting in the MZ and this is the first time I used it. The gun is a breeze to clean, less stink and no barrel fouling and having to swab between shots. I previously shot 100 grains of loose pyrodex and went with 85 grains of blackhorn. It is supposed to be about 15% better performance. Only a two inch difference at 100 yards so you will not be burning a bunch of powder re-sighting your gun. Three shots and done. Could have stopped at two.
Tekoa
Yup I love the Blackhorn. I use 100 grains even just so I don’t forget how many grains I use lol. I can shoot 15 times and not have to swab.
So, I went to the gun range today with my wife and daughter, and one of our shooting friends. My shooting friend, Dale, was the one that showed my how to bow hunt about twenty years ago. Dale loves fishing, archery, guns and hunting, and he has been after me to get into muzzloaders. He is in his seventies, his kids do not hunt and he is looking for me to hunt with him whenever possible. So it was no surprise he showed up with his Thompson. He brought it because he "needed" to sight it in. Of course, it was not the target that he had in his sights, it was me. "Pete, come on, you need to shoot it". I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. Had a nice slow kick to it, great trigger and was easy to nail the little X at 50 yards with a scope. My daughter shot it as well. She loved it. She has shot Dale's traditional muzzleloader in the past. It is one her favorite guns to shoot. These modern things are far from primitive.
Dale needed to go to Cabelas after our shooting session because he needed bullets and wanted me to join him. Gee, I think I see a setup coming on.....
Long story short, a CVA Optima SS barrel in camo with a Konus Scope and gun case, was available for $470. Heck, I almost spent that on 9mm bullets for reloading last week (we shoot a lot of 9mm). Plus, Dale is not young anymore, and I really should be out there with him when he is hunting during gun season. It was the right thing to do..... you know, for Dale. In my defense, my wife was with me, and she thought that it was great and Dale would really appreciate the company. Man, am I good guy or what :)
I guess what will be nice about having the muzzleloader, is that I will not mind going out when it is really cold. I really have a hard time getting myself out there with the bow when it is below freezing and the wind is blowing.
Now I just need time to sight it in and get comfortable with it. In the meantime, I have at least one more day with the bow before the gunners are out there.
Good choice I like my CVA!
Congrats on the new gun. I'll buy one at some point, but for now I'm bow only. The cold certainly makes staying in the stand more difficult, but the way I look at it the season is not even halfway over. There is a lot of bow only public land around that gets almost no pressure in December. I'm also planning on hunting some isolated swamp islands when gun opens. I'm thinking most of the orange army won't be walking out into this swamp, but the deer sure will when the woods are invaded.
I'm a bowhunter. I hunt with my bow through all three seasons. Late season I concentrate on food sources.
Bow hunt all of the seasons. I saw a lot of rut activity in December last year
I have to try that Blackhorn... it's on my "radar" but I'm cheap and want to use up the tripple 7 pellets that I have...
I will shift to a gun. Most years I hunt with the ML through SG and ML. SG sees me in the woods the least most years. I just dont enjoy the crowds as much... I actually like the last 10 days the best once the guns come out. It feels like the holidays have a lot of guys out of the woods and things start to calm down.
That said, I may do some late season archery hunting in CT this year...
Last two years I hunted Bow all the way to Dec 31st. After not sticking a deer last year I bought a shot gun. Plan on hunting Shot Gun and Bow during Muzzle Loader, Unless Santa brings me a Muzzle loader for XMas! I plan on hunting shotgun out of a Blind - which I will sit in with my son.
I have a CVA Optima. Get the Blackhorn 209 Breech plug and use the Blackhorn powder. I'll go to the range and shoot 20 shots and don't have to clean it to shoot some more. I also use the FPB's, I don't want plastic jackets fouling my barrel. I had a charge sitting in my Optima since last year, put a fresh cap in and "zero'd" the gun with that one shot. 10 ring at 50 yards, great powder.
During gun season I'll still shoot bow if I'm relatively close to houses, like 501 feet. Don't want the residents actively trying to get me thrown out. Otherwise I love the smoke pole, it's put a bunch of meat in the freezer!
Bow all season for me as well
I did not hunt today, but I finally got to the range with the new muzzleloader. OMG, that is a crap load of fun. I really like that it takes a bit to get that one shot ready to go. Something relaxing about it. I think it took me an hour and a half to fire off twenty rounds. Love the recoil, and I am really looking forward to figuring out how to get every last bit of accuracy out of it. I love to tinker. With this I have the bullet, sabot, type of powder, and amount of powder to play with! Woohoo!
I was using 250 gr XTP bullets, ribbed black sabots and 777 in pellet form. Decent accuracy at 50 yards, but had to clean after every shot. I also purchased some Blackhorn 209, but my gun did not ignite the charge, probably because it was just too gummed up at that point. I tried to clean the breech plug, but no luck. I have the special breech plug already ordered, so that should solve the issue. My friend tried it in his Thompson. Wow, just wow. Five shots in a row, no cleaning. The ribbed xtp loaded into the barrel like butter every time. All five were within an inch of each other at 50 yards. Oh, and no smoke. I can see that smoke thing being a bit of a challenge in the woods, you know, when you start to wonder what f'n direction did that deer go because I couldn't see due to the smoke.
The gun was a joy to clean back at the house. I do not have everything yet to make it even easier, but I was able to get the job done with my pistol cleaning stuff. Talk about simple. The gun barely has any parts.
I will be back at it again tomorrow. Going to try to get my hands on some different sabots at Cabelas. I can't wait for the other breech plug to show up though. I will definitely be experimenting with Blackhorn 209. Almost as much fun as the bow. I think the number of hunting days for me just increased. I will be out there with the bow, but on those days when it is just too cold.......... blackpowder time. Plus, I am looking forward to hunting with my retired hunting buddy. We are going to have some good times. Pete
Like I have posted before. Iv'e been lucky. Good job not many home responsibilities. Heres two beauties. A knight master hunter disc extreme. and a Thompson center encore. Both shooting blachorn 209 and both printing about a 1" group off the bench at 100yds. I also have a renegade 50 cal but she's been retired for a few yrs now. If your a TC guy check out a guy by the name of Mike Bellm. He knows more about TC than the manufacturer. He has some sweet kits to zing up your TC. As an example I went from a 7lb. factory trigger pull to a 2lb trigger pull with one of his spring kits. and best of all you can do most of his modifications yourself. Do yourself a favor if your a TC guy drink from Mike Bellm's cool aide.
Them your toes ? There must be at least 7 or 8 of em still intact ,even if they are shorter. Your good . The Stories must be folk lore .
Enjoy the hunt . Make some noise ! Watch them steep shots too.
