Around Aroostook County in late fall, whether you’re in the local bank or the post office, the grocery store or a favorite restaurant, the comment most likely to be heard will likely be: “Have you got your deer yet?”
There are several other ways to phrase the question, and some proud sportsmen will announce their success of bagging bucks without waiting to be asked. Deer hunting season is a big event throughout Maine, and men, women and youngsters are heavily involved and ready to talk about it.
Of big game, small game, upland birds and waterfowl, no animal attracts more hunter attention than deer all across the U.S. Many outdoorsmen here in Maine plan annual hunts and traditional outings to deer camp a full year in advance. The challenge, comradery of friends and companionship of family generations all play a large part of these autumn ventures.
It’s these very traditions that are leading more and more sportsmen to try an alternative style of shooting to prolong their season in hope of success. Muzzleloader hunters get at least one extra week, two in many zones, to put sights on the whitetail that eluded them during the regular firearm season.
Shooters unfamiliar with present day muzzleloading rifles will be amazed at the modern technology and improvements, they are a far cry from your grandfather’s black powder “smokepole.” Original muskets from the Revolutionary War were smooth-bore, breech-loading rifles that fired round lead balls. The mechanism for igniting the black powder changed over the decades from matchlock, wheel-lock and flintlock versions and finally to percussion cap.
In wet or snowy conditions these guns were notoriously unreliable, not a great feature for hunting game animals and even less so during a wartime battlefield engagement.
Thankfully, firearm construction, propellants, bullets and ignition systems have modernized radically over the last 50 years to the state-of-the-art, inline, rifled-barrel muzzleloaders available for deer hunting today.
Round lead balls have given way to flat-shooting conical bullets, ballistic tipped and sabots. Rifle primers are used for ignition and Pirodex is the propellant that has made corrosive, smoky black powder almost obsolete.
While Pirodex can be used in its powder granular form, it’s also available in solid pellets of various grain weights that require no measuring. Select one or more pellets to produce the best speed and muzzle energy for the selected weight bullet, and drop them down the barrel. Set your projectile on top of the pellets with a ramrod, put a primer in place and the inline muzzleloader is ready to fire. The components are almost 100 percent impermeable to rain and snow.
Top off your modern-day musket with high-tech optics, and the 50-yard black-powder gun our granddads used is now a modernized, dependable, 200-yard deer slayer. Variable-power scopes, red-dot sights and even thermal scopes are alternative choices to match a shooter’s open field or dense forest hunting style.
The most recent notable breakthrough for muzzleloader enthusiasts is the NitroFire rifle created by Traditions Firearms in conjunction with Federal Premium and Hodgdon Powder companies. The bullet still loads from the muzzle, but the rifle breaks open to insert a Firestick ignition unit. This single-use polymer casing resembling a shotgun shell is charged with Hodgdon Triple Eight clean-burning, smokeless powder. A 209 primer is then inserted into the base of the Firestick to ignite the powder charge and fire the rifle.
A major asset to this system is that the gun doesn’t need to be discharged after every outing; by removing the Firestick and primer, the firearm is safe. The mechanics of this closed ignition system make it impermeable to moisture that can lead to misfires in some muzzleloaders. Like the many advancements in mechanics, structure and materials of old traditional archery longbows to the user-friendly, dependable and deadly compound bows of today, muzzleloading rifles are modern wonders that truly improve the sport of deer hunting.
Aside from the user-friendly equipment and the chance to hunt a few more days, muzzleloader season often has some other advantages. First and foremost, there are far fewer hunters in the woods, so pressure on the whitetails is reduced, hopefully making the deer a bit less skittish.
Also there’s a higher likelihood of some snow to yield fresh sign and the option to track a big buck. If you’re lucky enough to get a shot, the snow is also far more conducive to trailing and locating your prize animal.
While the peak of the rut is past, there are still a lot of bucks chasing does and the unusually warm weather for this time of year seems to prolong this behavior. Lack of heavy snow, noisy frozen ground and brutally frigid weather are conducive to better access to prime deer cover and more comfort for sportsmen to give chase.
There is a small cadre of true traditionalists that actually hunt all season with true replicas of original black-powder hammer guns. Some even buy kits and build their own rifles from parts, then create loads with components duplicated from centuries ago. A deer taken with a heritage weapon is a true trophy.
If you’re an experienced hunter, but new to muzzleloader hunting and want to take advantage of this short season, it’s possible to purchase most muzzleloaders and components with no 72-hour waiting period.
Any option that allows a sportsman extra days outdoors is a gift, especially during deer season. To paraphrase an old basketball adage: You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, so hunt every day you can.
