Getting ready for the Traditional Flintlock (PA) Deer Season.

[skeet]

I haven't ever used snowshoes to hunt with. I have however used them. The first time I did I thought my legs and other things were gonna fall off, You do learn the right gait with tham after a while though. Some of my most fun deer hunting was in the snow with muzzys and shotguns. Never had to rely on the snow to find a wounded deer either. All but one muzzy deer fell within 25 yds. A couple right on the spot. I had a flinter for a while...and the reason I went to a caplock was the reliability. Just didn't have the patience to worry about the flint fired rifle. Heck the caplock was bad enough as we used to have a lot of rain to hunt in..and if not rain..swamps. You had to be very careful hunting them. I had a failure to fire on one of the biggest bucks I ever had the opportunity to take. The cap failed to fire(rain) but luckily as the deer ran off I was able to pull the old cap off and put a dry one on. The god of the hunt must have been smiling on me that day. I whistled..he stopped and stayed.

Understand.... the muzzy season was another week to hunt deer for me. We lived on the meat and it was kind of important to have a rifle that would fire. I also have a Savage smokless muzzy and it is very reliable and a whole lot easier to clean after shooting. Haven't taken a deer with it but have had the opportunity a few times. Just never shot one though. To be really honest with ya I think the flinter was the quickest for me to fire twice. Especially if the cap became stuck as they sometimes do. The first deer I got with a muzzleloader I shot at 3 times. He ran and stopped ran and stopped(thick woods). Had a few friends in Md that went to the flinter after getting their deer for a couple of years with a caplock or inline...just for the experience I guess. To be honest I don't really care what someone uses as long as we have more people enjoying the hunt. We need to recruit more kids and women into our ranks..Hunting and shooting ranks I mean. Anyone that becomes a hunter is important to the sport any more. Only 5% of the population hunts now.