Four Reasons to Hunt with a Muzzleloader
Four Reasons You Need Hunt with a Muzzleloader
The muzzleloader is one of the most traditional weapons still used in modern times. The guns, bullets, and powder have all been advanced in ways over the last 100 years but there is still a bottom line tradition to shooting one. This weapon only gives you one shot at a time so you’d better make it count!
I didn’t grow up in a family that hunted with muzzleloaders but in my obsession with hunting, there were many times that I stared at historic pictures of mountain men posing with their most precious item they owned, their muzzleloader. It seemed to be a part of them. A necessity just as important as their leg or their arm, a mountain man had to have a good gun and in those years, it was most often an early example of a muzzleloader.
Over the last couple hundred years, wars seemed to encourage the modernization of weapons. In order to have success in battle, the weapon needed to be more accurate as well as quicker in performance. Muzzleloaders, because of their single-shot capability and the time it took to reload them fell to the side as repeating cartridge weapons became the standard that was sought after for both war and hunting. However, the muzzleloader was not forgotten.
Muzzleloader hunting has gained a little bit of popularity over the last 25 years. For me, as I matured in my hunting experiences, I began to look for something that would give me more of a challenge when it came to deer hunting. Learning to hunt with a muzzleloader was a step in the right direction.
I was fortunate enough to have a very dear friend teach me what I needed to know about a muzzleloader and hunting with one. Jerry was patient and honest. Taking me through the history of the weapon and helping me learn how to use a modern muzzleloader in order to further my hunting experiences.
In the following words, I would like to share with you some things you need to know when hunting with or considering a hunt with a muzzleloader. Hunting with this type of weapon could frustrate you while also challenging you providing great amount of satisfaction upon completing a successful hunt with one.
A Brand New Challenge
As mentioned earlier, if you are looking for a little more challenge when it comes to hunting, just like hunting with a bow, a muzzleloader will give you a whole new opportunity to test yourself. A muzzleloader brings you into an historic fellowship of hunting. For hundreds of years, this has be the gun of choice when it comes to hunting and harvesting your own food. There are also a few other “perks” when it comes to hunting with a muzzleloader, especially in Iowa.
First off, Iowa offers an early muzzleloader season in October of every year. This is actually Iowa’s first available “gun season” in the seasonal rotation of deer hunting opportunity. There a two weekends and the week between to this season totaling about nine days of hunting with a muzzleloader.
The advantage to hunting this season would be to the hunter that has a buck patterned in a very dependable pattern. At this time in October, you don’t have to worry about other hunters placing pressure on the deer you might be after. You also don’t have to worry about the effects of the rut and the possibility of a buck leaving this dependable pattern in search of does. Keep in mind, there is a quota of early muzzleloader tags offered to Iowa residents. Once the quota of sales is met, the tags are unavailable. So, if you have a trophy you are after, you might consider picking up a muzzleloader and giving this season a try.
Extended Hunting Opportunities
A second benefit to hunting with a muzzleloader would be the opportunity to hunt Iowa’s second muzzleloader season called “Late Muzzleloader Season”. This season comes after the two Iowa shotgun seasons in December and extends all the way to January 10th. All in all, you are given around 18 days to fill your deer tag.
Hunting during the late muzzleloader season ends up being a great time for those who are off on winter break from school (kids and college adults) as well as adults that might have a bit more time off during the holidays from jobs. The only negative might be dealing with some extremely cold temperatures. Deer at this time are more in a feeding routine where a person might be able to predict with great accuracy when the deer will be showing up to food sources. With cold temperatures driving deer to feed regularly, if you play the wind right, you can make a very easy harvest!
Specialized Loads
A third advantage of hunting with a muzzleloader has little to do with the hunting seasons in Iowa and more to do with the control that you have with the weapon. Muzzleloaders give you the freedom to adjust their power for every shot. Adults can load them with a bit more powder thus extending their reach (they are rifles of a sort) as well as their amount of kick.
However, is you’re looking to get kids interested in hunting, I would suggested a muzzleloader as a great choice to use with a beginning shoot. Personally, I used a muzzleloader with all four of my daughters as they got into deer hunting because of what I just shared. I could load the guns with much less powder while still providing my daughters with a lever of power that could easily harvest a deer without knocking their little bodies down to the ground in the process. A low load of powder behind a heavy sabot bullet rarely let their deer leave the field!
Make It Count
Hunting with modern muzzleloaders will provide a hunter with a number of challenges. The most obvious of those challenges is the reality that a hunter has ONE shot at their quarry. However, they also offer some great advantages especially when it comes to hunting from a distance.
For years, Iowa has been a state that has not allowed rifle hunting for deer. Until recently, the only weapons that hunters could chase whitetails with were shotguns and muzzleloaders. Within the last 10-15 years, Iowa has slowly considered and allowed other weapons such as pistols and rifles of certain make, caliber, and cartridge. This rifles that are allowed during the shotgun seasons finally allow Iowa hunters to be successful at a distance when it comes to harvesting deer.
Along with the allowed rifles, modern muzzleloaders are guns that if used with the right combination of barrel rifling, the right powder, and the right bullet, can shoot similar distances as the newly allowed rifles. Moreover, the bonus would be if you used them in the late muzzleloader-hunting season, you get extra days to use your long-range shooting skills!
Things to Know
When I was learning from my friend, Jerry, he told me a few useful things to know about a muzzleloader. These little tid-bits of information have stayed in my mind as I have mentored other hunters into the sports of muzzleloader hunting. These things might also be helpful to you as you are venturing into this type of hunting.
First off, each muzzleloader seems to have its own perfect equation of powder type and bullet type. For example, I have two separate muzzleloaders. Both the same brand, but different models. One of those shoots best and more accurate with a 300-grain sabot bullet. The other, a 240-grain sabot bullet. Both are the same caliber but when it comes to accuracy, each just seem to need something a bit different.
Second, a muzzleloader does not need a ton of powder to make a clean harvest. With all four of my girls, they took their first deer shooting 40 grains of power. Now, granted, it limited their distance, but all the deer they fired at never made it more than 50 yards before tipping over. Do not pressure your gun to do too much. Find what you need to make you accurate, and stick with it.
Third. Practice makes perfect. Just like shooting a bow or any other weapon, put in the time to practice! Clean your gun often and work on aiming, breathing, and pulling the trigger. If you want success, put in the practice.
To sum things up, hunting with a muzzleloader is an adventure! I assure you it will be just as exciting as other methods of hunting. Just remember, when you take up the ol’ smokepole, you are joining and long-standing tradition in hunting. Good luck!
By Ryan Graden
January 2025
