Elk….Bow or Muzzleloader

[backpacksnbulls]

Nothing is created equal. Some general archery areas provide for limited muzzleloader tags. I would try to get the most value out of your points. Research the units in your point range and pick the best hunt your points can buy.

I agree! Study the draw odds, narrow it down, call the game biologist; they are very helpful! And don't underestimate the effects of altitude!

 

[Knight.54]

When does an early 1990’s muzzleloader start being considered primitive vs a “modern muzzleloader”…asking for a friend?

 

[caddiscrazy]

Ultimately I have decided on muzzleloader and will take a swing again at the same unit as last year. They say that it’s repeating the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity haha. More than likely going to end up with eight preference points when the draw comes out. I’ve got a good backup for mule deer anyways. Appreciate all the input fellas

 

[Outlaw99]

Good luck, let us know how it goes

 

[BOHNTR]

I didn’t realize there was any other choice than a bow and arrow for elk.

 

[Maverick1]

Whichever one you enjoy more.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

When does an early 1990’s muzzleloader start being considered primitive vs a “modern muzzleloader”…asking for a friend?

I probably bought my Thompson 50 cal New Englander traditional sidelock in the very early 1990's. Also bought the now impossible to find, but then new vintage style tang aperture Thompson peep site. Sent it back to Thompson for the tang sight screw hole drilling and also to have them tune the trigger.

It was my second muzzleloader. Earlier I had a 54 cal 1/66 twist round ball traditional much longer TC side lock.

Try as I may, never could get that rifle to shoot and I sold it cheap. In the meantime, a close friend bought a modern design in-line which could take a scope and was impressively accurate, as good with iron sites as a Marlin 336 lever action 30-30. Which as most of us should know is a darn site better than a model 94.

I shot his and he suggested I buy one like his. There was a huge problem, however.

Back then my wife and I had a horse ranch in the mountains that just bordered national forest on one end.
There was in the county next to us a late season muzzleloader deer hunt that prohibited in-lines, pellet pyrodex loads, scopes and modern sabot bullets.

I should add that by foot, by show-shoe, or by horseback that county line where that traditional muzzleloader zone began was less than a mile away in the National Forest and there was no vehicle access. That zone was unpestered with hunters.

I was overjoyed when that New Englander, after finding the one right load proved to be very accurate. I could hit an average sized orange at 120 yards easy and always.

I fitted it with a Whelen sling and made some shooting sticks too.

During our first 15 years there I could draw that tag every year. Over the next 12 years I got it about 2 out of 3 years.

I never took a big buck. Mostly does and spikes. But I never had to turn a key to start a motor to go hunting with that muzzleloader. I never ran into another hunter, and I just loved the way that rifle looked and fit in my leather saddle scabbard when I rode in on one of my horses.

About 13 years ago my wife got cancer. Living so remote was beyond hard for her treatments.
We sold the ranch, bought a smaller piece of horse property close to medical services.

I keep all my firearms in my safe except for that one walnut stocked traditional muzzleloader. I hang it up in my rec room which is out of sight. Now and then. I take it down and rub some linseed oil on the stock.

Hanging next to it is traditional Green River trade knife. Made a sheath for it and have always cleaned it
after use. Rather than letting that carbon steel knife get dark stained, the steel has developed a blue almost abalone color patina.

That knife and rifle have been both made in recent times. But if I took them with me back in time, to a real mountain man rendezvous, say up on the Green River where I once lived, those trappers would just look at both knife and rifle and not feel anything was out of place.

Hmm, think I might take it down right now and rub some more linseed oil on that walnut stock.

 

[LopeHunter]

I probably bought my Thompson 50 cal New Englander traditional sidelock in the very early 1990's. Also bought the now impossible to find, but then new vintage style tang aperture Thompson peep site. Sent it back to Thompson for the tang sight screw hole drilling and also to have them tune the trigger.

It was my second muzzleloader. Earlier I had a 54 cal 1/66 twist round ball traditional much longer TC side lock.

Try as I may, never could get that rifle to shoot and I sold it cheap. In the meantime, a close friend bought a modern design in-line which could take a scope and was impressively accurate, as good with iron sites as a Marlin 336 lever action 30-30. Which as most of us should know is a darn site better than a model 94.

I shot his and he suggested I buy one like his. There was a huge problem, however.

Back then my wife and I had a horse ranch in the mountains that just bordered national forest on one end.
There was in the county next to us a late season muzzleloader deer hunt that prohibited in-lines, pellet pyrodex loads, scopes and modern sabot bullets.

I should add that by foot, by show-shoe, or by horseback that county line where that traditional muzzleloader zone began was less than a mile away in the National Forest and there was no vehicle access. That zone was unpestered with hunters.

I was overjoyed when that New Englander, after finding the one right load proved to be very accurate. I could hit an average sized orange at 120 yards easy and always.

I fitted it with a Whelen sling and made some shooting sticks too.

During our first 15 years there I could draw that tag every year. Over the next 12 years I got it about 2 out of 3 years.

I never took a big buck. Mostly does and spikes. But I never had to turn a key to start a motor to go hunting with that muzzleloader. I never ran into another hunter, and I just loved the way that rifle looked and fit in my leather saddle scabbard when I rode in on one of my horses.

About 13 years ago my wife got cancer. Living so remote was beyond hard for her treatments.
We sold the ranch, bought a smaller piece of horse property close to medical services.

I keep all my firearms in my safe except for that one walnut stocked traditional muzzleloader. I hang it up in my rec room which is out of sight. Now and then. I take it down and rub some linseed oil on the stock.

Hanging next to it is traditional Green River trade knife. Made a sheath for it and have always cleaned it
after use. Rather than letting that carbon steel knife get dark stained, the steel has developed a blue almost abalone color patina.

That knife and rifle have been both made in recent times. But if I took them with me back in time, to a real mountain man rendezvous, say up on the Green River where I once lived, those trappers would just look at both knife and rifle and not feel anything was out of place.

Hmm, think I might take it down right now and rub some more linseed oil on that walnut stock.

When I clean and wipe down the guns in my safe, I always do a snap shouldering as first lift a long gun out of the safe. That lift and tuck into the crease of my shoulder as my face nests onto the stock and my eye scans down the barrel is time travel. The weight, balance, fit, trigger location, safety type. Is unique to each gun.

I killed a lot of ducks and geese while pass shooting along the Central flyway as a kid. I first shot a 20 gauge single barrel shotgun then a 20 gauge side by side then by age 10 was using a field grade "20% blue left unworn" wobbly action 12 gauge Model 12. I liked now having 3 shells plus the pump action cared not if was blowing freezing rain or bluebird skies. At some point my father ended up with a Model 59 12 gauge semi-auto with the fiberglass barrel. I was always a better than average shot but that Model 59 "just fit perfectly" and would melt into nothingness in my arms as I swung on ducks or geese. At some point when I was away at college the Model 59 got traded for some reloading gear and supplies. A few times over the years I bump into a Model 59 at a gun store and pop it into position which takes me back to that skinny kid hunkered down in the river bottoms on a brisk sunrise with our black lab scanning the skies while trying to keep the reeds on my wooden calls from freezing. Life is easier now but would be willing to travel back for one more morning wearing patched up clothes in that blind.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

When I clean and wipe down the guns in my safe, I always do a snap shouldering as first lift a long gun out of the safe. That lift and tuck into the crease of my shoulder as my face nests onto the stock and my eye scans down the barrel is time travel. The weight, balance, fit, trigger location, safety type. Is unique to each gun.

I killed a lot of ducks and geese while pass shooting along the Central flyway as a kid. I first shot a 20 gauge single barrel shotgun then a 20 gauge side by side then by age 10 was using a field grade "20% blue left unworn" wobbly action 12 gauge Model 12. I liked now having 3 shells plus the pump action cared not if was blowing freezing rain or bluebird skies. At some point my father ended up with a Model 59 12 gauge semi-auto with the fiberglass barrel. I was always a better than average shot but that Model 59 "just fit perfectly" and would melt into nothingness in my arms as I swung on ducks or geese. At some point when I was away at college the Model 59 got traded for some reloading gear and supplies. A few times over the years I bump into a Model 59 at a gun store and pop it into position which takes me back to that skinny kid hunkered down in the river bottoms on a brisk sunrise with our black lab scanning the skies while trying to keep the reeds on my wooden calls from freezing. Life is easier now but would be willing to travel back for one more morning wearing patched up clothes in that blind.

I am the worst of the worst when it comes to wing shooting. Close far away they are so safe. Never could improve worth a damn.

When it comes to handguns, I am just awful with a Colt 1911, BUT give mt a Double action S and W revolver I become "not of this earth".

Same for rifle shooting, most especially with my two favorite rifles, nothing is safe, no huge scopes needed

Thanks for the cool story.