Originally published Nov. 30, 2024.
The comment most often heard during November in Maine’s most popular gathering spots for sportsmen is: Have you got your deer yet?
Of big and small game, upland birds and waterfowl, no animal attracts more hunter attention than deer all across the United States. Many outdoorsmen plan annual hunts and traditional outings to deer camp in Maine a full year in advance.
The challenge, comradery of friends and companionship of family generations all play roles in these autumn adventures. It’s these traditions that are leading sportsmen to try an alternative style of shooting to prolong their season.
Muzzleloader hunters get at least one extra week, two in many zones, to put sights on the whitetail that eluded them during the regular firearms 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, wheellock 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 for a wartime battle.
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.
Choose 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 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, which is a single-use polymer casing resembling a shotgun shell that 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 the moisture that can lead to misfires in some muzzleloaders. Like the user-friendly, dependable and deadly compound bows of today that outshine traditional archery longbows, muzzleloading rifles are modern wonders that improve the sport of deer hunting with their updated technology.
Aside from the user-friendly equipment and the chance to hunt a few more days, muzzleloader season has other advantages. With fewer hunters in the woods, the pressure on the whitetails is reduced, making them less skittish. There’s also a higher likelihood of snow to yield fresh signs and the option to track a big buck. If you’re lucky enough to get a shot, the snow makes it easier to track 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 their behavior. Lack of heavy snow, frozen ground and frigid weather make it easier to reach prime deer cover and for the sportsman to give chase.
There is a small cadre of traditionalists who hunt all season with replicas of the original black powder hammer guns. Some 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 muzzleloaders and want to take advantage of this short season, it’s possible to purchase most muzzleloaders and components with no 72-hour waiting period. Purchase it in the morning and familiarize yourself with the fairly straightforward loading and safe-handling process, then sight in your new whitetail gun and be hunting by afternoon.
Any option that allows a sportsman extra days outdoors is a gift, especially during deer season.
