Interest in muzzleloader hunting grows across Missouri

Interest in hunting deer with a muzzleloader is growing in Missouri. Interest will be shown as the Alternative methods portion of deer season opens Saturday, Dec. 21 and runs thru Dec. 31.

Several years ago, I visited with some muzzleloader enthusiasts at a weekend "Rendezvous." The group of muzzleloaders were set up in one pole lodges, they were throwing tomahawks and acted as time had stopped in the 1850's.

At these gatherings, participants dress in the style of mountain men and prairie women of a similar era. Most of the muzzleloaders have a love of history and nature. The rendezvous gives them a chance to act out that love.

Muzzleloading is much more than hunting. Part of the muzzleloaders lifestyle includes no-match fires, trail walks and sewing of period clothing( as authentic as possible.)

Vintage weapons are at the center of these gatherings, including flintlocks used from the 1600s throughout the early 1800s. Percussion model muzzleloaders followed around 1820.

While deer hunting with a muzzleloader, a single shot is all you get, so it had better be a good one. Reloading and firing a second shot at a fast moving whitetail is theoretically possible, but not likely. Reloading time is between 30 seconds and a minute, but usually hunters never really think about getting a second shot.

Most hunters that use a muzzleloader are pretty good shots, in a large part because they practice a lot. At the rendezvous, they have shooting competitions that help them shoot well. By the time the deer season rolls around, most muzzleloaders have shot their guns a lot unlike the average rifle hunter who goes out a few days before the season opens to sight in their rifle.

During the special deer hunt, muzzleloaders must forgo their clothing favored by pioneers, instead they wear blaze orange caps and jackets. They are looking not just for shots at a deer, but looking for very good shots and make that one count.

Shelby Nold, a muzzleloader from Fair Play, will be one of the hunters after a deer when the season opens Saturday. Noal started hunting with a muzzleloader when he was a youngster. His father started him hunting quail, pheasants and other game. When a friend, who was a muzzleloader introduced him to the art of hunting with a muzzleloader. That was the beginning of Nolds adventures of hunting with a different type of firearm. Today, Nold doesn't even own a center fire rifle. Over the past 20 plus years, Noel has taken a lot of deer with his muzzleloader as well as with a bow. He also takes turkeys with his muzzleloading shotgun. For deer, Nold uses a Thompson 50 caliber Renegade and a Thompson Treehawk 12 gauge shotgun.

Nold said, " I like the open sights and the challenge of hunting with a bow and a muzzleloader. For someone just starting out hunting with a muzzleloader, I would recommend they find someone who knows what they are doing. Once you get started it becomes an addiction. The challenge of getting a deer with a vantage weapon will keep you coming back every season."

The accuracy of todays muzzleloader is like that of a center-fire rifle. Missouri muzzleloader deer hunters have taken more than 15,000 whitetails in recent seasons.

The Muzzleloader season is now the Alternative Methods portion of the deer season which includes air-powered guns, 40 caliber or larger, charged only from an external high-compression power source. Crossbows, along with compound bows, longbows or recurve bows of any draw weight, hand-held string-releasing devices, illuminated sights, scopes and quickpoint sights are allowed. Also allowed are centerfire revolvers or pistols using expanding-type bullets. Legal ammunition includes lead , copper bullets and bullets made of other material designed to expand. Muzzleloader methods include cap-and-ball firearms, 40 caliber or larger, capable of firing only a single projectile at one discharge. Cap and ball handguns, 40 caliber are allowed and may be carried in addition to a muzzleloading rifle.Atlati, which is defined as a rod or narrow board-like device launched thru a throwing motion a dart 5 to 8 feet long.

The firearm deer seasons will end with the weekend youth hunt on Jan. 3-4, 2014. The archery season will continue thru Jan. 15, 2014.