Are You a (Modern Traditionalist) MLer and Bow ONLY?

Breechplug · 10-28-2010, 04:53 PM

Im just Courious to see how many of you are True Traditionalist on this Forum. Do you Only Hunt with a Bow and Muzzleloader?
I do and am a Traditionalist. I gave up the Shotgun and Rifle years and years ago. I believe in the (One Shot one Kill) rule and it makes me feel better inside knowing I Harvested My Animal the way My Forefathers did.
OK,,,,,,I know My Compound Bow is No Recurve and My Inline MLer is no Smoothbore Frontstuffer so Please no Comments on how there really not Traditional.
To me taking a Deer at 400 yds that dont even know your there with a Rifle is just no challange, or blasting away 5 shots at one with a Shotgun as it runs away getting it one the last shot just is'nt the same.
I get Razzed all the time During Shotgun Season by My Buddies for using My MLer and only having One Shot, they say ya know your gonna wish you had your Shotgun and that next shot when that Big Buck steps out or runs by after you shoot that Big Doe.
Are there anyothers out there like me? or do you just ML Hunt to extend your Season? And I know there's many Bow Hunters who also Rifle, Shotgun and ML Hunt, but have any gave up the others to go just Traditional?

mountaineer magic · 10-28-2010, 05:03 PM

I hunt with a bow and muzzy only.My wife and kids shot their first deer with a muzzy. Then the wife bought a centerfire but went back to the muzzleloader. We'll see which one she uses this season

cayugad · 10-28-2010, 05:08 PM

I went to muzzleloaders because the center fire rifles lost some of the enjoyment I had hunting deer. Where I was living, deer were thick. We'd see 20-50 some days. 20 for sure.. They would cross the picked corn fields in front of us. We were sitting behind hay bales (small hay forts with a good dose of manure spread in front of them to hide our smell) of course on nice seats and the hay was our bench rest. You'd basically wait for the deer you wanted to enter the corn field and shoot it. I was shooting deer at some hard to believe distances with my 7mm mag Ruger M77. It got to the point where deer hunting was meat season. You'd go out and fill your three tags and go home.

Then I ran into a friend of mine that hunted with a muzzleloader. He invited me to his private range and we shot a CVA .58 caliber Mountain Rifle and a .58 caliber original Springfield 1861 rifle. I had a blast that day. It was not long after I bought my first .54 caliber Renegade kit.

The first year I hunted with that Renegade I almost got skunked. I had to break out a center fire and kill some deer on the last couple days because I had lost the range factor with that muzzleloader.

But I changed tactics and soon was harvesting them with a single shot muzzleloader. That's all I ever used after that. I will grab a 20 gauge shotgun sometimes for grouse, but often take a black powder shotgun. (Depends on how hungry I am for grouse) So I now hunt with mostly all black powder weapons.

Bow I had to give up. I injured my shoulder many years back and when I draw my compound it feels like someone is driving a nail through my shoulder blade. So I no longer bow hunt. I kind of miss that, as I liked sitting up in the trees, when it was warmer, and just looking into the woods.

frontstuffer01 · 10-28-2010, 05:27 PM

gave up the bow a few years back an now strickly use the muzzleloader for deer an the mler shotgun for some turkeys.....love that smoke.

Gm54-120 · 10-28-2010, 05:31 PM

Muzzleloader for all hunting unless it can fly really well or can hunt me.

oldsmellhound · 10-28-2010, 05:35 PM

Only muzzy's and bow for me. I enjoy them much more...

Semisane · 10-28-2010, 06:00 PM

I gave up the bow three years ago. Just lost interest in it.

Last season was ML only for me. Prior to that it was two weeks with the ML, then cartridge rifles for the rest of the season. I own four cartridge rifles, all single shots; a Browning B-78 25-06, a Browning 1885 45-70, a Savage M-40 .22 Hornet, and an ancient Winchester Model 67 .22 rimfire. All fun guns. But only the Hornet saw any action at all last year.

I'll probably be ML only this year. But who knows. I might get an itch to take one of the cartridge rifles for a hunt or two.

BigDaddy12t · 10-28-2010, 06:07 PM

Count me in, I actually traded my Shotgun for another Muzzle Loader last year. So its bow and Blackpowder only for me.

Breechplug · 10-28-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cayugad

I went to muzzleloaders because the center fire rifles lost some of the enjoyment I had hunting deer. Where I was living, deer were thick. We'd see 20-50 some days. 20 for sure.. They would cross the picked corn fields in front of us. We were sitting behind hay bales (small hay forts with a good dose of manure spread in front of them to hide our smell) of course on nice seats and the hay was our bench rest. You'd basically wait for the deer you wanted to enter the corn field and shoot it. I was shooting deer at some hard to believe distances with my 7mm mag Ruger M77. It got to the point where deer hunting was meat season. You'd go out and fill your three tags and go home.

Then I ran into a friend of mine that hunted with a muzzleloader. He invited me to his private range and we shot a CVA .58 caliber Mountain Rifle and a .58 caliber original Springfield 1861 rifle. I had a blast that day. It was not long after I bought my first .54 caliber Renegade kit.

The first year I hunted with that Renegade I almost got skunked. I had to break out a center fire and kill some deer on the last couple days because I had lost the range factor with that muzzleloader.

But I changed tactics and soon was harvesting them with a single shot muzzleloader. That's all I ever used after that. I will grab a 20 gauge shotgun sometimes for grouse, but often take a black powder shotgun. (Depends on how hungry I am for grouse) So I now hunt with mostly all black powder weapons.

Bow I had to give up. I injured my shoulder many years back and when I draw my compound it feels like someone is driving a nail through my shoulder blade. So I no longer bow hunt. I kind of miss that, as I liked sitting up in the trees, when it was warmer, and just looking into the woods.

I like your style Dave and know exactly where your comming from. I also have a Old Shoulder Injury wich I got Playing Ball in School years and years ago and it's now catching up on me. I did give up Competitive Shooting (Bow, IBO) as the Old Shoulder just cant take all the shooting, 7 days a week. If I just shoot it a few days here and there Im still good.
But My Bow is still set at 74lbs, and is 16 years old. I bought it new in 94 (Hoyt Super Slam Supreme) My Buddy Owned a Bow Shop and lived just down the road from me, I was there every day. We shot the IBO Triple Crown every year.....then he passed away at a early age, in his 40's, a Heart Attack on his way to his Hunting Stand on Opening Day. I still have the Bow and cant part with it as it's kinda like a part of him with me. I could turn it down a few pounds but for now Im still good.
But the both of us just Hunted Bow and ML only, it ment so much more to us to get our Deer that way.
Also I do go out during GUN Season with My Bow, it really puts a look on My Buddies Faces when I come in Dragging a Buck with My Bow when they come in empty handed and just give me that look.......I Love It!

TNHagies · 10-28-2010, 06:28 PM

My traditional (no pun intended) routine is bow hunt early in Oct. ML season I use sidelocks then 'rifle' season, I use scoped inlines. I gave up centerfires about 10 years ago. The only smokeless I shoot is sporting clays.