RE: Early or Late Muzzleloader??
I hunt both ML seasons...
Both seasons I hunt from the same stand for different reasons...
Early - Hunt next to several White oak trees and our food plot (clover and Biologic). This gives me the chance to at least take a doe and get some good freezer meat. It also tends to have many other critters running through it (yotes, coons, skunk, fox, etc.) to give me some other targets.
Late - Hunt the same field for the food plot, the rut is past and those Bucks are starvin' This has historically been a very productive area (next to rut hunts) for big bucks.
Good luck!