Ethical deer muzzleloader hunting
 

What is your ethical distance to shoot a deer with a in-line?
Taureau noir

im zero'd out to 200yards and according to the charts my bullet still has over 1000 ft lbs of energy, so id probably shoot out to about 225.

There is no right or wrong answer. Ethics are what each person decides is right. Some people could probably harvest deer at 300 yards with out any issue, others may be limited to under 100 yards. Ability has almost everything to do with effective range, the other part of the equation is equipment. Ethics, to me, is more about doing it by the law, not the range.

Problem with max distance with ML, is they tend to be inconsistent. I see guys sight thier gun in at 100 yards, go home and clean em, (I don't know why) and later wonder why after taking the gun apart, it now hits 2" low and 3" to the left. But in the same breath will say they can take 200 yard shots. Go figure.

200 yard ethical pokes are a rare one. I have killed out to 140 yards. But my confidense of hitting my POI was at least 95% or more. I sight my gun in, and I just swab it out. I take my gun back the next moring and find out the cold bore performance. I have even done this a few times. Most are not willing to find out thier cold one shot bore performance.

147 yards, three inches...

thats the problem with the break actions that are so popular now, they never go back together the same way twice...not all muzzleloaders are inconsistent.

The ethical distance you put on your muzzleloader shots, IMO should be in direct correlation to the caliber of the rifle, the projectile being used, the powder charge, the events you face in the shot, and the proficiency of the shooter.

For instance... we have a few shooters on the forum that practice out to distances of 200+ yards. And I mean they shoot a lot, and hit their targets. I think if you ask them they would be the first one to tell you that while they could make the shot at extreme distances, have faith in the rifle and load, in reality hope they would not have to. While this 200+ might be their ethical distance, they would also tell you that if the wind conditions, topography of the area, even the animal itself presents any distractions to their comfort level, their ethical distance has just shortened and the shot would not be made.

What bothers me is what I call the slob hunter. We all know one. They are the ... oh look a deer out there at 200 yards, and while they lack the skills to make that shot, blast away. They have no ethical distance. I stopped hunting with a person for that very reason. It was either stop hunting with him or stomp him into the ground. The shots he was taking were unethical, and he knew it.

I once made a shot at a whitetail deer at just an obscene distance. Estimated at over 400+ yards. This was done with a center fire rifle. The caliber was made for this (7mm mag). I had been practicing for elk hunting out west and at the request of my future guide had spent countless hours and cartridges practicing out to even 500 yards (but had no intention of shooting that far). Friends and I came upon a herd of doe, we had to fill a doe tag that year, and the deer were in the middle of a huge picked corn field. They all stood in that field looking at us in the woods on the edge of the field. My friends there were all unsure of what to do. I got my rest set up, and settled into the shot. I decided to aim for the head of the deer. Why... if I missed I would miss I figured. Not judging the distance correct, I fired and hit her lower then I thought. It was to the front of the throat under the jaw, broke her neck, severed her jugular vein, I mean she dropped. So after the shot was made, my friends were all back slapping, bragging me up, etc. I felt terrible after taking the shot. I knew I had made an unethical shot. I really had no right to attempt that. Even though I had practiced.

With a muzzleloader I limit my scoped shots to 125 yards. And have decided after this year to limit my open sight shots to 75 yards. That might sound far to close to some of you. But to me, I know without a doubt, I can make the shot at that distance if I have to.

As a long range shooter, and have owned probably 10 ML over the years, none of them, I mean none of them can shoot dead consistent if you unbed them.

I don't care if you unbed a rem700, the POI most likely will be off. Along with the bedding issues, you got the powder issues, like 777 being so hydroscopic and changing pOI over time.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of deriving my ethics from the law. There are plenty of unethical things that can be done within the law, and, conversely, plenty of ethical things that break the law.

I think i would disagree with most of what you have said here. I do not have these problems with the ML I choose to shoot but my self imposed max in the area of 200 yards...