RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

Muzzy, why blowing smoke is a blast!;) Range is better, the new gen are reliable and easier to care for. If legal the savage or other approved smokeless take it to the next degree. Follow ups, always viewed the first chance as the best chance the rest are "lead in the air hope in the heart":D!

I am biased though because our ML season is a full month before general gun season so the extension makes it really a no brainer here.

RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

A good inline with some work and practice will probably get you better accuracy and range, however they are a bit of a pain to shoot and clean. Also if you need a follow up shot it takes a bit longer.

Shotguns are much more user friendly. Easy to load, easy to clean (if using sabots). However unless you get lucky off the bat it may take some time and money to find something real accurate since you can't tailer the load to your gun. That is the main advantage of the muzzle loader, it's like handloading every shot.

It's a toss up really. If I can find a load my H&R ultra really likes I will probably use my muzzle loader very little in the future, just for the ease of use. At present time though my Remington 700 muzzle loader is much more accurate than my slug gun. Both are capable of taking deer out to 100 yards though.

Paul

RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

robm10093,

Does your hunting area allow handguns? The farm I hunt on is split by the county line, North side is shotgun only and south side is rifle. I carry a 7mm-08 Encore pistol with a 3-12X Burris ballplex and a Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag with iron sights.With practice the Encorepistol is just as accurate as the smoke pole for long rage shots, while the revolver is great forstalking on the way in and out of your stand.

J

RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

I have been using a shotgun for many season now, and as long as the deer are closer than 70 yards it works fine. I shoot a Win 1300 with a fully rifled barrel and it groups like crap past 70 yards!! Yes, a shotgun is much quicker than shooting a BP gun, but I have to say, the accuracy factor is with the in-line BP gun. Next season I'll be buying a T/C Encore BP gun with the 209X50 set-up for this very reason. Shotgun slugs in the Sabot rounds aren't getting any cheaper, and when patterning at the bench, only after a couple of boxes of Slugs, your shoulder is shot!!

RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

Muzzleloading's way more fun and not as crowded and hectic in the woods. I will never hunt deer with shotgun.

RE: shotgun or muzzleloading
 

How about a ML that will shoot 1" groups @ 100 yards, easily take game out to 300 yards and you only need to clean once a year after the season?