Montana 2021

[rooster440]

When is muzzle loader season?


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[hobbes]

When is muzzle loader season?


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11th to 19th. I may look for a buck or bull this weekend locally then do a short trip end of next week if that doesn't work out.

 

[hobbes]

Here's a couple black powder pistols that were my Dad's. It's been years since I've shot them. The dark one is a 44 and I'm pretty sure the lighter one is a 36 caliber. The smaller one doesn't list caliber, but I can mic the bore to verify. Very quick research says use a .375 ball in the old 36. There are some .375 balls in the box so that's probably a good bet.

 

[hobbes]

I did a little research on the .36 cal. It's a replica of an 1862 Spiller & Burr, made by Pietta. It was a Confederate revolver. The brass was used due to a lack of steel.

Some history:

An Official Journal Of The NRA | A Look Back at the Spiller & Burr Revolver

Take a look back at the Spiller & Burr Revolver, which was patterned after the northern Whitney Navy revolver.

www.americanrifleman.org

I believe the .44 cal is a replica of an 1858 Remington Steel Army, maybe made by Pietta also. It was a Union revolver made after Colt's patent ran out in 1857. Here is some history on it:

Remington Model 1858

The Remington-Beals Model Revolvers along with subsequent models and variations was a percussion revolver manufactured by Eliphalet Remington & Sons in .31 (Pocket) .36 (Navy) or .44 (Army) caliber, used during the American Civil War, and was the beginning of a successful line of medium and...

military-history.fandom.com

 

[hobbes]

I shot the TC Renegade 50 cal this evening.



I really needed a better target for the iron sights

I learned iron sights when I was a kid. I can recall dad drawing us pictures of what our sight picture should look like with the first BB gun I had.

It took some getting used to the iron sights on the Renegade The rear sight has a little different shape than I recalled, so there was some trial and error on how high I wanted to place the front sight in the groove. My preference is to set the ball shape on top of the front sight a little higher between the groove so I can see more of the target. I settled on a way to keep it repeatable and also settled on 70 grains of Triple 7. I had a couple shots with 90 grains not even hit the target at 100 yards. It was getting late, so could have just been me. The group got wider with more powder. Here is one of the targets:
Red are three rounds at 50 yards with 80 grains (I was still experimenting with sight picture). The blue are two in a row with 70 grains after I decided how I preferred the sight picture. I then moved to 100 yards again and shot once more the one green dot was the last shot. I may consider adjusting the sight to bring it down some, but I don't mind it hitting a little high so I can view more of the animal. Maybe some day I'll change to a peep sight.




Elkhorn Mountains on my way home.


I'll shoot once more this week. I'm not swimming in components, so I can't get carried away. I should have bought more bullets because Sportsman's is out now. I suspect there are a lot of new muzzleloader guys in MT this week.

 

[hobbes]

I just glassed a decent number of elk that I'll try to get to tomorrow. It looked like there were some bulls in the group but it was last light and fairly far. If they've been there all week, it's unlikely I'm the only on that has seen them. I have no idea what to expect as far as hunter numbers go. If it looks like a shit show in the morning, I'll back out of the mix.

 

[hobbes]

There seems to be a common theme with my hunting this year.

 

[hobbes]

The post above probably makes it clear that yesterday's elk hunt didn't pan out like I'd hoped. I mostly got myself into cliffy Boulder strewn country that I had no business in. It wouldn't have seemed as treacherous if the wind hadn't been a steady 25 to 30 with higher gusts.

I didn't take many photos. I was mostly trying not to fall and break my neck or anything else.


My what the hell am I doing here look.


I'm heading out Wednesday evening with a buddy for a combo hunt. It was supposed to be a goose and pheasant hunt. However, while he hunts geese for the first couple days with a local, I'm going to look for a buck with the muzzleloader. We'll pheasant hunt the last two and a half days, driving home on Monday. That's likely to finish me up for 2021 because I've stretched my days off from work to the max.

 

[hobbes]

Hunt plans this weekend have already changed. It's standard procedure for my buddy to over analyze every possibility about weather, and drive time, and things that need done, and where everyone in the family is, how the stars align, how much season is left, can we drive a shorter distance and still kill birds, and on and on.........you get the picture. If he wasn't a friend, I'd strangle him. The hunts usually go fine, but getting one scheduled is like beating my head against the wall. He's also a college football fan (I'm not much of a football fan) and Montana State won last Saturday so they play at home this Saturday.

Unless I change my mind, I'm driving somewhere Thursday evening and hunting Friday, Saturday, Sunday for a buck. I have noticed that some block management areas show that they are not allowing folks to hunt the muzzleloader season, so that cuts out some places that I'd considered.

 

[rooster440]

Go solo! Looking forward to hearing about your hunt!


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[hobbes]

I won't be able to claim it's too warm.

 

[hobbes]

Pile of mostly clothing. Cold weather takes up a lot of space. My pack is already in my truck. It almost stays there from September on. The old frame pack isn't used often but I carry it in case I end up where the sled won't work. The shooting sticks are two 48" 5/8 diameter dowels with a bolt through them. I've made several of these and left them in several locations never to be seen again.


I hate to not take a bird dog, but it's going to be too cold to leave one in a crate for too long in the bed of my truck while I deer hunt. He'd probably be fine, but it ties me to revisiting the truck too often and always worrying about him. It's also not fair to the dog.

 

[hobbes]

It's cold, 7 degrees, and snowing. I'm on my way to glass/hunt in mule deer country.

A big whitetail buck just crossed the road in front of me with his nose on the ground oblivious to everything. I pulled up OnX but no public or BM along the drainage he's following.

He's not a giant but a good mature buck that I'd be glad to kill. Maybe I'll find another buck.

 

[hobbes]

Started off okay besides cold.


Snow picked up along with the wind and visibility went to crap.






I've seen three groups of mule deer; 3 does, 2 does, and and two bucks with three does. The two bucks were smaller.

 

[hobbes]

The sun came out for a little while this afternoon. I saw three bucks together that were off limits. One was close to a shooter but I didn't look close. I saw another little buck with a group of 8 does.
It's -2 degrees right now.

 

[Geewhiz]

Keep at it man I'm rooting for you.

 

[Mt Al]

Great report, keep them pics and updates coming! May opt for a muzzle loader next year...

 

[hobbes]

It's a bit nipply this morning. I'm not sure that I'll be able to sit and glass for very long. Supposed to be 10 mph wind but I've found that it's typically 5 mph or so more once out of town. Supposed to get to 18 degrees. That'll feel warm.

 

[BadDogPSD]

Good luck!

 

[hobbes]

I've not found a buck yet and really not seen a lot of deer. I was just checked by a game warden. He looked at my licenses and verified that I had the proper muzzleloader. He was a nice guy and pointed out an area that he thought I may be able to find a buck. He also said hunter numbers were really up this year in this region. He'd ran into hunters in places that he usually hunted without company. It sounds like it was a tough season for everyone.

It's only made it to 10 degrees so far. The wind is fairly steady, 10 mph or so. Damn that's cold when you sit still for long. I'm glassing some big areas from the truck right now. It's just so dang cold. If I don't find deer soon, I may go check out the area that the GW mentioned for the rest of the day.







Does through the spotter. There was around six or seven and they'd just charged a golden eagle that tried to land on the point just above them. I'd never seen that before.