MD,
I have great respect of your honesty about hunting with single shot rifles.
(Not to mention your record keeping and lessons learned)
I don't know what category I, personally, fall into; but I have hunted with single loaders off and on since I bought my first #1 in 1978.
Even tho' I have only a small percentage of the experiece of others in hunting and hunting success, I still enjoy it. Ironcically, I took my first big game animal with a T/C contender in .30-40 Krag in about '80 or '81. And since then only about a dozen whitetails; and only two of them with a sgl-shot. One with a #1 in .416 Rigby, and one with a T/C Encore muzzleloader.
As I get more mature... (And yes my birth year is prior to yours...
)
HOW I harvest a deer is far more important than
IF I take one.
Even tho' I have more than my share of high-tech Stainless, custom barreled, and McSwirley stocked bolt rifles, I find the gratifacation factor far higher if I hunt with a Ruger #1, an '03-A3 Sprg, or a Sav M-99. Especially if said rifle is equipped with a Peep sight or Low-powered scope with a post reticle... (No thanks to a certain unnamed gunscribe...
)
Thus; I believe this attitude is a product of maturity. A maturity garnered by the passing of years not necessarily by the time spent afield.
Soon I will take to the woods again. I think this years "opening day" rifle with be a Ruger #1-A (Cal: .270 Win) with an aged 3x Scopechief with a "Post" reticle. Aaaahhh, Simplicity at it's finest! And if I should happen to be successful, you are going to see a hunter with a smile a mile wide.
Grasshopper
