Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Slug Gun or Muzzleloader

Messy, smelly, awkward, hard to reload.....? I would not use any of those terms to describe my ML.

Fast handling, light, accurate, are more like it. It feels like a rifle, not a shotgun. Pointing a shotgun at something 100-200 yds away, well, now that would seem awkward to me. To each their own, I guess.

Shotguns are for shooting shot......

Great information from this thread. Thanks to all who posted! I appreciate everyone who provided first hand information and staying on topic. It is really helpful to hear from the crowd who live in shotgun-muzzleloader only areas.

I grew up in South Dakota where rifles are employed for things with four feet (plus turkeys) and rifles are for things with wings (including turkeys). Then I moved to Iowa - shotgun or muzzleloader or straight-walled pistol. I killed lots of whitetails with an Encore pistol in .454 Casull and .357 Maximum. Then I moved to SW Minnesota - same rules, except pistols can be chambered in anything for deer so long as the barrel length exceeds 4" and the projectile diameter is at least .220". I have since hunted deer with my Encore pistol chambered in .260 Rem with 17" barrel, both in MN and SD. Obviously the .260 Rem is a hell of a choice, especially when I can ring up the 8" steel disks at 300 yds with a decent rest. Moral of the story is this - does the area you intend to hunt permit pistol hunting? There are a few times I can think of that I would have rather had a shotgun than my Encore, but not many, and there are several deer that would have walked had I been using a shotgun, but instead they were tagged at 200+ yds with my pistol.

There are specific time periods here for both, so I get to use both.

we use ML's during our 7 day ML season and Rifles during Rifle season, different parts of the country different strokes, I could not justify a slug shotgun around here not even if they said you could hunt with one during the 7 day ML season. The follow up shot thing does not compute, who needs two shots?

Good point about more than one shot!

But the only time I got in a multiple-shot situation with EITHER a muzzleloader or slug gun was in Iowa, when I had to hunt down a buck somebody else had wounded with a .44 Magnum revolver. I had a 20-gauge T/C Contender carbine 20-gauge that shot Winchester sabots with 260-grain Nosler Partitions really well. The tracking was easy--too easy, since there was snow on the ground, and the buck was really cautious. Found him across a draw at a little over 200 yards, and in a stout cross-wind managed to break the hip on the same side as the broken front leg. That made it easier, but the buck still got around pretty well, and it took two more shots (the first a miss as he hobbled through the oak timber) before he went down for good.

I don't mind single-shots, whether muzzleloaders or cartridge, when doing my own hunting. Have killed Cape buffalo with one. But would have appreciated a pump-gun on that deal!

When I decided to just use the "modern ML" a number of years ago it was because I'd gotten bored with the slug gun. I killed plenty of deer with it, even some with a second shot. Funny though, since switching over I haven't needed a follow up shot due to a miss or bad shot. Lucky? Probably..........

Close to 30 deer with inlines, of that more than half with a NULA smokeless. The rest were with a Knight Disc and a T/C Encore. Killed a few with a flintlock, good old REAL black powder & patched round balls too.

This past year they finally legalized CF rifles in the county I hunt the most so my NULA won't get much face time anymore. Oh, I'll use it in PA for their early season if I/when go back and of course our late ML season here in NYS.

If I had too make a one or nothing choice, it'd be easy.........

I love my in-line but still pull out the Hawkins too

For me, it's traditional muzzleloader all the way. However, you really have to 'want' to use them because they are a different breed. Modern muzzeloaders are just the least inconvenient way to hunt the early season for folks who really have no desire to use a primitive weapon. I despise them. Slug guns simply don't interest me.



BS. If it uses substitute powders or pellets, shotgun primers, saboted jacketed bullets, optical sights and capable of 250yd shots, it's every bit a modern rifle.

Here we go so much for staying on topic

[/quote]BS. If it uses substitute powders or pellets, shotgun primers, saboted jacketed bullets, optical sights and capable of 250yd shots, it's every bit a modern rifle. [/quote]

pellets, substitute powders, shotgun primers, sabots,optical sights, etc have been around for over 20yrs.

that's not modern, that's old tech. Do you think a 20+yr old car is "new" or "modern"? Hawkens, and other side hammer guns are ancient tech.

I'll go along with the "more pleasant" part, and less people in the woods, but we get to hunt bugling bulls in CO during the rut, so I can't go along with "more relaxing."

I've hunted New York's southern tier for several decades. Started out with a shotgun that had the barrel rifled in 1980. Later, I switched to an inline. pros and cons both ways. Inlines were way more accurate, (80's & 90's) but only one shot. I wounded a buck once with the inline that I could have finished easily with a quick second shot from a shotgun. I took a large buck in '03 with an inline where I shot through a very small window with an inline. When NY made centerfire rifles legal, that's all I use now.
In PA, we have an early muzzleloader season that allows inlines, and a late muzzleloader season that is flintlock only with open sights.

I hate all these BS boutique seasons. There ought to be only 1 season - deer season. Use what you like.

There are so many reasons Man invented modern rifles.

there's a winner. Make all states the same. How would you do that?

It might be a bummer though, for states with big game other than deer......

And there are so many reasons men choose to hunt with primitive weapons. Spreads out hunting pressure, for one.

My father sayd the same thing. When Bow opens up October 1st in NY, it should be deer season, not bow season.

We have a long bow season in GA, a 7 day primitive weapons season, and then in October some time rifle until the end of the year in the Northern zone. In the southern zone season runs a week or so longer and you can hunt over bait. Figure the bait thing out for half the state while your contemplating things. You can go 1 foot north and be arrested for exactly what is legal 1 foot south and the reasoning is a patent fabrication and insult to intelligence.

Rather than wasting your time typing such a dumb response, why don't you turn on that dim bulb and try to figure out what is being said? Do I really have to write a book for you?

Only complaint I have about the internet is there are so many small minded pedants.

Predictable response. When you say something stupid, question the other guy's intelligence.

Let me break it down for you. There is no "one size fits all" approach that works everywhere. Some states are overloaded with deer and need every management tool available, including "boutique seasons." Lots of the areas with over-populated deer aren't suitable for hunting with centerfire rifles, or even shotguns. Some states like CO want to allow hunters to hunt elk during the rut, but don't want to allow centerfires (generally) since the animals are vulnerable and too many bulls would be killed. Also, with all the non-residents who want to hunt here, if we only had one season it would be so crowded that very few would enjoy the experience.

other than that, GFY.

I agree with Denton. I also find it interesting hearing how people in different parts of the country hunt, and with what weapons, terrain, distances etc. It is a very interesting thread in that sense. Being from the Northeast, and only having ever hunted in the Northeast, mostly in extremely thick cover has made a sluggun my preferred weapon in most cases, even where I can hunt with a rifle.

While I do hunt with rifles in New Yorkistan, and reload rifle and try to reload precisionwise, it's kinda a moot point seeing how most deer I've taken with a rifle I could have easily shot and killed with my bow & arrow.

I used to hunt a balsam swamp up off Yeagerville Road just below Peekamoose mountain in New Yorkistan, it was so thick with balsam and laurel you would have been lucky to get a shot at 40 yards. Fast pointing sluggun with slow moving slugs just seems a better option in places like that.

While there is some farmland in the areas I hunted in New Yorkistan, when I hear of wide open shots across fields, first thing I think of is that those kind of deer were removed from the gene pool back in the 60's-70's in the areas I hunt.

But it's all good and all interesting, and I do like all the different weapons, and sometimes just believe in using the right tool to get the job done.

But there is something about having a wary buck inside of 20 yards of you and have to draw the bow back and get the shot off with him unaware that really floats my boat.