They …

* hunt places where no big bucks live.

* do little or no scouting or planning to take a trophy buck. If you hunt 4 days, then spend at least 2 days or up to 80 percent of your time scouting before you climb in your tree stand.

* hunt with a bad wind. If the wind blows your scent in the direction of the deer, most of the time, you won’t get the deer you’re hunting. If the wind changes, move out of the area as quickly as possible.

* don’t control odor and may leave their scent. They need to use a clothes deodorizer, wear high-topped rubber boots, avoid touching anything or anybody when they go to the woods and not have contact with people who smoke.

* don’t approach their stands silently and slowly.

* make noise getting into their stands. Instead, they should always assume a nearby buck may hear them.

* don’t know when to use grunt calls. If they hear deer, see deer moving away or spot a deer moving under their stands, they should grunt to the buck to call him in or try to stop him from leaving.

* over-hunt or under-hunt a stand. They never should hunt the same stand on two consecutive days.  But they also can under-hunt a stand. Because some hunters spend as little time as possible in their stands, they often won’t be there when the bucks do show-up.

* travel too far moving to their morning stands. Before daylight is when the chance of a buck’s seeing or hearing hunters is the greatest. Hunters should make sure they can hunt morning stands as close as possible to their vehicles.

* don’t practice like they plan to hunt. Most of the shots they’ll get from tree stands with their CVA rifles won’t be straight out in front of them with their feet level. They may have shots off to the side or behind their stands. To bag the big bucks they’ve spent all these hours hunting, they need to practice shooting under hunting conditions, which includes shooting their blackpowder guns at odd angles.

Question: Tony, you mentioned earlier that two of the biggest differences between hunting in the East and the West are that you may have to shoot at long ranges, and you have to deal with thinner air, which will change the ballistic coefficient of your bullet. Once you’ve sighted-in your rifle in the East, how do you know where the bullet will hit while shooting in the West?

Smotherman: I use a Bullet Drop Compensating (BDC) reticle on my CVA rifle to view my sight-in spot at different ranges. Then I make a chart that tells me how-much bullet drop I have at different ranges with the load I shoot. I print-out that chart and cover it with clear packaging tape to waterproof it, and I tape that ballistic chart to my rifle stock. Having this reference on my stock enables me to range an animal and, based on the chart, know exactly where I need to aim. When I hunt in the West, I use the Leupold UltimateSlam riflescope with its BDC reticle on my CVA rifle, because I may have to take a long shot.

Question: How accurate is your BDC reticle, once it’s set?

Smotherman: Generally, most BDC reticles are set-up for 150 grains of powder and a 250-grain bullet, which is the most-common load for muzzleloading hunters. But, I use a 300-grain bullet with 150 grains of powder. So, the BDC reticle doesn’t match-up to the load I use. I have to shoot a lot before I go hunting out West to better understand how those dots in the scope translate to the charge I’m shooting. When making my chart, I make sure I know the hold-over and the hold-under, as it relates to my particular gun and those BDC reticle dots. Taking a ballistic chart when I’m hunting out West is important, because when I see a big bull elk, a monstrous mule deer or a long-pronged antelope, usually I’m much further-away from that animal than I will be from a white-tailed deer. Therefore, I have time to check my ballistic chart before I take the shot. When I range this animal and prepare to take the shot, I don’t have to guess at what dot in the scope I should shoot, or how much hold-over I need, if I need any. That information is right on my stock in black and white.

Editor’s Note: CVA Pro Tony Smotherman of Tennessee, nationally-known hunter and TV personality, has been shooting black powder exclusively for several years. He travels all over the United States hunting a wide variety of big game.

Question: Tony, what’s the most-difficult species to take with muzzleloader rifle?

Smotherman: I’ll say that elk, black bear and antelope are the toughest to take, because most western big game more than likely will have to be taken at long ranges. Most eastern hunters believe that a 100-yard shot is the maximum range for a muzzleloader rifle, although a number of hunters have learned that a 200-yard shot with a muzzleloader rifle is possible. I sight-in my rifle out to 300 yards. When you use 300-grain bullets and a magnum charge of 150 grains of powder, even if you take your shot out to 250 yards, you’ll still have enough kinetic energy to effectively harvest game at that range, as long as your displacement is perfect. The only way to shoot a perfect 250-yard shot is to spend time at the rifle range shooting a magnum charge of powder and a 300-grain bullet at ranges from 50 to 250 yards. Remember that your effective range isn’t dependent on how hard you hit the animal, but rather where you place the bullet. Accuracy is far-more important than knock-down power when you’re hunting in the West. I’ve shot elk and mule deer before at more than 200 yards with a muzzleloader rifle. I’ve learned that at 300 yards, my rifle loaded with 150 grains of powder and a 300-grain bullet will drop 30 inches.

Another critical ingredient you have to factor-in when shooting long distances is elevation, which makes a tremendous difference in the amount of bullet drop. In Tennessee, where I live, our air is thicker and more dense than the air in the West. Therefore, the bullet drops more when shooting in the East than it does when shooting at elevations in the West. So, even though I sight-in my muzzleloader rifle and know exactly what it will do in the East, before I go hunting in the West, I re-sight-in my rifle. I’ve found that the flight of my projectile (bullet) is very different at an elevation of 650 feet (which is what my elevation is here in Tennessee) than it is at elevations of 5,000 or 6,000 feet in states like Wyoming or Colorado. But whether I’m shooting in the East or the West, the CVA rifles are still extremely accurate at ranges from 200 to 300 yards.

Question: What about kinetic energy?

Smotherman: One of the advantages of shooting

Editor’s Note: CVA Pro Tony Smotherman of Tennessee, nationally-known hunter and TV personality, has been shooting black powder exclusively for several years. He travels all over the United States hunting a wide variety of big game.

Question: Tony, what’s the most-difficult species to take with black powder?

Smotherman: I’ll say that elk, black bear and antelope are the toughest to take, because most western big game more than likely will have to be taken at long ranges. Most eastern hunters believe that a 100-yard shot is the maximum range for a blackpowder rifle, although a number of hunters have learned that a 200-yard shot with a muzzleloader rifle is possible. I sight-in my rifle out to 300 yards. When you use 300-grain bullets and a magnum charge of 150 grains of powder, even if you take your shot out to 250 yards, you’ll still have enough kinetic energy to effectively harvest game at that range, as long as your displacement is perfect. The only way to shoot a perfect 250-yard shot is to spend time at the rifle range shooting a magnum charge of powder and a 300-grain bullet at ranges from 50 to 250 yards. Remember that your effective range isn’t dependent on how hard you hit the animal, but rather where you place the bullet. Accuracy is far-more important than knock-down power when you’re hunting in the West. I’ve shot elk and mule deer before at more than 200 yards with a blackpowder rifle. I’ve learned that at 300 yards, my rifle loaded with 150 grains of powder and a 300-grain bullet will drop 30 inches.

Another critical ingredient you have to factor-in when shooting long distances is elevation, which makes a tremendous difference in the amount of bullet drop. In Tennessee, where I live, our air is thicker and more dense than the air in the West. Therefore, the bullet drops more when shooting in the East than it does when shooting at elevations in the West. So, even though I sight-in my muzzleloader rifle and know exactly what it will do in the East, before I go hunting in the West, I re-sight-in my rifle. I’ve found that the flight of my projectile (bullet) is very different at an elevation of 650 feet (which is what my elevation is here in Tennessee) than it is at elevations of 5,000 or 6,000 feet in states like Wyoming or Colorado. But whether I’m shooting in the East or the West, the CVA rifles are still extremely accurate at ranges from 200 to 300 yards.

Question: What about kinetic energy?

Smotherman: One of the advantages of shooting blackpowder rifles and big bullets is that they hold their kinetic energy much better than smaller bullets. I need at least 900-foot-pounds of energy to effectively harvest a big-game animal at that minimum standard of 250 to 300 yards. Once again, an effective range depends more on shot placement than on foot pounds of energy. That 900-foot-pounds of energy may not be enough to put-down a big-game animal, if that animal, isn’t hit in the right spot. The determining factor of the effective range of your rifle depends on your understanding of the limitations of your gun and your ability to put the bullet where it needs to be to make a lethal hit. I try to shoot at ranges from 200 to 300 yards at least 30 times before I go on a big-game hunt.

rifles and big bullets is that they hold their kinetic energy much better than smaller bullets. I need at least 900-foot-pounds of energy to effectively harvest a big-game animal at that minimum standard of 250 to 300 yards. Once again, an effective range depends more on shot placement than on foot pounds of energy. That 900-foot-pounds of energy may not be enough to put-down a big-game animal, if that animal, isn’t hit in the right spot. The determining factor of the effective range of your rifle depends on your understanding of the limitations of your gun and your ability to put the bullet where it needs to be to make a lethal hit. I try to shoot at ranges from 200 to 300 yards at least 30 times before I go on a big-game hunt.

Question: Mark, when I go to sight-in my muzzleloader rifle at the rifle range, what do I need to do to make my rifle shoot, if it’s not shooting?

Hendricks: There may be a number of reasons why your rifle isn’t shooting. Before you load your rifle, pull-out your breech plug to make sure you don’t have a load still in there from last season. Even better, before you go to the range, take-out the breech plug, and make sure the barrel is clean and clear. Then, shoot two or three primer caps before loading live ammo inside the rifle. The primer caps will dry-out the breech and remove any condensation that may have formed and any oil or solvent left from the last time you cleaned it that may have settled-down into the breech-plug area. The caps also will get rid of any cobwebs or dust bunnies that may have settled between the cap and the barrel. This procedure generally will take care of most of the problems that are causing your rifle not to shoot.

However, if after you fire a few caps, and your gun still isn’t firing, pull your breech plug again, and push your load out the back of the barrel with your CVA Range and Cleaning Rod to clear the barrel. Take a good look at your breech plug, and make sure the little flash hole that goes through the breech plug to ignite the powder is clear. If it’s not clear, and you can’t see all the way through the hole, take a little piece of wire or a CVA nipple pick to clean-out that hole. I use old guitar strings, because I always seem to have an abundance of them at any given time. Any small wire you can push through that hole to clean it will work.

Question: What else can I do to make my gun shoot, if it’s not shooting?

Hendricks: If your percussion cap’s not going-off when you fire your rifle, you may have a problem in the firing mechanism or bad caps; although caps rarely go bad. Next, make sure your firing pin is working properly. Open the gun (break-open the barrel), pull the trigger back with your finger, and push the hammer forward with your thumb. You should see the firing pin sticking-out in front of the breech face about 1/16-inch. If your firing pin is corroded or jammed, take the barrel off the gun, unscrew the bushing that holds the firing pin in place, take-out the firing pin, and clean it. The bushing is clearly visible on the front of the breech face. Use a thin-bladed screwdriver that fits that slot to unscrew the bushing and the firing pin. The spring should come-out after the bushing is unscrewed. If the firing pin is corroded, you may need to use a little punch to push the firing pin out of the back. Once you get the firing pin and the spring out, use Q-tips with some solvent on them to clean the spring and some steel wool to clean the firing pin. If the firing pin and the spring are too corroded for you to clean, purchase a new firing pin and spring from CVA. But if you can clean the firing pin and the spring, you can put them back into the gun. They should continue to work properly, until you can get a replacement. If you don’t want to go through all that trouble, or you still can’t get the gun to fire, send the gun directly to CVA to have it serviced by our gun experts. If anyone needed  help with their CVA muzzleloader please download a repair form from the cva.com and send your rifle to the address on the repair form. As of right our repair turnaround time frame for most repairs is approximately 3 weeks. If you wait until a week before deer season starts or during deer season, CVA will need several weeks before we can return the gun to you. By starting early, we can help solve any problem you may have with your gun more quickly.