Tips for the beginning muzzleloader
To successfully deer hunt with your CVA muzzleloader, you must know the game better and be more conscious of the wind than you are when you hunt with a conventional rifle. When you pick up your CVA rifle, you’ve made the decision to hunt white-tailed deer the way your forefathers did. Here are some tips for muzzleloading beginners.
Know Your Equipment
Hunting deer with black powder means you may have to carry more accessories in your pouch than you do when hunting with a modern deer rifle. The blackpowder shooter may have to take with him patch lube, solvent, powder, balls, patches, a ramrod, cleaning jags and a ball-pulling worm in case a patch gets stuck.
Understand the Limitations of Some Muzzleloaders
The reason your effective range changes when you use a muzzleloader instead of conventional weapons is because your ability to sight through an open sight is much-less accurate than your ability to sight through a telescopic sight. The effective range of a blackpowder rifle generally is determined more by the hunter’s ability to see and sight-in rather than the rifle’s ability to perform at greater distances. But today more hunters are opting to put riflescopes on their muzzleloaders, and more states will permit riflescopes on muzzleloaders. Make sure you know the regulations about using scopes in the state where you’ll be hunting. Check-out www.durasight.com to learn about DuraSight scope rings and bases for mounting scopes.
Remember, You Have One Shot
Making the mental conversion from a five-shot hunt to a one-shot hunt often is difficult for many hunters. Often due to the multiple-shot concept, a hunter will take whatever shot is presented to him as soon as it’s offered, feeling that if he doesn’t bag the deer with the first bullet, he still has a chance to down his buck. However, when using a muzzleloader, the muzzleloading hunter must wait for that one shot. Although he can see the deer, if the deer doesn’t present a good killing shot, then the blackpowder hunter can’t shoot and may have to watch his trophy walk off.
Scout During the Pre-Season
Pre-season scouting is much-more critical to the success of the CVA muzzleloading hunter than it is to the conventional-weapon hunter. Not only does the primitive-weapon hunter have to find an area homing a deer, he usually must have that deer within 50 yards to take the animal.
Learn What to Do after the First Shot
When a hunter cleans his rifle and reloads, no matter how clean he is, and how much scent disguise he uses, his clothing and body still will absorb some of that blackpowder smell. He also has another problem – what to do with the patch he uses to clean his rifle. Of course blackpowder shooters don’t want to litter the forest with patches. Some hunters use only as little cleaning solvent and patch lube as possible. Then after cleaning their muzzleloaders, they suggest you take off your boot and sock, place the patch inside and then put the sock and boot back on your foot. You also can wear some kind of scent pad on the sole of your boot to keep the odor in the cleaning patch from moving into the air where the deer can smell it. Or, a better method is to carry a Zip-Loc bag in your hunting coat and place the used patch in it.
Go Deep and Hunt Responsibly
The smart CVA muzzleloading hunter will travel deep into the woods to hunt. He will search for undisturbed deer and hunt lands few other hunters ever see, just like America’s early frontiersmen did. As a conservationist and a deer manager, a responsible blackpowder hunter will harvest an unantlered deer in the areas and the states where needed and permitted, since the sport of muzzleloading requires skill and patience to take any deer.
Hello my name is matt. i am a 15 year old from stowe and i am new to muzzleloading. is there any tips you could give to a beginner.
Take your time and wait for a good shot, if you do this you’ll get your deer. I use 295 gr. aero tip from Powerbelt w/ 100gr of powder. My hunting buddies and I all use this load, we have all harvested deer this season. Our muzzleloader season opened up yesterday on the 4th. My buddy shot a nice doe went 40 yards, I’ve shot two this year so far, both of them combined didn’t go that far. So that load with a well placed shot, you should be fine. Good luck
Matt,
Although I am much older then yourself, I started using a cva Buckhorn muzzle loader about three years ago during our Iowa shotgun season. I have bagged eight deer with this firearm and must say I am hooked. I use a cheap but effective scope and 100 grains of powder even though the gun is rated for 150 grains. I’m 100% with this tool since I began using it and even bagged my first wall trophy two years ago. I’ve gone from being an avid shotgunner to a very satisfied muzzleloader hunter. Keep the firearm clean and you will really enjoy it.
i bought a kodiak pro .50 last year and am having a heck of a time finding an accurate load combination. after about $100 worth of powder and bullets it’s starting to get a little frustrating. any suggestions.
PLEASE!
Having guided in Colorado for several years, I developed a new found respect for muzzleloader, and archery, hunters. I was raised with a single shot shotgun and rifle. My father was adamant about the first shot was the only shot. I raised my son with the same philosophy. Guiding, I saw some very unethical shooting habits, which were beyond my control for one reason or another. I only saw that in rifle hunters. I never met an unethical muzzleloader, or archery hunter. They never took questionable shots, and always made one shot kills.
Out of all the comments that I have read, I have not seen the most important tip of a good muzzleloader hunt….in my opinion, the most important tip is not where you hunt, which brand or caliber muzzleloader, or even which load is the best combination, the most important tip for muzzleloader hunting is SAFTEY!!! I have all too often seen people loading a muzzleloader and have their head over the muzzle of the rifle, that would absolutely make for a bad day of hunting. After that first shot is fired, as all of us who have shot muzzleloaders know, loading that second round can prove to be difficult to seat the bullet. Position the rifle so that your head (or for that matter any unnecessary part of your or anyone elses body) is not in line with the muzzle, if it is too hard to push the round down the bore, if possible (depends on design of muzzleloader), pull the breach plug and swab the bore with a patch or brush, then coat the bore with a thin coat of bore butter or equivelent. Also in reguards to Mr. Strickland, when zeroing your scope at the range, its a pain to do, but clean the bore after every shot, a clean bore after every shot will have the exact results (or close to) as a cold bore shot, also try using 250gr shockwave sabots with 100gr (2 pellets) of triple 7 powder, and be absolutely sure your scope is a “muzzleloader” scope…there is a difference between a regular rifle scope and a muzzle loader scope. I hope all this helps anyone that is new to the sport and I wish you all a good hunt!!
Rob: Great points. However, I would differ with your opinion on “muzzleloader scopes.” Any high quality scope designed for center-fire rifles will work fine on a muzzleloader. Best regards, Dudley
I have always wondered if I was using enough powder using 100grs and shooting a 250 sabot.
After reading the comments in the other post I feel alot better in my load.
Jim: Yep, 100 is plenty under most circumstances. I only shoot 150 if I am shooting at very long range — 150 and beyond. Also, I use the PowerBelt AeroLite, as it is designed for 100 grain velocities. Dudley
i use a cva optima with a bushnell scope and killed a doe yesterday with it love to hunt late season when it seem i have the woods to myself, killed her at 150 yards with a 295 grain bullet and 100 powder, i use 50/50 pellets does anyone think that regular lose powder is better because i would like to try it if its worth the money
Brian: If you shot a deer at 150 yards I am not sure that I’d recommend you change anything! Either pellets or most loose powders will work fine in your CVA muzzleloader. There is one very popular powder called Blackhorn that does not ignite quite as easily as Pyrodex or real black powder. For Blackhorn we have a special breech plug for it — which you can order at cva.com or by calling 770-449-4687. Another benefit of loose powder is that it is LESS expensive than pelletized powder. So, from that perspective, it is indeed “worth the money.” Best regards, Dudley