AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Martin S. on October 24, 2024, 07:06:27 AM
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It is supposed to rain opening weekend. All weekend, a few days before, and a few days after. We need the rain bad, so I can't complain.
I was going to hunt with a flintlock, but now I am considering using a percussion rifle instead.
I know about cow's knees, but don't have one. I guess I could make one, but it is supposed to be drizzling all day, and high humidity, so I think the humidity might ruin the powder in my pan as well.
Also, will a wet flint on a wet frizzen make a spark? It is going to get wet when I take the cow's knee off, if I see a deer coming.
I have killed deer with cap locks before, several times, but never a flintlock. I want to kill one with a flintlock, to prove to myself that I can. I see lots of people have done that on this site, and I want to be part of that group. I don't want to lose a chance at a deer, when I need meat for the freezer and limited days to hunt. When I retire, I'll have more days to hunt, but not while I am still working.
Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.
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hunt from a popup blind till rain stops
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I just use my coat tail or rain suit to cover my lock. Check your primer occasionally and replace as necessary. Pick your touch hole if you need to. If its raining to hard, go to the truck!
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Yes, a wet frizzen and wet flint will still spark well.
I have sat in a tree stand in the rain deer hunting and it was a pretty nice experience. It wasn’t a hard rain at all, just light and sporadic. I kept the muzzle down, the lock under my armpit and reprimed every ten minutes or so. No deer showed up, and I discharged my gun at the end of the morning.
I was also in a club shoot on a very rainy morning. We loaded under a pop- up but walked aimed and fired in the rain. I remember messing up a good group when I caught myself chuckling as I watched the rain drops splattering on my barrel flats as I pulled my trigger 🤣
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I use an oiled canvas slip on cover. It covers the whole barrel and the lock. Slips on easy and is very easy to use. It's sold by Curt Lyles who is a blacksmith, but I could not find his website. He's on LinkedIn and Instagram but I don't play with those sites. He is a member here so you could probably PM him. Good luck.
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You can make some pan grease to help seal out any rain but blood trails tend to wash away in the rain.
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My boss before I retired called rainy days during deer season prime time for what he called “ deer season diarrhea “. He knew I would take all the dirty jobs to buy a little forgiveness for disappearing on a rainy day when the bucks were out. Any rainproof cover that doesn’t make noise works. In fact I have even resorted to spraying the side and sleeve of an old sweatshirt with silicone to turn the water, and then just kept the lock area under my arm.
Hungry Horse
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hunt from a popup blind till rain stops
Good idea. I have one, but had not considered using it. Thanks.
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I just use my coat tail or rain suit to cover my lock. Check your primer occasionally and replace as necessary. Pick your touch hole if you need to. If its raining to hard, go to the truck!
Thanks Austin. It is supposed to be light rain, but your advice to go to the truck was worth a laugh!!!
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Yes, a wet frizzen and wet flint will still spark well.
I have sat in a tree stand in the rain deer hunting and it was a pretty nice experience. It wasn’t a hard rain at all, just light and sporadic. I kept the muzzle down, the lock under my armpit and reprimed every ten minutes or so. No deer showed up, and I discharged my gun at the end of the morning.
I was also in a club shoot on a very rainy morning. We loaded under a pop- up but walked aimed and fired in the rain. I remember messing up a good group when I caught myself chuckling as I watched the rain drops splattering on my barrel flats as I pulled my trigger 🤣
Thanks, Bob. I love your horns, and it was nice to meet you at CLA. I do enjoy hunting in the rain, even more so in a light snow, but no chance of that in Texas, and I can't hunt up north this year.
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I use an oiled canvas slip on cover. It covers the whole barrel and the lock. Slips on easy and is very easy to use. It's sold by Curt Lyles who is a blacksmith, but I could not find his website. He's on LinkedIn and Instagram but I don't play with those sites. He is a member here so you could probably PM him. Good luck.
Thanks, Dave. Do you have a pic? Is it easy to slide off prior to the shot?
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You can make some pan grease to help seal out any rain but blood trails tend to wash away in the rain.
Thanks, Smylee. I try to hit the vitals, so I don't have to track too far, but mistakes happen.
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My boss before I retired called rainy days during deer season prime time for what he called “ deer season diarrhea “. He knew I would take all the dirty jobs to buy a little forgiveness for disappearing on a rainy day when the bucks were out. Any rainproof cover that doesn’t make noise works. In fact I have even resorted to spraying the side and sleeve of an old sweatshirt with silicone to turn the water, and then just kept the lock area under my arm.
Hungry Horse
Thanks, Hungry Horse. Good idea.
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When unprepared and in a pinch I have used those zip lock plastic bags.
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I use an oiled canvas slip on cover. It covers the whole barrel and the lock. Slips on easy and is very easy to use. It's sold by Curt Lyles who is a blacksmith, but I could not find his website. He's on LinkedIn and Instagram but I don't play with those sites. He is a member here so you could probably PM him. Good luck.
Thanks, Dave. Do you have a pic? Is it easy to slide off prior to the shot?
No picture available right now. It slips on and off easily. You need to contact Curt as I don't see them on his website so not even sure he makes them and sells them still.
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I use a full length leather cover treated with snow seal. You lay a FL down in the snow cows knee or not and its probably gonna get wet. If the fouled pans so much as touches the snow it sucks up water like a sponge. Where I shot this deer there was no place the get it out of the snow for about 300 yards. And then one must worry about snow coming off the tree (such as it is). Further the stalk was up the back side of a slope walking on my knees in snow about 16” deep for 50-75 yards, the deer was on the “sunny upwind side”. Standing the deer could have seen me. Snow seal makes them stiff enough to slide off easy. Tight weave wool works pretty good. Can hunt all day in rain/drizzle/snow with no issues. And if I think its needed I can check the prime without exposing the lock to the weather. And its historically correct back to at least the 1770s.
(https://i.ibb.co/bWry2WC/IMGP1196.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4mjDYmX)
(https://i.ibb.co/K5Y6qKN/IMGP1192.jpg) (https://ibb.co/b6x1BbH)
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hunt from a popup blind till rain stops
I tend to hunt areas where a blind is not practical. The Mountains are not a good place for a blind either. Areas are just to vast.
(https://i.ibb.co/gFBrn9c/16-bore-blood-trail.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S796LyZ)
(https://i.ibb.co/kgQn6Cp/IMGP0053.jpg) (https://ibb.co/SXRT7C2)
(https://i.ibb.co/nDk6VnZ/P1020760.jpg) (https://ibb.co/64srp1V)
(https://i.ibb.co/qjDrxfv/Hunting-in-snow.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QQJKXR4)
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Those pop up blinds are kinda handy to keep your scent and silhouette concealed but they can make it hard to see your sights in some areas.
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Dan's picture reminded me of this. I do not recall anyone having trouble with ignition.
All but 2 were shooting flinters. Steady dusting of fine snow.
(https://i.ibb.co/kKJmL44/Brad-on-Flying-Goose.jpg) (https://ibb.co/VVxwFgg)
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For hunting where performance trumps HC couldn't a cover be made from a heavy duty zip-top plastic bag? IF it were a large one, say a gallon size the rifle could be fired without removing the bag.
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Dan's picture reminded me of this. I do not recall anyone having trouble with ignition.
All but 2 were shooting flinters. Steady dusting of fine snow.
(https://i.ibb.co/kKJmL44/Brad-on-Flying-Goose.jpg) (https://ibb.co/VVxwFgg)
Daryl, this looks cold! Makes me think of a good wood stove 😉
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Not hunting but recall a 40-50 shot trail walk when we kept getting serious thunder showers, very heavy rain.
Out of our bunch of 6, my flint and another blokes percussion were the only two that didn't have ignition problems.
Three others had percussion locks and all drowned out.
Lock up under the arm, didn't use a cover as such.
Worst weather is a thick fog. Used 2F for charge and prime. stays dry Much better than 4F prime.
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Under just about any circumstance, after that first shot the fouling will probably attract moisture as much as a covered lock. I have used those zip lock bags on stand and they worked for me when pan was dry to start with.
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Dan's picture reminded me of this. I do not recall anyone having trouble with ignition.
All but 2 were shooting flinters. Steady dusting of fine snow.
Daryl, this looks cold! Makes me think of a good wood stove 😉
Tony, that was a New Years Day shoot and the temp was -14C. that's 6.8F. That is likely why the snow was so fine and "dusting".
We were standing on the packed down trail, you can see it's up to brad's knees. One of the shooters jumped off the trail to find the rope for this target, which was the "flying goose".
That person went up to just over their waste in the soft snow.
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This was the same day and roughly same location. 2 of the lads in this picture are no longer with us.
Brad and Chris in my first and second picture, and Chris on the left.
RIB boys, you are both missed.
(https://i.ibb.co/YDT4hQx/P2011558.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k36VXBt)
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Dan's picture reminded me of this. I do not recall anyone having trouble with ignition.
All but 2 were shooting flinters. Steady dusting of fine snow.
(https://i.ibb.co/kKJmL44/Brad-on-Flying-Goose.jpg) (https://ibb.co/VVxwFgg)
Temp of the day and that of the firearm is the key and care by the shooter. If the rifle is COLD enough and its below freezing the snow is not really an issue. But shooting warms it up. Hunting many times where I live even with snow the temp can be around freezing. +- and if having to lay the rifle down or stand it under a snow laden tree? It has to be in a case. The only time I wetted a Fl I had shot two deer a couple of minutes apart and laid the reloaded rifle on the last one a little carelessly, and the pan touched the snow and got REALLY wet real fast. But I had left the cover in the pickup because this was a fast hunt, the rifle was cold and I was not worried about the stalk and shooting in creek bottom brush. Had I had a cover with me it would have saved me some trouble. There is a beaded cover shown with the Dickert Rifle in the first Moravian book and the English trade rifles that came into Canada during our revolution came with canvas (IIRC) covers. I never could figure how a cows knee was supposed be very effective.
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This was the same day and roughly same location. 2 of the lads in this picture are no longer with us.
Brad and Chris in my first and second picture, and Chris on the left.
RIB boys, you are both missed.
(https://i.ibb.co/YDT4hQx/P2011558.jpg) (https://ibb.co/k36VXBt)
Good fun. Snow or no.
The problem with living is friends leaving us and the void that can’t be filled that comes with it.
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I placed a ground blind up a couple of days ago. It is for an upcoming whitetail hunt in the Midwest three weeks from now. That will be my go-to if we get rain.
When I hunt deer or elk out West, like Dan says, I find ground blinds and tree stands impractical. That is unless I am hunting Coues deer over a water source.
However, I prefer spot and stalk over sitting on my butt waiting for something to happen.
(https://i.ibb.co/pPKqZ4f/0105241421a-Burst01.jpg) (https://ibb.co/JdpZ2rv)
Where are going to put a blind?
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I never liked hunting in the rain but sometimes it's unavoidable. I've been in the rain with percussion and flint locks, mostly with flintlocks. I found that by being careful and using the armpit, lower coat flap to cover the lock or even leaning the body with the back against the wind.
If it was raining when the clock alarmed I usually just turned over and dozed off again. Often I got surprised by rain while on my stand and had to just put up with it. Never had a "cow's knee" or any separate cover device. Incredibly or not the gun always fired without a hiccup.
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Well, I went hunting. Rain was sporadic. Didn't see anything. Deer tracks in the dirt roads, but I saw nothing all weekend. The one game camera (I should have used more) showed mass quantities of hogs, and only 3 does over a month's time. I guess I should think about a night scope and start hunting hogs a lot when I retire in 2026. Of course, in spite of all the hog pics, I didn't see hogs, either. Last year's game camera pics had a lot more deer, with a group of 7-8 does practically every day or night. I am not sure where all the deer went, but I read somewhere the hogs might be scaring them off.
I am doing forest regeneration on the land, so there have been major disruptions. The site prep is mechanical, because there was too much fuel and it has been too dry to burn. The plan is to rake the wood into piles and burn it, but we need more rain before the burn ban will be lifted. It seems like the bulldozer operator is in no hurry. So currently the scrub trees have been leveled, but the rake bulldozer is not even on site yet. No idea when that will happen. They were supposed to be planting the trees in November/December, but that will have to wait on rain.
After the replanting, there will be two areas of hardwoods, one near what used to be stream that is now dry. The neighbor to the north put in a stock pond, which is blocking the water that used to be an intermittent stream. A separate area to the south never had a stream, but I think was just a low spot that has typically not been harvested. I am slowly trying to eradicate the Sweetgum and eastern red cedar trees, which grow like weeds, and no one seems to want to buy them. I am favoring oaks, and will plant chestnuts and maybe pears after all replanting is complete. I am also considering drilling a well for water, but that is going to be costly.
I am discouraged, but will try to hunt again before Thanksgiving.
I hope others have better luck.