AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Justin on September 05, 2018, 07:13:29 PM
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This fall I want to hunt with the rifle I built last winter/spring and this will be my first attempt at hunting with a flintlock.
I don't like sitting in one place for a long time so my approach to deer hunting this fall will be slowly walking my way through the woods, pausing frequently and glassing around for deer. That could mean quicker shots required if I see a deer in the woods. (I'll be in Wisconsin this year).
That got me thinking about what folks do when it comes to powder in the pan. I don't completely trust my lock on half-cock as even Jim Chambers told me clearly "It is not a safety". But it also seems quite unlikely I'd have time to load the pan and get a shot if I jumped a deer out of its bed. Now I do have a small brass pan primer that I will hang around my neck so maybe it won't take that long.
What do the more experienced folks do?
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Carry the rifle loaded with a leather stall on the frizzen.
Mark
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That's the way I carry mine too.
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I carry mine on halfcock and I am willing to trust it as a safety. Any so called safety on a modern gun is just as "safe" - its a mechanical device that can fail, and shouldn't be trusted as the sole means of keeping the gun from injuring yourself or others. Be sure to learn your gun and lock and how they function normally. If there is any question of the lock not holding at half cock when the trigger is pulled don't hunt or shoot with it until its fixed. If you follow the normal gun safety rules for hunting anyway it shouldn't be a problem. Keep it pointed in a safe direction, and whatever you do if you stop to glass - don't rest the muzzle on your toe.
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I carry mine like Smokinbuck and Stubshaft. Quick flick from your finger and you are ready.
Dave
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I carry my flinters as sawfiler. Loaded pan, closed frizzen and on half cock. Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Just a choice the Hunter has to make.
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Thank you for hunting like our ancestors. No tree stand, not butt pad, no 4 wheeler, just slowly, quietly slipping through the woods. This is real old time hunting. My grandad was raised in the Missouri back woods, and could slip up on you even after he was old and infirmed.
Hungry Horse
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Thanks for the suggestions! Anyone have a source they prefer for leather frizzen stalls?
Thank you for hunting like our ancestors. No tree stand, not butt pad, no 4 wheeler, just slowly, quietly slipping through the woods. This is real old time hunting. My grandad was raised in the Missouri back woods, and could slip up on you even after he was old and infirmed.
Thanks! Except I'll also be wearing modern clothes with a fancy pack on my back and binos in a pouch on my chest ;D
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Most of the ML supply houses carry them. Easy to make, cut 2 pieces of leather the shape of your frizzen, a little larger, and either sew of glue them together to make a pocket. I tie mine to the trigger guard so it's not lost when I push it off.
Mark
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Thank you for hunting like our ancestors. No tree stand, not butt pad, no 4 wheeler, just slowly, quietly slipping through the woods. This is real old time hunting. My grandad was raised in the Missouri back woods, and could slip up on you even after he was old and infirmed.
Hungry Horse
Yup! It's called still hunting. The only way i've hunted for 65 years. Very simple and rewarding but does take time to get good at it.
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You probably know this but if a deer bolts out of a thicket it won't run very far before beginning to graze or circling around to see what spooked it. You can either sit and wait on it or give it 10 minutes and move on forward.
dave
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This fall I want to hunt with the rifle I built last winter/spring and this will be my first attempt at hunting with a flintlock.
I don't like sitting in one place for a long time so my approach to deer hunting this fall will be slowly walking my way through the woods, pausing frequently and glassing around for deer. That could mean quicker shots required if I see a deer in the woods. (I'll be in Wisconsin this year).
That got me thinking about what folks do when it comes to powder in the pan. I don't completely trust my lock on half-cock as even Jim Chambers told me clearly "It is not a safety". But it also seems quite unlikely I'd have time to load the pan and get a shot if I jumped a deer out of its bed. Now I do have a small brass pan primer that I will hang around my neck so maybe it won't take that long.
What do the more experienced folks do?
The "safety" on an antiquated device such as a gun lock will usually hold
against the power or thrust of the mainspring in the lock.ANY gun lock on
the first position** can be can be possibly fired by a hard pull on a single trigger or
by constantly snapping the set trigger against the sear.Some of the best
English and European locks had a sliding external safety that could engage
the cock in addition to the FIRST position. I would not be afraid to
hunt with a Chambers lock on the first position if the lock is as new and no
tampering is evident and inletting hasn't interfered with the sear.
Bob Roller
** First position IS the half cock on 99.9% of gun locks.
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I hunt on half cock but have a leather sleeve on the frizzen. It takes a second to pull it off and I have it tethered. It seems like the safest way to do it.
It's easy to make.
(https://www.trackofthewolf.com/imgPart/frizzen/frizzen-stall-rifle_2.jpg)
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The first deer I had a shot at with my flintlock was spooked when I cocked the rifle, yes I missed him! From then on when standing or sitting in one place I have the lock on full cock and a leather stall on the frizzen.
When I move, lock goes on half cock and still have the stall on the frizzen.
Dennis
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Along with the safety tips offered above, I keep my lock area covered with anything to keep snow or rain off. If the temp is below 32, that's good, in addition to keeping the temp of your fingers and breath away. Even if cold enough to not thaw snow on it's own, I habitually check my priming every half hour or so. Will it shift in the pan if you tip it? I use a TINY twig (vent pick) diameter to move the grains around to see if it is dry, loose and ready to burn. If it starts to clump up like sugar (humidity), dump it, wipe or brush the pan and re-prime. If you walk under snowy tree limbs or brush, position your rifle & lock under your armpit/coat. 5 years ago in November, the one day I forgot to wear my .44mag, I had to kill a lion. Dry powder & Jim Chambers came thru. All is well. Good luck in your hunting with a flintlock longrifle. Very satisfying.
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I'll second what Dennis said about the noise of going to full cock. I've had deer at 30 yds hear the click. Also, depending on the humidity, I'll change my flash powder every 20 min. or so if it's foggy or wet.
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A cheap frizzen stall can be simply made by cutting the finger off and old leather work glove and attaching a string .
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My target rifles have set triggers, but my hunting guns don't. A nice simple trigger can allow the cock to be pulled back without any sound . While applying pressure to the trigger, I brought my 10 bore to full cock while a black bear was less than 10 yards away. No click.
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As Bob says, above. No click!
I also use primed and half cock. No leather.
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I do as Dennis does. I use the stall religiously.
I will never, ever, trust half cock as a safety regardless of who made the lock.
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Frizzen cover is simple to make, but if you'd rather buy it. It's pretty cheap. They make two sizes.
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/45/1/FRIZZEN-STALL-MUSKET
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What Dennis, oldmtnman and smokinbuck said. Moving it's halfcock with leather stall on the frizzen. When I stop and sit it's fullcock with a leather stall on the frizzen.
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Lots of good advice already given. I have hunted with nothing but flintlocks for years. I still hunt (move very slowly on the ground) and rarely 'sit' on a stand for very long. It is something that takes some practice and aquired skill but is very rewarding. I carry the lock primed on half cock but always treat it as if it is on full cock. I use a stall on the frizzen if I come into camp etc.,. after I empty the pan.
Here are a few things I have learned over the years.
1 Deer are alerted by sights and sounds, but aren't necessarily spooked until they positively identify you as a threat. The most positive identifier to a deer of your presence is your scent. ALWAYS hunt into the wind.
2 The best chance you have of scoring is if you see the game first, so hunt as quietly and invisibly as possible.
3 Don't move unless you can do so quietly. I often hunt in mocasins or bare foot. If I have to cover ground I know I can't walk silently on I wait for cover sound, such as wind, crows calling, or even an airplane overhead.
4 Don't hunt too close to yourself. If a deer walks out in the meadow in front of you, you will see it. Don't look for it there. Look as far to the horizon as you can see in all directions and don't look for a deer, instead look for anything that doesn't belong: a horizontal line among vertical tree trunks etc.,.
5 Learn to use all your senses. Even the ones you might not know you have. I have learned I can often smell deer. I have often smelled fresh buck scrapes before I saw them. I have also learned to trust something I am just going to call a feeling. Many times I have had a 'feeling' and ignored it only to spook a deer from a nearby thicket without a chance for a shot seconds later. Now when I have that 'feeling' I won't move from that spot untill I have scanned every inch and scrutinized every sound and / or the feeling passes.
6 Use natural cover and only cross open ground when absolutely necessary.
On the family farm (my cousin owns it) he has a nephew who usually brings a crew in to hunt. They no doubt spend thousands on equipment with stands and feeders and trail timers and cameras etc.,...and they all perch up in their trees and get all bent out of shape if I invade their area, so I usually wait till they all go out of town and slip down with my old homemade rifle and get some meat for the table.
I doubt I'll ever hunt a modern rifle again. This is sooo much more fun.
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I carry my flinters as sawfiler. Loaded pan, closed frizzen and on half cock. Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Just a choice the Hunter has to make.
Exactly - Trust the half-cook- almost. Keep the muzzle always pointed in a safe direction. We-ve always taught that DOWN-RANGE is THE safe direction afforded to you. If straight UP is THE only safe direction, THAT is down range.
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Few things can compare with taking game with a flintlock. You'll always remember the first deer to fall to a flint. Just don't get careless with one; they aren't toys.
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I'm hoping to get an elk with one. Hopefully, it will be before I get too old to elk hunt.
I did with a caplock, but a flint will be more special.
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I've yet to have a problem with cocking on game, but may fab up a stall (have a box of worn out gloves somewhere)-thanks for those hints.
My longrifle is SO DANG handy in the woods for balance and steep terrain navigation. I get a chuckle out of the short and chunky guns now. Feels weird to tote one anymore. I sometimes carry binoculars and do wear modern gear (yet) but still-hunting is my thing, from sittin' spot to sittin' spot I glide.
No trail cams either, gracious no. It's better not to know sometimes and during rut--all that stuff you saw on trail cam is half a county away runnin' for the gals. AND THEN my buddy sends me this pic he snapped the other day down where we do hunting camp:
(https://preview.ibb.co/fcJ3ep/2boysat_Camp.png) (https://ibb.co/dxzWX9)
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That's a spectacular buck, by the way.
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Here's an old proverb that my Dad said was Indian about still hunting.
" White man walk much see little. "
" Indian walk little see much... " Or something like this. My Dad an uncle's always still hunted. They always pounded it in my head. That if you jump a deer your moving to fast. They shot most of the deer in there bed.
They both hunted with 22s an 410 bores. It takes lots of patience like gun building. Also I'm still learnin....... Oldtravler
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Here's an old proverb that my Dad said was Indian about still hunting.
" White man walk much see little. "
" Indian walk little see much... " Or something like this. My Dad an uncle's always still hunted. They always pounded it in my head. That if you jump a deer your moving to fast. They shot most of the deer in there bed.
They both hunted with 22s an 410 bores. It takes lots of patience like gun building. Also I'm still learnin....... Oldtravler
My dad taught me to still hunt too. I got smacked in the head a lot until I learned to do it right.
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I still hunt primed and on half clock. I am the sentinel of my own safety and those around me. I open the frizzen , dump the prime and feather the touch hole on those occasions I climb into a stand or need to overcome some other obstacle where controlling the muzzle may be difficult.
When in doubt always take the safer route. A few extra seconds or minutes may save a life and a lifetime of heartbreaking regret.
Other’s mileage may vary.
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Having been more into bird hunting with flint guns I never used a leather cover on the frizzen, no time to get the gun to full cock AND take the frizzen cover off before the bird is out of range. I hunt with flint fowling guns the same as modern doubles, with the front end pointed in a safe direction. A cover might work if you're working over a god dog, but you're still going to have birds flush when you least expect it.
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Indeed Mike,
There is a reason the old gunners never used a leather stall. (in UK at any rate)
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Sounds like you are on the right track EXCEPT take that brass plunger priming tool off from your neck and put it in your pocket or pouch. They are literally a bomb way too close to the flash!
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The first deer I had a shot at with my flintlock was spooked when I cocked the rifle, yes I missed him! From then on when standing or sitting in one place I have the lock on full cock and a leather stall on the frizzen.
When I move, lock goes on half cock and still have the stall on the frizzen.
Dennis
Just pull the trigger as you cock it then release when the cock passes full cock.
This has been used for a VERY long time. Probably from the time the first hunter had an animal spooked by a lock click.
Dan
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It works with any hammer gun that i've tried it on. Even modern guns.
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The first deer I had a shot at with my flintlock was spooked when I cocked the rifle, yes I missed him! From then on when standing or sitting in one place I have the lock on full cock and a leather stall on the frizzen.
When I move, lock goes on half cock and still have the stall on the frizzen.
Dennis
Just pull the trigger as you cock it then release when the cock passes full cock.
This has been used for a VERY long time. Probably from the time the first hunter had an animal spooked by a lock click.
Dan
That works fine if you don't have gloves on like I did that morning. It was cold!! that morning and I had not gotten situated good, rifle leaning against pine tree while I was trying to find a comfortable place to sit on a steep bank. I was afraid to chance doing the silent cock thing with my gloves still on!
Dennis
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The first deer I had a shot at with my flintlock was spooked when I cocked the rifle, yes I missed him! From then on when standing or sitting in one place I have the lock on full cock and a leather stall on the frizzen.
When I move, lock goes on half cock and still have the stall on the frizzen.
Dennis
Just pull the trigger as you cock it then release when the cock passes full cock.
This has been used for a VERY long time. Probably from the time the first hunter had an animal spooked by a lock click.
Dan
That works fine if you don't have gloves on like I did that morning. It was cold!! that morning and I had not gotten situated good, rifle leaning against pine tree while I was trying to find a comfortable place to sit on a steep bank. I was afraid to chance doing the silent cock thing with my gloves still on!
Dennis
Dennis..........I have some wool gloves that are like mittens and fingerless gloves in one. The top part of the mitten folds back and i'm left with a fingerless glove that's perfect for shooting. It takes a nanosecond to fold the top back. You should look around for some.
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[/quote]
Dennis..........I have some wool gloves that are like mittens and fingerless gloves in one. The top part of the mitten folds back and i'm left with a fingerless glove that's perfect for shooting. It takes a nanosecond to fold the top back. You should look around for some.
[/quote]
I have a pair of those "mittens"; they're warmer than gloves and easy to get to one's trigger finger.
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I have seen photos of those type gloves but never have seen them for sale. Anyone know who sells them?
Dennis
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They are called "Glo Mitts", I got mine at a local sporting goods store but places like Cabela's used to sell them also. Anything from 100% wool to thinsulate.
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Those gloves are very common up here but I don't like them much as I fill them with snow. (and it's worse in winter.) :-)
I just take my gloves off for shooting, or one of them at any rate.
Speaking of cold reminds me of my late uncle; "When I was young we had candles........
And, when it was Really cold, ..we used to Light them!"
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The first deer I had a shot at with my flintlock was spooked when I cocked the rifle, yes I missed him! From then on when standing or sitting in one place I have the lock on full cock and a leather stall on the frizzen.
When I move, lock goes on half cock and still have the stall on the frizzen.
Dennis
(https://preview.ibb.co/c4cFhK/thumbsup.gif) (https://imgbb.com/) the only sane way to hunt both still and on the move.
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I'm not sane then, RFD. But who's arguing? ;)
Half cock and No stall always.
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When I'm hunting out west, It is mostly spot and stalk. My favorite area is a walk in only area. It is about 6 miles from my house.
About 55 square miles. Seldom do I see any one. If I do is through my binoculars. I guess like MR. Bundook I must be insane. Half cock no stall. If I spot animals that I think can be stalked. I keep the gun on half cock. Once I start hearing the cows meeouing full cock baby.
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I have seen photos of those type gloves but never have seen them for sale. Anyone know who sells them?
Dennis
https://www.rei.com/product/305045/fox-river-wool-glomitts
REI also offers them in other materials just look thru their selection of gloves.
Fred
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I have seen photos of those type gloves but never have seen them for sale. Anyone know who sells them?
Dennis
https://www.rei.com/product/305045/fox-river-wool-glomitts
REI also offers them in other materials just look thru their selection of gloves.
Fred
Fred,
Thanks, looks like the style I need. Now I am going to ask a naive question (since I have never own wool gloves) are the wool gloves as warm a Thinsulate gloves? How about resistance to moisture? I have a couple pairs of ski gloves with Thinsulate gloves with something similiar to Gortex on the outside. Very warm and sheds water pretty good.
Here in VA it gets cold, windy and wet/damp and I was always concerned about using wool gloves.
Dennis
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If thinsulate gets wet it will lose it's insulating properties. All my thinsulate garments have a Gore Tex liner inside to help keep water out. Wool will give a measure of insulation (not sure how much) even after it gets wet.
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I have seen photos of those type gloves but never have seen them for sale. Anyone know who sells them?
Dennis
https://www.rei.com/product/305045/fox-river-wool-glomitts
REI also offers them in other materials just look thru their selection of gloves.
Fred
Fred,
Thanks, looks like the style I need. Now I am going to ask a naive question (since I have never own wool gloves) are the wool gloves as warm a Thinsulate gloves? How about resistance to moisture? I have a couple pairs of ski gloves with Thinsulate gloves with something similiar to Gortex on the outside. Very warm and sheds water pretty good.
Here in VA it gets cold, windy and wet/damp and I was always concerned about using wool gloves.
Dennis
Thinsulate gloves with Gortex will be much warmer Dennis. I wear neoprene gloves when it is raining. Weather is much milder in North Alabama so I get by with "finger free" wool gloves most of the time. I have leather Thinsulate gloves for the really cold mornings and riding the 4 wheeler in cold weather.
Fred
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Thanks Fred I thought probably that was the case. Virginia has a different kind of cold. I had an aunt spend the last part of Feb and most of March with us one time. She was a Buffalo NY native. She said it was the coldest place she has lived in! She would look at the outdoor thermometer, shake her head and say that thing has to be wrong! Even in the winter we have a lot of dampness. It gets cold but usually low of the mid 20's then up to the mid-30's. I assume never cold enough to dry the air out.
Dennis
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Dennis,
Your cold sounds like the type we had back in England.
I would be ploughing with a canvas cab on the tractor in winter, no back in it, Get off tractor and into the house at six, and shiver 'till 9PM!
Cold went right through you, yet only around freezing point.
Then we also had "lazy winds". Lazy winds are too lazy to go around you, so they cut straight through.
Hope the gloves help!
R.
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Reading this thread makes me want to go on a flintlock bear hunt. It's a bucket list item for me.
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Mr G:
Working horseback for years in SoID & NoNV, I've found goretex lining, in ANY glove, to be the key to warm hands, even in sub-zero/high wind weather.
In ID, I'd worn as many as three pairs of gloves at a time (wool, military-issue helo pilots' gloves; heavy thinusulate ski gloves, with nylon mittens on top), and still thought I was gonna freeze to death. My sons bought me a pair of light leather, fleece-lined roping gloves with a goretex lining from a saddlery in Elko; despite my misgivings, suddenly, my hands were warm and dry.
Goretex, boss; whatever you choose, fork-over for the goretex version.
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"They aren't toys!"
No more true words!! About 20 years ago there was a well know fellow who loved to flintlock hunt. One morning, quite early as it was another 2 hours or so before daylight, this fellow was putting his gear and flint rifle in the back of his truck. Now, he already had the rifle loaded, not the pan, and this was his "usual" pattern of going out in the early morning.
Something went amiss this day. From the reports of the police, the fellow was placing his flintlock rifle into the back of his truck. He was doing this with the buttstock going in first, thus leaving the muzzle pointed in his direction. Well, apparently when he was "jockeying" the rifle in the truck.....the rifle either cocked, or partially cocked, and then the flint hit the frizzen. The spark set the charge off in the rifle and sent the 50 caliber RB right through his chest.
He managed to make it to a neighbor's front porch, rang the door bell, and then collapsed. An ambulance was called and he was rushed to the hospital.....but he did not make it.
The entire event was sad as he was a good man.
Treat these flinter's as you would a high power rifle. It can prevent such incidents.
FWIW
Dave
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Davemuzz, why some people load a gun into there vehicle or anything else. With the muzzel pointing at them or someone else just flat out amazes me.
When teaching hunter safety I always pounded into everyone's head. Keep the muzzle pointed away from you! NEVER ever trust a mechanical safety.
These kind of incidents are so very sad an so preventable with common sense . Oldtravler
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Davemuzz, why some people load a gun into there vehicle or anything else. With the muzzel pointing at them or someone else just flat out amazes me.
When teaching hunter safety I always pounded into everyone's head. Keep the muzzle pointed away from you! NEVER ever trust a mechanical safety.
These kind of incidents are so very sad an so preventable with common sense . Oldtravler
OT61...I only post that true story to inform. Not to "scare" or to dismay anyone getting into flintlock shooting. (Or any shooting for that matter)
Your post is on point.
Thanks
Dave
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Wow, I've never heard of this kind of hunting. Why don't you use a standard rifle to know for sure that everything will be fine if you meet a deer? Although I think hunting like you is much more enjoyable. Still, you need more experience, which unfortunately I do not have. I have recently joined the hunter community (https://ballachy.com/), and I am very interested in reading more and more about it. The more I read, the more I wonder how exciting animal hunting can be. So here I want to buy a rifle one of these days and try to hunt animals already.
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Due to limited space to hunt, I have to use a tree stand on the food plot in my field's west corner. I don't have room to walk around. Unless it is getting toward sundown, I don't usually prime the rifle until I see a deer walk out. I have a burlap skirt on the stand. It lets me move around to cock/prime the rifle unseen. Holding the trigger back when cocking keeps the noise down. Because the deer are feeding, I don't have to try a moving shot.
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This fall I want to hunt with the rifle I built last winter/spring and this will be my first attempt at hunting with a flintlock.
I don't like sitting in one place for a long time so my approach to deer hunting this fall will be slowly walking my way through the woods, pausing frequently and glassing around for deer. That could mean quicker shots required if I see a deer in the woods. (I'll be in Wisconsin this year).
That got me thinking about what folks do when it comes to powder in the pan. I don't completely trust my lock on half-cock as even Jim Chambers told me clearly "It is not a safety". But it also seems quite unlikely I'd have time to load the pan and get a shot if I jumped a deer out of its bed. Now I do have a small brass pan primer that I will hang around my neck so maybe it won't take that long.
What do the more experienced folks do?
Don't wear that pipe bomb around your neck. A spark in the right spot from a little wind and you will get a lot uglier real fast.
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Thank you Flinchrocket, I was about to say the same thing. Every time I see one of those brass primers hanging around somebodies neck I have a flashback to a time I witnessed one explode. The only thing that saved this guy was the soft soldered seam on this pipe bomb.
Hungry Horse
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Carry the rifle loaded with a leather stall on the frizzen.
Mark
Leather frizzen stall and round toothpick in vent hole.
On stand cocked with frizzen stall, usually too cold form me to trust pressing trigger to cock without loud CLICK!
Dennis
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I find these newfangled power windows in the F-150 trucks are mighty handy for elevation adjusting! The only thing I don't like is fogging up the cab :-\ dirty windows ain't no fun neither :-[
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Been hunting, mostly with a single-shot, for over 60 years now. Always a still hunter. It is amazing what you can walk up on! It transferred over to my career job, working as a wetlands and wildlife biologist.
I have walked up on deer, elk, bobcats, foxes, wolves, any manner of snake. And you see and feel so much more as you go. I have seen turtles mating (!), deer delivering babies, snakes MAKING babies, and on and on. Found dead people bodies, and some souls that were just lost. Always enjoyed things I saw and learned.
My first whitetail was with a .45 "Kentucky pistol" that I built from a kit a girlfriend gave me. Buck at 15'. Dead right there. Three years later, I heard that it was not legal to hunt there with a ML pistol.
Over seas, sometimes the quarry was the type that would shoot back. Makes for an "interesting" hunt.
BUT - and there is usually a "but" in there someplace - I can still move slow and quiet in the woods. For maybe 100 yards. Old Agent Orange is doing it's worst for my spine and legs. Given me the trembles. Neuro Doc is trying some new injections for the legs, hope it works. But I WILL still be out there, maybe not far out there though! It is the hunt that I love, don't mind if I do get game or don't.
The only "accidental" discharge I ever had was when I was doing gun repair work out in Oklahoma. Trying to get a stuck 12 ga shell out of a pump gun. But keeping the muzzle in a safe direction made it just another day at the workshop. Don't trust cartridge guns, don't trust ML guns. I do trust me.
Now to go do some work on these pistols I'm building - it's not hunting season yet.
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Craig...........I'm guessing it didn't take much sneaking to sneak up on dead people? :)
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I find it very easy to sneak up on all sort of critters when the season is closed or don't have a tag.
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Nah, Pete, it's always more of a surprise to you than it is to them. One time it was an old guy who had outlived his time, another two teens that had been killed by another. I didn't get within about 20' - didn't want to ruin the scene. Just called it in, one of the few times I have been glad that cell phones had been invented.
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I find it very easy to sneak up on all sort of critters when the season is closed or don't have a tag.
I agree 7 it's the best time to carry a camera. That's when you can get closeups of most critters we like to
have packaged and in the freezer by winter time. The closeups I don't like much in the summer time, are the
bear-type. The bush is so thick (like early Sept. bear hunting), they can be only feet away & you not see them.
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Best thing I saw while trapping ...was 2 mink fighting on a frozen pond...now that was entertaining!....until they let their musk glands fly,and I was down wind .......
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Thanks Fred I thought probably that was the case. Virginia has a different kind of cold. I had an aunt spend the last part of Feb and most of March with us one time. She was a Buffalo NY native. She said it was the coldest place she has lived in! She would look at the outdoor thermometer, shake her head and say that thing has to be wrong! Even in the winter we have a lot of dampness. It gets cold but usually low of the mid 20's then up to the mid-30's. I assume never cold enough to dry the air out.
Dennis
That is the same type of cold in South Western Ontario - high humidity due to the "Great Lakes". -10 in that area feels colder than -40 here in PG.
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If minus 10 here feels colder than your minus 40, what do you think it's like when it is actually minus 40 here !!!!! Here's a bunch of us who spent the night under the lean to in the photo !
(https://i.ibb.co/qMpR9LP/Unknown-1.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
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You guys need to come hunt A and B zones in Northern California. A zone starts the second weekend in August, and if you’re lucky it’ll only be in the mid nineties. If you’re not lucky it could pass the hundred mark, and get into the teens. I know it would be nice to hunt in shorts, and a T-shirt, but the Buckthorn, and whitethorn would rip you to shreds in a hundred yards. You’ll need to carry all the water you can, so you have some for the pack out.
I took a friend from New York hunting once. When we got back to my house with our buck, he barely had enough cloths left to be considered decent, and that’s a stretch in California. The buck we killed was a nice three by three, but he only field dressed 116 pounds, that’s pretty hard work for not a lot of meat.
Hungry Horse
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I just can't take the heat. Anything more than 75 deg F and I'm not happy. Honestly, I'm not particularly bothered by the cold. Never was. There are still a few of us who camp out in winter using 18th C equipment . When hunting for deer during a cold snap of around minus 35 , I had a main spring snap as I was going to full cock on seeing a buck. I now try to slowly exercise the spring a few times before bringing the cock all the way back when it's that cold. I also carry a spare.
Although I use my flintlock guns during the main deer season, we also have a muzzleloader only season in December, so you can be out in some nasty stuff at times.
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I'm ok in the cold. I can't stand the heat. When it gets past 65 i'm headed for higher altitude.
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Born in South Texas, raised in Alaska, and living my working life again in South Texas I’m good between -65 and 115 degrees and 50 to 100 percent humidity but I’ll admit 75 degrees and 45% humidity is pretty sweet. That said, my personal preference is warm during the day and cool enough to stand around a fire at night which is the weather around here half the year.
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If minus 10 here feels colder than your minus 40, what do you think it's like when it is actually minus 40 here !!!!! Here's a bunch of us who spent the night under the lean to in the photo !
(https://i.ibb.co/qMpR9LP/Unknown-1.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
Over the 20 years I lived in South Western Ontario, Bob, -10F was the coldest it ever got.
-40 sounds like some severe "global warming", to me.
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There sure is a big difference between S. W Ontario and Eastern Ontario. Being just north of the far eastern end of Lake Ontario, we still get the humidity, along with colder winters :)
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Lucky for you!! :o
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A Georgia Cracker by birth, I grew up in high humidity and hot temperatures. I'm not going to say it never bothered me at all but I will say I was completely used to it and preferred it to even "moderate" cold. I have enough photos of me with deer on the ground to to show most anybody the Georgia climate and how it varies from the southern end to the northern end. In the Atlanta area & up it is usually more moderate than the coastal plain & piedmont where a t-shirt is fine in the November deer woods and often in December.
Virginia was pretty cold and the first time I ever saw real snow. In fact, although having been in Maine for three years the deepest snow I've ever experienced was in Va. In Maine it snows more often but so far none of the chimney-burying depth of central Va. Each year there is less and less snow in our part of Maine; winters start later and end sooner now than when we finally moved here for good a few years ago. And the ticks; I thought they'd gotten bad in Georgia the past 20 years or so, but NAH! Up here the total weight of all the ticks outweighs the total of ALL other animal species I am sure.
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The record low for Michigan is -51 F in February 1934.That is pretty close to southern Ontario no matter how you look at it.
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Lucky for you!! :o
I do believe that you get your fair share of cold too ! :)
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Seems the older Taylor and I get, the more picky we are about our shooting weather. ;)
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I ice fished in Pittsburg NH one year....it was -45 degrees USA ...on the thermometer....no wind...thank God.