anybody using there flintlock in reg buck hunting season in pa???

[sonny]

hummm....i never seem to see anybody using a flintlock in reg penna rifle buck season.anybody out there in pa doing it that way?....sonny

[D. Bowman]

I'll be leaving Saturday  for centre county pa to hunt the three day bear season. I plan to stay for the first three days of rifle season. I'll carry my early Reading .62 like always.

                             Duane Bowman

[david50]

well i am here in Missouri,season started saturday here but hav'nt made it out yet. going in the morning.

[alex e.]

Come to Jefferson County & you ll find me with a period flintlock.If I go for a walk around the farm I usually take a flintlock of some sort. Whatevers loaded comes with me Yes,  I use them enough to keep them loaded
Alex...

[ironsights1]

While I'm not from PA, weather for Friday-Sunday in Southern Illinois calls for lows in the upper 20s and highs in the 40s with no rain.  I'll be taking my Southern style .50 flintlock.  If I'd had it today, I could have taken a nice 8-pointer at 40 yards, but it was too brushy for my crossbow.  I'll be back out there tomorrow to give it another go. That buck came in on me as I was just pulling up my crossbow and knew something wasn't right. It seems like the big ones get all the breaks! Tom
(Actually, the button bucks do too as I let one walk as he passed by at 10 yards.)

[long carabine]

I will be taking my 54 cal on the 2nd week of rifle season. Tim

[Jeff Peters]

Yes I will be. In fact I'm taking the youngest on his first Pa opener this year The schools finally decided to close on the opener, Mom wont let him miss school.  We were out shooting Sat and he really loves shooting the Winchester modle 94 in 32 special with open sites. I asked him last night what he wanted to use for the first day and he didn't even think about it, "The long rifle Dad". "It would be so cool to get my first one with the rifle you built" Brought tears to my eyes, must have raised em right.
Jeff

[sonny]

I am from northeastern pa.....wilkes barre /scranton area,but 40 years of hunting buck season have never come across a flintlock hunter.I have always kicked it around some,but never did it because on game lands here,a mortaly wounded buck would be claimed by other hunters when they see it fold up......yes! they will claim it......geez.......sonny

[Frank]

I stopped going out in rifle season years ago. To many idiots out there now.
Flintlock season is so nice. Very few hunters in the woods.

[Roger Fisher]

We have a mountain hunting club and my tree stand built in the 70's when I was a little younger and full of 'vinegar' is on steep mt side with neighoring club line abt 125 yds below me and posted tight as a 'drum'.   If I would cripple one it would surely head down onto that posted land.  (Understand I would take the blood trail regardless and have for my buddy)  So to ward off harrasment from the guys with me if I would lose a cripple with a flinter I use the suppository .270

The late season finds me wandering around with the flinter, when the spirit moves me!

[Dennis Glazener]

I am from VA not PA but I hunted opening day of regular gun season with my .54 flint and plan to do so again tomorrow. I plan to use it all season unless something changes my mind. I probably will carry my 44 Mag just in case I see two bucks together
Dennis

[Roger Fisher]

Yes I will be. In fact I'm taking the youngest on his first Pa opener this year The schools finally decided to close on the opener, Mom wont let him miss school.  We were out shooting Sat and he really loves shooting the Winchester modle 94 in 32 special with open sites. I asked him last night what he wanted to use for the first day and he didn't even think about it, "The long rifle Dad". "It would be so cool to get my first one with the rifle you built" Brought tears to my eyes, must have raised em right.
Jeff

Good on ya Jeff!

[billd]

Hi Sonny.   Where are you from?   I'm in Mountain Top. I don't fight the orange crowd but wait till after Christmas for peace and quiet woods.

Bill

[Z. Buck]

i use whatever strikes me on the day i go out in the woods have even taken my matchlock out during regular season...buck towards the end of the season i normaly take the ol 30-30 because as much as i like hunting im poor enough that i need a deer in the freezer if i want to eat meat over the winter, winter comes its buy food or pay the heating bill, im sure im not the only one out there that runs into this problem...of course now i am all growd up and done with college and have me a pretty little wifey that has an easier time finding a job than me, maybe i will be able to hunt for fun this year

[Jim Thomas]

hummm....i never seem to see anybody using a flintlock in reg penna rifle buck season.anybody out there in pa doing it that way?....sonny

I hunt the regular Pa rifle season with a 54 flint. I hunt alone.  Usually on SGL37...thousands of acres.   

Been doing it for the past 10/12 years.  Lost count.   Although I know some from the club probably do also, I havn't come across anyone else doing it.   That includes inlines.  Get alot of strange looks.   Mostly positive comments.   But, you will run across  that occasional expert who takes it personal.     

I havn't had a bad experience.  Oh,  I've missed a few.   I pass up shots that the centerfire crowd would probably take.  I've had my successes.     Hunting with the flinter helps me to appreciate.     I like the way it makes me feel.   It's a good fit.   

 

     

[GANGGREEN]

Yep, if my son and I go out during rifle season, he'll have my 7X57 and I'll have my .54 Lancaster school flinter.

[Chris C]

I hunted with the flint during the regular season before the antler regs. but after the antler regs. went in it was too hard for me to count points of a buck in the brush so I went to the scoped rifle for the first week.  During the second week I go back to the flint and the binos. because the deer are less spooked and I usually have time to count points.

[chapmans]

   I'm not from Penn but here is what I'm using and what I'm after.





I saw 10 tonight but either too far away, like the ones in the pic about 300yds, or they wouldn't stop, I had 4 at 60 to 70 yds in the woods but couldn't get a shot.
  Regards, Steve C.

[winemaker]

I'll have my .50 flinter out on first day. I hunt on my own property so I dont have to worry about other hunters. My problem is that I haven't been able to drop the hammer on a deer in years. When I see a legal buck I just don't want to kill it, I always think of a reason not to do it. Too small, too far, too far to drag, just don't have the kill in me anymore, and i'm still sort of young. I quit sending for doe licences so I wouldn't have to think of shooting them. I run a fine pack of beagle hounds and only bring myself to kill 1 rabbit a season. I think the dogs are getting tired of me not shooting. I just don't know what happened to me. I even call hunting buddies over to hunt when I know where there's a buck hiding in a thicket. I just don't want to be the 1 that does the shooting anymore.

[sonny]

winemaker.............its not the kill...its the challange of the hunt that sustains us......you drifted too far into the...(i didn't give it life why should i take it/how much pain did i give the critter/how would i like it if that was me)thinking.We don't feel bad about a ham at thanksgiving or the turkey or the unborn chickens(eggs!)....hunting primitive is the ultimateproof that blk powder hunters are deeply rooted in history/tradition/sport...there is nothing more pure then our way of hunting correctness...sonny

[volatpluvia]

Hey ZackBuck!
I am planning to use my new matchlock the first several days of Buck/doe rifle season.  It's the one I pictured in the gun building forum a while back in the fall.  I also hunted for turkey with it last week.

I have been using muzzleloaders, mostly flinters, nearly exclusively now for almost two decades.  I even used my wheellock to hunt deer.  I really don't enjoy hunting with a modern gun anymore and do it only when the weather dictates it.

volatpluvia

[R. Hare]

I'm not from PA either,
and for some reason feel more and more like Winemaker each year!
I seem to think about hunting season all year long, then when it comes don't really want to shoot things!...but still love hunting (?!?)

Paradox or what?
This is originally why I went to flint years and years ago. (More hunt, less shoot)
Seems as long as I'm trying out something "new" like a matchlock I made a few years back, (It worked well on muley buck) then I have more reason to hunt.
Don't think I'll ever shoot anything again except for coyotes with a modern gun.

Still, we like the meat so I generally get myself kicked into gear before the season ends!
Season's open now here in Alberta, and here I am at 6.42 am...sitting at the keyboard!

Richard.

[Roger Fisher]

I'll have my .50 flinter out on first day. I hunt on my own property so I dont have to worry about other hunters. My problem is that I haven't been able to drop the hammer on a deer in years. When I see a legal buck I just don't want to kill it, I always think of a reason not to do it. Too small, too far, too far to drag, just don't have the kill in me anymore, and i'm still sort of young. I quit sending for doe licences so I wouldn't have to think of shooting them. I run a fine pack of beagle hounds and only bring myself to kill 1 rabbit a season. I think the dogs are getting tired of me not shooting. I just don't know what happened to me. I even call hunting buddies over to hunt when I know where there's a buck hiding in a thicket. I just don't want to be the 1 that does the shooting anymore.

Funny thing - been there - and here I thought I was the only one - I still go out there though - I was blaming old age -

Since I can!!  I'll stretch this in to a true story.... Firend of mine ex farmer - took a doe and had another guy butcher said deer.  Got  the call to come and get the meat.  Charge was $100.  - days later he went along with 2 sons to hunt again.  3 does came up a holler' and he leveled his suppository scoped rifle on the lead doe.  As the cross hairs settled on the animal he saw $100 dollar bills floating around in the scope.  So, he lowered the rifle and left said animal go....  I asked if he told his sons the story and he said H--- no!

[winemaker]

It's not the killing that bothers me, I have no problem sticking hogs, killing cows, I even butchered a horse some years back. Lambs are about the worst. I just feel that shooting a deer ends a beautiful day in the woods. I did shoot the fatest groundhog I ever saw on the first day of our early muzzleloader season. Now when a deer gets in my vineyard and starts eating thats another story I wont rest till they are hanging.

[Glenn Hurley Jr.]

If the weather cooperates, I'll take the 50 cal. flintlock with me.  I'll be hunting my farm and have killed lots of bucks there, but none ( yet) with the flintlock.
BTW, my flintlock opened up some posted property to me a few years ago.   A neighbor saw the rifle I built and I told him a little bit about making the rifle.  He said to me " I know my ground is posted but if you are hunting with that rifle, you are welcome to hunt my place any day".  When he said that you could have knocked me over with a feather because this guy really didn't want anyone hunting his property.  Taking a few minutes to show him my rifle paid some really nice dividends!!  His farm is loaded with deer.