When the Smoke Clears

Imagine looking down an octagon barrel as you line up the open sights onto the center of the target. You squeeze the trigger, and out of the corner of your eye you see a shower of sparks and hear a small pop as the hammer falls. After what feels like a long time, you feel the rifle recoil into your shoulder as you hear a definitive boom! Everything down range is now completely obscured by a cloud of foul-smelling, white smoke. Until the breeze brushes the smoke aside, you are left wondering if your shot was true. This is what it is like to shoot a traditional muzzleloader.

I started hunting deer with a traditional ball-and-cap muzzleloader in the early 1980s, because I wanted to know what it is like to put venison on the table like great-great-great-grandfather and get a “mountain man” experience. After more than 30 years, a traditional muzzleloader is my main choice when harvesting