New to Muzzleloading & new to forum

Howdy all. After having poured over these forums for almost 2 year now, learning most of what I have about muzzleloading from this site, I decided I may as well join up. Thank you all for the wealth of accumulated knowledge that is on offer from the members of this site!

My name is Andrew and I'm from Nova Scotia, Canada. We've only had a separate muzzleloading deer season for the last 2 years in this province. It seems to be increasingly popular as more folks here recognize the additional opportunity provided, as well as the plain enjoyment of muzzleloading in general. I know in the one year I've ben involved I'm hooked, and so is my son. We enjoy taking it to the range as much as carrying it hunting.

After a lot of research, and in respect of my budget, I ended up with the following setup cobbled together from local suppliers and online orders from both Canada and the USA. As the only thing scarcer than ammo around these parts seems to be muzzleloading supplies. Same with many of you too I believe.

-CVA Optima V2 .50cal black synthetic & stainless;
-Bushnell Trophy XLT DOA 250 ML scope;
-Durasight Dead On 1pc Med base;
-Claw rifle sling.

I'm still getting used to the rifle, and ML'ing in general, but I am very happy with the rifle and the accuracy I've been able to obtain at 100yds from quickly getting set up to hunt my 1st ML season last fall. I'm impressed with how accurate these guns are, and am looking forward to working up a few different loads to see what it (I) is (am) capable of. The load we settled on for hunting last season was a 300gr Hornady XTP .44cal bullet with the matched green Hornady sabot over 95gr (V) of BH209. That was producing 1.5" groups at 100yds, so I called it good enough for now.

I've got both BH209 and Triple Seven loose powder as propellants, and CCI 209M, Win 209A, and Rem Kleenbore 209 primers. For bullets I've picked up the Hornady XTP's in 300gr/.44 and 250gr/.45, 300gr Harvester PT Gold 300gr/.45, and 300gr/.45 Hornady Hi Speed-Low Drag. Plus Hornady .44 & .45cal sabots, and Harvester Crush Rib and Smooth sabots in both .44 & .45cal. If nothing else I've got a bit of fun and education ahead of me at the range. But I must say ML'ing has renewed my interest in shooting as I really enjoy the whole ritual of it all. Every load is basically a hand load, and despite the great advancements in modern ML design and components it is still stuffing them one at a time from the front, and adds to both the challenge and enjoyment IMO.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help many of you have provided, even though you didn't it. But I expect there are many on here now, and many more still that haven't registered that have benefitted the same! Great site, great info, and very classy from what I've seen to date despite membership from far and wide with opinions that sometimes match. LoL


Andrew aka ALW

Welcome! Glad you joined us and shared. Good gun and set up you got there.

glad to have you on the forum. The Optima is a great rifle.

Welcome aboard.

Welcome to the site, glad you joined up! Would love to here some stories from our Northern Neighbors. :yeah:

Thanks fellas, appreciate the welcome.

ShawnT, I'm chomping at the bit to get back to the range and do some shooting. We're pretty limited in where we can legally shoot in NS, and can't simply head out to a pit, or farm and practice, sadly. Only at approved ranges, and there aren't that many private ranges (very onerous regs to comply with) and most of the provincial DNR ranges are seasonal access. Just waiting for old man winter to release his grip and melt away the 2m/6' or more of snow still on the ground and we can get up the mountain to the nearest range. It was an old fashioned winter here, although not as bad as Boston area had it I don't believe. We had bare ground until the 3rd week of January then whomp, it started snowing and hasn't stopped yet. We just got another 15cm/6" last night! I expect it'll be tough on the deer if it lasts much longer, but at least they would have went into it in decent shape as I say the woods were wide open until the end of January. The snow has only just crusted enough for coyotes to be able to travel easily on top, so I expect they are hitting the deer yards as they find them, which won't help. Not sure about your guys coyotes, but ours do take deer regularly. Although there is still a ton of snow down, the daytime temps are going above freezing almost everyday now and melting is starting. I was just thinking the other day that bears denned up below ground will likely be getting forced out by the melt water, but there isn't going to be anything much around for them to eat for a while yet, as green-up is going to be delayed several weeks this spring I'd say. I'm betting there will be an increase in bear complaints this spring as they hit garbage cans and compost bins until the snow is gone.

We only have fall bear hunting in NS, no spring season currently. Bear hunting is primarily done by baiting, as although there is a large population they are seldom seen in the open, and generally are found in the denser spruce & fir stands with limited visibility. The season starts in early Sept, but you can begin baiting your stand locations in Aug. They are becoming more popular with local hunters every year and lots of guys hunt them with bows, x-bows, rifles, shotguns and ML's. They trap bears also. There is a fair bit of non-resident bear hunting too, through registered guide outfitters. I haven't hunted bear yet, but my son wants us to get into it, so we may this fall. Our deer season(s) are pretty generous, and we have nice bucks both weight and antlers, we just don't have a huge population and many areas are restricted to buck only. We don't typically see a lot of deer in any given season, but the opportunity to shoot either a meat deer, or a decent buck is there for those that put their time in. Sadly IMO a large number of deer hunters in NS today tend to hunt over a bait pile (apples or carrots) and don't still hunt or stand hunt over travel routes etc. as our father's and grandfathers did. Personally, I'm not into guarding an apple pile, and that isn't how I've taught my son to hunt. We still hunt, stand hunt watching bedding areas, travel corridors, natural food plots, etc. Last season was only the 2nd my young fella could carry his own rifle and buy his own deer tag. He is having a blast, and is hooked for life! Our season begins for bow only in early Sept, followed 2wks later by x-bow and ML (2nd year only!), and then the general open season (bow, x-bow, rifle, shotgun, ML) starts the last Friday in October and runs until the first Sat. in December. Then there is another 2wk late season for bow, x-bow and ML ending in mid-December. A very generous deer season, similar to Maine's I believe? But the hunter success rates hover only between the 25-30% range. We don't have Sunday hunting allowed at this time (sad I know) but it looks as if that arbitrary ban may be finally dropped next fall by the provincial government. We hope! Other than deer and bear the only other large game species we have to hunt are Moose. Our mainland moose population is endangered however and protected, but there is a (overly) healthy population of introduced moose on Cape Breton Island, at the northern end of the province. They were brought into the national park in CB decades ago, and have thrived and spread right across the Cape Breton Highlands and the rest of the island. In fact they are planning a targeted cull, with the help of the Mi'kmaw First Nations, to reduce the herd inside the park as they are altering the ecosystem through over browsing native tree species and converting forest to grasslands. On the rest of the CB, the natives are permitted to harvest moose as per their treaty rights, and there is also an annual limited entry draw for NS residents for just over 200 moose licences drawn by lottery. That moose tag is more sought after than gold or the holy grail by many NS hunters, and never obtained by most. I was lucky enough to get drawn back in 1990, and it was indeed a trip of a lifetime! My father-in-law had also got drawn, and we both got our moose!

Other than that, we have a good coyote population that can be hunted year round. Coyotes have been on a low swing for the last 3-4yrs and as a result the numbers of rabbits (snowshoe hare actually), ruffed grouse and pheasants have increased. We've got lots of duck & goose hunting, both farmland and marsh, saltwater hunting. Plus woodcock & snipe. Plenty of furbearers and still quite a few folks trapping as a hobby through the fall and winter.

I realize 99% of the above isn't in regard to ML's, but I just wanted to give you all a glimpse into what we have in wildlife/game species and hunting opportunities in Canada's "Ocean Playground" province. I really enjoy hearing about the varying game and locations the members of this sight hunt and hope you enjoy reading about here.

Thanks again for all the info I've gotten from this site, and the welcome aboard. Happy hunting!


Andrew

:yeah:

WELCOME Canada. Glad you can join the group. I know you'll have fun here.

Ray........... :wink: