- Joined
- Jan 19, 2020
- Messages
- 32
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Hello All
I am not sure if I posted this in the past or not but I figure a refresher is not a bad idea. Almost all of the muzzleloader hunting I do is here near what you can call the tri state area of southern New England. Where Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island meet. I have hunted all three states and for the most part private land in Connecticut has been the best for me.
Rhode Island muzzleloader season is one of only two states ( New Hampshire being the other) where the muzzleloader season opens up before the general gun season and during the peak of the rut. In this region the peak seems to be right around Veterans Day. If you wanted a crack at a buck in my area then take about three days before and three days after Veterans Day. That is according to my experiences and a graph I constructed from years of hunting diaries.
By the way, both Massachusetts and Connecticut muzzleloader seasons open up after the general gun. So it is the second half of December until the 31st and keep in mind, no Sunday hunting in either state. Rhode Island does have that Sunday hunting advantage.
Most of the terrain is heavily wooded and slightly hilly. A mix of red and white oaks along with white pine and some hemlock and cedar swamps. So most shots are going to be under 100 yards.
I wanted a muzzleloader that is accurate, powerful and lightweight. I came up with this idea to make a lightweight, " run and gun" type of muzzleloader that would work well in my area. As a life long Contender nut I did obtain a couple of muzzleloading barrels for the Contender frame. I bought a somewhat rare 45 Caliber G2 barrel. I had it cut down to 18 inches which is the legal minimum length for a muzzleloader to be used for hunting deer in Massachusetts. I then had it cerakoted flat black. I mounted a Bushnell Red Dot sight on it so it is not very heavy. Although I am thinking of getting one of the small micro dot sights for it. Make it even more lightweight.
For a stock I bought a Choate grip with the tapped aluminum block to accept an AR style pipe stock. I then bought a lightweight aluminum stock that screws into that block. Viola!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have my special lightweight muzzleloader that is compact and powerful.
I will confess the only game I had taken with it was a big female coyote that weighed 45 lbs. School was out for the Christmas vacation and then the battery in my near to death Ford Ranger PU died. So I ran off to get a new battery and installed it. It was late morning like 10:30 AM so I figured why not go out anyways. It is late season and it just dusted some snow on the ground. Maybe the deer will move around despite the clock being near noontime. So I donned all of my gear at loaded up the Contender.
My go to load is 100 grains of BlackHorn 209 with a 300 grain Powerbelt platinum bullet. Again the red dot covers 3 inches at 100 yards and I was able to fire a group at that range which is around 3-4 inches. To me not bad for a red dot sight and according to my chronograph that load is producing 1700 fps. I have a Super 16 45-70 barrel that has an integral brake installed that I figure is in the same ball park. So if I can kill moose, bear, deer and wild boar with the 4570 handgun and the ballistics are in the same range, a deer with my new muzzleloader should do as well.
I climbed into my stand and waited. I noticed a sprinkling of granular snow. A north wind made it chilly but my old Ideal hunter orange coat kept me warm. I did make some doe bleats in the hopes of a late season buck would show up. There was one during archery season but the deer stayed out of bow range.
As I sat in the notch between two red oak trees about 20 feet up I spotted something. A coyote! It was looking towards the area where the deer usually traverse the edge of a laurel thicket. Wow. I am not going to pass this up. I immediately placed the red dot on the chest and fired.
BANG----FLOP
The big slug took her out like a pole axe. I know I kind of ruined a deer hunt but I see it as taking out a breeder that will ruin the deer, small game and turkey hunting in my area.
I am not sure if I posted this in the past or not but I figure a refresher is not a bad idea. Almost all of the muzzleloader hunting I do is here near what you can call the tri state area of southern New England. Where Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island meet. I have hunted all three states and for the most part private land in Connecticut has been the best for me.
Rhode Island muzzleloader season is one of only two states ( New Hampshire being the other) where the muzzleloader season opens up before the general gun season and during the peak of the rut. In this region the peak seems to be right around Veterans Day. If you wanted a crack at a buck in my area then take about three days before and three days after Veterans Day. That is according to my experiences and a graph I constructed from years of hunting diaries.
By the way, both Massachusetts and Connecticut muzzleloader seasons open up after the general gun. So it is the second half of December until the 31st and keep in mind, no Sunday hunting in either state. Rhode Island does have that Sunday hunting advantage.
Most of the terrain is heavily wooded and slightly hilly. A mix of red and white oaks along with white pine and some hemlock and cedar swamps. So most shots are going to be under 100 yards.
I wanted a muzzleloader that is accurate, powerful and lightweight. I came up with this idea to make a lightweight, " run and gun" type of muzzleloader that would work well in my area. As a life long Contender nut I did obtain a couple of muzzleloading barrels for the Contender frame. I bought a somewhat rare 45 Caliber G2 barrel. I had it cut down to 18 inches which is the legal minimum length for a muzzleloader to be used for hunting deer in Massachusetts. I then had it cerakoted flat black. I mounted a Bushnell Red Dot sight on it so it is not very heavy. Although I am thinking of getting one of the small micro dot sights for it. Make it even more lightweight.
For a stock I bought a Choate grip with the tapped aluminum block to accept an AR style pipe stock. I then bought a lightweight aluminum stock that screws into that block. Viola!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have my special lightweight muzzleloader that is compact and powerful.
I will confess the only game I had taken with it was a big female coyote that weighed 45 lbs. School was out for the Christmas vacation and then the battery in my near to death Ford Ranger PU died. So I ran off to get a new battery and installed it. It was late morning like 10:30 AM so I figured why not go out anyways. It is late season and it just dusted some snow on the ground. Maybe the deer will move around despite the clock being near noontime. So I donned all of my gear at loaded up the Contender.
My go to load is 100 grains of BlackHorn 209 with a 300 grain Powerbelt platinum bullet. Again the red dot covers 3 inches at 100 yards and I was able to fire a group at that range which is around 3-4 inches. To me not bad for a red dot sight and according to my chronograph that load is producing 1700 fps. I have a Super 16 45-70 barrel that has an integral brake installed that I figure is in the same ball park. So if I can kill moose, bear, deer and wild boar with the 4570 handgun and the ballistics are in the same range, a deer with my new muzzleloader should do as well.
I climbed into my stand and waited. I noticed a sprinkling of granular snow. A north wind made it chilly but my old Ideal hunter orange coat kept me warm. I did make some doe bleats in the hopes of a late season buck would show up. There was one during archery season but the deer stayed out of bow range.
As I sat in the notch between two red oak trees about 20 feet up I spotted something. A coyote! It was looking towards the area where the deer usually traverse the edge of a laurel thicket. Wow. I am not going to pass this up. I immediately placed the red dot on the chest and fired.
BANG----FLOP
The big slug took her out like a pole axe. I know I kind of ruined a deer hunt but I see it as taking out a breeder that will ruin the deer, small game and turkey hunting in my area.
Them things do WAY more harm to Whitetail Deer than a LOT of Folks Realize, They kill a TON of Deer in this Country!
