The first deer hunt I can recall, I was 6 years old. My father put me in a low tree stand and gave me his JC Higgins 12 ga pump. I’ll never know for certain, but I believe the gun was unloaded, as at that time the gun was as long as I was tall and the recoil most likely would have pushed me right out of that tree stand. Fast forward six years, I received a Marlin 30-30 with 4X scope as a Christmas present. I took several deer with that gun but, unfortunately I no longer have it. Then, at the age of sixteen I worked all summer “fixing flats and changing oil” at a local gas station along with mowing the neighbors yard to pay for a Remington .270 700 BDL with a Redfield Widefield 3x9. I have no true idea about how many deer I have taken with that gun but I remember the last.
Hunting in the Texas Hill Country I shot a nice 8 point at approximately 200 yards and a feeling came over me that the challenge was lost. That was 43 years ago, I still have the Remington and enjoy handling and looking at it, but have never shot it since. Maybe someday I will again.
Like many others who watched Jeremiah Johnson I caught the bug and just had to have a “sure ‘nuf Hawken”. In 1984 I purchased a TC Hawken .50 kit and spent the summer building it, then learning how to get something that resembled accuracy with it. Just like the last deer shot with the Remington, I remember the first deer I took with the Hawken during the 1984 season. A little spike shot at 25 or so yards, I can close my eyes and replay that scene still today. I’ve been hooked on that gun ever since.
I’ve never felt the need to have another muzzleloader other than a Traditions Trapper pistol I built from a kit this year to backup the TC Hawken. What was it that hooked me on muzzleloaders? The anticipation while loading the gun in preparation for a hunt. Waiting and waiting for the perfect shot to present itself. Knowing that if I do my part, the gun is more than capable of doing its part. As I am about to squeeze off the shot, the little prayer of “please let the ball fly true.” And, if the shot is never taken, enjoying the serenity of the woods.
Then there is also the fun of outshooting guys at the public range who are shooting scoped centerfire rifles, or letting a kid take a shot and seeing the smile after the shot. And yes, there is a lot of work in keeping these guns clean and functioning but that is all part of the experience.
Just a few of the reasons I shoot and hunt with my Hawken and now the Trapper. It’s that little bit of uncertainty that all will go as planned when I squeeze the trigger that that turns to a feeling of accomplishment when everything works.