Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993 TAG: 9311020244
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There were two big bucks, actually. An eight-pointer and the giant. ``The granddaddy of all deer,'' Henry said. Bigger than the 12-pointer he killed during a previous season. Trophy-book and taxidermy material.
It was Henry's birthday, and he was taking some time off from duties as a state game warden sergeant to bowhunt. Earlier in the bow season, he'd killed a doe and four-point buck. Now it was trophy time.
Henry was surprised to see the two bucks traveling together.
``The mast is so good the herds are not grouping,'' he said. In fact, deer don't have to do much moving at all. ``They are getting up and eating awhile then bedding back down.'' It is like breakfast in bed.
That can be troublesome for bowhunters who traditionally pattern deer by setting up a stand along a well-worn path between distant feeding and bedding areas.
The two bucks stayed around Henry's stand for nearly an hour before they presented a decent shot.
When the eight-pointer did stride into range, Henry held off, hoping for a chance at the big buck.
``For 40 minutes I stood there with my knees knocking,'' he said.
When the shot he waited for finally came, the big buck had winded him and was getting edgy. That didn't help Henry's accuracy.
``After I missed him, he went 40 yards and started horning.''
It was as if the buck owned the woods and was challenging his foe. Right then, Henry made plans to be back with a bit more fire power.
He won't be alone. The early muzzleloading season is expected to attract a record number of hunters. Some will be traditionalists, or ``hair shirts,'' as the trade calls them. They are the ones toting a faithful replica of an original black-powder gun. They like the heavy load and aroma of real black powder. There will be some fringe along the edge of their possibles bag, which carries the kind of round balls that Dan'l Boone used.
But gaining ground rapidly is a new breed of muzzleloader hunters, the sportsman with an in-line gun that looks so modern it might be mistaken for a Remington 700 bolt action. It will be loaded with Pyrodex, a synthetic black powder, and a saboted bullet that shoots fast and flat.
The modern hunter is afield not so much out of some romantic attraction for old-fashioned guns and the buckskin era. He doesn't care if he's not authentic down to the last fringe. He is drawn to the sport because the muzzleloading season gives him an extra two-weeks of deer hunting, and at a time when the weather can be perfect, hunting pressure is light and the bucks are on the move. It's like having two deer seasons, rather than one.
The early season has doubled in length this year, and offers either-sex hunting each day east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and one day (Nov. 6) in most areas of the west.
Many gun shops say their black-powder business is up 30 percent to 50 percent. Some say black powder sales now equal their modern gun sales.
``For all practical purposes, the black-powder season is equal to the rifle season, in length and enthusiasm,'' said Lenny Wright, assistant manager at Blue Ridge Sporting Supplies in Salem.
Last year Wright said he heard some gripes from modern firearm hunters who thought that the black-powder season was giving the muzzleloader an unfair advantage. This season, instead of complaining rifle hunters have been joining the ranks of black-powder hunters.
``Last year's rifleman is this year's black-powder hunter,'' he said.
When an extra week was added to the season, it was a signal to many sportsmen that the black-powder season was no longer experimental, but permanent, said A.L. Bryant of Bryansteen Gun Shop. Newcomers aren't just buying equipment, but ``they are going for better quality,'' he said.
A significant portion of the sales are in-line guns and saboted bullets, which are the choice of newcomers, especially the young to middle-aged hunter. The new gear can make the transition from a modern gun to a black-powder season less difficult, said Bryant.
But you do need to spend time on the range testing guns and loads, said Dick Owens of On Target.
``Part of an ethical hunter's obligation is to make sure he is an accurate shooter,'' said Owens.
Game officials say they aren't certain how big the black-powder sport will become, but Matt Knox, deer research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, looks for strong growth, especially in the east.
``East of the Blue Ridge it absolutely is going to explode,'' he said.
Denny Quaiff, a founder of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, said he belongs to two Eastern Virginia Deer clubs where ``a minimum of 40 percent of the members have bought rifles who didn't have them. And they have taken vacations at times they've never taken vacation before.
``I've never seen anything to beat it. I worked my hind parts off helping to put this season in place, getting it extended and legalizing the sabots. Now I have to look for a tree to get into, because somebody else is going to be sitting in them.''
by CNB