ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610220004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: HUNTING
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
CALL it a boom! A revolution!
It is getting tough to come up with enough eye-popping terms to describe the dramatic growth of the muzzleloading deer hunting season.
One thing you can call it with accuracy: It is a prime time to take a mature buck, even the kind that will be a ticket to the annual Virginia Big Game Show.
``If I were to choose a time to hunt, I would choose any of our seasons, but if I were looking for a time to kill big bucks or to see the most bucks, I'd definitely be out during the muzzleloading season,'' said Matt Knox, who is the deer management biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
During two of the past four hunting seasons, black-powder hunters have been credited with killing the biggest buck of the year. In 1992, Jim Smith's 31-point Warren County buck not only led state competition that year, but became the No.1 buck in Virginia's all-time records and the highest-ranked muzzleloading whitetail kill in the nation.
The next year, a 40-point Bedford County buck killed by Walter Hatcher of Big Island led the state competition and ranked second to Smith's deer in the national black-powder records.
During the recent 1996 big-game competition, which judged trophies taken during the 1995 season, a muzzleloading kill by Tony Mead of Spencer fell 3/16th of an inch short of being the best buck of the season. The 12-point Henry County kill came that close to topping a 23-point modern-firearms buck killed in Cumberland County by Jimmy Dedmond of Farmville.
What special magic does the muzzleloading season have going for it? It opens in early November (Nov.4-16 this time), and you just about can count on it hitting the peak of the rut, that magical period when does come into estrus and big bucks that have been wise and elusive all year suddenly become predictable and unpredictable in their ardor to breed.
The rut should be especially important to hunters this season, because a heavy mast crop is limiting the movements of deer - just ask the bowhunters who have been out there since early October. The rut should kick them into high gear.
It is one of the few times of the year you actually can see more bucks than does, said Denny Quaiff, executive director of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, an organization that has given the muzzleloading season strong support.
When the rut hits, ``Those bucks are out there moving,'' said Quaiff, who has killed several wall-hangers during the black-powder season.
``The first morning of the muzzleloading season [last year] I had six bucks by me by 10:30 that morning,'' Quaiff said. ``I let all six of them walk, but I had six bucks all within a muzzleloading range of 50 yards. That's pretty heavy.''
That kind of talk has hunters joining the ranks of muzzleloaders by the droves.
The continued interest in muzzleloading hunting is demonstrated by the fact that license sales have increased 11.3 percent, from 79,000 in 1994 to 88,000 in 1995. The number of bucks killed last season increased by a like number, Quaiff said. The antlered-buck kill increased 10,511 - 11 percent - last season, a figure even Knox called surprising.
``A majority of this increase can be attributed to muzzleloaders,'' he said.
The muzzleloading success helped boost the total deer kill to a record 218,467, a 4.2 percent increase over the previous season, which also was a record. Last season, muzzleloaders accounted for 18.2 percent of the entire deer kill, leaving bowhunters 7.4 percent. Muzzleloading license sales jumped 10,000, reaching nearly 90,000. It was the first year hunters could mount a scope on their black-powder guns, and many did.
``Primitive'' is a word you seldom hear these days in the ranks of muzzleloaders. What is primitive about a scoped, in-line gun that will reach out with accuracy and drop a deer at 125 yards?
``You hardly can give away a traditional [side-lock] gun,'' said Gerald Tobey, of Blue Ridge Sporting Supplies in Salem, where more than 90 percent of the black-powder sales are in-line.
Remington has come out with a new in-line muzzleloader built on the design of its famous Model 700 center-fire rifles. You have to get close to recognize that it isn't a modern bolt-action gun. It appeals to hunters who could care less about tradition - the side locks, the long barrels, the walnut stocks - Quaiff said.
``If it wasn't for the smoke after the shot you would think you were shooting a modern center-fire rifle,'' Quaiff said after test-firing the new gun.
The major drawback of the Remington is the fact that it is tough to find. The majority of the guns that are available are being marketed through national-chain stores, primarily Wal-Mart, a trend that has Tobey and other gun-shop managers peeved.
The big attraction this year is accessories, Tobey said. The past couple of years saw the serious hunter upgrading his gear, often moving from a side-lock to an in-line and adding a scope, maybe spending $300 to $400.
``This year, we are seeing first-time hunters coming into it,'' he said. ``They are buying entry-level guns. When you get into that, it is an indication that you are getting into the fringe area of the movement.''
What's left for the established black-powder hunter is innovative new accessories designed to make the sport easier, more efficient and quicker. Also, cleaner. The hottest item this season, Tobey said, is a new, noncorrosive powder, Black Mag 2, that removes much of the dirty chore of cleaning a black-powder gun after a few shots.
``No more rotten-egg smell and no more tearing your gun apart in the bathtub,'' Tobey said.
Finding the powder is the big challenge, he said.
Also new is a product called Pyrodex Pellets. Instead of measuring and pouring granular Pyrodex down your barrel, you poke a couple of powder pellets into the barrel followed by a saboted bullet. The process is quick, and there is no chance of measuring incorrectly.
When the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries meets early next year to set new hunting regulations, no one will be surprised to see a move to legalize jacketed bullets in Virginia. They already are legal in several surrounding states.
The time may come when modern gun hunters say, ``That's enough! The muzzleloaders are being given too many advantages.''
``So far, equity among hunters hasn't been a major issue,'' said Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
``You will hear a few modern-firearm hunters gripe that all the big bucks are being killed by muzzleloaders before the regular gun season begins the third Monday in November, but that hasn't been a major issue,'' Duncan said. ``It hasn't even been a fact. Plenty of outstanding bucks are being taken by modern gun hunters following the two-week early muzzleloading season.''
Virginia has reached a golden era of deer hunting, when there appear to be enough bucks for everyone, Knox said. The annual big-game show, held in late September attracted 100 more trophy heads than in 1995, he said.
``The heads were awesome, just awesome,'' Knox said.
It is a trend that is expected to continue.
LENGTH: Long : 136 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. GENE DALTON/Staff. This scene might make anby CNBoutdoorsman wonder if he has died and gone to deer-hunting heaven.
In reality, it is a view of bucks in the Radford Arsenal, where
there are controlled hunts. color. 2. BILL COCHRAN/Staff. Denny
Quaiff test-fires a scoped, in-line muzzleloading rifle that has the
look and performance of a modern center-fire. Graphic: Map & chart
by staff. color. KEYWORDS: MGR