ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230135
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C14 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Outdoors
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The first time Charlie Milliron tried hunting deer with a muzzleloading rifle, his round ball stopped a buck in its tracks.
``When I went up to it, all four feet were pointing my way,'' said Milliron, who lives in Franklin County. ``I went home and told my wife that I was going to sell all of my center-fire rifles. Muzzleloading was that fun.''
But the past year or two, there have been some blemishes on the sport. Milliron experienced it firsthand when he shot a deer in an open field and watched it race out of sight. This time he was using one of the modern inline rifles loaded with a saboted bullet rather than a traditional patched round ball.
``That deer had left like nothing was wrong,'' Milliron said.
A sportsman who takes pride in his shooting ability, Milliron couldn't believe he had missed, but a close look failed to reveal a blood trail.
Later Milliron found the deer ``graveyard dead'' 120 yards away - and not a speck of blood in sight.
Milliron has talked with other muzzleloaders who have had similar experiences.
``I heard from so many who didn't find their deer or any blood,'' he said. ``I feel like a lot of deer are being lost.''
Virginia hunting regulations prohibit the use of copper or jacketed bullets during the special muzzleloading season. Only a single lead bullet or saboted lead bullet may be used.
Most muzzleloading hunters have set aside their traditional sidelock rifles and switched to inline guns, opting to load them with saboted lead bullets.
``I have had pretty good luck with what I am using now, but what I see that is a problem [is] these lead conical bullets and saboted solid-lead bullets don't create much of a wound channel, and as a result almost no blood,'' said Denny Quaiff, executive director of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association.
That's not the case for some rounds on the market, the solid copper Barnes MZ being an example, Quaiff said.
``Those things leave a wound channel like a centerfire bullet,'' he said.
But the bullet, which mushrooms to the size of a quarter on impact, is illegal during Virginia's muzzleloading seasons.
Quaiff believes it is time for state regulations to embrace copper or jacket bullets when new hunting laws are considered in March. Such bullets were considered, but were rejected two seasons ago when scopes were legalized. The deer association endorsed them then and will again next year, Quaiff said.
The only sportsmen who might oppose a liberalization of bullet use are those who want muzzleloading to remain primitive, but that concept was lost with the legalization of inline rifles and scopes, Quaiff said.
Quaiff isn't likely to get an argument this time from state game officials.
``I am convinced in my own mind, as far as the effectiveness and humane dispatching of these animals, allowing these expandable bullets would help a lot of folks,'' said Bob Duncan, chief of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' wildlife division. ``We are thinking we probably ought to go ahead and allow them. The reason early on for not allowing their use didn't hold up.''
Many muzzleloaders already are using copper bullets with success outside the special black-powder season, he said.
``Looking back on it, we were trying to be conservative with the ammunition, and I think we missed an opportunity,'' Duncan said. Milliron has a legitimate concern, and ``it is one we are trying to address.''
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