TRY MUZZLELOADING
Better chance of pulling a tag?
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Tired of getting the news that
your name didn’t get pulled for a
deer or elk tag? You might consid-
er Civil War-era muzzleloading,
provided you’re patient enough to
spend 30 seconds or more to load
with measured gunpowder and a
patch and ball tamped down with
a rod.
Consider your chances of draw-
ing a tag. Wallowa County has two
muzzleloader-speciic hunts. The
Eagle Cap elk hunt on the Minam
Wildlife Management Unit takes
place Oct. 15-23 this year. A white
tail deer hunt called the North Wen-
aha-East Sled Springs takes place
Dec. 3-11. Be advised that as the
elk hunt takes place in the Eagle
Cap Wilderness, the only way to
pack the elk out is on your back or
the backs of livestock.
The white tail deer tag to ap-
plicant ratio is greater than one. In
2015, 279 people applied for 303
tags. The 2015 Eagle Cap elk hunt
had 105 people apply for 44 tags.
Hunters experienced a mere 5 per-
cent success rate on that hunt.
Before purchasing a irearm,
be sure to know the distinction be-
tween black powder and muzzle-
loader irearms. Smokeless gun-
powder didn’t come into general
use until the 1890s, so all irearms
up to that point were “blackpow-
der” arms, including breechload-
ers. In other words, muzzleloaders
are black powder irearms but not
all black powder irearms are muz-
zleloaders.
Muzzleloaders are divided into
two groups — lintlock and per-
cussion cap. This has to do with the
method used to ignite the primer
that in turn ignites the gunpowder.
Percussion cap is the more “mod-
ern” of the two methods.
As the name implies, muzzle-
loaders load from the business end
of the rile barrel, while breech
loaders load at the opposite end of
the barrel. Although some guns are
28 | Experience the Wallowas
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Treva Crooks holds the Hawken-style rifle Tom built especially for
her. Although now retired from muzzleloading hunting, the couple
spent years pursuing the sport.
advertised as muzzleloaders and
technically are, it doesn’t mean
they’re legal for Oregon hunting. A
quick look at online retailers shows
many muzzleloaders sporting a
strikingly contemporary look.
For starters, scopes are off lim-
its, as are most optical aids. The
ignition must be open so the per-
cussion cap can be seen when the
gun is in ire position. Many mod-
ern muzzleloaders work in a simi-
lar manner to a bolt-action rile, al-
though some of those have an open
ignition as well. Read gun descrip-
tions and hunting regulation de-
scriptions carefully before spend-
ing hard-earned cash on a irearm.
If you have a muzzleloader that
doesn’t it the bill for the gun-spe-
ciic hunts, it’s still likely legal to
use on several doe hunts in this area
that prohibit modern, center-ire ri-
les. These hunts are listed on page
58 of Oregon’s 2016 Big Game
Hunting Regulations. If you’re par-
ticularly ambitious, you can use a
muzzleloader in any irearm hunt.
Tom Crooks and his wife Treva
of Joseph recently retired from
muzzleloading hunting, but share
fond memories. Tom Crooks was
an avid muzzleloader hunter and
is a gunsmith as well as a repairer
of clocks. Crooks built his own as
well as his wife’s percussion cap
rile.
Crooks, who hails from Mon-
tana, has a lifelong interest in muz-
zleloading irearms and hunting.
“I did nothing but for 25 years
or so,” he said. “I got interested
when I was a little kid. I built a
pistol when I was in the Navy and
went on from there.”
His sons eventually showed
interest as well and often hunted
squirrels with their muzzleloaders.
Treva Crooks started using
muzzleloaders after marrying Tom
in 2002. She previously hunted
with a 30-06. It took some adjust-
ment.
“I never shot a muzzleloader
before I married Tom,” she said.
“You really have to concentrate
when using a muzzleloader. The
next shot you have to put in your
powder, then your ball — you real-
ly have to push it down. Deer gen-
erally wait around for that. It’s the
best way to learn to shoot.”
Local hunter Dustin Schaeffer
has owned muzzleloading irearms
for more than a dozen years but
only recently started using them for
hunting.
“It’s different,” Schaeffer said.
“I have a .50-caliber percussion
cap rile. It’s a Hawken (tradition-
al) style.”
And as you might imagine,
range is limited with these types of
riles.
“A good range is 100 yards
— maybe 150 under great condi-
tions, but I’d never shoot past that,”
Schaeffer said.
Several types of black pow-
der are available for use. Authen-
tic black powder fouls a barrel
much sooner than more modern
types of black powder such as Py-
rodex, which Schaeffer uses. He
cautioned against using smokeless
powder as a substitute, which is il-
legal as well as dangerous because
muzzleloaders aren’t built to take
the pressure of a smokeless powder
detonation.
Most experts suggest a rough
cleaning with a copper brush about
every three shots, with a thorough
cleaning of the weapon following
each use. And plenty of practice
time in a controlled area such as a
shooting range is required to gain
proiciency.
Muzzleloading guns are avail-
able at a number of irearm retail-
ers, as are kits you can put together
yourself. For the more adventur-
ous, retailers like Dixie Gun Works
actually carry parts you can cher-
ry pick to create your own custom
version.