Why You Should Start Hunting With a Muzzleloader

In the late season, deer have likely been chased, shot at, and otherwise harassed for months. The remaining bucks and does roaming the woods have been very educated and experienced.

Whether you are still eyeing your target buck or aiming to put a little more meat in the freezer, breaking out the muzzleloader to hunt whitetails during the late season is an opportunity that every deer hunter should try to take advantage of.

Today's in-line muzzleloaders are very efficient and accurate. However, for hunters who have thought about picking up a front-loader, it can be a bit intimidating.

We're here to tell you that if you can shoot using open sights, then you can shoot a muzzleloader. Keep reading to learn why you should give it a try.

Extend Your Hunting Season

For most states, the muzzleloader season exists during the secondary rut.

Muzzleloader season allows you to take advantage of bucks resting after weeks of rutting. Across the country, many muzzleloader seasons open during the best days of the year and offer a high chance of bagging a big buck.

Southern states like Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Oklahoma open during the heat of the rut. Midwest powerhouses like Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri have late-season opportunities in December and January. 

Take Advantage of the Empty Woods

 Be strategic and plan your hunt.

This is not a time to slip up by hunting on the wrong wind or being noisy on the access trail, even though you won't be competing with as many hunters around you.

Whether you hunt on public or private land, the woods are much more quiet during muzzleloader season. During this time, there is less human scent and pressure. Finding hidden patches of food and cover with little competition can set you up for success.

Learn to Re-Scout Your Land

Scouting to fine-tune your hunting area during the late season is an important strategy that is often overlooked.

Re-scouting the land you know through and through in the late season may uncover many different patterns, behaviors, and changes that occurred during deer season. A quick yet unobtrusive scouting session for fresh signs is crucial to success.

Scout the fringes of the property, stay out of bedding areas, and make sure you keep the wind in your favor while doing so. If muzzleloader season is already in, carry your gun and slowly still hunt.

Integrate HuntWise Into Your Hunt

Use HuntWise to find an ideal location to increase your chances of finding a whitetail on a windy day and decrease the chances of your cover being blown.

HuntWise gives you an extra edge by delivering peak movement times with up to a 15-day forecast and monitoring weather conditions on a weekly, daily, and hourly basis.

HuntWise can even help you find last-minute hunting land if you're reading this and deciding to try a muzzleloader hunt as the season begins.

Become a Better Hunter

There is no doubt that shooting a rifle at an extreme distance takes practice and is no easy task. However, there is something to be said about the hunter who sneaks in close and only has one shot, and is successful year after year.

As muzzleloaders have a slight "hang time" before the bullet leaves the end of the barrel, learning how to stalk an animal and then keeping your sights aligned after the shot is crucial.

The strategic skills you acquire by taking up the muzzleloader will help you become a better hunter. If you decide to put it down and pick up your modern rifle again, the lessons learned from hunting with a smoke pole will only help you notch more tags.

What does it look like to use a muzzleloader? Check out this "muzzleloaders for dummies" video from our friend and HuntWise Pro, Jeff Sturgis. 

Extend Your Season With HuntWise and a Muzzleloader

Muzzleloading offers one of the best opportunities for late-season, mature buck hunting. It doesn't matter if you are considering hunting with a muzzleloader simply for the challenge or because the woods are less crowded during the hunting season – by choosing to hunt with a muzzleloader, you are accepting the challenge to make a clean kill on an animal with a single shot.

If you're up for the challenge and more time to hunt this season, HuntWise can help you scout (or re-scout) your hunting areas to help you plan your late-season buck hunting strategies. Use satellite imagery to note changes in the terrain from earlier in the season and use markers to highlight changes in deer behavior.

Explore every feature in the app with a free one-week trial! Download HuntWise today and start exploring.