Personally I don't know what all the hype is about. I don't care whether a guy is packing a flint lock, percussion, or a new in-line. It isn't going to affect my personal hunt during muzzleloader season. I know what I can do with the gear I am carying and any deer beyond that is going to be safe.
The new in-lines do not stretch things as far as the media has everyone believing and I have seen few that can print a decent enough group past 150 yards to be much of a threat to a deer.
Yes there are a few who can stretch the distance......but about as many muzzleloader hunters are capable of that kind of shooting as conventional rifle hunters are capable of shooting consistantly past 200 yards in the field......not too damn many!
As long as they are hunting with something that requires they stuff powder and a bullet down the barrel, cock a hammer and slip on a cap..... that fits fine with me in a muzzleloader season.
What a person uses is an individual preference. If I decide to hunt with an iron sighted .30-30 lever action during rifle season, that is my choice, but I will not snivel at my neighbour who is shooting a .30-.378 Weatherby with a 4-12 varible on it and can wack a deer quite handily at 400 or 500 yards across a field. The .30-30 hunter may have to rely more on stealth than the .30-.378 user....but routinely being able to hit game at long distance has its own set of skills attached to it.
As for the scope thing. Well I can still do fine with iron sights, but my Dad sure as heck couldn't and if he couldn't use a scope on a muzzleloader, that would severely limit his opportunities.....penalized due to age.
This is the kind of thing I wish guys would lighten up on. During archery season guys shooting traditional stick bows frown upon someone using a new fangled high tech compound and god forbid a crossbow! Even though crossbows have as limited a range as regular archery equipment.
I have guided traditional archers for caribou......they had trouble connecting at 15 yards most of the time. Is it somehow unfair if the next guy had a compound and was capable of connecting at 50 yards......still throwing a stick isn't it?
Last fall I had a chap miss a big bull moose 4 times at 120 yards with his .300 WSM. That new fad cartridge didn't do him any good. I know guys with flint locks that could have hammered that bull each and every time.
Hey, if you are a rabid flint lock user....great. But does it really matter if a newbie into muzzleloaders opts for the in-line? Does it severly affect your chances of bringing home venison? No. In a regular muzzleloader season you decide how you want to hunt and you put your own personal limitations on what you do and how you do it.
Our sport has enough problems without hunters getting so steamed up at other hunters choices.
Hey, just my opinion............no doubt many will disagree.
