By A Jay Winter
The late muzzleloader season is in full swing. Here are a few tips to make your season more successful:
Avoid sudden temperature changes with your gun, which could cause condensation in the barrel. This could cause your gun not to fire when needed and can be avoided by not taking your gun in your warm house at night.
- Put a piece of tape over the barrel to avoid any snow or other foreign matter from entering the barrel. It will not affect your accuracy because the gas escaping as the bullet travels down the barrel will blow it free.
- Wear your orange to be seen and if you are hunting in any type of blind, display some on the outside of the blind.
- Hope for cold weather and snow! I was hunting on December 26, 2016 in 40 degree temperatures and the deer all came out after shooting light. If it gets cold and snowy they will come out sooner.
- The new hand warmers that you shake are great tools to assist you in staying warm, but remember that they do not heat up immediately. Take them out an hour before and expose to the air. This allow them to produce heat when needed hours later.
- If you are sitting on the ground, take something to sit on. This will keep you warm and dry. There are many pads available commercially, but just a piece of insulation foam will work great.
- Take someone with you! There are many people that would love the experience and with the new apprentice license it is possible for them to be properly licensed to shoot a deer without the immediate need for hunter education.
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