# New Poster Here and New Muzzleloader hunter



## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

My brother's and I all got ourselves muzzleloaders and this fall will be our first time hunting with them. 

Given the time of year and any particulars of hunting with a muzzleloader, does anyone have any tips for us newbies?

We will most likely be hunting up around Yost, just south of the Idaho Border and north of Park Valley. The Henry Moutains I believe they are called.

We've hunted there a few times during the regular season but i'd expect that the hunting should be rather different in the muzzleloader season.

Again, any friendly tips would be greatly appreciated.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Secondly, welcome to the world of buckskins and smoke poles! It is a lot of fun and my favorite! I think the best way to learn a new field like this is by having a mentor. There are several small things to learn and safety being the most important, having someone who knows it saves a lot of time for you and keeps things safe. There are a few intracecies best learned hands on that are just very different from your normal rifles as far as knowing how to avoid double loading and other things that can me a major safety issue. I put in for a ML LE elk hunt in which I have pretty good odds, so if I get that I will be shooting a lot this summer; maybe we could get together once or twice to shoot. That is how I learned and really appreciated input from another person with experience. There are also lots of instructional videos available, even on Youtube to get you started and learn the basic terms and principles.

Good luck! 
What models did you all get?


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

Thanks for the offer to get together Huge. As for the shooting, I'm feeling more and more confident about that though I do indeed plan to go out plenty this summer and practice. My bigger concern is what to expect in terms of the deer behavior given the time of year. I assume that I should expect it to be different from the rifle hunt but maybe that's not a correct assumption. 

Oh, by the way, I got the cheapest I could find so in case I didn't find it to my liking, I wouldn't have to feel too bad about the money spent. I just got a basic Traditions Tracker. My brother got a Traditions Pursuit and my other brother has a T/C but I can't remember what model it is. Both of theirs are nicer than mine but I've been hitting the targets we're shooting at better than they are so far, and better groupings lol.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

My experience has been that the muzzie is the average of the archery and any weapon (rifle) as far as deer behavior and hunting pressure. I don't know how else to explain behavior.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Welcome to the forum mjbarney12!
New to muzzleloading and shooting better than your peers is a great thing! Cheap (inexpensive) guns can be trained to shoot right up there with the most expensive ones in my opinion. I've been muzzy shooting for over 35 years, even before there was a muzz season in Utah. Outshot many a hunter using scoped rifles back in the day, using my kit built sidelock rifle that doesn't even have a name stamped in the barrel. I think it was made to hang on the wall, but I've taken a 4X4 and several does with it.

As to your hunting area you will be hunting either in the Grouse Creek mountains or the Sawtooth range. Both hold incredible bucks, but there is a lot of private ground to deal with. It would be best to be getting on the "permission" bandwagon soon. The very best of the muzz hunt is the time of year. Not too often will you have to deal with becoming snow bound. Sometimes it's too warm and you have to do what archers do and get that meat off the bone and into coolers as quickly as you can.

It sounds like you are off to a great start by practicing your loading and shooting skills. I doesn't get any better than that. You should be ready by the deer hunt. As for a reminder, don't forget to apply for your tag during the big game drawing which ends soon, or you can forget about hunting this fall.


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

I have to admit that I'm not quite sure what the mountain range is called. My brother always calls it the Henry Mountains but who knows. George Peak is the main peak in the area. We tend to hunt the north slope and go through Yost to get there. I think that if the snow has started to fly, the deer tend to move over to the Park Valley side to get more sun and to winter through the cold and snow. A couple of years ago during the rifle hunt we tried to hunt the north slope as usual and didn't see hardly anything. I assume it is because the snow had already hit pretty good and the deer had all moved to the south slope.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

I used to hunt that area during the general rifle season. George Creek begins at the top of George peak and runs almost directly west. The top of that peak is National Forest, but all the ground surrounding it is private. The North slope you speak of is also private, but I don't think the owner posts it. There was a very big burn out there about 10 years ago and it's still suffering from that.


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

There is some private land that is posted and I have seen "guards" keeping people out. There is also a CWMU up on top of the mountain with two gates perhaps a few hundered yards apart. They let people go through the gates in order to get from public land to public land but you obviously can't hund the CWMU without a tag/permission.

Nevertheless, I've not seen any other private land outside of what I just mentioned and if it is private, then TONS of hunters during the general season are tresspassing as everyone treats is like public land. I need to check the DWR website to see what they show as private vs. public just to make sure we don't wander onto private land.


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## mjbarney12 (Feb 13, 2011)

Just checked the DWR Map on the north slope of George Peak. We go up the canyon following Johnson Creek. Wish I could post a screen shot by I tried and couldn't. Anyway, about a mile or two south of Yost it goes from private to public land and we hunt well beyond the boarder of the two so I'm feeling better now 

So, during the time of year that the Muzzleloader hunt takes place, are you more likely to find deer towards the peaks and higher elevations or are they down in the creek bottoms where water is easier to get to? Or does it just depend on how wet the summer has been?


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## Steveb (Sep 11, 2007)

I hunt the south-east, so this may be different for you, but it is warmer. That tends to keep the deer higher, but they can be found lower.


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2011)

one thing ive found during the muzzy hunt is the deer will be where the deer will be.... the location of them during that time of the year depends on so much. im a dedicated hunter, so i get to hunt all 3 seasons. im an avid bowhunter, but when it comes to deer hunting in utah, the muzzy hunt is by far my favorite! lots of deer are seen and they dont take for cover 20 minutes after first light and stay in the trees all the way through the season like they do on the rifle hunt. good luck to you this season!


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