Single Shot Muzzleloading Rifles Blog

Editor’s Note: Allen Treadwell of Seligman, Missouri, is the co-host of Bass Pro Shops’ “100% Real Hunting” TV show and Winchester’s “Whitetail Revolution” TV show, both airing on the Versus Network. Besides being on CVA’s Professional Hunt Team, he’s also a member of Hunter’s Specialties professional hunt team.

Question: Allen, tell us about the Iowa white-tailed buck you took this year.

Treadwell: I took a beautiful, 20-inch wide, 153-inch, 10-point buck with split brow tines with my CVA Accura. The Accura put this buck down in his tracks. The buck was standing at 149-1/2-yards, and I put the second crosshair of my Leupold UltimateSlam riflescope on the buck’s shoulder. He went down like a case of bricks. That 245-grain PowerBelt bullet delivered all the energy necessary to efficiently take down that buck.

Question: Tell us about the hunt. Where and with whom did you hunt?

Treadwell: I hunted in Van Buren County, Iowa, with my friend, Nick Boley, who owns Windy Ridge Outfitters. Most hunters don’t think of southern Iowa when they think of Iowa deer hunting. Van Buren County has rolling terrain with hills and valleys. The crop fields are tucked-down in some bottoms, with big timber draw leading to them. When you hunt during Iowa’s late muzzleloader season, you pray for snow on the ground and bitter cold temperatures. If you can get that type of weather, the deer have to get-up and start moving to find something to eat, just to survive those extreme winter conditions. Nick plants winter food plots every year, and he leaves beans, corn and turnips in the food plots. Then the deer will have something to eat in the late season. When you get that cold weather and snow, the deer have to come to these types of food sources.

The day I took this deer, we had 6 inches of snow on the ground, and the temperature was 8-degrees Fahrenheit. The snow had been there for several days, and the deer had bedded-down but finally had to move. When hunting in extreme-weather conditions, from first shooting light until 8:00 am or 9:00 am, the deer are at their most active. After 9:00 am, you can return to camp, eat, take a nap and wait for the afternoon hunt, so you don’t have to stay in that horrible weather too long. In the afternoon, we prefer to get in the stand 4 to 5 hours before dark. Then we don’t spook the young bucks and does that come in to feed in the food plots first. If they’re not on the food plot when the older does come in to feed, those does will know that something spooked those young deer. That last hour of daylight, when the older bucks come in, if they don’t see the young bucks and does and the older does, they won’t move into the field. So, you need to get to the stand early in the afternoon. I like to hunt the late season. It’s better than hunting the rut in Iowa, because deer will come from everywhere to get food, and you’ll see the bucks you may never see before and during the rut.

Question: Did you know this buck was coming to the food source before you hunted?

Treadwell: Yes, I did. That’s a big advantage a hunter can have, if he uses trail cameras. Whether you see the big buck or not, if you can get pictures of him on a trail camera, you’ll hunt more effectively, because you know at any time, the buck you want to that may appear. If you see two or three quality bucks on your trail cameras, you’ll have more confidence and be more attentive and alert. Too, your chances of seeing a buck you’ve seen on the trail-camera pictures are much greater.

Question: What type of trail cameras do you use?

Treadwell: I use Cuddeback trail cameras. There’s a big debate among hunters about whether a camera with a flash spooks deer. In my opinion, a flash doesn’t bother a big buck too much. You may only get one or two pictures of him before he leaves, but that flash won’t spook him out of the area. However, it’s probably better to use a no-flash camera, since an infrared camera with no flash will give you more pictures of more bucks than a flash camera will. Too, with an infrared camera, you may get four to five pictures of the same buck and be able to tell more about his antlers and body weight than if you only get one or two pictures. So, having the cameras set-up, knowing the quality of deer I’d have the opportunity to take and having the CVA rifle I knew was effective out to 250 yards all combined to make me successful on this hunt. When that buck appeared at 150 yards, there was no question that when I took the shot, I could put him down.

Late-season Iowa hunting is cold and tough, and when I go up there to hunt for monster bucks, I want to know that if I have the chance to take one, I’ve got the rifle, the powder charge, the scope and the rangefinder that will make that shot possible.

To hunt with Windy Ridge Outfitters, visit www.nicholsboley.com, or call (641) 919-2801.

Have you ever wondered why some Muzzleloader hunters consistently take big bucks every year, and you don’t? Have you ever thought, “What’s that guy doing that I’m not doing?” To learn the answer, you have to remember that deer hunting is a sport just like football, baseball or any other sport. The ingredients required to be great at these sports are the same ingredients required to be a consistently-successful deer hunter.

The University of Alabama won the BCS National Championship Game this past season. But before the arrival of Coach Nick Saban, the U of A’s football program hadn’t been successful in a number of years. Nick Saban had been a successful coach for many years and won a national championship at LSU. What did he do to change the U of A football team to winners? Have you ever thought about what makes Peyton Manning one of the most-consistently-successful quarterbacks in the NFL? His success is due to the same thing that makes the teams coached by Nick Saban consistent winners. Saban requires extreme discipline from his players and a work ethic that the previous losing Alabama teams didn’t have. Manning is a great quarterback. I’m sure he has a lot of natural talent, but he also works harder than many other quarterbacks.

To consistently take big bucks with your Muzzleloader, the formula is simple. All you have to do is work harder at the sport of deer hunting than you have when you haven’t been consistently taking bucks. But the philosophy of hard work as the key is only half-right. The reason these people can work harder than the people who aren’t as successful is because they are passionate about their sport. They love the practice and the work as much, if not more than they do the game day and the victories. Here’s how this winning philosophy breaks-down into deer-hunting success.

1)  The Muzzleloader hunters who are successful during opening week of Muzzleloader season already have found the bucks they want to take. They not only know where these bucks live but also what time these bucks travel, where they travel, and how often they travel. Don’t worry. You haven’t waited too late to be successful. Use trail cameras, deer attractants, feeding stations and mineral stations right now to begin to attract deer. Then you can identify the bucks you want to hunt. Even if you live in a state that doesn’t permit baiting, most states allow hunters to feed, put-out mineral blocks and attract deer during the off-season. So, by using these techniques now along with trail cameras, you can watch your bucks throughout the summer months and learn where they live and where they travel. Most importantly, you can watch their antlers grow.

2)  Successful Muzzleloader hunters also know what the deer’s preferred food sources are during the early deer season, the mid-season and the late season. They’ll set-up deer attractants, feeding stations and mineral blocks near these preferred food sources. Even when all the baits and attractants have to be removed, the deer will continue to walk the same routes they’ve been traveling. However, instead of eating the bait or the attractant, they’ll begin to feed on native foods.

3)  One of the best ways to take your buck next season with your Muzzleloader rifle is to concentrate deer in an area where no one hunts. Prepare that region now for hunting in the fall. For instance, find a briar patch or a thicket that’s so dense that nobody will want to hunt it. Try to crawl into that thicket at least 5 to 10 yards, and cut a trail. Once you get inside the thicket, you can walk to the center of the thicket. Ideally, the foliage will be 10-feet high or higher to keep anyone from seeing that you’ve cut a trail into the center of the thicket. When you arrive at the center of the thicket, cut a circle a little bigger than a ground blind. Then cut lanes 2- to 3-feet wide, spoking-out from where you’ll set-up your ground blind, in three different directions for about 50 to 60 yards, if the thicket’s big enough. Use a deer attractant, bait and mineral licks to draw the deer into the end of each one of these spokes. If you live in a state that permits baiting, start baiting now at the ends of these spokes, and continue baiting well into deer season. If you live in a state that doesn’t permit hunting over bait, make sure you remove baits, attractants and mineral licks the number of days required before you hunt over this area. Deer like to bed in thick cover. If they have food and minerals in the region where they bed, well away from hunting pressure, then when Muzzleloader season starts, let the hunting pressure build. Go to the area that you’ve set-up in thick cover, take a ground blind, put it in the spot you’ve created for it, and plan to hunt there all day. If you don’t over-hunt this site, you may be able to take more than one buck from this thick-cover sanctuary. The good news is that no one else will know where you’re hunting, and you can use this same land in future years. If you take one more step and set-up trail cameras near the three spots where you’re baiting, you can tell before you hunt there if you’ve got a wall-hanger buck coming there. Yes, I’m talking about quite a bit of work and preparation before the season, but those who work the most before the season usually take the biggest bucks during the season.

Editor’s Note: An avid outdoorsmen, John Vaca works for Bushnell and Final Approach and enjoyed hunting with a Muzzleloader and taking his first blackpowder turkeys in the spring of 2010.

Question: John, I understand you had a good hunt with the CVA Optima Pro.

Vaca: I was taking a couple of dealers who never had before been hunting on a turkey hunt in central Kansas. The weather was super windy. The first day we hunted, we only hunted half a day, because we had 40-mile-per-hour sustained winds, which weren’t conducive to turkey hunting. When we got up the next morning, I put out hen decoys and a Primos B-Mobile strutting tom decoy with a real turkey fan in it. We were set-up within 80 yards of the roost of a flock of Rio Grande turkeys. I was almost in a ditch, but I could look over the edge and see the field where I expected the turkeys to fly-down. A fence ran along the edge of the ditch. At first light, 7 mature toms and 11 jakes (1-year-old gobblers) flew-down to the field. The turkeys started fighting each other, so I called them. Those birds all decided to come over at one time and try to whip the strutting decoy that I’d set up. Finally, the biggest gobbler in the flock separated himself from the other turkeys, giving me a clear shot. I took that gobbler at 12 yards with the CVA Optima Pro, and he didn’t even flinch.

Question: What barrel did you have on the Optima Pro?

Vaca: I had a 12-gauge shotgun barrel with a turkey choke on it.

Question: How did you load?

Vaca: I used 90 grains of Triple Se7en powder and 1-1/8 ounces of No. 5 shot.

Question: Why do you like No. 5s for turkeys?

Vaca: No. 5 shot is a happy medium between the large numbers of pellets you get when you shoot No. 6 shot and the heavier pellets when you shoot No. 4 shot. So, I prefer No. 5s. I think it’s probably a mental thing that I have. I’m sure No. 4s or No. 6s are just as good – but I like No. 5s.

Question: How long have you been hunting turkeys with the CVA Optima Pro?

Vaca: This was my first blackpowder turkey season and my first hunt with this gun.

Question: Why did you decide to hunt the turkeys with black powder?

Vaca: Chad Schearer, Nate Treadaway and Terry Eby – all with CVA – are all good friends of mine, and they kept encouraging me to try blackpowder turkey hunting.

Question: What did you think about the performance of the Optima Pro?

Vaca: The gun was unbelievable. It patterned as good as any conventional 12 gauge I’d ever shot. When I patterned it out to 35 yards and still got an excellent pattern, I patterned the gun from 12 to 35 yards, and it held such a tight pattern that at 12 yards I shot one of the turkeys’ beaks off.

Question: Wait a minute, what do you mean, “one of the turkeys?”

Vaca: As soon as my turkey went down, the other turkeys started to flog him. They didn’t know what had happened, so they started kicking him and beating him with their wings. I was lying on my side, and I thought to myself, “I can kill two turkeys in the same day here in Kansas. If I can get this muzzleloader reloaded, I can go ahead and get my second bird right now.” Then I thought, “This strategy is never going to work.” But I decided I had nothing to lose by trying to reload while lying on the ground.

I pulled-out a CVA speed loader, poured my powder down the barrel, put the over-powder patch in and rammed it home with my rod. Then I put my shot cup down the barrel, filled it up with No. 5s, put my over shot card on top of the shot and got it all stuffed down the barrel. I put a primer on the Optima Pro and started calling to the turkeys again. They came right back to my decoys. The second longbeard separated from the flock, and I took him at 9 yards. I took two gobblers with the Optima Pro that day, after reloading in-between the first and second gobblers. My first gobbler went down at 6:20 am, and I took the second tom at 6:40 am.

Question: So you limited-out with two turkeys in 20 minutes on the first day you hunted with the CVA Optima Pro. Is that right?

Vaca: That’s right. But we had arrived where we planned to hunt well before daylight and set-up, because we knew we’d be hunting close to the roost tree. Within 20 minutes after the turkeys flew to the ground, I had taken both of my birds.

Question: What did the friends you were hunting with think of the CVA Optima Pro?

Vaca: They couldn’t believe how accurate it was. The landowner, who’d accompanied me on the hunt, said, “I’ve never seen the like of the fireball that came out of the end of that barrel when you pulled the trigger.” We had guides to take my other hunters who’d never been hunting before to places where they could call them up turkeys. However, since I’d hunted this property before, knew the land, the guides and the landowner, the landowner decided that he’d take me to a place where I could hunt by myself. But, when we got to the spot I was to hunt, the landowner decided to go with me, just to see what was going to happen when I pulled the trigger on that blackpowder shotgun. He said, “John, when I saw you bring-up that gun to shoot at that first turkey, I knew you meant business. But when that gun barked, fire came out of the end of the barrel, and feathers flew.” He kept telling everyone at the lodge over and over about how the CVA Optima Pro barked, spit fire and blew feathers.

I am sold on the Optima Pro with a 12-gauge barrel. I had a Bushnell Trophy Red Dot scope on the gun. At that close range and with the gun shooting that tight of a pattern, it would have been easier to miss a turkey, than if the bird had been at 30 yards. But because of the accuracy of the scope and the rifle, both those two birds took almost the whole pattern. I had an absolutely-awesome hunt. The first turkey had a 10-inch beard and 7/8-inch spurs and weighed 19-1/2-pounds. The second bird had a 10-1/2-inch beard and 1-inch spurs and weighed 20.8 pounds.

Question: Why would you recommend that other hunters try the CVA Optima Pro with a 12-gauge barrel for hunting next season?

Vaca: I think this blackpowder gun takes turkey hunting to an altogether-different level. You don’t get a second shot usually. I was really lucky to be able to reload and take the second bird. Many blackpowder hunters are purists and prefer to hunt with primitive weapons, and that’s fine for the folks who enjoy that. But the CVA Optima Pro is right on the leading edge of blackpowder technology. What I like about black powder is I can completely control the ballistic chain, including the pattern, the velocity and the recoil. I can hunt with whatever combination of shot, shot cup, powder and size of shot that suits me. I found hunting with the CVA Optima Pro the most fun.