Upper Peninsula
Muzzle Loading Association


  News & Notes2016 →October 2016 The Mining Journal Special Edition


Newspaper article about ML hunting and the UPMLA

From "Outdoor Guide", a Special Edition of The Mining Journal of Marquette, Michigan

[img:nn16-j1]

[img:nn16-j2] Lyle Lyle
(image © Sigurd Utych, used with permission)  
By Christie Bleck
Journal Staff Writer


MARQUETTE--Using a muzzleloader to hunt whitetail deer is not the same as using a shotgun or rifle, or bow and arrow, for that matter. Instead, muzzleloading involves loading a propellant charge from the gun's muzzle. However, the muzzleloader is the oldest type of firearm on Earth, having been around since the 17th century, according to Popular Mechanics magazine.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist David Jentoft, who's based in Sault Ste. Marie, said that although muzzleloading is not as popular as hunting with a regular firearm, there are people who take part. "They started more so as a black powder type or more traditional or more primitive-style firearm," Jentoft said. However, there have been technological advances with muzzleloaders over the years.

"You used to have the traditional muzzleloader where you put the ball, powder, and patch in," Jentoft said. Now it's all contained in a single round and can be loaded like a firearm. "Muzzleloaders are like a single-shot rifle, basically," Jentoft said.

Not as many hunters take part in muzzleloading in Michigan, with the majority participating in the regular firearm season that runs Nov. 15-30. Even then, participation in the muzzleloader season usually is in the later part of season, he said. That can be challenging. "There are deer left, but fewer than at the start of the deer season," said Jentoft, who said numbers depend on factors like weather.

The muzzleloading season in Zone 1 in the Upper Peninsula and Zone 2 in the northern Lower Peninsula runs from Dec. 2-11. In Zone 3 in the southern Lower Peninsula, the season runs from Dec. 2-18. Hunters are allowed one deer per kill tag.

John Pera of Wakefield, president of the Upper Peninsula Muzzle Loaders Association, has been taking part in this type of hunting for eight years.

"The UPMLA is an organization to basically preserve primitive black powder shooting sports with flint locks and cap locks, and promote safety and provide educational opportunities," Pera said. It might be more difficult than other forms of hunting, but that doesn't keep him from going outdoors and seeking game with his type of firearm. "I enjoy the challenge of shooting primitive firearms and also just keeping that aspect of our heritage alive, the historical aspect," Pera said.

According to its website, upmuzzleloaders.com, the UPMLA is a "small and friendly group" that's "committed to preserving the skills of our nation's early settlers, pioneers and mountain men" in the use of muzzleloading firearms and the "equipment and accouterments that accompanied such use." The club, he said, conducts many events, such as a three-day rendezvous the third weekend in July. It meets in Pelkie for a monthly shoot.

"It's always been a really enjoyable experience, exposing new people to shooting a flintlock firearm or black powder firearm," Pera said. "It doesn't ever matter the age."

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.

Copyright © Upper Peninsula Muzzle Loading Assn, Inc.   All rights reserved - 01Nov16