. - I : - ' y - r : -L.vh ; ' I.J - .hK ! ' ' i : (:.-' ' , ! :i : ' - ' - . , . : . "r BRENT FELTCH holds a flintlock rifle, left and a percussion rifle. 275 hunters purchased muzzleloader permits in the Northeast Region. AAuzzleloaders don't get a second chance Two hundred and seventy-five muzzleloader hunting permits were purchased in the Northeast Region, and one of the hunters. Brent Feltch gained a buck with his homemade 40 caliber Kentucky Squirrel rifle. The rifle is the flintlock type. A flintlock rifle is loaded with black powder, and a ball with some cloth around it is rammed down the barrel. When the rifle is fired the spark from the flint sets off the powder in the pan. The flash of the priming powder penetrates to the powder in the bore and fires the weapon. The Kentucky Ken-tucky Squirrel rifle is the type that was used by Daniel Boone. "I started working on the rifle in 19G1 , and finished iUn New Zealand in 1967. 1 built it from a kit. It took about 60 hours of work, but I didn't work on it for a while. The kits they have now have the brass work fitted to the stock. The brass was really rough and I had to sand, polish and cut out the wood from the stock to make it fit in," stated Brent Feltch. Feltch also has a 54 caliber Lyman Indian Trade percussion rifle. A cap is placed over a tube known as a cone or nipple that projects from the barrel. The hammer stikes the cap with a sharp blow and produces a flash that is directed by the tube into the bore and the charge is set off. "The Lyman Indian Trade rifle was the easy one. It was from a kit and a lot of the work was done on that one. I've had it for about five years. I took about 20 hours," said Fclthi. . .... . ' Muzzleloaders can't use a scope like hunters do in the regular hunt, so the hunter must get close to his buck. The effective range is 100 yards, which is about like shooting 300 yards with a regular rifle," said Feltch. "It's a pretty pret-ty long shot at 100 yards." Feltch nabbed a 2 point buck with his muzzleloader on Diamond Mountain in Rye Grass on November 10. "I've hunted three other years and this is the first time that I got a buck. I was 75 yards away from it when I shot it. I got it at 5 p.m. and I had been hunting since 7 a.m. I had had two other shots, but they were quite a bit farther away. I hit the buck in the back. It was getting dark so I aimed at the middle. He was starting to run," said Felth. When ask-' ed to compare muzzleloader hunting to deer hunting with a regular rifle, Brent Feltch, remarked, "There is more of a challenge in the muzzleloader hunt ai there aren't so many people. I washu ting with Lynn Angus and we saw on one other party the whole day," Felti said. "It's more of a challenge becan you only get one shot. You can't Ik fast enough to get another shot at a de you missed. If you shoot and miss tl deer it is scared good because when muzzleloader is fired you get a bigbla with a lot of smoke." The muzzleloader usually dresses i in frontier clothes or in camouflai clothes. Feltch said, "You can seelE yourself so that you aren't seen. Y blend in and aren't as visible." Black powder is used or otherwi: you blow yourself up," stated Feltch.