GREAT OUTDOORS: Muzzleloader season offers last days to harvest deer using firearm

The annual muzzleloader deer season, which begins Saturday and ends Tuesday, marks the last opportunities to use a firearm to harvest a deer in Ohio during the current 2025-2026 hunting season. During last year's muzzleloader season, 13,476 deer were checked in statewide. Sidelock muzzleloaders were originally equipped with a flintlock striker before percussion cap ignition systems became available. Both primitive weapons are more prone to misfires than inline muzzleloader designs. These have everything enclosed within the barrel, so the odds of moisture preventing gunpowder ignition are greatly diminished and they have become increasingly popular. I struggled with a Connecticut Valley Arms (CVA) Plainsman for years that was prone to misfires which made muzzleloading hunts more challenging because I could not be sure if the gun would go "boom" when I pulled the trigger. Delayed ignition also posed a dangerous possibility. The disappointing click of the hammer striking the percussion cap too often produced a little pop like my childhood toy old cap gun pistol but fell far short of sparking the 90 grains of gunpowder needed to project the lead "Buffalo ball" slug through the barrel toward my targets. I tried to solve the problem by using a larger "Super nipple" with gunpowder sprinkled underneath to encourage the spark to ignite the larger primary charge but the problem continued. My cousin suggested that I use my CVA as a tomato stake and buy a more reliable gun. Another friend recommended buying a Thompson Center Arms "Hawken," like he carried that rarely misfired when called upon. I found a used one and added it to my gun safe to use in future seasons. In the meantime, I purchased a CVA Wolf inline muzzleloader rifle, making my pair of percussion cap muzzleloader obsolete. To assist with reducing the growth of the deer herd on South Bass Island, I used it to harvest a doe there December 21. It was one of 615 killed statewide with a muzzleloader using a "smoke pole" which represented 4% of the 15,835 harvested during that "Bonus Firearms Weekend. During the earlier December 1-7 "Firearms Week," 3% of the deer harvest (2,630) of 85,448 was with muzzleloaders. Conditions for aging my deer in the days that followed were as ideal as I could ask for, with evening temperatures unable to freeze the carcass into a "deersickle" and no daytime highs pushing the meat into the danger zone of above 40F long enough to allow bacteria to proliferate. I hung my prize for my preferred amount of time, which is six days for mature does. Without the use of my skinning gambrel in the garage at my home, I hang the deer taken on the island by the neck instead of from the back legs. I have actually found that I like skinning off the hide and processing the deer better when hung in this direction. Making meat is not as daunting of a task as one might fear. Many YouTube videos show how to process deer. The order of operation includes skinning the hide off, removing the front legs, filleting the pairs of tenderloins from inside and the backstrap (loins) from outside the rib cage and spine respectively; and then removing and separating the muscles from the rear legs to create succulent venison steaks, roasts, and burger meat from whatever can be recovered there and elsewhere. Archery season, which has been open statewide since September 27, remains open until February 1. Reminder: Bow hunters must wear orange during all firearms seasons.