By Tim Lesmeister

Even though you can purchase an in-line muzzleloader with a rifled barrel that uses primer caps that are almost foolproof, you still only get one shot during the muzzleloader season. And look at those bows. You can draw and hold for minutes instead of seconds, and they're very accurate out to 50 yards. But you only get one shot and it does take some practice to maintain the necessary skill level with a bow and arrow.

So what is the motivation to chase white-tailed deer with a bow or a muzzleloader during the late season?

There is the challenge, of course. But more than that, there is the ability to take to the woods long after those shotgunners and rifle-toters are long gone and you have the entire landscape all to yourself. There will definitely be fewer deer now that the regular firearm season is over. The whitetails that are left will be more alert, but getting to spend a couple of weeks in the field, and not being surrounded by hunter orange in every direction, is the motivation many hunters have to take advantage of our late-season hunting.

There is little doubt that hunters are becoming more dedicated to extending their season by utilizing the All-Season Deer License. With this license you can bowhunt during that season, take part in the regular firearm season with rifle or shotgun, and then hunt with a muzzleloader or bow during the late season. Last year, over 22,000 hunters chose this license.

The drawback to the All-Season Deer License is the price. Some hunters might find the $79 price tag a bit high, but when you consider that you can hunt from mid-September until the end of December with a bow, rifle, shotgun or muzzleloader, the price of this license seems pretty reasonable.

According to Lou Cornicelli, the Department of Natural Resources big-game specialist, the amount of hunters purchasing the bow-only or the muzzleloader license is dropping.

"The number of people that are buying straight muzzleloader licenses is going down, although the muzzleloader kill is going up," he said. "And that's a function of more guys going with an All-Season Deer License. Archery hunters are also moving towards the All-Season Deer License, and while it looks like a drop in archery licenses, it's just hunters shifting over to the All-Season Deer License."

Cornicelli is certain that the All-Season Deer License will gain more in popularity this season.

Photo by John R. Ford

"The reason that numbers of All-Season Deer Licenses is going to go up is because this year you can party-hunt with it," he said, "which you couldn't in the past. I've noticed the Multi-Zone (license sales) are going down and the All-Season Deer License is going up, so we're going to see more of that."

The plain and simple beauty of that All-Season Deer License is that it's a multi-opportunity license. You can party-hunt in any season as long as the licenses are all the same weapon type. You can hunt with all three weapons. You can start in the middle of September and hunt through December. It more than justifies the expense.

The reason the All-Season Deer License is just catching on is because when it was put in place in 2000 it was an all-season buck license and you could only take one deer. This is the third year the license lets you take two deer (where applicable), and the popularity of this license has really picked up. I predict the upward trend will continue.

Archers have the benefit of the longest season. Many bowhunters even wear hunter orange and sit in the stands with their bows during the firearm season. But most bowhunters will tell you that the prime times to be in the woods are the weeks before and those after the firearms season.

My brother-in-law is one of those hunters. When I asked him why he had passed up some 8-point bucks that wandered past him, he said, "The next one could be a 12-pointer, and if I shoot the first deer that walks by, I'm done hunting. I like being in the woods. I come to hunt, not just shoot a deer."

There are plenty of hunters with that attitude, and when the regular firearm season is over, they're picking up the bow or the muzzleloader and heading right back into the woods.

While it's legal to use a muzzleloader that sports a scope during the regular firearm season, that option is not available during the muzzleloader season.

"My inclination is that the rule was set up to keep it a more primitive hunt," said Cornicelli. "A scope will definitely increase the range on a muzzleloader, so the intent was to keep the hunt more primitive, even though we allow in-line rifles with sabot bullets. I get enough queries about this rule that we may include some questions on our next round of public-input sessions."

Cornicelli is a seasoned muzzleloader hunter and is the first to admit that the odds of making a long-range shot with a scoped muzzleloader are much higher.

"When I lived in Indiana I shot a lot of muzzleloaders, and off a bench at 200 yards I could shoot a 4-inch group easily with a scope," said Cornicelli. "A scope takes a 100-yard gun and turns it into a 200-yard gun."

The lure of the muzzleloader is so high for Cornicelli that he even prefers it during the firearm season.

"I've been muzzleloader hunting for over 14 years and I prefer a muzzleloader over a shotgun," he said. "It's a personal thing, but I'd rather have one good shot than multiple shots that are more marginal in accuracy. I personally have one muzzleloader with a scope and one with a peep sight. During the firearms season I use a scoped muzzleloader and during the muzzleloader season I just use the one with the peep sight.

"It's all about accuracy," continued Cornicelli. "I've found that the muzzleloader is much more accurate than the slug shotgun. I know that the technology has improved dramatically when it comes to slug shotguns, but I know that with a good muzzleloader I can achieve outstanding accuracy because the barrels are so good and the bullets perform so well. I can outperform the shotgun slugs at long distances. We can argue about primitive hunting with muzzleloaders until we're blue in the face, but the technology of the guns is there and it's only the optics that will keep you from accurately shooting out to 200 yards."