Muzzleloader Points

SDMF

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Get rid of the bonus point system, all of them, go back to a straight lottery.

Then a year later, I want to bring back preference points once everyone is back to zero again so I can get a tag sooner.

Wait, would that work? Or, would everyone build points at the same rate again always essentially shutting out those who are most recent to the lottery?

TURDBURGERS!! Math is hard if you want a rifle buck tag every year AND have it be within your unit of choice.
 


pluckem

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Be careful what you wish for or you will get all three in the same year like I did a couple years back.

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Would that also apply to bow tags?

It certainly could, and pending the details of the system I might be in favor of something like that. However I personally dont think the bow tag system is "as broke" as the Muzz tag system. The point creep and wait times for the muzz tag is absurd.

As mentioned many times before the bottom line is the demand far outweighs the opportunity and supply of deer tags. This isn't anything new to states and game management though. This is the case in all the other western states I apply in. Not one of those states has separate point pools for the different weapons. They have point pools for the species.
 

Buckmaster81

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Muzzleloader tags are gonna take longer and longer to draw more people applying all the time . I think my dad has 12 or 13 . So don’t complain it’s just way it is there’s only something like 650 muzzy buck tags . For pronghorn it’s gonna be probably 5-7 years depending on unit . As for deer , don’t complain , switch units/choices . There’s several as in Atleast 5-6 units that guys will draw whitetail bucks as second choice . Heck last year there was one unit that had leftover buck tags to buy first come first served . There also several units with good amounts of public that are high % draw for whitetail buck maybe not 100% but 50 or better . Whitetail and mule does can be got second choice or in the first come first served . So maybe u just need to adjust where your applying . I know guys that apply for mule buck and if they don’t draw they get a whitetail buck second choice and continue building points and still get to buck hunt . It’s not complicated

Shhhhhhhhh

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I disagree on the line of thinking that our muzzleloader tag system "just the way it is, dont complain".

Ironically, you bring up the reason when you recommend people to switch units/choices as it pertains to rifle deer tags. Thing is we have no choices on the muzzleloader draw, either apply or not apply.

Give everyone the option to choose between the firearm deer hunt they want. Muzz OR Centerfire (not both). We all hunt for different reasons and look for different things out of each hunt. Give everyone the option to choose the best hunt for them.

OR you could use a muzzloader during rifle season if you really want to burn some blackpowder...
 

Bfishn

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Lets be honest, a muzzy tag is just a chance at a statewide rifle tag these days. If people truly want to use a muzzy, you could every year to fill your normal rifle tag, or extra doe tags. You don't "need" a muzzy tag, its just basically a bonus tag at this point.
 

cpete00

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I have had a deer tag every year in a backup unit. And get an OTC tag in Minnesota every year. I was just thinking that I must have about the worst luck in the state, but apparently not. Good luck to all you guys in the drawing.
 


SlamminSalmon

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Muzzy 10, goat 6, and I quit applying for rifle buck many years ago when it took 8 points to get a tag. I like the meat so I get a doe tag!
 

Rut2much

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11 points here, I remember when it was about every 6 years and thats doubled now. Probably be easier just to sell the muzzleloader and borrow one these days.
 

5575

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11 points here, I remember when it was about every 6 years and thats doubled now. Probably be easier just to sell the muzzleloader and borrow one these days.

I borrow out my TC encore allot! Ha ha ha
 

Rut2much

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Haha I bet! I was stupid and traded off a 7600 270 in absolute mint condition at Scheels of all places 12 years ago (last time I got a smokepole tag) for a TC encore laminate camo w/ thumbhole stock and a nikon 1x that's been fired probably 10-12 times and hasn't been used since. Guess it did end putting one on the wall anyway so maybe it was worth it.
Grew up watching dad, uncle, and older brother shooting those pump 7600's and miss the nostalgia of it.
 

Bacon

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I’ll tell you the solution to the muzzleloader season but no one will want to hear it. Go to external ignition open sights and black powder only. Then sell as many tags as they want. Success will be lower and many won’t bother because then it would actually take some skill and work. Right now all it is is an extra rifle tag.
 


Whitetail56

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I borrow out my TC encore allot! Ha ha ha
It's north Dakota back in the glory years and a bunch of crp and big deer herds everything was awesome now things have changed it is what it is. I got my muzz tag 2 years ago luckily with 7 points and borrowed a muzzloader

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Then all your gonna have is deer missing a leg or gut shot. Shooting a muzzloader now is tough open sight good luck at 100 yards and a one power scope good luck over that especially at low light have any of you shot this glorified muzzloader your talking about? Its tough deffinately is nothing like a extra rifle tag. Unless your cheating.
 

pluckem

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Shhhhhhhhh

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OR you could use a muzzloader during rifle season if you really want to burn some blackpowder...

For me its more about the quality of the hunt. There is so much more to what Muzz season has to offer than just the weapon. I am a public land hunter so the less people afield is the major draw. I also enjoy the challenge the weather can present during the late season. but the more I think about that it is tied into the hunting pressure as well. I think I enjoy nasty weather because that usually means a lot less pressure from other hunters.

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Lets be honest, a muzzy tag is just a chance at a statewide rifle tag these days. If people truly want to use a muzzy, you could every year to fill your normal rifle tag, or extra doe tags. You don't "need" a muzzy tag, its just basically a bonus tag at this point.

The season and hunt is more than just the weapon. I look at Muzz season as a chance or opportunity to spread out the hunting pressure on crowded lands and hunt during a time of the season that is not during rifle season.
 

Rut2much

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I would have to agree going back to the old days of the muzzy's; especially if a guy could get a tag every 3-5 years again. Cant say I don't miss the days of the ol flint lock going off 5 seconds after pulling the trigger..
Some things are most definitely better left alone without the all engineering and never-ending technology. Similar to finding fish on a blind prayer.
 

8andcounting

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I would have to agree going back to the old days of the muzzy's; especially if a guy could get a tag every 3-5 years again. Cant say I don't miss the days of the ol flint lock going off 5 seconds after pulling the trigger..
Some things are most definitely better left alone without the all engineering and never-ending technology. Similar to finding fish on a blind prayer.
If we are gonna do that then we better go back to old style bows too . Don’t say it’s not the same , it certainly is . The new bows are heads and shoulders more effective than the ten year old bows . I know guys that shoot and shoot well at 100 yards .
 


Davey Crockett

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If we are going to do that then we better go back to open sights and 30-30. I know guys that shoot and shoot well at 1000 yards. :)

Just teasing but we all seem to agree that there is a problem that seems to be getting worse on it's own. If we want to work on the problem at some point someone or maybe all of us are going to have to give an inch.
 

guywhofishes

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If we are gonna do that then we better go back to old style bows too . Don’t say it’s not the same , it certainly is . The new bows are heads and shoulders more effective than the ten year old bows . I know guys that shoot and shoot well at 100 yards .

How well?
 

LBrandt

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With the higher price of meat at the store, everyone and their dead Grandma are going to apply.
 

5575

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Enough already, let's see some muzzy hunting pics, and stories!
I knew this buck was around because we had found a big 4 point shed off of him.Thought I had him in my sites during rifle season, he and another buck had dropped into heavy cover in a big deep draw. I saw a heavy beam and front shoulder and pulled the trigger of my stw. Down he went.
I could see two deer making thier way up through the draw below me, I was devastated when the buck i was after popped out on the top with a hot doe..ugh!
The buck i'd shot was no slouch but it wasnt him.
Here's a pic of my mom helping get him out of that draw.
FB_IMG_1521923812807.jpg

But lucky for me I had drawn my first muzzleloader tag and borrowed my brothers TC.
Season opener came and it was really cold, I sat in a blind down in the bottom where three big draws met making a hub, very close to where the shed was found actually.
With about a half hour of legal light left he came cruising through at about 100 yards through the fresh snow.
I bleated to stop him and put the cross hair of the one power scope on him pretty much completely covering him..wth.
Tried to calm myself and pulled the trigger. When the smoke cleared he was no where around, no way I could have missed. Walked out and looked around the snow and his tracks...nothing..ugh again!
Went back to the folks place that night and had maybe one more rum than I should have had trying to erase the two bad memories of these encounters.
Next morning the alarm came early, looked at the thermometer and it read something like -20..ugh again.
I contemplated not even going out, for one thing he'd just been shot at and was probably in the next county and the other thing was that it was fricken cold!
But you can't kill them on the couch is what i always tell my boys so i bundled up and off I went into the darkness.

The sun couldn't rise fast enough, not gonna lie I was fricken cold. I started to rattle and grunt some and to my surprise a smaller buck ran out right in front of me at 50 yards looking for the action. All the sudden he swung his head and stared at something way to my right. I peaked out that window and it was him at like 40 yards right on the timbers edge standing between two trees looking my way!
It was now or never so I slowly slid the smokepole out the window, but I'm right handed and he was way right of my window. Great shot if your a lefty, all I could think of doing was rotating the gun completely sideways..there he was still standing there staring right at me! Cooked the hammer back put the crosshair right in the middle of him and pulled the trigger hoping it would even work! When the smoke cleared there he laid, stone dead right in his tracks still between those two trees!
All of the sudden it wasn't one bit cold. And with longest beams of 27.5 inches and 13 inch G2s,I had taken one of my best bucks to date!
20200610_105806.jpg

Here was a clip of him alive I took through the spotter with the old flip phone, not the best but you get the idea of what he looked like on the hoof.
 
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