Everybody Adventures outdoors editor Bob Frye on the shooting range.
I was surprisingly alone.
At this time of year, you never expect solitude on the rifle range. Especially a public one.
Too many guys – and increasingly gals – are trying to get some firearm or another ready for some season or another.
Yet there I was, all by myself, on day six of my outdoor odyssey.
Sweet, I thought.
It’s much easier to sight in a rifle when you can hang a target, bang away, then change it as needed as you move the crosshairs or iron sights to where they need to be.
I was dialing in an inline muzzleloader. Have you tried one of these? This will be my first season hunting with one and I’ll say already they’re amazing for their accuracy and ease of use.
No flash in the pan here. They go off every time and, equipped with a scope, aside from being slow to reload and using blackpowder, are more like a modern rifle than a flintlock.
I’m hoping to put a doe in the freezer before taking the bow back up.
Other hunters – though not as many as you’d expect perhaps – will be doing the same. Pennsylvania’s early season muzzleloader harvests have totaled 10,000, 9,000 and 9,000 white-tailed deer over the last three years, from 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. So says the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Maybe I can add one to this year’s total.
Oh, and eventually I got some company. A few other guys, armed with modern deer rifles, showed up to shoot. But that was OK. I’m fine with sharing.
I’ll be back on the range a lot myself, there and elsewhere. There’s room for everyone.
And as for the outdoor odyssey?
We’re moving. That’s six days down, 254 to go.
