Primitive arms season? There's no such thing anymore with advances to muzzleloaders, bows

Those of us with years of hunting experience might remember and reflect back on the last few days of the deer hunting season in New York state when it was called, back in the day, "The Primitive Arms" season, or "Clean up" season.

No longer.

Those few December deer hunting days on the license are not only still there … in fact they have been expanded. Yes, we still go afield with our "smoke poles" or “front stuffers” and bow and arrows. But those names hardly fit. It is now called the Muzzleloading Season and the Late Bow Season. Actually, the late archery-muzzleloading season traditionally was a nine-day extension of the deer season in New York state's Southern Zone. This year it runs from Dec. 11-19, and Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, 2024 for the "holiday hunt."

Some states with healthy whitetail deer populations allow bow hunters and black powder enthusiasts more time in the woods pursuing deer than does New York, after the Regular (gun) seasons close.

And in certain areas of the state where the deer population is deemed too high, the state deer managers should expand the season there (such as south of Buffalo and Rochester, and other suburban areas).

But in most of the Southern Zone, the season does not need to be any longer, for a number of reasons … one being the possibility of shooting shed bucks (bucks that had dropped their antlers, mistaking them for doe. But that’s another story).

Back in the 1970s when the idea of the "Primitive Arms" season had its origins, there was some accuracy to the term. But no longer. Back then, muzzleloader firearms were relatively authentic replicas of weapons from a bygone era.

Those of us who hunted with black powder back then often toted flintlocks. And we could use them in Pennsylvania's late flintlock season, too. But as time went on, cap-locks not only surpassed flintlocks in popularity, but also left even the appearance of their authentic roots in the dust. Now in-lines, or muzzleloaders that have the ignition system built into the back of barrel, have taken over in popularity.

Black powder or a substitute (like Pyrodex) is used while our modern rifles and shotguns use the much more volatile and powerful smokeless powder. Flintlocks require a hunter to put powder in a little pan on the side of the barrel. A well-positioned piece of flint on the hammer drops a spark into the pan of powder. The flash then ignites the charge in the barrel through a small orifice.

But first, of course, the powder is measured and poured into the barrel and the round lead ball, or slug, is pushed down the barrel with a ramrod. Cap-locks utilize a primer (now more often and simply a 209 primer, a small self-contained explosive charge which is snapped into the hole on the barrel, or the breech plug in the end of the barrel. Much more reliable than the flintlock, the cap-lock is especially better under adverse weather conditions.

Now even newer muzzleloaders utilize black powder shells than can be loaded into the breech, similar to a shotgun, doing away with the measuring of powder, or even counting powder pellets. In a parallel fashion with the advance in technology of archery equipment, black powder enthusiasts often use inline muzzleloaders equipped with a scope. Previously, the only time black powder hunters could legally use magnified optics was during the Regular deer season.

Compound bows are continually improving with technological advances, too. Presently we are even beyond the era of the "eccentric cam." Gone are the days of the old Long bow and Recurve bows. The large cam or "wheel" on the bow acts in the same fashion as a larger wheel on a pulley. Better mechanical advantage, faster arrows equals less drop and greater accuracy. Not only are these modern bows easier to hold at full draw, but when the cams roll over and kicks in, the arrow flies at a much faster speed, creating less "drop," a flatter trajectory, and greater accuracy.

Arrow drop from these bows is no more than an inch or two between 20 and 30 yards, commonly laying out an arrow over 300 feet per second. There is a group of muzzleloader aficionados who actually prefer the new muzzleloaders to hunting with a shotgun during the regular firearms season, proclaiming that they are more accurate and a more efficient gun than a shotgun with slugs.

Now how's that for turning things on its head through technology?

This discussion could not be complete without at least the mentioning of crossbows, a subject for another column all by itself.

But for starters, the New York State deer hunting regulators consider the crossbow, not as a bow, as one might think … even though it shoots arrows called bolts. The crossbow is considered as a muzzleloader. And crossbow hunters need a muzzleloader license … not an archery license! But I digress.

These improvements to the hunting tool are not something new.

We've only been doing it for about four and a half million years, since the progeny of the Australopithecines began cracking flint pebbles for a sharper edge. And hunters have been trying to "get an edge" on their quarry ever since. The muzzleloader has technologically progressed with ever-increasing accuracy and ease of use.

More: Hunting season in New York state now stretches past Christmas. When you can harvest a deer

It now rivals the efficiency of a modern centerfire rifle, and is now approaching it in range and accuracy for hunting. The ubiquitous shotgun has tried to keep up, evolving sabots (special slugs for rifled barrels). But most shotgunners do not shoot well enough offhand to take shots at a deer at much over 100 yards. Modern "front stuffers" don't even think twice about taking a shot at 150 yards. The advantage of the muzzleloader is evident.

It is certainly a debatable point that modern "soot belchers" are actually better deer hunting tools than shotguns. (There are certain hunting situations where a quick follow-up shot is preferable. And there the shotgun is of course desirable.) But nobody would argue that these new "in-line" scoped muzzleloaders are "primitive." And it's a reach to consider the new compound bows, let alone crossbows, as "primitive" too.

New York State's "Primitive Arms Season" is literally a thing of the past.

-- Oak Duke writes a weekly column.

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: What to know about New York state's muzzleloader, late bow deer season