And Toby Bridges doesn't know if that's part of the reason Montana is one of only two states in the union that he says don't offer a special hunting season for muzzleloaders.
Given that the other, Wyoming, at least gives muzzleloaders their own hunting dates in some areas where there are also archery and general firearms hunts for deer and antelope, Bridges maintains that when it comes to giving muzzleloading hunters opportunities for big game, “Montana currently does the absolute worst job in the country.”
High-tech, compound bows that “look like they came out of a futuristic Rambo movie” have advanced bowhunting - which does have its own season - Bridges says.
“Look at modern center-fire rifles, and compare that to what your grandfather hunted with,” he goes on. “They used to use .30-.30 lever-action rifles, but I don't know a single person who hunts with a .30-.30 anymore.”
So the fact that flint-lock, patch-ball muzzleloaders have long been outdated, Bridges maintains, shouldn't keep Montana from opening a special muzzleloaders season. Technological advances that mean better opportunities for clean, quick kills - be it by bow and arrow or a rifle - are a good thing, he says.
In a letter to Jeff Hagener, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Bridges - who recently moved to Missoula - has reopened his call for a special hunting season for muzzleloaders. The result would almost certainly be more opportunities to manage wildlife populations and many millions of dollars in revenue from license sales, he says.
“I don't know of a game department that can't use more revenue,” Bridges says.
But it's not that easy, according to FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim.
Noting it's the five-person FWP commission, and not the department, that sets hunting seasons, Aasheim says a special muzzleloader season has been considered - and rejected - by the commission in the past.
“The last discussion I remember,” Aasheim says, “the question was, how many special seasons do we have time to accommodate?”
Archers aren't likely to be willing to give up part of their season, nor would center-fire rifle hunters, to make room for muzzleloaders, he says. The existing gap between the two seasons is necessary to give landowners a break, according to Aasheim.
“The majority of animals we harvest in Montana are harvested on private landowners' property,” he says. “The landowners have been great, but they need that break.”
Besides, Aasheim notes, muzzleloaders can use those rifles to hunt during the regular big-game season. It's not that they're banned, it's just that there isn't a season set aside exclusively for them.
But to Bridges: “That's not a good reason. That's just a reason.”
Toby Bridges used to live in the Midwest and make 12 or so trips a year out West to hunt and do research for the books and magazine articles he writes.
In February he moved to Missoula, bringing with him the headquarters for the North American Muzzleloaders Association - which he founded.
“It's easier to go back to the Midwest twice a year to visit than it is to come out here a dozen times a year,” he says, adding with a laugh, “I got tired of being stupid.”
The association, he says frankly, was begun because he thought “North American Muzzleloaders Association” sounded better than “Toby Bridges” when it came to advancing the cause of muzzleloading hunters across the U.S.
“It was established to give validity to our lobbying work,” Bridges says.
He posted a call for members on the Internet, and cut off membership when he had 300 people - enough to “establish a network out there around the country to work as watchdogs.”
“I could have 3,000 to 4,000, I'm sure,” Bridges says, “but I wasn't ready to take on an organization that big all by myself. Now that I'm here, I'd like to reopen membership and build it some more.”
There are, he says, nearly 4 million muzzleloaders nationwide. Like bowhunters, whose numbers reach 5 million, that total is growing.
With hunter numbers elsewhere on the decline, Bridges says, most states have realized they need to open up more opportunities for more kinds of hunters if they want to keep a handle on wildlife populations.
“When I grew up in Illinois, there were 70,000 deer in the state,” he says. “Today there are 1.2 million. In Missouri, where I lived before I moved to Missoula, there were 300,000. Today there are over 1 million. Out here, the whitetail population is starting to do the same.”
That's why, he says, other states that initially resisted special muzzleloader seasons eventually adopted them.
“It just gives us one more tool to keep wildlife in balance,” Bridges says. “It was either that, or they needed to build new Buicks with bigger bumpers so they could kill more.”
Just how many muzzleloaders there are in Montana who might share his view about the need for a special season is unknown, Bridges says. Without that special season, it's hard to put a number to it.
“Michigan has 200,000, Ohio 180,000 and Oklahoma 160,000,” Bridges says. “We don't have the masses out here we do in the Midwest, but I think Idaho they figure has 10,000 to 12,000 muzzleloaders, and North Dakota is in the 12,000 range.”
Colorado's fish and game department takes in more than $4 million annually just from the 8,000 nonresident tags it sells for its early muzzleloader bull elk hunts, Bridges says. That doesn't count the revenue from the 17,000 tags that go to residents, or the interest the state earns on the $20 million that comes in from the 80,000 to 90,000 who apply for permits.
Bridges first lobbied for a special muzzleloader season in Montana in 1995, and now that he lives here, is stepping up his efforts.
“Part of the problem may be they haven't heard from enough people who want one,” Bridges says. “If they begin to hear it, they can't deny a need for it. I think Montana, with a little thought, will be amazed why it took so long to have a muzzleloader season.”
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.
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