Our SDGF&P Department has received a petition that will be considered in the coming September commissioner’s meeting that deals with riflescopes on muzzleloader rifles. The commission was considering the use of a 1X scope on muzzleloader rifles, and the petitioner stated that 1X scopes are not available. He is counter proposing readily available 1-4X scopes. As hunters are not going to limit themselves to 1X, 4X scopes may as well be considered. Current South Dakota muzzleloader deer hunt regulations prohibit the use of scopes on muzzleloader rifles, and I’m pleased that the commission is taking a look.

The intent of the current regulation was to make the hunt a primitive experience. My muzzleloader hunts have certainly been primitive, and a number of deer have fallen in front of my open sight, side-hammer, 50 caliber Hawken muzzleloader. As a purist, I shoot a patched ball over genuine black powder. No modern in-line rifle for me! The range on these deer has varied from as close as 10 yards to as far as 90 yards. Because of aging eyes, I must limit today’s shots to 50 yards or less.

The primary advantage of the riflescope is placing a more humane shot. This spells less suffering for the deer and potentially fewer wounded deer. The scope becomes increasingly important as the hunter grows older. On the down side, the scope will encourage some hunters to take longer shots that in turn could lead back to poor shot placement.

My opinion? Because humane shot placement is so important, I say South Dakota should go with 4X muzzleloader riflescopes. Let the hunter decide how primitive he/she wants to be. For me at this point in my life, I’m not going to go out and buy myself a scoped muzzleloader rifle. I’ll stay with taking pride in my ability to get as close as possible to the deer.

Think about this. A scoped muzzleloader rifle is as far removed from my side-hammer Hawken as today’s compound bow is from the old recurve bow that some purist archery hunters still use. SDGF&P has not banned compound bows. Why should muzzleloaders be treated differently?

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My columns of the past two weeks featured our recent fishing trip to Saskatchewan’s Wollaston Lake. It took me two weeks to get that lake off of my mind. One notion haunts me about this lake, and I will go back. I want to chase the big lake trout that inhabit the deep water.

Art, Scott, Carter, and I caught hundreds of lake trout that ran 4-5 pounds. All went back into the lake where they will grow to be potential 80 pound fish – the biggest to come out of Wollaston. In our SD lakes, we catch few 10 pound walleyes because most of our walleyes are kept before they reach this size. Not so with Wollaston lake trout.

I, hopefully “we,” will make the 30 mile run north from the lodge to the vast open water where we will locate suspended schools with our depth finder and then vertical jig for them with line-counter reels. Vern Carpenter and I successfully did this years ago on Saskatchewan’s Lake Kamatsi, but Kamatsi didn’t hold 80 pound lakers. Actually, a 35 pound fish would satisfy me. June will come around again, and anticipation is a wonderful thing.

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Judging by the number of dog walkers passing our home, house dogs seem to be an “in thing” in today’s world. Acquaintances of mine have two small house dogs that behave rather badly. One pees in the house, and the other barks incessantly. They have sent their beloved pets to what they call “doggie boot camp” for training that I suspect will cost them well into four figures. The trainer will follow the dog training with some training of the dog owners. Will this venture be successful? I hope so. I’ll keep you posted. Personally, I think needed discipline has been lacking, but then I’m an old school principal, and I don’t know any better.

See you next week.