Maine’s November deer hunt is over.

Although the total deer kill may be down some, due to relatively mild weather and lack of snow for tracking, it was a wonderful month for just being outside and in the woods.

I don’t recall a nicer November.

When you are dressed warmly on a sun-drenched, windless day and hunkered down against a big hemlock alongside a game trail, life is good! Deer or no deer. A bonus cup of steaming hot coffee from your pack thermos can make the morning vigil close to perfect.

But if the November deer hunt didn’t quite go the way that you had envisioned it, take heart.

You may yet fill that empty freezer! There are still a few days of legal deer hunting left if you exercise the blackpowder option.

In Maine, the expanded muzzleloader season for deer runs until December 11th in Wildlife Management Districts WMDs) 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 30. Excluded from this hunt are most of the WMDs in northern and eastern Maine.

Too late, you say? Not if you hustle.

You can buy a basic .45 or .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle for around $150. You may find some used ones for even less money.Or, among the 11,000 blackpowder hunters who bought a permit last year, there may be an acquaintance of yours who has already filled a tag, and therefore has an idle muzzleloader waiting to be borrowed.

Granted, black powder hunting is a little more involved than simply inserting a few centerfire cartridges into a chamber. There is the paraphernalia hurdle, and a learning curve. You’ll need blackpowder, musket balls or sabot slugs, wads, and percussion caps. The necessary associated gizmos include something to measure powder (flask), a percussion cap dispenser (capper), nipple wrench and ball starter.

Most blackpowder guns come complete with a starter kit that includes the basics, along with gun use and safety instructions.

Although muzzleloading requires some orientation, and there are tricks of the trade, the technology is truly primitive, which is what makes it attractive for most blackpowder enthusiasts. If you are not a romantic, there are even some even more user friendly “in-line” blackpowder guns on the market that use shotgun primers and blackpowder pellets or capsules.

Not unlike the men of the 20th Maine at Little Roundtop, you load your primitive “smokepole” like this: 1) Measure and pour powder into gun barrel 2) using ball starter, push ball and wad, or greased sabot slug into barrel 3) push the projectile “home” against the powder with the ramrod. 4) insert percussion cap.

You are loaded and ready to hunt that elusive buck whose tracks you last saw in the snow on the final day of the November firearms season.

Some helpful hints before you head for the woods with your primitive firearm:

1. You’ll need a 2004 muzzleloading permit available, wherever license are sold. Cost is $14.

2. Hunter orange law still applies. No Daniel Boone buckskins unless they include a blaze orange vest and hat.

3. Doe permits are still good.

4. Practice firing a few times with your muzzleloader. Remember “hot loads” rarely improve accuracy.

5. Most blackpowder guns don’t thrive in inclement weather. Keeping your powder dry is more than just a frontier saying.

6. Before you drop powder down the barrel and insert a ball, ALWAYS, fire two to three caps. This action, experienced blackpowder hunters now tell me, will eliminate moisture that gathers and prevents ignition.

7. It is legal to transport your muzzleloader in a vehicle with powder and ball in the barrel, as long as there is no percussion cap in place.

If you have other questions and don’t know where to get answers, contact a representative of the Maine Muzzleloading Sports Association (MMSA). Ed Stubbs, a founding member of MMSA, can be reached at 247-4716 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Ed may even steer you to a blackpowder mentor in your geographical area, especially if you offer to join the ranks of MMSA, an up-and-coming statewide organization that is working tirelessly to represent Maine blackpowder enthusiasts and hunters.

Good luck with your “11th hour hunt” and when the smoke clears, may the buck of your dreams be there for the tagging.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].