Jason Douglas spent a lot of his youth at his family farm in Western Grove, Arkansas and began deer hunting with black powder at 14 years of age. His great uncle Harvey Sanders was a true mountain man who built many percussion and flintlock rifles which the family cherishes to this day.
Douglas, who works for Delta Waterfowl, loves to chase ducks.
“Uncle Harv passed away a few years ago, and when the family divided his estate, I chose the only shotgun he ever built — a 12-gauge, single shot percussion charged by a musket cap,” Douglas said. “As a passionate duck hunter, I was eager to use it for waterfowl after doing critically important research on powder and shot loads. I sourced some bismuth shot and took it on its first ever duck hunt.”
The first hunt was a huge success.
“Seven shots later, I had five mallards dead in the timber hole at Riverby Flats,” Douglas said. “It takes a minute to load and when you only have one shot, you make it count. The bang, KA-BLOOM sound of the percussion gun, followed by the massive amount of smoke that lingers makes everyone in the blind crack a smile.”
Douglas said it was so much fun that he started to do more research on black powder shotgunning and found a Belgium 16-gauge side-by-side made in 1850 at Collectors Firearms in Dallas. After close inspection, it appeared the firearm had little to not pitting and a solid working action.
“I completed hours of research on minimum and maximum loads for hunting with a 16-gauge black powder,” he said. “The best load I found for this shotgun is 69 grains of FFG Pyrodex powder, .675 over powder card, 1-ounce #6 Bismuth, overshot card, then #11 percussion cap. I pre-measure the shot and powder using a digital scale and put them in a plastic test tube for quick loading. Everything fits nicely in my deer-hide possibilities bag made by Uncle Harv. On a good day I can reload and re-prime before the dogs get back from a long retrieve.”
Fast forward a month. While suffering from the end of duck season depression, Douglas’ friend and hunting buddy, Bryan Harlan, boosted his spirits by inviting him on a quail hunt at the Pitchfork Ranch in west Texas.
Located at the edge of the Croton Breaks, the landscape was filled with fantastic upland grass, cactus, mesquite, and sharp gullies. The hunting was a challenge, but the fields were loaded with large coveys of bobwhites.
“I found plenty of time to reload while the dogs retrieved our birds,” he said. “Fortunately for us, there was a nice dew layer on the upland grass that prevented risk for starting a wildfire.”
Douglas said the uniqueness of hunting with black powder shotguns make it fun, but it does come with certain challenges.
“It certainly doesn’t pattern as good as my SBEIII/Briley/Migra combo,” he added. “It’s messy, not all-weather friendly, cleaning is mandatory, follow-up shots are slow, but there is just something special about hunting with a black powder shotgun. I’m certain Uncle Harvey is looking down with a grin.”
