Brushy Creek Muzzleloaders – Scout Report
Saturday, October 9, 2021

Dedicated Black Powder ranges are getting fewer and fewer in numbers in the US but are historically safer due to the limited range of muzzleloading rifles and slow rate of fire. Modern center fire bullets can go a long way where muzzleloaders are hundreds of yards. These ranges are very unique in layout as the firing lines as usually totally off hand with only a few benches.

Brushy Creek muzzleloaders is located north of Valdosta, one of two dedicated, exclusive black powder ranges in Georgia and is a Charter Club member of the NMLRA. They hold one of the largest rendezvous in the southeast for shooters and vendors to gather and is typically held in March. In 2021, they moved it to October where they also hold a modified NMLRA style shoot on their range.

We sent two of our talkers down to introduce themselves and our little group up here in Talking Rock, Georgia. They prepared a very nice after visit report for us summarizing a worthwhile trip.

A field report from Lenox GA. From the Travelin’ Talking Rockers.

It’s a wonderful range that is covered by an ancient live oak. There were about 35 to 40 shooters. Very few vendors but for Mike and I it was worth the trip. We both bought beautiful handmade horns of very high quality for less than 50.00 bucks each. He got a buffalo hide possibles bag, handmade with multiple inside pockets for 60.00 bucks. Both of us bought Elk horn patch knifes with straight razors as blades. I also bought a very nice small belt bag and some ticking. All from the same guy.

The guy’s prices were insane, almost to the point we thought about buying everything he had. He was from just outside of Friendship, IN home of the NMLRA. Must be something in the water up there?

People were there from IN, SC, NC, FL and of course, GA to meet up with old friends and make new ones. Everyone was very nice and answered all my questions and then some. I have some good contact numbers for the officers I’ll pass on when I see you next.

They had a great hot/cold range flag system on pullies that is very cool, also red light hot range lights. This along with some great home cooked food you can get for a nominal price. Some folks say they like to eat more than shoot here at this club. Food is that good and range setup safe and easy to follow.

There is tin teepee* camping as well as a primitive camping area and the tin teepee camping area has electric and water for 5 bucks per night.

It’s about 230 miles from my house in Gwinnett down close to Valdosta. North of it. Easy drive down 75 then briefly on to 41.

They will be having another rondy¹ in March. May tow the camper down for that one and shoot for a couple of days. They also shoot year round on the fourth Saturday of the month, same as us Talking Rockers.

They also have a nice primitive section in the wood the maybe 15 or so stations along the way.

Oh, one more thing, it’s black powder only, no modern guns.

Thanks guys from your fellow Talking Rockers for volunteering to make the trip on a college football weekend and reporting back to us. The black powder shooting community is shrinking for many reasons. Brushy Creek is working hard to keep it alive as well as the fellowship and friendships that are made along the way when we shoot our BP firearms.

To the Brushy Creek folks, thank you for keeping our history alive by hosting this event and welcoming our talkers. If you would like to see some pics from the last few days, Brushy Creek has a Facebook page and has been updating that with pictures every day as well as past shoots. If you google brushy creek you might even find a Flickr account out there with several hundred pics from past shoots.

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* Tin Teepee = motorhome or camping trailer
¹ = “rondy” = Rendevous