The Rendezvous is Fading Away

Life gets in the way of a lot of things. Was a time, I traveled all over the mid Atlantic going to rendezvous and weekend matches from March to November. Kids got older, packing and unpacking got to be tedious, rules started to get more picky about things, I took notice that there came a time when oldsters were no longer as welcoming to newbies as once was. The first time I attended the three day weekend match at Blue Ridge, my competitor number was 287. The last time I stopped in for an afternoon on the second day, it was a ghost town and, my number was 47. Now i'll make no secret of the fact that I am a paper puncher. A woodswalk holds no interest for me and that is the way most clubs in this area have gone. I can stay home at my own range on my own property and punch paper.

Today there are more kids raised in single parent households, Dad only gets alternate weekends and must contend with the weekend soccer leagues, t-ball, etc on his weekends. Kids have severe emotional problems if they must endure a few minutes away from a digital communication device. My kids were raised going to rendezvous and that was then. Their kids have the usual team sports with rigorous schedules (rigorous for kindergarten and elementary grades.

drobs said:

His video of using a H&R single shot 12ga reloaded like a muzzle loader pushed me in BP.

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Very cool! I have an H&R single shot, might have to try that. I know he uses a Pedersoli double barrel percussion shotgun in some of his videos, I want one of those!

zimmerstutzen said:

Life gets in the way of a lot of things.

Their kids have the usual team sports with rigorous schedules (rigorous for kindergarten and elementary grades).

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I am 65, but since you brought it up I have to make a comment.

I lived in Alaska from 1973 to 2007, used to cold weather. I coached youth hockey from 1982-1986 for young kids 8-12 years of age, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of my fondest memories. Yes, they had rigorous schedules (practices, games, etc. on outdoor ice at 0 degrees F or less). I also had a rigorous schedule coordinating all of this, and am not complaining at all. It was a way to get them active during the long Alaska winters. It was also a way to get a 30-year-old man to learn how to skate well again.

I was brought up playing few sports with an academic regimen in high school, but I had many opportunities to shoot, hunt, and fish as a teenager. I believe times have changed, and you might not like the change. I am not so sure I like it, either.

Sorry to get off topic again.

Regards,

Jim

zimmerstutzen said:

Today there are more kids raised in single parent households, Dad only gets alternate weekends and must contend with the weekend soccer leagues, t-ball, etc on his weekends. Kids have severe emotional problems if they must endure a few minutes away from a digital communication device. My kids were raised going to rendezvous and that was then. Their kids have the usual team sports with rigorous schedules (rigorous for kindergarten and elementary grades.

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Lots of truth to that. Their interest will differ, but the opportunity was offered. In my case, Camping, gun club shooting, weekend and vacation hunting trips. None of my three sons follow that to the degree I did, two are avid fishermen, they all own guns, and one hunts to some degree.

Crawdad1 said:

Here you go, just one of countless reenactments going on all year.

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I have never been to, much less participated in, a reenactment, but I am curious: I never see a ramrod being used when the muskets are reloaded, and no wad is rammed onto the powder charge. I see after the barrel charge is loaded that all of the muzzles are pointed to the sky, presumably to somewhat ensure that all of the powder charge is in close enough proximity to the priming charge in the pan to create smoke.

Are no wads used as a safety precaution?

Jim

Years ago there was an incident where someone negligently fired a ramrod out of a barrel, causing injury. Historical reenactments very often require that the ramrods either be removed from the gun, or be tied down so that they can't be removed during "battles". Elevating the muzzle does ensure the main charge ignites, but is also a safety measure- if a foreign object did somehow get into the barrel, you don't want to be directly pointing it at someone when you pull the trigger. A wad alone without a projectile may be more likely to leave embers in the barrel (causing a safety issue for subsequent loading) as well.

I like watching the tactics used at these reenactments. You can see how battle lines were moved up to engage the enemy at small incremental advances then a volley, reload and another small incremental advance, a volley and repeat.

I mean you can read in books all you want but actually seeing the tactics employed in front of you is a better learning experience.

Here is another video of another American Revolution reenactment where you can see the reloading of the muskets better. You can also see how the line advances towards the enemy (us ) by line. The front line moves forward and dresses then fires a volley. Then the second line moves forward between their ranks and fires while the previous line reloads. All the time advancing closer to the enemy's line of battle. Interesting.

Crawdad1

Great video! I can remember seeing a very similar tactic being used by the British soldiers (24th Regiment of Foot South Wales Borderers), in the movie "Zulu".

.308 Norma said:

I just want to do a little lamenting. We just received notice that our Portneuf Mountain Man Rendezvous, which is coming up this weekend, is obviously dying. They sent us a letter saying there will be no food vendor(s) there, no raffle, no entry fee to shoot, and no prizes. Yet there will be a $25.00 camping fee regardless of whether you camp in a tent or “tin tepee. “

The Portneuf Rendezvous used to be the largest in the state, and because it’s been held just a couple of miles down the road from us for years, it’s the one that got my wife and I interested in rendezvous and black powder shooting.

To add insult to injury, 2 years ago my wife and I went to the Bridger Rendezvous over at Fort Bridger, Wyoming and thought it was one of the most awesome events we’d ever attended – 20,000+ people over 3 days, hundreds of shooters, bagpipe bands, Native American Dancers, several Dutch Oven and other eateries, and probably 50 vendors. Yet, when I spoke later with a friend who followed the rendezvous circuit for years, he said even the mighty Bridger Rendezvous “isn’t half what it used to be.” So I guess they’re all dying.

I know – times change. And societies change for a number of reasons, not the least of which is older folks dying off. But dang it! I’m one of those older folks, and I still like black powder smoke, tomahawk throws, candy cannons, buckskins, Dutch oven cooking, and sharing a little sippin’ whisky with other like-minded folks by the campfire as the sun drops behind Old Tom.

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It sounds like a good time! I don't know much about these things, but what do bagpipe bands have to do with mountain men and rendevous?

I attempted it about 15yrs ago.
Have to say folks were friendly to me. One older fellow even gave me a bead he said was authentic. Still have it tied on the Hawken.
What killed it for me was the distances and working long hours.

stevekozak said:

It sounds like a good time! I don't know much about these things, but what do bagpipe bands have to do with mountain men and rendevous?

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A lot of the mountain men were Scottish, part Scottish or of Scottish descent

stevekozak said:

It sounds like a good time! I don't know much about these things, but what do bagpipe bands have to do with mountain men and rendevous?

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Well, a rendezvous is an outdoor event and bagpipes are outdoors instruments so it sorta fits..?

Zulu was a great movie. Watched that over and over again and always finding points I didn't pick up the last time.

Here you can see an actual infantry advance through rolling fire as they get close enough for a bayonet charge. Ahh, so that's how they did it.

Got into bp whole hog in '67. Shot local, state, national for years and did well. Still have a dozen or more mls. Kids, a big job change drove me out. I still hunt deer with a flinter, and have 30 plus years of Muzzle Blasts on file, but don't participate in any local or regional shoots due to the inclusion of inclines, shotshell primer ignition and substitute powders. Call me a luddite, but primitive weapon means that. I still have a few pounds of DuPont ff and fffg.

the santa fe trail rendezvous is going on here now. Very very small again this year. Booshway apparently isn't advertising the event. Facebook is free and gets tons of views and is easy to get out. A big problem is having the older generation sticking with old ways and not getting modernized in todays ways to let folks know whats going on IMO.

The local BP group is also thinning out. The local Rendezvous' are not what they used to be by a large mark. Even over the 7 years I've been into it now I've seen a notable drop in attendance. Sadly this is primarily due to the old shooters going to a better place or simply becoming too infirm to attend. Or if they do make it out it's only for a visit and they head home due to lack of energy.

Someone mentioned above that they had trouble breaking into this part of the shooting sport. And I'd have to agree and offer a story.

Two years ago my black powder group shared the range with a group of young folks that enjoyed doing medieval re-enactments. Now we're talking about a bunch that was heavily into making their own clothing, doing their own leather work, including hardened leather armor, and even doing some metal working to make their own swords. Some of them expressed some interest in the very early firearms and I took the time to show them my flintlock and discussed the earlier matchlocks and handgonnes with them. A lot of their eyebrows went up with interest. Yet when I suggested to the BP crowd that we invite them to an introductory day all I got back was neutral responses or outright disinterest. So yeah, I have to wonder about the overall curmudgeonliness of the BP crowd.

I'm not saying by any means that "we" are all like this either on a personal basis or on a even all the groups tend to share this. But let's face it. "We" don't exactly jump out as an option for anyone looking around for an outside interest. These days to get folks out we need to advertise and get the word out there. Especially to the average Joe and Jane in the street that has no idea that this historical side of firearms even exists.

I got to know the booshway of a local 4 day rendezvous. He has done so much to attract the attention of outsiders and trying to spread the word is sometimes futile. He contacted the local TV station, with an invite. Offered to line up some clothes for a reporter, and have a few camps set up in advance so the story could hit the news before the start of the rendezvous. The news crew showed up and things appeared to go well. The station manager ran the piece a week later, the following Tues, after the rendezvous. The local paper did the same thing. Mountain man groups hosted camp last weekend. It is hard to get boy scout groups and girl scout groups to attend Invite a school group around here and anti gun parents come out of the wood work, even if their kid is not part of the group invited. The local school even refused an after school off campus archery club, despite the offer of donated facilities,equipment and certified school volunteer instructors, from sporting goods stores and companies. I suggested to my local black powder club that they host a colonial skills field day, open free to any child brought by a parent or grandparent. Provide a lunch or dinner they can cook on a camp fire, Let them try Fire making, leather working, weaving, and other colonial activities, with the opportunity for them to fire a muzzle loader as one of many activities. I wanted to send/post notices everywhere, even church youth groups. I figured if a parent brings a child, we have two chances to "convert" people for the future. The club members only wanted to allow the shooting, and the idea fell apart, as did the club three years later.

Zimmerstutzen , great effort, great ideas. Its seems to me that now matter how hard we work people just don't show up, anymore.

This will be the 14th year that I, and an ever dwindling group, will be demonstrating our frontier skills at the Lecompton,Ks. Bald Eagle Rendezvous. It was started as a Friday,Saturday and Sunday living history/teaching event every September for the local schools and community through the local museum and historical society. Over the years we had more kids than we could accommodate in one weekday from other districts so we changed to Thursday-Satuday. It gets a good attendance from Topeka and the Perry/Lecompton schools as well as the local home school groups. Some years we had good media coverage and one year a few of us were interviewed on a local news show.
Sadly, our group is smaller due to deaths, we lost one last year, and other health issues . Talking to large groups of kids out doors and in all weather can wear ya down when you are gettin old... but I'll also be doing a small set up at the territorial days event this weekend.
Now, my point is, after all these years of positive promotion and exposure our muzzle loading club membership still shrinks and we see no young families willing or interested in this sort of thing. It just isn't what folks want or feel the need to do these days .


Well I was wrong...
I just got off the phone with the museum director and it sounds like the Bald Eagle Rendezvous will not be happening again. He said that the lady who was supposed to be taking over hasn't done anything so it's done. Sad, at one time we put on a pretty good event for the kids.

My dad took me to the Ft. Bridger rendezvous when I was about 13. One of my fondest memories. Sorry to hear it's dying out... but I can't say I've done anything myself to keep it going since.

If they don't have the ram rods how do they reload on the line? This type of battle with no reload sounds rather boring to watch

You just pour the powder down the bore and smack the butt on the ground to settle the powder. You always keep the muzzle elevated well above the heads of the enemy and shoot. That black powder really puts on a show!