On a hunt, one shot can either make it or break it, that’s why hunters take the time to get better at shooting. Accuracy is a skill that any hunter aims to master. Creator of Muzzle Force One, Kent Wilkinson has patented an all American product that will be able to give you a helping hand. Kent has a passion for the outdoors and love for all of God’s creations. This episode covers his preferences and recommendations when it comes to guns and how his product has helped him be better. He shares the benefits his product can give whenever you’re in that adrenaline-filled moment in hunting.
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LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE:
Get better shooting results with Muzzle Force One – Kent Wilkinson
We’re heading out to the freezing Carolinas. We’ve got Kent Wilkinson on the show. He’s the CEO of Muzzle Force One. Kent, welcome to the show.
Bruce, thanks for having me.
It’s unbelievable what the heck is going on with our weather. I wonder how that’s going to impact the deer herds. What do you think about that?
A friend of mine told me a couple of years ago, if there’s a drop in temperature, deer got to eat. They’re going to get up and move. This is new for them too so we’ll find out. Our deer season ended, but we’ll still be out there tracking them and we’re going to see what activity we have.
Some of my friends, readers, and guests are talking about finding sheds already and then other friends are saying they’ve seen brand-new rubs. I’m confused. What do you think is going on there?
I don’t know, but in our particular area, we think we have an overpopulation of doe. We haven’t seen any sheds at all, maybe the few bucks we have are out there wearing it out as far as they can. That may be part of it and I’m not sure of it.
If you’re reading this and you’ve got some thoughts on that, please send them to me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you and get some input because I’m going to try to find some people that say, “This is the reason why,” and I’d love to get you on the show so reach out to me. Kent, let’s talk about some of the things that have happened to you. You had a 2017 season. How did you do?
It’s not what I anticipated. We only landed four bucks and three does. Where we hunt, we’re only on roughly 244 acres that two of us hunt. It’s in an area of what we call counties. It’s out of the country and not a lot of people live there but enough people are hunting. We may have distressed it a little bit too much. We had a good year. Ducks came in, we had some places where we find a couple of good hunts. We’re talking about country ponds. We’re not talking about big lakes or property areas. Overall, we were pleased.
What weapons are you using to hunt?
For the elk, I’m using a Remington 1100 and an 870. For deer, I’ll switch back from .30-30 Marlin, but I prefer to shoot .25-06 Remington bolt action. That’s my weapon of choice.
Do you shoot a .308?
I do have a .308, but it’s an older 1972. It’s not good. For me, it’s too heavy and old but it’s a perfect gun.
Peterson Ammunition Match-Grade Brass sent a box of .308 and I’m trying to find somebody that reloads themselves. You started getting into waterfowl hunting. How did that come about?
I’ve never done it before. In Atlanta, I was talking about when we hunt, we got a 12-acre pond on it. Duck season is coming in so I started looking into it. I have a couple of friends out of Mississippi and here in East and North Carolina that have been into it. There used to be a lot of dove and quail here, especially quail, those birds are gone. I’ve never ever even thought about waterfowl. I was out on the farm near the pond. I heard this noise come over that I hadn’t heard before. Guys that hunt waterfowl know what I’m talking about, but it’s a unique sound when the flock comes over. When they’re cruising, it’s almost like an airplane. Not near as loud, but I don’t know what it is. To see God’s creation come around and circle the pond and 2, 3, or 4 of them break loose and land on the pond, then they circle six more times. That’s what I grew up on was dove hunting, it brought back that passion. They were interesting going in for waterfowl. I had a lot of fun doing it.
I’ve shot some geese and ducks in my past. I haven’t done as of late, but I love the evening flight and they come down and they start buzzing the trees or the grain or however you set up the marsh. It’s unique because that sound is unique to the birds as the wind is going across their feathers. The mallards come out of Canada grain. They’re grain-fed. Treat them right and there are some god-awful wonderful deals that you get off those birds. When you look at everything that you’re doing with Muzzle Force One, why don’t you catch me up because it’s been long since we last talked and you were getting the company off the ground. Where are you at? Tell the people what it does.
Go back from the beginning that I was sitting in a deer stand, I have a 180-degree window to shoot from but being a left-handed or right-handed shooter, pass it down to maybe 180 to 190. Anything off your far right, you have to move in the stand. I was sitting there, a six-point buck feeds off to my right and he’s looking dead at me. I’m trying to figure out how to scoot over. I’m covered but they still see my head and I’m trying to figure how to come over. If I switched to the left hand, that would cause a lot of movement problems. They’ve adapted it, put in my head. They’ve come up with a strap and there’s a way you can strap up with your shoulder.
This one works independent of that and it’s a simple loop that passes through the same place the bow strap does and a binder doesn’t affect the effectiveness of how the shoulder strap works. It allows you to get that grip where you can turn your Muzzle Force or your forehand grip, whether it’s your right hand or left, and pull that rifle tie to your shoulder. It’s giving that confidence that you can make that shot, whether you’re at 50 yards. We’re in a place where there are many places you’re not going to go over 100 yards, but down in Texas, they take those 200 to 300-yard shots in freehand. Honestly, if you can brace up on something or use a stick or play against a tree or deer stand, this can use it both at the same time with all the situations. Whether it’s freehand shot, this is going to save your shot still down where you can hold that part of it even after the first shot. If you’re going to lever bolt action, it will allow you to recharge your weapon, stay scoped on the target and make that second shot. That’s where it all started.
Is the product made of leather or webbing? What is it made of?
What we have is webbing you might find on backpacks and whatnot as far as what we call foam. We got eleven different positions because some people like to be a little closer to their muzzle. They might like the grip further back towards the stock. Basically about 8 inches variants where you can adjust that. On the loop part, we have synthetics and we have cloth. While we were out in Indiana, we did some homeschool testing and ran into an Amish group. It was a leather shop. I took one synthetic and said, “Can you make this?” It’s been one of our foam sellers here and in Germany. They’re both synthetic and full leather.
We’re talking about rifles. What about shotguns? We were talking about bird hunting and way to get steady when you’re swinging through a bird. Does it work there?
It does. Where it doesn’t work on favorite shotguns like 1100 Winchester pump, while the 870 too. It doesn’t allow for recharging that weapon without coming down the strap. As far as pump-action rifles, it’s not your ideal tool to use. Other than that, for shotgun sustaining, then it works fine like on any other rifle.
If somebody wants to see a video, are you up on YouTube?
We are not on YouTube, but we have videos on Instagram, Facebook and we have our Gmail account where they can access all of that.
How much does it cost?
The synthetics and cotton are $24.95 and the full Amish leather is $39.95.
Will they just go to MuzzleForce.com to order?
Yeah. If they have any questions, they can go to [email protected].
You’re already in Europe. I find that interesting. How did that come about?
Stefan who’s in Germany found us on Instagram. He already had a huge presence. He’s got a couple of different sites where he tests for different rifle manufacturers. He contacted us and he came to Florida. We met, put something together and we set up a sister company there. It’s called Sauenhammer or SH1. The problem with Muzzle Force is apparently the Germans still have a strong stigma against the military and that they don’t want things gun-related for some reason. He came up with Sauenhammer and got hooked up with a magazine called Jager. They do a lot more driven hunts than we do, geese and does. They don’t have any turkey. They do have different types of deer. A lot of what they hunt is wild boar so that’s where Sauenhammer came from. Sauenhammer roughly translates to wild boar hammer. He’s got control over the European market where we’re concentrating along with the US market and Canada.
Has the reception in Europe been good or is it just okay?
Once you get into the hunting world a little bit, you feel like you're almost a NASCAR driver. Share on XWe went to the magazine and wanted to run an ad. They want to see some of the products. We send it to them and instead of running the ad that he paid for, they ran a two-page article on us that’s, “This is a must-have tool to have while you’re hunting.” He went from selling maybe 6 or 7 a week to 17 to 25 every day. We stepped on another border. All the manufacturing is done here in North Carolina by American-owned companies. Everything from our packaging to the actual product itself to the binder pin that we use to hold the wrist strap in place. Everything is made here in America and everything was sent to Germany. I kept the rights to manufacturing here. Stefan talked with some people at that time and they can make these things for about $0.34 a piece which is about ten times less than what is costing us here, but I’m dead set on keeping it made here even if it’s going to cost more.
That gives you some uniqueness because once you go overseas, different things start to come in, like lot size, 100,000 lot size. I’m just throwing out numbers, but the lot size changes, it works for some people.
If you go to Walmart, apparently it works for a lot of people. We’re not in this for just making money. Keeping it here, I’m taken to it.
Good for you. Here’s one guy that supports you and many of my readers would go, “Yes, sir,” and fly the flag also. It’s neat to see these cottage industries and I talked to a lot of them. They get an idea and they start cranking it out. Some make it. Some won’t. That’s business. You can understand that. Following up with you after a long time had gone by, it’s great that you’re still hanging in there, growing your business, and making it work. Are there any other products on the line? Is this the one product you’re going to be married to?
This is a bold and unique tool for hunting. Stefan has come up with only one. It’s unique designs he’s come up with. 40% of their outerwear has to be orange or greater. I don’t know about Colorado but here in North Carolina, if you got an orange hat on, you’re good. That’s the only thing coming out now. We’re talking to a guy named Bryan who is called Mr. Stealthmode in Hawaii. For some reason, Hawaii has been a big sales force. We’ve started working on the distributorship down in Texas. Talking to Justin Wegner. Kris Helms is helping us out. Howard Johnson is helping us out. A lot of people are sticking their neck out a little bit for us and see if we can get this thing rolling, get it out there. You too, Bruce, you’re helping us out a lot too. Bryan Magliba, the Stealthmode guy. It’s nuts what they do.
Hawaii’s got some great hunts. I’ve got some friends in California that go there multiple times a year to kill those rams or sheep and then hogs. They have one heck of a time. They don’t worry about if they’re going to get shooting, it’s not guaranteed and it never is. They enjoyed it. If you haven’t gone to Hawaii and done some hunting, you’d be surprised at what’s available to you over there.
Justin doesn’t get mad at me. Justin’s side is to follow the hunting product river.
He did a review of your product?
He did. He does a lot of work with one of the box plugs that’s more for archery, not for hunting. He’s done a great job and a good person to me.
After I watched a little bit of video, I said, “He’d be a great guy to get on the show.” What was the last piece of hunting equipment or gear that you purchased? Why did you purchase it?
The Remington .25-06. I like that round and I like the action. The trigger is super sensitive. It’s lightweight and balanced well. It adds enough muzzle force to it that made it pop. It turns out that with the Muzzle Force, it’s going to take some time, but I can shoot just as comfortably right-handed as I can left-handed now. It takes a little practice, but you can do it.
Do you think that’s all because of the Muzzle Force?
Yes. Everything you’re doing in hunting with your firearm is using your forehand grip and your rear hand grip. When you have the Muzzle Force, you can apply so much force on your shoulder. Your right hand, all you need it for in the bolt action is to recharge your weapon then pull the trigger. It’s not involved in bringing that support and control to your shoulder. I don’t think that makes any sense.
I’m thinking of Mr. Lefty himself, Craig Boddington. Have you sent one of these Muzzle Force Ones out to Boddington?
No, I haven’t.
You ought to.
I don’t know who that is.
Craig Boddington travels the world. He’s been hunting for many years. He’s a left-hander. He shoots all sorts of guns. He’s written hundreds of articles. Do some research and get a hold of him. You’ll send it to a PO thing and say, “I was talking to Bruce Hutcheon at Whitetail Rendezvous.” Craig has been on the show. “He thought maybe you’d like to take a look at this.”
Thank you.
I don’t know how many trips he’s made to Africa and Spain. He’s one of these guys that travel around the world and writes articles about it. Most of the time, he works his guns into the equation. He’d be a great guy to say, “Here’s what it is.” Craig, if you’re following this, Kent Wilkinson is going to send you one of the Muzzle Force One and try it out. Let Kent and I know how it works out for you. That’s your free shout out. Since you said left-handed, I go, “Boddington should try this out.”
Know your limits and stay within them. Share on XIf you’re right-handed or left-handed, once you get into the hunting world a little bit, you feel like you’re almost a NASCAR driver. Talking about and keeping talk to and like the huntress in heels. Real camo girls are a piece of work. We’re trying to get in people’s hands and let them try out and see what they think.
I’m going through my Rolodex. Two of the neat ladies to come on the scene, Niki Tilley and Brittney Glaze. They’re doing a lot of great stuff in the outdoors. There are another couple of ladies all over social media. I know you’ve got somebody working social media but reach out to them. They’re the type of people that would be good for your product. At least try out your product. Let’s talk about taking that ethical shot. We’ve all been in situations and I’m guilty of it. I’ve taken a shot. As soon as I shoot, I go, “I shouldn’t have done that.” The odds were against me, but I took the shot anyway. It made for a long day, long night. Let’s talk about the ethical shooting.
Where we hunt, 100 and the 150-yard shot is about the top of what I’m comfortable with. If it was a longer shot, a lot of us properly set up. For me, with the Muzzle Force, it gives you that torque coming back to your shoulder. If it’s not a shot I feel comfortable with, I’m not going to take it. The deer will be back and I’ll be back. I can have more of an ethical kill. That has happened a couple of times, taking the shot that I don’t feel comfortable with. I spent two to three hours one day and come back the next day to try to track down the harvest that I thought I had. For me, I don’t want to wound an animal. I don’t want them to go off and die somewhere and come out the next day. In our case, we’ve got a good number of coyotes as well. I’d rather take that safe, sure kill. The selfish part of it is I don’t want to spend two or three hours out tracking something. If I could take that 50 to 100-yard all day long, anything beyond that, for me personally, I don’t think about that twice. We don’t have the outfit for anything much longer than 150 yards, at least where we hunt.
Thinking about that, I like to say to everybody that you’ve got to know your ethical kill range. I’ve seen some guys shoot 800 to 1,000 yards. When they pull the trigger, that critter or target is hit and hit very well. For most of us, we can’t do that. It had come back to when I used to shoot a compound. What was my paper plate, eight arrows, six arrows, and that paper plate, what range was that? Same with my crossbow and all my rifles look dialed in. They’re dead on at 300 yards. Even though you say that terrain, wind, rain, snow, you throw all these ingredients in there, maybe that 300-yard shot goes to 150 yards. You have to decide that. I’ve had some of those long-night shots because I screwed up. That’s not fair to the critter and that was a long time ago. On the farm where we hunt, if you wound a doe and you don’t get her that evening, then in the morning she’s going to be eaten, no question about it.
It goes back to where you’re comfortable with and knowing your limit. I’ve been hunting for 35 to 40 years and I don’t know what it is. My heart gets all jacked up. I get all nervous and excited. I know what my limits are. I know a couple of guys that won’t think twice about shooting 600 to 800 yards. I can’t. I know that. I’m not going to take that shot. Other people can. It’s knowing your limits and staying within them.
The cold weather is going to go away. Get out on the range in spring and earn some shells and say, “I can shoot my rifle. My 7 millimeter, .30-06, whatever it happens to be, I can shoot that consistently.” Get a nice group at 350 yards. When you see that buck at 400 yards with your rangefinder, “I’ll take a shot. I’ll put the crosshairs on their back, pull the trigger and we’ll see what happens.” If you’re thinking that way, don’t do that. Stalk them, get closer, let them go to live another day, call it what you want. What I want to say here is we’re watched on how we do things. You might not think, “This wouldn’t happen,” or “That wouldn’t happen.” People know what you do. Your kids know what you do. You’re teaching all the time. That’s my two cents, Kent.
I agree.
You hunt with a crossbow, right?
I do.
Why did you start hunting with a crossbow?
An old football shoulder injury, I had a hard time pulling that bolt back. There’s a fellow named Scott Jacob, a New York retired police officer. He asked me and I haven’t done it before, but he attached one of these MF1s to his crossbow. He apparently loves it. I didn’t have the strength anymore to get that bow back. The crossbow seems like the safest thing for me to do.
Crossbows of late had erupted. Prior to that, some people had crossbows, but all of a sudden, kids, women and old guys like me with some injuries came on the scene. I wasn’t going to stop hunting with an arrow or crossbow bolt. I still wanted that opportunity and the states have filed a suit wherein most states, you can buy a crossbow license or in some states, you just buy an archery license and you can hunt whatever. What are your thoughts about kids and women using a crossbow versus the compound?
It’s the upper body strength and using your lower and larger muscles. There’re more and more women hunting which is awesome, getting out there, having the kids get out there. With the crossbows they have these days, they’re set up like a rifle. It doesn’t have a range, but 50 to 100 yards that you have is not an improper shot. Here in North Carolina, a lot of our seasons will start a week or two early for youth only. Anything we can get people in there, we’ve got manners. A lot of people think we’re just after the kill. Some would say something back to me, they wonder why I didn’t buy my meat in the grocery stores like everybody else where animals didn’t get hurt. There’s a lot of ignorance out there. We get kids out there, more importantly women, and understanding you have the benefits of that and there are tons of it. Imagine what we want to harvest and getting rid of bobcats, feral hogs and coyotes, they’re all predators. There are tons of stuff there to hunt. Getting used to it probably is one of the most important things we can do for the industry as a whole.
I definitely agree with that. It’s a lot easier for a kid to start off with a crossbow. My son started off with traditional and then they went to compounds. That’s what they hunt with now. They’ll probably go to crossbows or have their kids start off with crossbows. I’ll give a shout-out to Primos Trigger Stick Gen2. That’s what I use to steady my crossbow and I use that. It’s a single stick and it got a trigger on it. That seems to work well with my Excalibur Crossbow for steadying it, especially on the ground or in a box blind. It works well. Crossbows, once you get them set up, they’re pretty deadly. They’re accurate. On behalf of thousands of readers throughout North America, Kent Wilkinson CEO of Muzzle Force One. It’s an honor and privilege. It’s been a lot of fun to have you on the show.
Thank you so much. I appreciate what you’re doing. Good luck in the future.
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Next up is a good friend Larry May. Larry is a school teacher down in Tomahawk, Kentucky and he also has Full Range Outdoors. Full Range Outdoors is a self-filming hunting show. It’s more than that, it gets into the hunting tradition. It gets into why we need to get kids into the outdoors. Larry has been a guest and I’m happy to have him back. He’s going to spin some stories and let us know what’s been happening at Full Range Outdoors.
Important Links:
- Muzzle Force One
- [email protected]
- Instagram – Muzzle Force One
- Facebook – Muzzle Force One
- MuzzleForce.com
- [email protected]
- Sauenhammer
- Craig Boddington – past episode
- Primos Trigger Stick Gen2
- Excalibur Crossbow
- Larry May – next episode
- Full Range Outdoors
- Guest – past episode