[robertpaulsen]

"Are you insinuating that muskets were not in common usage?"

Answer my question first: "Rural folks had muskets and used them for hunting?"

[ctdonath2]

Of course they did. They still do.

[Dead Corpse]

Answer my question first: "Rural folks had muskets and used them for hunting?"

Yes. Of course they did.

http://www.jaegerkorps.org/neumanNRA.html

http://www.concordma.com/magazine/janfeb02/brownbessmusket.html

Learn some history.