Black Powder Power!
Muzzle loading group holds 49th Annual Rendezvous
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BARAGA COUNTY - The Upper Peninsula Muzzle Loading Association (UPMLA) conducted its 49th Annual Rendezvous & Black Powder Shoot at the Ottawa Sportsmen's Club last week. The three-day event ran from Thursday, July 16 through Saturday.
The rendezvous is an annual living history event and black-powder shooting competition held at the Ottawa Sportsmen’s Club grounds, in Pelkie. It celebrates the 1800s fur trade and pioneer era, featuring traditional muzzleloader shooting, primitive archery, tomahawk throwing, and period-accurate camping.
UPMLA President Andy Schumer has been a member of the association for about eight years, and its president for three. Over the years, he said, the association tries to keep the rendezvous fresh each year.
"We're adding events," he said. "Pretty much every year or every other year, we'll add a new event."
The newest event, introduced in 2025, was a pistol woods walk, walking through the woods and shooting at targets.
"We made it an actual sanctioned event this year," Schumer said. "A couple of years ago, we added a table rest event, kind of a stair/step staggered block three shots off of a rest. Most of the shots we do are offhand, not rest, so that's the one shoot we do with a rest."
According to the UPMLA website, the association is a small and friendly group. Membership is open to individuals interested in sharing its commitment and in participating in its events.
Like so many other similar organizations across the country, the UPMLA is seeing its core, long-time organizers and artisans age out, with fewer younger shooters stepping in to learn the specialized skills of flintlocks and traditional crafts.
While a small group, Schumer said, its membership is dynamic and has been trending upward recently.
"You'll have people getting older and not shooting as much," Schumer said, "but then we get new shooters. Two just came in February."
Membership is not limited to local U.P. residents. Schumer said shooters come from central Wisconsin, as well as from Fowlerville, in Livingston County, Mi. One member is from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area. Nor is membership limited to adult males. The association has several youth members, between the ages of 10 and 16, and also several female members.
Schumer said if there are enough competition participants, women and men will each have their own category for judging and awards.
"A lot of the times, there's just one or two of the girls are going to shoot, so they just compete against the guys," he said.
"Some of the women are better shooters than the men," said one member, John, who is 77 years old old.
While the UPMLA always welcomes and encourages new members, Schumer said he would like to see more youth join, become involved, and participate. Youth competitions are for shooters 10-16 years of age, provided enough show up. Like many heritage shooting organizations across the country, the UPMLA openly acknowledges that bringing in a new generation is vital to keeping traditional black powder sports and frontier history alive in the U.P.
In many instances, the interest in muzzleloading is generational. It often becomes a family tradition.
Schumer said he has been shooting since he was a kid. His father became involved in the early 1970s. Like so many others at that time, he said, his dad was inspired by the movie Jeremiah Johnson.
"Over the years, I've had nieces and nephews come up from Missouri," he said. "Some of them shot in the youth class and some shot in the adult class."
The UPMLA is an organization committed to preserving the skills of our nation’s early settlers, pioneers, and mountain men in the use of muzzle loading firearms and the equipment and accouterments that accompanied such use. The heritage shooting organization strives to promote and maintain high standards of safety, sportsmanship, and good fellowship.
The club explicitly hosts dedicated muzzleloader shoots, including traditional “woods walks” where shooters dress in period gear or use authentic side-lock percussion and flintlock rifles.
In addition to the rendezvous, the club's current activities include gatherings to shoot muzzleloaders in fun competition on the first Saturday of the months of January-June & October, with lunch after the shoot, as well as an open invitational shoot in October for muzzle loaders in the upper midwest.