never needed a scope let alone a rifle, my Ithaca is all thats required plus the stooopid asses come here from the city and shoot horses and cows as it is... they don't need a rifle to do that.
Posted on 09/10/2008 5:53:16 PM PDT by SJackson
WAUSAU (AP) - A change that allows rifles to be used instead of shotguns to hunt deer in more areas of southern Wisconsin this fall has some local officials fearful that safety is being compromised.
"It's a scary thought," said Robert Kwiatkowski, chairman of the town of Eagle in Waukesha County. "A high-powered rifle has a heck of a lot more trajectory than a shotgun slug. Once the projectile leaves the barrel, you don't know where it is going to wind up, especially in an area where you have a lot of development. Our growth has been tremendous the past 10 years."
State wildlife experts say there is no proof rifles cause more hunting accidents than shotguns.
Six years ago, when chronic wasting disease was discovered in deer near Mount Horeb, the state Department of Natural Resources allowed deer hunters to use rifles in some counties to kill more deer and eradicate the disease from the herd. That included western Dane County.
"We have had it for six years," said Alan Crossley, the DNR's chronic wasting disease coordinator. "One of the things that people who don't hunt much don't realize is that in shotgun-only counties, handguns have always been legal for hunting deer. There are a lot of calibers of handguns that are the same calibers as rifles."
The DNR believed hunters would be more successful using rifles than shotguns, Mr. Crossley said.
But by 2006, a state audit found the agency's multimillion-dollar efforts to fight the disease were failing and the number of deer in disease areas had grown.
This fall, parts or all of 10 more counties have the shotgun-only restriction lifted - a change recommended by a citizens group that spent nearly a year studying how the DNR should revise its strategy for dealing with the disease.
The group recommended that the policy be simplified, getting back to more traditional hunting, while still trying to reduce deer populations, including allowing rifles to be used in the chronic wasting disease management zone.
The Natural Resources Board adopted the changes.
"Certainly we are getting calls about it," Mr. Crossley said. "We had concerns that first year in 2002 when we did it."
Beginning this fall, deer can be hunted with rifles for the first time in all of Rock, Walworth, Green, Lafayette and Jefferson counties, southern Dodge County, eastern Dane County, southern Waukesha County and the western half of Racine and Kenosha counties, he said.
That leaves 10 counties and parts of three others that only allow shotguns, handguns or muzzleloaders to hunt deer, he said.
"Shotguns are not inherently safer than rifles," he said. "Accident data from shotgun-only counties versus rifle-only counties don't support the perception that shotguns were safer."
The range of a shotgun slug is about 200 yards, compared with up to three miles for a rifle bullet.
The town's fire discharge ordinance is being reviewed to see if it might come into play to block the change, Mr. Kwiatkowski said.
Once the projectile leaves the barrel, you don't know where it is going to wind up, especially in an area where you have a lot of development....in which case you don't pull the trigger.
Seems to me that the typical rifle bullet having traveled three miles would be left with the velocity of an asthmatic jogger and not be real dangerous except to a dinosaurus liberallus who would be frightened to death. This is kind of like that old nonsense about shots fired in the air.
Identify the herds with CWD. Let EVERYONE know that on ‘this particular weekend’ there will be snipers out with rifles culling the herd. Put up barriers to the area, post signs, whatever.
Cull the herd; switch back to shotguns for the regular season.
‘Tain’t Rocket Science. ;)
BS. Modern sabot rounds (12 & 20 ga.) are ACCURATE and DEADLY beyond 200 yds when properly applied. Same for my muzzleloader.
No self-respecting deer is gonna give anyone a wide open shot for a mile or 3.....gonna be lucky to have a 100 yard clear line of fire! if'n ya miss, that tree right past the deer is gonna take care of things. Bet those bureaucrats had a field day talking about it tho'!
Problem is - too many people ....
>Once the projectile leaves the barrel, you don’t know where it is going to wind up, especially in an area where you have a lot of development....in which case you don’t pull the trigger.<
This sounds like a politician who doesn’t have the courage to say that he’s gets upset the way the Hispanics empty their magazines up in the air as a way of celebrating an event.
The poor tree
It's also worth noting that in Wisconsin much of the hunting is done from tree stands, drop not being much of a safety factor.
I think I'll go laugh my butt off at this one for a while.
They can be fatal.
Participant at KKK initiation wounded after shots fired into sky
JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee (AP) -- A bullet fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony came down and struck a participant in the head, critically injuring him, authorities said.
Gregory Allen Freeman, 45, was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in the Saturday night incident that wounded Jeffery S. Murr, 24.
About 10 people, including two children, had gathered for the ceremony. The man who was being initiated was blindfolded, tied with a noose to a tree and shot with paintball guns as Freeman fired a pistol in the air to provide the sound of real gunfire, Sheriff Fred Phillips said.
A bullet struck Murr on the top of the head and exited at the bottom of his skull, authorities said.
Freeman fled the ceremony but was arrested near his home, authorities said. He was released on $7,500 bail.
More likely he's a politician who'd love to ban shotguns too, and hates seeing things move in the other direction.
Hunter safety 101
The only way a rifle bullet can go three miles is if you fire it at about a 45 degree angle. Since the average deer is about 4 to 5 fee tall to miss the deer and go 3 miles would mean you couldn’t even see the deer in your scope or open sights when you fired. There is no evidence that shotgun slugs cause less accidental injuries than rifles during hunting season.
Yes, even the article acknowledges that, and it's not like they haven't been looking. As 50cal Smokepole correctly noted upthread, there's no longer any practical difference between rifle/shotgun/blackpowder in the context of the town chairman's concern.
Many types of rifle, if fired at the correct upward angle, would have lethal velocity when they hit the ground a couple miles away. Aiming at such distances would be impossible, but as has been observed, sometimes the danger isn't the bullet that has your name on it, but the one addressed "to whom it may concern".
Nonetheless, if hunters shoot from tree stands and exercise reasonable discipline such as unloading or at least opening the action when they are climbing up and down trees, I wouldn't think shots would be fired upward at angles likely to cause long range injuries.
LOL... I'd like to see a demonstration of this.
“This is kind of like that old nonsense about shots fired in the air.”
The skull can be penetrated by bullet-sized objects with a velocity of only 200 FPS. The terminal velocity of falling bullets is in the 300 to 500 FPS range, so yes they can kill. There are many documented cases, particularly in countries where shooting into the air is a common activity for celebrations.
never needed a scope let alone a rifle, my Ithaca is all thats required plus the stooopid asses come here from the city and shoot horses and cows as it is... they don't need a rifle to do that.
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