Posted on 10/13/2011 5:23:33 AM PDT by marktwain
Outdoor writer Jeffrey L. Frischkorn recently publicized discussions at the Ohio Division of Wildlife to open deer hunting to firearms other than certain handguns, shotguns and muzzle-loading rifles.
From the article:
As for the future of deer management in Ohio, that is a subject under review, said [Mike Tonkovich, the Ohio Division of Wildlife's deer management administrator].The biologist is in the process of sending out a random survey of all licensed Ohio hunters. One of the questions being asked is whether hunters would support an antlerless-only muzzle-loading season in October.
Also being explored is whether to liberalize the regulations more by allowing certain types of rifles for use in deer hunting during the firearms hunting season.
A potential problem with such a change would be a hunter would simply switch from using a shotgun to a rifle, rather than drawing in new hunting recruits.
"There are good arguments on both sides of this issue, and I'm happy we are discussing this topic," Tonkovich said. "We have an obligation to go to the table. That's progress, frankly."
Buckeye Firearms Association leaders Larry Moore, Aaron Kirkingburg, and "Buckeye" Dan Allen have been participating in discussions on this issue with the Division of Wildlife for some time now. Following is the proposal submitted by BFA:
Rifle Hunting Proposal for Ohio* Any cartridge currently legal to hunt with in a handgun, would be legal in a rifle.
No complex or confusing regulations or list of “rifle only” cartridges. The parameters for handgun cartridges would be kept exactly as they are, so there will be no additional “layer” of regulation specific to rifles. * Black powder cartridge rifles would be legal during regular gun season.
Not to be confused with muzzle loaders, and no inclusion in any of the primitive weapon seasons. Caliber requirements remain the same as pistols in that anything .357 or larger in a black powder cartridge would be legal. * Compliance for 3 shot rule using dummy rounds, or similar "simple" fix.
Find a system of compliance for the three shot rule that does not require costly permanent, or semi permanent modifications to the firearm. * Sunset provision giving DNR an "out" in 4-6 years if unforeseen problems result.
Include a time frame for the "trial period" in which a field assessment of the new regulations can take place. Thus giving the Division of Wildlife, and the Wildlife Council an intact system for returning things to the way they were. Include parameters for allowing the regulation to sunset vs. become law. * Make these changes effective state wide if possible.
At least the pistol caliber cartridges should be state wide. If any "zoning" is to occur, limit the black powder cartridges to "foothill" counties. Leaving Glaciated Ohio, or "the flatland" counties closed to the use of black powder cartridges.
Buckeye Firearms Association will continue to provide updates to this effort as new information becomes available.
I think the ban on using rifles in Ohio is supposed to be due to the flatness of our land.
Buckshot and pumpkin balls don’t travel as far.
Next door in hilly PA, rifles are ok.
i wish michigan would let us use rifle throughout the state.
Here in Michigan the rifle regulations are due to population. You can’t use them for deer hunting here in the far south but north of Lansing they’re OK.
Yeah it just takes a little common sense.
Indiana did this several years ago. The lever action carbine in 44 mag is perfect for 100+/- yards. I hope Illinois considers it soon.
yup. it doesn’t make sense that it’s ok for me to target shoot and hunt small game with a rifle, but i can’t use them on the same property for deer.
What about rifled shotgun barrels with sabboted ballistic slugs?
I don care if they use a Howitzer as long as they kill them down enough so I can drive the road without ducking them.
Damn things are everywhere. In the evenings they are all over the roads.
Iowa deer hunters are limited to shotgun slugs. I think there was an attempt to add pistols but don’t know if this passed the legislature.
Plagiarized from Chuckhawks.com
From the web site: http://www.chuckhawks.com/shotgun_slugs.htm
Sabot slugs
These days most of the major shotshell manufacturers also offer sabot slug loads for 12 and 20 gauge shotguns. These are for use only in fully rifled barrels. How a long arm with a fully rifled barrel can be termed a "shotgun," I fail to understand, but that is beside the point. These loads are essentially equivalent to the kind of loads used in modern, high performance muzzleloading rifles.
Since the Remington catalog is still open in front of me, I will use their sabot slugs as representative of the type. Bear in mind that, as with sabot bullets for muzzleloaders, they're plenty of variations available.
Remington offers 12 and 20 gauge Premier sabot loads with both JHP bonded lead core bullets and solid copper hollow point bullets. The former are called "Premier Core-Lokt Ultra," and latter are "Premier Copper Solid."
The 12 gauge Core-Lokt Ultra sabot bullet is a .50 caliber, 385 grain HP semi-spitzer. The catalog MV is 1900 fps and the 100 yard velocity is 1648 fps. The ME is given as 3086 ft. lbs. and the remaining energy at 100 yards is 2325 ft. lbs. The trajectory of that load looks like this: +1.8" at 50 yards, +2.4" at 100 yards, and +/- 0" at 150 yards.
The 20 gauge sabot bullet weighs 260 grains. It also has a MV of 1900 fps, and its velocity at 100 yards is given as 1615 fps. The ME is 2084 ft. lbs., and the remaining energy at 100 yards is 1506 ft. lbs. The trajectory of that load looks like this: +2.0" at 50 yards, +2.7" at 100 yards, and +/- 0" at 150 yards.
As I wrote at the outset, this are similar to the ballistics obtainable with high performance, .50 caliber, inline muzzleloading rifles. Accuracy is apparently not quite as good as the best muzzleloaders, as Remington claims consistent 2 1/2" 5-shot groups at 100 yards. But that is impressive accuracy from any kind of shotgun--even if it is really a rifle!
Clearly, the use of these sabot bullet loads completely negates the rationale behind the "shotgun only" deer hunts. Not only are these shotguns with rifled barrels technically rifles, they shoot like rifles. In fact, they equal traditional big game rifle cartridges such as the .45-70 and .38-55.
Damn things are everywhere. In the evenings they are all over the roads.AA
A few years ago the State of Iowa in conjunction with automobile insurance companies came with a short phrase:
Don't Veer For Deer!
It sounds a bit corny, but with people killed because the driver went off the road and hit a tree or had a head on crash with another vehicle it could be good advice.
It’s an anachronism from the agrarian days.
Yes Ohio still has loads of farms but there certainly aren’t armies of workers in the fields, only mechanized equipment now.
What is a 12 gauge rifle ?
Can you use a T/C Encore?
As a pistol, it is chambered in nearly every rifle cartridge imaginable.
Great advice until one comes through the windshield and lands in your lap.
The car’s front end has to be high enough to hit the deer in the side and not hit under the belly.
Do all those words mean that my Yugo M24/47 will rack up its first kill?
The Ohio DNR web site lists this as the handgun requirement:
“handgun with 5-inch minimum length barrel, using straight-walled cartridges .357 caliber or larger”
So any necked rifle cartridge would not be acceptable.
A 12 gauge bolt action shotgun with a rifled barrel, sorry I left off the words bolt action.
I think Browning makes one using their A Bolt action and Savage makes one using their 110 bolt action. There maybe others.
Remington has rifled barrels for pumps and semi-autos.
Hastings makes rifled barrels for shotguns as well.
If they can kill a deer at 200 yds with a modern sabot load they sure sound like a rifle to me.
In my state in the deep, deep South, we use rifles. Most people also hunt out of some sort of raised stand when still hunting so the bullet ends up in the deer or the ground. And yes, we still hunt with dogs, although becoming less common over the years. No problem with rifles either way.
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