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| Ceci n'est pas une fusil. |
scope dialed in with the 100gr GameKings. This should be fun; I'll write it up as I go.*Whitetail were successfully eradicated in this state and then reintroduced, which is like reintroducing rats. Subsequently, Hoosiers were forced to hunt them with one hand tied behind their back, metaphorically speaking, lest they be wiped out again. This is the reason behind the "shotgun/muzzleleoader/handgun-only" law. Somehow, over time, folklore decided that the reason was that Indiana's flat and rifle bullets would hit an orphanage in the next county, without stopping to think that it's legal to hunt squirrels or coyote with a .300 Weatherby Magnum in this state. Apparently those bullets turn into pixie dust if they miss?
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31 comments:
Im just tickled to be able to use a centerfire cartridge after years of being confined to a left handed arquebus weighing no less than 25 lbs with a barrel no less than 42" in length firing a projectile of at least .562"diameter travelling over 790 but less than 1020 feet per second using black powder made from goat urine and banyan tree charcoal.
They must have been listening to the same folklore in Illinois. I was shocked when my late father-in-law told me that it was shotgun-only in the Prairie State. I could see in the 'burbs around Chicago but in the Southern Illinois beanfields?
I don't know how it is where you intend to hunt, but the Cantonment Area of Camp Atterbury has some of the most cosmopolitan deer I've ever run across.
The times I was there were times when cell phone service "spotty" in the truest sense of the word - Soldiers wishing either to connect with folks at home or with their comrades or supervisors would have to wander around the parade grounds looking for just the right spot with just enough signal. There they'd stand like park statues, talking on their phones or cursing ruefully when the call got dropped.
The deer would honest-to-Pete come right up to them. They had the same body language as one bumming a smoke from a stranger.
I don't know how many of the deer smoke in Atterbury or if you bag a smoker, whether you can keep his Zippo or have to turn it in to DNR.
gvi
It's annoying how they've tweaked the rules. You can use centerfire rifle calibers, but only bizarre wildcat ones that require you to be a gunsmith and handloader. Handloader I got, gunsmith I don't. Why can't I just shoot Bambi with .30-06 already?
Alath
Carmel IN
.300 Weatherby Magnum? Scrambled Squirrel and eggs.
Well known blogger, Tam, says she doesn't care about orphans in the next county.
Film at eleven!
Indiana isn't the only place like that. In my area of Ontario it's illegal to hunt deer with a centerfire rifle but perfectly legal to shoot groundhogs with a 50BMG.
Having a supply of stupid-and-tasty hoofed rats will be a good thing in a SHTF scenario. As long as none of them come through my windshield in the meantime.
Al_in_Ontario
Apparently those bullets turn into pixie dust if they miss?
Only after they hit the orphanage.
Good luck.
I hope to attempt taking a deer for the first time in over a decade this season.
Think I'm going to use my new T/C Dimension in .270.
I've an uncle who insists on .300 Wby Mag for his whitetail in northern MI, based on his general objection to Bambi attempting to run about after being shot. Not sure how often Uncle actually recovers a spent projectile from the carcass...
If I was to hunt deer in Indiana, I'd use a SBR in 458 SOCOM, and I'd have to check if a suppressor is legal.
Back in the DC suburbs, as far as I could ever tell, the front fender of an SUV was the preferred weapon to use against deer, although my manager once harvested one with his pickup truck. I cam e very close several times to taking out of season Bambi relatives using my Honda Civic, which would have been very bad for both the deer and my tiny little car.
Minnesnowta has the same kind of silly regulations, with the northern half of the state being "rifle-allowed" and the southern half being shotgun-only. Minnesnowta is pretty flat all over, so I'm guessing the justification was based on the old Foster-style shotgun slugs having a more limited useful shooting distance than a rifle.
The usage of rifled slug barrels and discarding-sabot type slugs has pretty much rendered that distinction moot, but the laws still stand.
The car-insurance companies lobbied REAL hard for increased harvests in northern MN, just because of the numbers of car-deer collisions. A couple of years in a row of "intensive harvest" up where I usually hunt has basically wiped out the herd up there when combined with increased predation from wolves and cougar. During the peak of that time you could take five (5, count 'em, five) deer on one license; just register them and get the next tag.
Best of luck with your hunt this year, and hope you have a good time whether you bag one or not.
bedlamite, there's an interesting twist!
Is it legal to use an AR-pistol with the funky SIG "Arm Brace"?
That might be interesting.
Say what you will about humans, but when we put our mind to work we are the most efficient predators on the planet.
Tam is going whitetail hunting.
Orville Redenbacher stocks soar on the news.
OOOOOOOO .243 pistol. Its gonna be a noisy cricket!!! Take some ear pro in the deer stand with ya;)
Moved to middle Ohio last year. Any day now, I am fully expecting a deer to come up and squeegee the windows and demand payment.
OTOH, if something happens, the deer herd is closer than my nearest grocery store.
Mikee, do not diss the Honda Civic. My mother had a 1993 model widely known as 'the Deerslayer'. They are tougher than they look (so was my mother, but I digress).
Uncle Jim's Honda Civic had 3 deer head silhouettes on the left fender. Yup, earned in the heat of driving the 2 lanes of SW Virginia.
I believe many states base their gun laws on stories legislators heard from Grandpa Joe, Uncle Bo and Cousin Moe. Only input from DNR biologist introduce any level of reality.
Stretch,
"I believe many states base their gun laws on stories legislators heard from Grandpa Joe, Uncle Bo and Cousin Moe. Only input from DNR biologist introduce any level of reality."
In Indiana, at least, the problem is that the hunting laws date to a time when the deer population was relatively recently reestablished.
https://bloomington.in.gov/media/media/application/pdf/8021.pdf
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-153.pdf
Ohio has similar laws, although this year they said a pistol caliber carbine can be used. Still, I don't think I'll be trying to hunt deer with a 9mm Hi-Point. :-)
I hear Pennsylvania has similar laws for perhaps similar reasons. But, as it's hilly and well forested perhaps rifle bullets act differently there? Physics is strange, no?
After hearing 22's from squirrel hunters whiz overhead into the house, I am not a big fan of rifle and pistol hunting. Deer season tends to bring out the idiots that only touch a gun once a year and think they are Daniel Boone. It was bad enough in the shotgun only days when it was dangerous to be within 100 yards of the morons, now their stupidity can reach out miles.
"Whitetail were successfully eradicated in this state and then reintroduced, which is like reintroducing rats."
If I can make sausage out of them that tastes as good as venison summer sausage .... bring on the rats!
Ohio has a comparable law (oh, and bows too) for deer. A couple of times in the last few years the state has hired specialists who were permitted to use rifles to cull the herd. No word on the terminal speed or coefficient of drag of said worthies.
I thought Indiana required a handgun-caliber rifle? Have a co-worker who makes the annual pilgrimage back to Hoosierville to deer hunt with family, and he found (stole!) a Ruger .44 Mag carbine to use up there.
I still say you should use a bow, Tam.
Then you could hunt around the shooting gallery that is Eagle Creek. -They'll let you play on the range, but not take out Bambi, in those parts.
You heading to state forest land or has Frank offered up a piece of his farm?
That setup will certainly do the job. I look forward to a detailed account of the hunt, and the recipes. -- Lyle
You do have stereo electronic ear muffs, I hope. I will be interested in the velocity you get from that setup.
Steve C -- You ought to see the information on the current types of shotgun slugs, and their maximum dangerous range, especially when fired at anything approaching "level"*. rather eye opening when you see just how far those shotgun slugs will travel (in comparison to common deer hunting rifle bullets) without turning into magic pixie dust. especially when riccocheting off teh ground is factored in -- a-yup, turns out shotgun slugs are much better at skipping off teh ground with a grazing hit and not much loss of momentum, than typical rifle bullets.
Somewhat alters one's views of "Shotguns are safe becasue they barely reach as far as a bow and arrow, but rifles are dangerous because a northbound miss in Missouri will land in Minnesota". (Hint -- "effective" and "maximum" ranges are very, very different.)
If ballistic morons are the problem, tree stands are a better answer -- it doesn't really matter WHAT you're shooting when you miss, if you're aiming below the horizon from a 21' deer stand.
* (I'm far less concerned with the "max range" achievable by firing at near 45 degrees -- the actual danger space may be really far away, but it's also really small, by comparison. It's an oval "beathen zone' rather than a nearly linear "grazing fire" zone.)
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