Hunting Laws

[StarMetal]

Tennessee is comptemplating changing the rifle caliber laws for hunting here. As it is now for big game you have to use a .24 caliber or larger. They are concidering changing it to ANY centerfire rifle!!! Gawd. As it is now too their handgun law is bad. It's any handgun 25 caliber and above with a 4 inch or longer barrel. I was talking to the warden one day about that and said dang if someone can find a 25 acp with a 4 inch barrel it would be legal to hunt deer with and it also would be a pitiful deer gun. He said yup, that is use to be 38 special and above. Now they go fiddling with the rifles again. So we will see some pitiful rifle calibers out in the deer field come soon.

Hmmmmm, means I can use my AR15.

Joe

[JDL]

In this area it has been any centerfire rifle for years, though most people use at least .243. I know of only person that uses a smaller caliber,a friend, who uses a .22-250 very effectively. It's his only rifle and he says it's never failed him but, I perfer to use more personally. -JDL

[9.3X62AL]

Joe et al--

Yeah, Nosler has a 60 grain x .224" Partition bullet now, so maybe the 223 and 22-250 can be classed as humane "ideal conditions" calibers so loaded. Still not a practice I would engage in, esp. since I have a wide array of larger calibers ready at hand. Just my take on the subject--while I enjoy fishing with light-for-application fishing tackle, this sort of tomfoolery doesn't translate well to the game fields. A fine game animal deserves better. Granted, the coyote-sized blacktails I hunt most of the time would be humanely harvested with the 243 or 250 Savage, maybe even that 223/Partition recipe. But, just sure as h--l, I would be afield with one of those ultralight 22 centerfires....and out of a buckbrush cover would step The Bull Of The Woods mule deer, and if the angle wasn't right I would have to pass it up. Or let my partner with a real rifle caliber take the shot.

Fact is--I haven't shot a whole lotta deer, but none of them were taken with a rifle under 30 caliber--and one each with 357 and 44 Magnum revolvers. 3 of the rifle-taken deer were with the 30-30, and they went down forthwith--the 308 and 30-06 accounted for one each, and they didn't travel much, either. My next goal in the game fields is a cast boolit deer, handgun or rifle. The 9.3 x 62 and the 45-70 figure highly in that effort, as do the 10mm, 44 Magnum, and 45 Colt side irons.

[StarMetal]

Yeah know what you fellows mean, but I'm talking more along the line of like the 22 Hornet, even the 222 Rem because they don't have the twist rate for heavier bullets. Alot of folks I know weren't happy hunting in West Va when (they still might) allowed AR15 with the big magazines.

I too prefer to use a larger caliber with sufficient powder capacity, so that elimates say a 25-20.

Talking to the neighbor when they had this law in effect before quite a few guys hunted deer with M1 carbines. I don't concider that a good one for deer either.

Joe

[Junior1942]

The hunting season soon after my bypass surgery I deer hunted with a 222 Rem using 55 gr FMJ bullets. I took only head shots. And killed two deer. And left a .224" diameter hole in another deer's ear.

[David R]

In New York State, it is legal to use a 4" 38 special, but not a 3" 44 mag. Go figure. It used to be 35 cal and above with a mimimum of 4" barrel. Since contenders came along, I think they changed it.

David

[StarMetal]

I think the 4 in barrel law is to eliminate small pocket pistols and snub nose revolvers, which is good. What is the specific NY law David? Is there a caliber limit too?

Joe

[rmb721]

Here in PA, it is manually operated centerfire rifles and handguns. No restrictions on caliber, except for muzzleloading long guns have to be 44 caliber or larger. Ammo has to have bullets designed to expand on impact. Up until a few years ago, 25 caliber or larger rimfire was allowed. I never saw or heard of anyone actually using any rimfire for deer or bear.

[cabezaverde]

I am pretty sure NY is now any center fire pistol.

[fatnhappy]

I am pretty sure NY is now any center fire pistol.

Yup. I'm pretty sure you're right. It was changed from .35 caliber and up because so many guys had TC Contenders and Encores. It's pretty hard to argue against a 7-08, 7-30 waters or .30-30, as being effective deer killers.

[Blackwater]

Georgia has been "any centerfire" for a good while now, but you almost never see any of the .224's in the field. Laws ALLOW stuff, but don't pick them, and most hunters want at least a .30/30, .243, .308, .270 or '06. Teh 7 and .300 mags have a following, too. Mostly, these things are pretty well self-policing, or 99% so.

Georgia's also had a 12 deer limit for several years now, and the results are little different from when the limit was 2. Most folks just don't have the time to go often enough to get that many, and very, very few (less than 1% of hunters IIRC) get the full 12 in a single season. I know I only shot one last season. Miss the venison, though, so I may have to get motivated in '06?

My grandson will hopefully take the field in '06 with his NEF .223. I've got him some Barnes TSX's, and I know from several friends that they'll do the job. I'll make sure he knows how to place the bullet, and just hope "buck fever" doesn't get to him. If he's anything like his Dad was, he'll be outshooting me in 6 months! The TSX's have apparently made a legitimate "deer caliber" out of the lowly .223. Bullet placement is important, but then, so it is with ANY caliber in my experience. One buddy was severly injured and couldn't shoot anything much larger than a .223 for several years. He got a .243 for "long shots" in large fields, and reserved it for ONLY those situations. Up to 200 to 250, though, the .223 did a fine job. Head shots, mostly, but he got some 60 gr. Partitions (inaccurate in his gun) and some of the TSX's, and the TSX's shot like a house afire - 1" at an honest 200 yds. from his cut down (20") Ruger Target Model with an Ultralight stock on it (hogged the barrel channel out). It worked, and worked well on body shots, including shoulder shots.

I was never a fan of the solid copper bullets, but the TSX's have proven themselves pretty well to me, even if vicariously. Past about 200-250, though, the velocity falls off, and they just don't give the killing power one would really want. He got one at near 250 - a shoulder shot - and it stumbled a few yards before piling up. He knew it was on the outer edge, but the guy is one of the best shots I've ever known, and it worked.

I've heard some good things about the Trophy Bondeds, too, but haven't seen any deer shot with them yet. That TSX has shot like it's got eyes in it in every .223 I've seen and heard of so far with a 12" twist, or faster. Amazing what such a small bullet can do. Even my .45/70 needs to be placed well, and I'd NEVER let my grandson go afield with a rifle that wasn't up to the job.

FWIW, I also know some farm boys who've used the .22 LR to good effect, too. Many are head shots, but some are body shots, and well hit, they don't go far at all. Sometimes it just amazes me how little it takes to kill one, and how much they can carry off if not hit well. It's really frustrating trying to factor all this in, isn't it?

It's the SOCIAL factors, and the yen to "prove" one's self, though, that control what the vast majority go afield with, though.