Rifle use state wide (WI) for deer hunting.

[skee0025]

Has anyone heard anything about this?

"Rifles may be allowed statewide for hunting deer during the 9-day November gun deer and the 4-day December antlerless gun deer season (subject to local ordinances that restrict use of certain firearms)".

[RumRiverRat]

News to me.

"May be" are the key words I think.

Hmmmm

[Scott K]

I have heard it was approved, but dont take my word.

[LightningBG]

I believe it was approved by the comitee reviewing it in the dnr, but had to go through legislative review. Haven't heard if that has happened yet.

[candiru]

Interesting, could MN ever do this? It could be more of a biological issue than a safety issue. Long range guns in the could possibly be a problem in open areas that already have a low deer population. If rifles were a safety issue the slug/rifle line should have moved north over the years, particularly in the northern suburbs.

[96trigger]

I don't know about the whole state, but I know that my brother is now able to use a rifle to hunt in the zone he has normally hunted using his shotgun.

MN claims it is a safety issue, but with todays ML and sabot bullets, there isn't much difference.

[Scott K]

But there are only a few thousand muzzle loaders in a woods at a time, compared to 500,000 normal gun hunters. Wisconsin has a lot more wooded, land, with less houses per mile then MN has.

[96trigger]

I should have been more clear...Their are shotguns and sabot bullet combinations that are starting to reach over 200 yards. There are plenty of shotgun hunters in the southeast.

[mntatonka]

I should have been more clear...Their are shotguns and sabot bullet combinations that are starting to reach over 200 yards. There are plenty of shotgun hunters in the southeast.

The entire southern half of the state is shotgun only. All of Zone 3, and the majority of Zone 2. Muzzleloaders are legal in all Zones during the firearm season though.

It was originally put in place as a tool to keep harvest down to increase population, not as a safety issue. At least, that's what Lou said a few years back.

[fr0sty]

I emailed the dnr a few years back asking about the shotgun zone origins. You are correct, it was done with deer density levels in mind and not a safety issue of using rifles in certain parts of the state.

Interesting, could MN ever do this? It could be more of a biological issue than a safety issue. Long range guns in the could possibly be a problem in open areas that already have a low deer population. If rifles were a safety issue the slug/rifle line should have moved north over the years, particularly in the northern suburbs.

[96trigger]

I was told by a co many years ago it was for safety. If I am wrong that is fine. My point is that both muzzle loaders and shotguns can get yardage similar to some of the rifles today. I'd love zone 3 to go to rifle, it would give me an excuse to buy another gun.

[Scott K]

You can still buy it

[picksbigwagon]

I was just researching hunting in WI this year (buddy bought a place with 40 acres of woods near Bay City) and his area was listed as shotgun only......If it became rifle hunting, I too would not need to buy a new rifle, but it would be a great reason to look into it though........