Trees do a good job at stopping bullets. That is probably the reason for allowing rifles. Am guessing this county is now much like Portage county where I grew up with a lot of woods mixed with farmland. Even in northern counties, there are a lot of homes peppered throughout the land in WI and there are few incidents of bullets hitting homes. One must use caution no matter what though. Personally, I would not hunt in densely hunted public woods during a rifle season, farther south or up north.