Originally Posted by
hookeye
I think the IND specs are trying to keep it a 200 yard and in game.
Of course some wildcat guys can play the game and get about double that.
.44 magnums are popular, as is.357. .35 Rem and .45-70 both trimmed to spec........have some favor.
The .450 BM and .458 Socom and some .358 WSSM stuff the AR guys like.
Some run .45 Colt, .454 .41 mag and .357 Max.
A few other uncommon cartridges also.
Out to 100 yards they all work. Hate to say it but over the years, spending time on a few ranges, working gun retail, working also in a large factory with a lot of hunters of good paycheck.............
The average deer hunter probably ought to stay at 100 yards max in Indiana.
Probably what has helped them shoot better than ever is the ladder stand with a rail around it.
I still see see through rings, junk scopes........improper setups, mixed types/lots of ammo. Guys wanting guns boresighted the night before the opener............not verifying anything on a range before hittin' the sticks.
Clueless as to bullet and or cartridge limits.
Heck, I had one guy call me a poacher loudly at another shop, because the first yr of rifles I popped a deer with fingergroove Ruger auto .44 mag.
Heard it there and for some time after (and still once in a while).............the law is for lever guns or single shot. And yeah, some still think a .30-30 is legal in the sporting season.
Gotta remember, us gun folks are on these forums because we eat and sleep this stuff. We are NOT the normal deer hunt,er.
IN allows more standard deer cartridges in handgun, but then those will probably be shot with EER scope and shot selection and deployment is pretty limited.
Allow reg rifles and a bunch of morons will buy Mosin suprlus and rail shots from the roads, or across neighboring fields.........at yonder brown bouncing dot...........with FMJ.
Clueless.
All these factories............The 4 R's. Readin, Ritin, Rithmatic and Route 31 North.
Yeehaw.
Contamination of groundwater, workplace toxins, family poles instead of trees...............there's a lot of stupid in these here parts.
But according to the last 2 Presidential elections it appears similar afflictions lie elsewhere.
Not all Hoosiers are bad marksmen but we got we plenty. When I go to Versailles State Park on the late reduction hunt all this becomes obvious. I usually hear around 50 gunshots, many of which are 3 to 5 rapid strings of gunfire. When I check my deer in at the end of the day I always ask how many deer where killed. Some years it is 10 deer on a two day hunt.
Simply put many guys are not hitting what they are shooting at. This place offers opportunities at 100-200 yards shots in the short ridges and older open forests, unlike the brushy wooded lots on flat ground that is typical in most Indiana terrain. 75 yards is a long shot in those places.
And when I visit a gun range it is also obvious. The 200 yard range at Crosley Park is usually open to me. Yet I can't count the guys who are shooting rifles off their led sleds at the 25 and 50 yard ranges.
I don't see much of this with archery. Almost everyone puts a good level of effort in that.