MA is shotgun only
NH is shotgun in the southeast portion of the state

My home state of Tennessee used to prohibit rifles for deer hunting. I know my dad used a shotgun to take his first deer. That all changed in 1978, when they legalized rifles and handguns for deer hunting across the state, barring a few public lands. Funnily enough, our buck harvest has steadily improved since then.

Uhhh Lone Wolf, you might want to do a little fact checking there. I know TN USED to have a season for SG only but as far as my memory goes, and this is back to the early 40's and 50's, rifles were NOT illegal. They had RIFLE season and a SG ONLY season. I think they dropped the SG ONLY season in 78. BTW I was hatched and raised in East TN.

Everyone I've asked said it used to be shotgun only. Wonder if it was by county? We're over in northwest TN.

Could have been. I hunted all over TN when I was younger. But I used a 30-30 or a .30-06 way back then. My old man used to use a Smooth bore with slugs during the SG season but me and that VERY light field gun he had did NOT get along well with slugs in it. I was a little fella till around 14 or so. That dang thing put me on my rear! My 16th B-Day was the one and ONLY rifle my old man ever bought for me that I didn't have to pay him back for. A brand spanking new Mod 70 Win .30-06. Still have it! Still will shoot the eyes out of a gnat with my pet loads. Killed a LOT of deer with that and my old .30-30 lever gun in TN so if they were illegal, I was most certainly a law breaker :busted:

Michigan changed the shotgun zone to limited firearm zone back in 2014 (I believe) for the southern half of lower Michigan. Now you can still use shotguns, muzzleloaders, etc..., but also straight walled cartridges 35 caliber or larger between 1.16" and 1.80" case length. This now allows guns like the 450 Bushmaster to be used along with some lever actions.


I have used a 257 wby mag in the rifle area up North and use Muzzleloaders, rifled slugs and this summer bought a 450 bushmaster to try out in the limited zone.

In New York part of the state is shotgun slug only. I am happy I moved to Mississippi.