Minnesota becoming a shotgun only state?
 

I was talking to some guys in a local cafe and 1 said with in the next 5 years mm would be shotgun only just like Iowa, now I know the shotgun/rifle line wasmoved farther north a few years ago, and there is a talk of moving the general firearm season to the weekend after thanksgiving,but thats when our muzzleloader season starts. Anybody ever heat of this happening

I wish WI would go shotgun only and also have antler restrictions....

I think, for now, its a lot of blather over nothing. Minnesota has made a few changes in the past few years, but changing all to shotgun only won't happen in the near future.

If that is what you want, than do it. But don't force me to change because its what you want.

I can't imagine going all shotgun. As I understand it in talking to a CO years ago, shotgun-only mostly has to do with population concentrations and open spaces and limitting how far a projectile can travel. I've been deer hunting since 1964 and the boundries have moved very little if you look at the overall state. There's always seems to be someone talking about something just to get people all wound up.

BTW, I would LOVE to see firearm opener moved at least a week later, more like it was in the "good old days". Keep muzzleloader where it is and just transition from firearm right into muzzleloader.

Won't happen, no reason for it. Iowa is only shotgun due to the lack of forest region I believe. Which is why Mn is shotgun in the central area on down. Has nothing to do with protecting the deer. I also agree with the later firearm season. There is a reason not to hold firearms season during peak rut times. Mn would have just as many big deer as other midwest states in my opinion. We see monsters every year in our state and the DNR does little to manage that with exception to the new antler restriction in the very southern part of the state.

i believe that is NY's justification for shotgun region
southern half of the state, where the cities are and state lands tend to be smaller lots is shotgun only,
northern half of the state which is more rural and has larger lots of state land is rifle,
i dont see a rural state like MN needing shotgun regions,
unless that region is around the cities,
or maybe because their rural land is mostly open farmland and less state forested areas, that might be more of a factor in such rural states

Amen to that.

I all ready do do it. I for one would rather have more opportunity's at mature bucks than be able to shoot deer at 300+ yards. IMO rifles are for varmits and sniping the enemy or hunting out west not in the mid-west.

Alot of us eat venison and kinda like to fill our tags. Rifle makes this possible and never hunt for horns. If a big one passes by, I eat em.:biggrin:

My family and I do eat a lot of venison, to the tune of 3-5 doe's and at least 1 buck enter's our septic every year and not 1 of them is taken with a rifle.

Well congratulations to you. :happy0001:
I prefer to hunt with a rifle. You prefer to hunt with a slug gun. We're even then. It doesn't make me any less a hunter than you are.:D

Your missing the whole point of shotgun hunting as a management tool. If you prefer to hunt with a rifle then we should never hear you or others like you bitch about not seeing any deer or only skidders. For your information I don't hunt with a firearm at all, I'm only looking at it from a management stand point.

Than, PY, your neglecting the Human element of this management tool.
Hunters, whether they be allowed to hunt with rifles, or forced to hunt with slug guns will shoot the first deer they see, more often than not.

Second, many of todays slug guns are accurate to 150+ yards with todays modern slug\propellent combinations. So your again losing your mangament tool.

My rifle allows me to kill any deer that i see, which is legal to shoot. It doesn't force me to kill those deer. That is a choice that I must make (the human element).
It gives me a greater freedom, as well as a greater level of responsibility.
Do I trust myself to make that 250-300+ yard shot?
My rifle (Ruger, 7mm) will shoot that range and well beyond, with superb accuracy in the right hands.
I don't practice at those ranges, and don't believe that I have any business taking shots at those ranges. Again, I'm not forced to take long shots, I hunt in fairly dense cover, but do have opportunities for shot longer than 150 yrds.

Why restrict a hunter to making shots less than that? If they are comfortable making those shots. many hunters even with slugs will try longer shots than that. The reality is that slugs while accurate to 150+ yrds, lack the punch to cleanly kill deer much past that.
My rifle does not lack the punch to make a clean ethical kill at those "extended" ranges.

Slug guns are not a management tool, as you think. They are in many cases a safety element, for high population center, lowly forested regions. Those reasons for their requirements I agree with.
Not as a wildlife population tool, to increase deer numbers and antler size.

Then as a managment tool, one would limit how many DOE's are shoot on a given piece of land. Just my .02 cents.

sconny...I didn't fall off the boat just the other day. Everything you said about rifle hunting I knew. I hunted with a 7mm for many years, and yes practiced and was very capable of 300+ yard shots and harvested deer at that range. But as I grew older and realized the direction our DNR was taking our deer herd I gave up rifle hunting for several reason's as have many of my neighbors. And I will refrane from writting that book on this silly forum. I have my opinion and you are entitled to yours. But the hunters in my neighborhood choose to manage for quality not quanity....and we still eat a lot of venison.

And scoony...in my opinion your an idiot. So take your rifle and the tags the DNR is willing to sell you and shoot'em up. But when you have no deer left in your wood's don't come looking to shoot mine .

Well thanks for that glowing opinion.
I'm glad you are staying in your QDM area. It doesn't work, BTW.
I also see I hit a nerve by calling you on your BS management idea.
We might "lack" deer in my area for many reasons. Rifles are not any where near the top of that list.
We have an over abundance of wolves here. As well as an extreme over abundance of Doe tags.
That also kills your theory about using Slug guns as an management tool.

BTW, calling me a idiot only serves to show your poor level of education. As well as your inability to debate ideas using logic and convincing arguments.

It won't be a shotgun state. Makes no sense anyway. In Wisconsin we can use muzzy or handguns in shotgun areas. Weird thing is, a handgun can be a 300 mag. Who was the brain child who thought that one huh? I wish they would make gun season a week earlier in the northern 1/3 of the state. Bucks are all tired out by gun season. They slow way down, eat off corn piles at night and rest all day. Hard to hunt an old buck that won't move till you are 10 ft from him.