Indiana Hunting Rifle Cartridge Change
 

Indiana Hunting Regulations can be frustrating at times when you want to go hunting with a more common rifle caliber. I want to have the law updated so we can use a broader range of calibers.

Hunting white tail deer all 30 caliber rifles should be legalized in Indiana. These modern 30 caliber cartridges are used nationwide year round for hunting, target practice and other activities. People are limited on how they are able to hunt with the way the law is now; we are not able to used our Grandpa’s old 3030 rifle or any other modern rifle because of the current law. 30 caliber riffles are used in a lot of states for hunting deer and I believe Indiana should allow us to have the same option. I feel it’s a shame that many people who move to Indiana and have more common caliber rifles are forbidden to use them for hunting and can only find themselves with the choice of shots guns or the limited selection listed in the DNR book.

It can cost more than most people have to build a gun around the offered legal calibers. One gentleman said, “My dad has hunted with a shotgun his whole life, and the recoil is getting painful in his older age. I would love to let him borrow my rifle that has much less recoil, because I am not able to afford to buy him a new one that happens to fit inside Indiana’s narrow caliber rules”. Indiana ground isn’t flat like a lot of people say, we have hills which would be backstops for the bullets and people in tree stands don’t fire up in the air and their backstop is the ground. Hunters on the ground position themselves near a deer trail so that they can find a deer in a controlled space so when they shoot they have a backstop so the bullet will be limited on travel and won’t hit anyone. As far as the arguments against using modern cartridges, any bullet is lethal. If a hunter is shooting without being certain they have an effective backstop then they are willing to risk of someone's life for a deer. Hunter education should cover these safety issues.


My argument for legalizing modern rifle calibers would be:

*Greater accuracy so you will have a cleaner kill. The animal will suffer less, and you will have less wounded deers running away only to have the hunter not retrieve the injured deer and shoot another. The hunter would have more control of his shot placement limiting damage to the deer’s vital organs.

*More people own the more common calibers, so you may have more people take up an interest in hunting, selling more licenses and rifles in Indiana increasing Indiana's revenue.

*Hunters from out of state can hunt here since the rifle's they already own can be used also increasing Indiana's revenue by selling the higher priced out of state licenses.

*Most modern rifle calibers have lower recoil than a shotgun, allowing older hunters to hunt longer. It may also reduce injuries of people falling out of stands due to the heavier recoil knocking them off balance in a tree stand.

Please sign my petition. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment in the forum’s thread. Thank you.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/indiana-hunting-rifle-cartridge-change/

Good luck with that, but you're state has a lot more flexibility than the southern zone 3 up here in Michigan. Down here the only firearms allowed for our deer season is a shotgun, muzzleloader, or a handgun that's at least 35 caliber. That requirement, just like your more flexible one, was designed to lessen the chance of projectiles going a mile or more in areas that are highly populated. Just like down in Indiana, especially the more hillier southern half, our area also has a lot of hills where a responsible hunter could use a centerfire rifle like we're allowed up north. In fact, we can use any centerfire rifle the rest of the year for varmint hunting and the reason that is allowed is because there aren't a lot of hunters out doing that compared to during deer season. Good luck and I'll sign your petition, but it may not get you what you want.

I've got a nephew that lives in Danville, IN. He hunts coyotes with a .223 and a .270. He has access to a farm with wild hogs that came up from the South and he shoots those with a 300 Win Mag. But he can't legally hunt deer with any of those calibers. I've never understood that.

I advised him several times over the years to get a T/C Encore or Contender and a barrel in one of the rifle calibers. Strange he can legally use a pistol chambered for a rifle caliber but he can't use a rifle chambered in the exact same round. Maybe someone can explain it but I sure can't.

By the way, I signed your petition but I have to ask why you're singling out 30 caliber? What about the 7mms, the 270s, the 6.5mms, the 25s, the 24s and those bigger than 30 caliber. Shouldn't they be legal if the 30 caliber is legalized? Not everyone uses 30 caliber.

I live near Columbus Indiana and everyone is getting out their high powered rifles for coyote hunting and putting up there shotgun, muzzleloaders, and pistol caliber rifles from deer season. I find the current rules odd. Adding at least 30/30 and 35 Remington would be a good addition or splitting the state up like Michigan and allowing more rifles in the south.

In the central and northern parts of Indiana houses are too close. I had many 250 yard opportunities on some deer on the edge of a cut corn field. My legal Indiana weapon will not kill a deer that far. However, unseen but known to me and behind the deer was 150 yards of woods, then a road lined up with houses. That is why a .308 could be dangerous and the laws are like they are. In the hilly southern parts the land is far more wooded, more hilly, and less developed. A high powered rifle would work.

An old friend of the wifes from Colorado came this year. When I went hunting in my backyard for deer, she was used to hunters packing up and leaving town to more remote places to hunt. Presumably away from developed areas and in the mountains. I have only fished up there and the land is clear of homes in places as far as the eye can see. That is not Indiana. If I could jump 500 yards I could probably find a house to leap to all the way to Indianapolis, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. Not Kentucky likely.

Just me but im am very pleased with caliber choices for where i live, that being said I usually hunt with a bow or a muzzleloader but have harvested 3 with a 44 mag rifle and a few others with a 35 remington pistol. I do wish they would do away with all these extra doe permits and shorten the firearms season back down to atleast the original 2 weeks that it has been for years if not shorter. Also I would like the 1 buck rule put back to 1 buck with a gun and 1 with a bow. However Im sure Im in the minority on both these thoughts.

well some research is in order, there are quite a few calibers that are indy legal and will definitely put the hammer on whitetails, besides the pistol calibers mentioned, there are the 450 bushmaster, 458 socom, 357 rem. maximum, and the top of the heap the 358 wssm which is the ballistic clone of the 358 win.
RR

It's hard to feel safe in Indiana with people using shotguns. Give all those idiots on opening morning a high powered rifle and things would be worse. I doubt you are going to get a law changed because you can't afford to buy a new gun. If you need less recoil the available rifle rounds will work, if you want more range a good muzzle loader will get that. I might be in the minority but I think the laws are fine the way they are in Indiana.