Heard, a couple of evenings ago, that Maryland has written airgun hunting into their laws. Jerry went to the DNR website ... and, yep - there it is. All you need is 1,200 foot pounds of muzzle energy.

You can hunt Deer and Bear with a handgun ... you just need 700 foot pounds of energy.

You can use a muzzle loading black powder pistol ... you just need it to be 40 caliber and use 60 grains of BP. Ahhh ... a 40 caliber ball ... what's that .... 140 grains or something like that? What's the energy of that going to be .... something like 250 foot pounds???

Seems a bit strange. Why on earth, would they bother to even address the issue, and have the whole thing so screwed up?

Gary

There is a website and the hunter killed a 270 pound boar with a 45 caliber air rifle,one shot.db

Sure thing. My buffalo weighed about 1,200 pounds or so. One shot from 50 yards. Shooting about 625 fpe there.

They must just be duplicating numbers for the min. black powder rifle or something. Makes no sense as written on the DNR site.

Gary

I for one would be interested in seeing the 1,200 fpe airgun that our wonderful MD DNR folks used to establish this metric.

Didn't get a chance to read the reg -- is it under rifle, muzzleloader, or bow season? As the deer population continues to increase, they have been expanding hunters' options.

Sounds like some big bore-related education is in order.

-- Jim



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2010 03:21PM by admin.

At least you can still hunt bear with a muzzle loading black powder pistol that makes, what, 300 FPE?

I'll bet that would make the bear ... really .... really mad.

Personally, I wouldn't want to hunt bears with anything less than than a centerfire rifle, preferably .338 WinMag or better. Of course, we do have some pretty big bears up here in Alaska, so as they say, "your mileage may vary".

Here in town I kinda wish that someone WOULD hunt some of the brown bears that have been causing problems. The meat is so gamey that even the notoriously finicky Game and Fish folks don't require that it be salvaged, only the skull and hide. On moose and caribou they even make you skin and bone the lower legs, so not having to harvest ANY of the meat on brownies is really telling you that nobody can stand to eat it.

Greetings, Kent.

Thanks for your comments on airgun use while hunting in Maryland. Just as a means of clarification, our regs on this issue have not changed recently. However there has been enough interest in using airguns for small game hunting that we have tried to make the existing regs clear by including better info in our 2010-2011 Guide to Hunting and Trapping. The 1200 ft/lb energy requirement is only for rifles used for deer or bear hunting. There is no minimum energy requirement for hunting other game species.

We recognize no current airguns meet the energy minimums for hunting deer or bear in our state. We also recognize that there are big bore airguns that have been used to take large game, including species considerably larger than deer (e.g. bison). During a review of our hunting regs this past winter, we carefully considered changing the minimum energy level so it would allow appropriate airguns to be used for deer/bear hunting in Maryland. After that consideration, we elected not to make any changes.

In short, the use of airguns for hunting small game in Maryland has been legal for some time. However, at this time rifles of any kind used for hunting deer and bear must meet the 1200 ft/lb minimum.

Thanks again for taking the time to send your email.

Pete Jayne
Wildlife and Heritage Service
pjayne@dnr.state.md.us

Hello Pete,

I've been involved in an internet discussion recently, where we have been studying Maryland airgun hunting laws. A number of us are Maryland hunters, and shoot large caliber airguns for long range target.

I understand Dr. Kent Overmyer received a confirmation that you require 1,200 foot pounds of muzzle energy for deer and bear. If that's your ruling, then I respect it. I would ask though, why 700 foot pounds is sufficient energy from a handgun for the same game animal? In addition, I believe you allow 40 caliber black powder muzzle loading pistols ... which would produce even less than the 700 foot pound firearm pistol.

Since we realize that Md. is practically over run with deer (we all pass roadkills daily), we wonder why items such as a 700 foot pound air rifle, (who's slug would not over shoot the target by a mile), would not be welcome. I'm not certain that deer and bear are equal categories of game, but we are all aware that tons upon tons of deer have been illegally poached with the lowly 22 rimfire for decades. Obviously, we don't approve of the practice, or the choice of gun. The point being: Deer are quite fragile animals.

It will also be noted that there are not a bunch of 700 fpe airguns around. Those that exist belong to serious collectors who are mostly professional persons. If they were allowed to hunt with their guns, they would do so with the care and respect which they attend to their business. They'd add to the general funds generated by hunting, and remove some of the excess deer.

Thank you for your time. My mail is not intended to be an argument, but rather to seek clarification of a seeming confusing set of requirements. I appreciate the fine job you all do managing Mds. game animals.

Sincerely,
Gary L. Barnes


Sent Monday afternoon - 27th.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2010 05:48PM by barnespneumatic.

And ... I got no reply to my e-mail.

Gary

This morning, I received a nice e-mail reply. I'm glad they are thinking about it.

Gary


Greetings Gentlemen.

Thanks for taking the time to contact us about our airgun hunting regs. You both raise some very good points and have improved my understanding of these weapons. As noted, we have minimum standards for modern rifles, muzzleloading rifles and both types of handguns when used for deer or bear hunting. Not all these standards are consistent with one another, but seem reasonable for these species and are consistent with the technology of the given weapon. As we don't have standards for using airguns for deer/bear we have no choice but to default to the one for modern rifles. I recognize this standard isn't appropriate for airguns, but it is what is in the regs.

We would need to make a regulation change if we were to allow big bore airguns to be used for deer or bears. If we decide to do that, the challenge will be to find standards that work for the users (you guys), are acceptable to other hunters and seem reasonable to the public at large.

We make our hunting reg changes on a two year cycle, with the next one planned for 2012. I'll make sure airgun standards are part of that discussion. We have a very active public participation component to our reg changes so you, as well as many others, will have a chance to say what you think.

Oh, and thanks for your constructive and non-confrontational approach - it is much appreciated!

Peter S. Jayne
Wildlife and Heritage Service
Associate Director for Game Management

Pity the reg cycle is 2 years but nice to see some reasonable dialog and willingness to be informed!

That's why God made Game Reserves.

Gary