I touched on this in another topic ,,, http://www.airgunnation.com/topic/pa-legalizies-airguns/#post-171647 But wanted to see If I could get some help and feedback from more experienced air gun hunters on this topic and I feel that by getting a good sketch or outline that others can reference we might be able to further the advancement of air gun hunting for actual game.
A lot of you know that I can sometimes say the right things in completely the wrong way (or at least wrong things for the right reason). Not everyone may agree with my opinions, but I do hope you understand that I am passionate about providing a positive influence and seeing a positive outcome in the subject of airgun hunting.
You may have seen some posts were I hounded on public perception and what its effect on our hobby can be, There is a reason why it is one of my main focuses.
I am a third generation professional truck driver by trade with over 15 years of experience myself and my father over 45 years and as such have personally witnessed how much of a negative impact public perception can have on a topic and how a group of people who has never sat behind the wheel of a truck can and do influence laws and restrictions that has been placed on that industry.
I have also witnessed how the actions or mistakes of less than 1% of the professional drivers (and even in some cases a single person) can negatively impact the other 99% by being used as bad examples.
There are literally hundreds of different fringe groups trolling the waters looking for bandwagons they can jump on or create themselves to further advance there own agendas and name. My own example,
I have been pushing in my local area with farmers, ranchers and hunting lease owners the use of big bore air rifles in the feral hog population control efforts as a safer and more productive alternative to firearms.
Why, Because many ranchers, farmers, and lease owners, have stopped allowing people to come on their land to hunt hogs because hunters will come in with semi-auto AR platforms and start blasting away making the area sound and feel like a warzone scaring the piss out of everyone and everything in the area.
It seems to me that perhaps even in the air gun world itself shooters tend to focus on the wrong method of considering what airgun is best to use for hunting different size game. (Keep in mind we are talking in general terms and the possible public perception not personal skill levels).
Lets face it, not all air guns are equal even in the same caliber and possibly not even in two guns of the same make and manufacturer due to tuning and other factures such as projectile selection. It is for this reason that I feel we should stop focusing on calibers and start focusing on the Foot Pounds of Energy
I think perhaps one of the main enticements of airgun hunting is the challenge of accuracy over bruit force, and this is the crux of a possible issue in influencing a positive impact on airgun game hunting. There are airgun shooters here that can and do make head shot kills every shot and use that as an example as to why this or that caliber airgun is a good choice for hunting a certain type or size of game. For the individual that works fine and I understand, but in general terms it is a huge mistake.
Because it is one of the most sought after game in my state lets place Texas deer as a good example. I live in the north east quadrant of Texas, The free range deer in my area are considerably smaller than those even less than 150 miles west of me (as much as 60 to 70 pounds average undressed weight). Another consideration that needs to be addressed is the type of hunt being performed be it a freezer hunt or a trophy hunt, as a trophy hunter is going to make a body shot instead of a head shot and is going to be looking for the largest deer possible. Another factor is in the north east quadrant of Texas the average hunting range is somewhere around 50 yards, but if you move to 150 miles west of my location that can open up to over 100 or more yards.
Taking this into account Texas would make a huge mistake in passing a law that said that deer could be hunted with an airgun in caliber size but should focus on the FPE of the projectile itself and then possibly a minimum caliber as a secondary requirement.
This is a snippet from the other post
Keeping in mind the skill level and accuracy of a average hunter where do you think these levels should be set.
A lot of you know that I can sometimes say the right things in completely the wrong way (or at least wrong things for the right reason). Not everyone may agree with my opinions, but I do hope you understand that I am passionate about providing a positive influence and seeing a positive outcome in the subject of airgun hunting.
You may have seen some posts were I hounded on public perception and what its effect on our hobby can be, There is a reason why it is one of my main focuses.
I am a third generation professional truck driver by trade with over 15 years of experience myself and my father over 45 years and as such have personally witnessed how much of a negative impact public perception can have on a topic and how a group of people who has never sat behind the wheel of a truck can and do influence laws and restrictions that has been placed on that industry.
I have also witnessed how the actions or mistakes of less than 1% of the professional drivers (and even in some cases a single person) can negatively impact the other 99% by being used as bad examples.
There are literally hundreds of different fringe groups trolling the waters looking for bandwagons they can jump on or create themselves to further advance there own agendas and name. My own example,
I have been pushing in my local area with farmers, ranchers and hunting lease owners the use of big bore air rifles in the feral hog population control efforts as a safer and more productive alternative to firearms.
Why, Because many ranchers, farmers, and lease owners, have stopped allowing people to come on their land to hunt hogs because hunters will come in with semi-auto AR platforms and start blasting away making the area sound and feel like a warzone scaring the piss out of everyone and everything in the area.
It seems to me that perhaps even in the air gun world itself shooters tend to focus on the wrong method of considering what airgun is best to use for hunting different size game. (Keep in mind we are talking in general terms and the possible public perception not personal skill levels).
Lets face it, not all air guns are equal even in the same caliber and possibly not even in two guns of the same make and manufacturer due to tuning and other factures such as projectile selection. It is for this reason that I feel we should stop focusing on calibers and start focusing on the Foot Pounds of Energy
I think perhaps one of the main enticements of airgun hunting is the challenge of accuracy over bruit force, and this is the crux of a possible issue in influencing a positive impact on airgun game hunting. There are airgun shooters here that can and do make head shot kills every shot and use that as an example as to why this or that caliber airgun is a good choice for hunting a certain type or size of game. For the individual that works fine and I understand, but in general terms it is a huge mistake.
Because it is one of the most sought after game in my state lets place Texas deer as a good example. I live in the north east quadrant of Texas, The free range deer in my area are considerably smaller than those even less than 150 miles west of me (as much as 60 to 70 pounds average undressed weight). Another consideration that needs to be addressed is the type of hunt being performed be it a freezer hunt or a trophy hunt, as a trophy hunter is going to make a body shot instead of a head shot and is going to be looking for the largest deer possible. Another factor is in the north east quadrant of Texas the average hunting range is somewhere around 50 yards, but if you move to 150 miles west of my location that can open up to over 100 or more yards.
Taking this into account Texas would make a huge mistake in passing a law that said that deer could be hunted with an airgun in caliber size but should focus on the FPE of the projectile itself and then possibly a minimum caliber as a secondary requirement.
This is a snippet from the other post
- First; is by getting off the topic of calibers you are no longer battling those who see .177, .22,.25, .35 and are comparing them to the same calibers in firearm dangers and or capabilities. You are actually addressing the capabilities of the air guns themselves!
- Second; because not all air rifles are equal and shoot at the same fps you are insuring that if that said state is passing a law to allow air guns to be used in deer size game then you are also insuring that the guns allowed to be used will actually be capable of doing the job. THIS will not only insure ethical hunting but also help build a structure for further advancement of air gun hunting with states that are taking small steps first in small game hunting with the possibility of adding larger game down the line.
- Third; be reasonable in your expectations. Yes I know there are those of you who could use a .25 air rifle and kill a deer with it. But you need to lower your expectation of skill level down to those who will be taking chest shots of what ever size animal and kill it in an ethical amount of time set your minimal agenda in FPE accordingly.
Keeping in mind the skill level and accuracy of a average hunter where do you think these levels should be set.
