Confirmed: Airguns Legal For Bear In Michigan

[Chip]

See email exchange below. Good luck up there!

ch

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From: "Wanless, Thomas (DNR)" Subject:
RE: regulation interpretation re. use of airguns
Date: September 10, 2015 at 3:26:12 PM EDT 

Mr. Hunnicutt: I just left you a message on your work line. The State of Michigan recently changed the definition of a firearm. The hunting statutes allow for pneumatic guns to be used for hunting purposes unless there is a specific prohibition to it. Currently, bear hunters my use pneumatic guns to hunt bear.

If you need further feel free to contact me. I will be out of the office until 09-21-15. 

Thank you, 

F/Lt. Thomas R. Wanless
DNR -Law Enforcement Division
Recreational Safety, Education and Enforcement Section
525 W. Allegan, Lansing, MI 48933
517-284-6026
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From: Hunnicutt, Chip
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 2:05 PM
To: DNR-Director
Subject: regulation interpretation re. use of airguns

Director,

I’m with Crosman Corporation, maker of the Benjamin Bulldog .357 air rifle and I am trying to determine if my reading of the Michigan regulations for bear is accurate. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. 

Page 20 of the 2015 Hunting & Trapping Digest clearly defines firearms for use during deer season as a shotgun, muzzleloader, handgun, and a .35 caliber airgun. The separate 2015 Black Bear Hunting Digest on page 15 states bear hunters may use a firearm but does not define what that includes as it does in the general digest. 

Based on the more detailed definition in the general digest, are airguns legal for bear?

Thank you, 

Chip Hunnicutt
Marketing Manager

Crosman Corporation

 

[azuaro]

Dear Mr. Hunnicutt and Lt. Thomas R. Wanless:

Congratulations for your efforts in liberating airguns from the ban in Michigan, and congratulations for producing what seems to be a good gun...

Excuse me for my ignorance, I don't have any experience with high caliber PCP airguns and do not hunt with airguns either....I have seen advertised the velocities for 35 caliber PCP's: The Benjamin at 800 fps, the Evanix says Max 800 fps. and the Sam Yang goes to 983 with a 72 grain pellet...

I saw that there are some 145 gr. slugs and those will be fine if they hit the target with enough velocity or if shot at close distances...I am worried about hunters using the lighter 72 gr. and similar weight pellets for bear and I am worried about hunters over extending the shooting range because of ignorance...

Consider that the ballistics on those guns and this caliber translated to energy and bullet diameter are slightly less than those of a .380 caliber pistol...I wonder if hunters feel comfortable with hunting a bear with a .380, even from a baiting station at 20-30 yards assuming that they are legal in that state...

Are there any specific rules as to what calibers to use, velocities, bullet weights, distances allowed for shooting, etc. specifically for hunting bear? Do you know who is controlling these hunting efforts for the state of Michigan?

Let me explain my concerns...I live in Bear country, we have both: Grizzly and and Black Bear...I am on Flathead Lake, MT just below the Canadian border and at the base of the mountains....We have black bears on our lawn almost every day during spring and fall, and very often during the summer as we have cherry orchards all around us...After the cherries are over, we see these animals following the huckleberry line up the mountains...So we know their behavior and patterns very well.

My hunting partner and I have tracked many bears for other hunters who shot them with 30-06, 7 Mags and even 300 Win Mags and higher calibers...those bears covered a long territory (miles) before giving a second opportunity for finishing them, .Some of them had good hits but were not found and needed to be tracked, nevertheless, even with the help of tracking dogs, we lost several animals and never found them. Bears are tough and very hard to track because of the fat plug not allowing blood trails and their tracks are most of the times not printed on the ground given the terrain conditions...

Are there any statistics anywhere about how these PCP's are performing on these kinds of game that may illustrate my ignorance so we can help some other hunters and possibly for promoting these guns among our hunting community? 

Thanking you for courtesies to my request, please receive my best regards.

Sincerely,

AZ
Flathead, Lake MT

 

[Chip]

AZ,

Thank you for the thoughtful response and well placed concern. 

Bear hunting with airguns is relatively new with legal opportunities in Arizona, Michigan and the Carolinas. Those states dictate a minimum .357 caliber for bear; they do not require a specific weight for the projectile nor do their regulations state velocity or other performance minimums, or distance requirements.

While the Bulldog .357 has the power to penetrate, break bone and pass through, the blood trail will be minimal. For this reason we recommend head shots whenever possible. My first deer hunt with an airgun resulted in a head shot at 43 yards however a land management professional in Alabama routinely aims for the hear/lung area and has recovered every animal within 80 yards of where it was hit. Keep in mind we recommend headshots for squirrels as well, for the same reasons. 

Regarding distance, airgun hunting is most effective within the same ranges effective for archery: 50 yards and in. This is not a rule, it is entirely dependent upon the accuracy of the rifle and the proficiency of the shooter. The need to "get close" is as appealing for airgunners as it is for bowhunters and the challenge of airguns is part of the crossover appeal.

Bullet weights fall along the same lines, in that some shooters prefer a particular design (hollow point, ballistic tip, solid, etc.) or weight. This is at the hunter's discretion. Here at Crosman we test with and deign our .357 product around the 145gr Nosler. 

I hunted bear in Arizona two years ago although no one in our party got within 80 yards (we're blaming the guide, it was a tough deal). I had a hunt scheduled last year in North Carolina that was canceled a few days prior when the guide had a family emergency come up. My point being is I believe our .357 is capable on bear when coupled with the 145 grain Nosler round offered by Crosman. Ian Haford, a professional hunter in the UK with whom we have commissioned hunts in Africa with both the Bulldog and its predecessor, the Benjamin Rogue, has had tremendous success on large plains game animals with the Nosler round. His videos include excellent post mortem reviews of the bullet's performance with footage of the body cavities. You can find these on his Team Wild youtube channel.

This week I am attending the national meeting of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies in an effort to educate the state agencies on today's large bore airguns and their capabilities. A great many of the state representatives have told stories of constituents' growing interest in expanding airgun hunting opportunities but officials simply are not familiar with PCP and modern break barrel rifles. If we can be off assistance to your efforts to educate those in your circle of friends and state policy makers, please feel free to reach out.

ch

 

[ztirffritz]

This isn't a .357 Bulldog, but rather a .45 Bushbuck. It doesn't look like the air rifle was short on power for that need. I don't think I'd use this with a Grizzly though. They're WAY bigger than black bears.