Florida Wildlife Commission Approves PCPs for Deer and Turkey!

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Bullfrog

Member
Apr 2, 2015
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Florida, United States
Our Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously to approve PCPs for deer and turkey starting in the Fall 2018. .30 and up for deer. .20 and up for turkey.

A big thank you to the airgun industry, and especially to Mr. Randal Raney who acted as a liaison between the industry and the Commission to help draft the rules. We often think of "the industry", in whatever field its in, as a bad thing. But when it comes to guns and hunting rights, the combined power of businesses dedicated to our sport and freedoms goes a long way in protecting and expanding our rights. 


 
"AGFAN"Bullfrog the draft rule dated Feb 7 2018 says the proposed rule amendment would allow the use of pre-charged pneumatic air guns propelling a single projectile (to include a single bullet of no less than .40 caliber or an arrow or bolt) to take deer during the general gun season. are you sure about .30 cal for deer.
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I’m positive. If you look at the Final Rules presentation slide show, you’ll see the staff recommendation to amend the draft rule from .40 to .30. I spoke with the industry rep yesterday after the vote who told me they passed the .30 rule. 
 
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Happy for FL hunters, but strongly disagree with the .30 minimum.

“But it CAN be done, I’ve seen it on YouTube”

Well, theres a lot of stuff on the internet that the masses should never attempt. Shooting deer with a pellet gun is one of them. .35 cal minimum would make a lot more sense.

Before anyone one gets offended, realize that I’m advocating for game animals AND airguns by exercising caution, based on years of actual experience. I want what’s best in the long run for our sport! 

Someone will come on here and talk about perfectly placed heart shots. Great, but can the masses pull that off every time? Or is FL going to have a bunch of wounded animals running around. Game laws aren’t usually written using the bare minimum, why now? 

Just my airgun deer hunter’s opinion! Hope it all works out.

 
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"Brian.in.MI"Happy for FL hunters, but strongly disagree with the .30 minimum.
“But it CAN be done, I’ve seen it on YouTube”
Well, theres a lot of stuff on the internet that the masses should never attempt. Shooting deer with a pellet gun is one of them. .35 cal minimum would make a lot more sense.
Before anyone one gets offended, realize that I’m advocating for game animals AND airguns by exercising caution, based on years of actual experience. I want what’s best in the long run for our sport! 
Someone will come on here and talk about perfectly placed heart shots. Great, but can the masses pull that off every time? Or is FL going to have a bunch of wounded animals running around. Game laws aren’t usually written using the bare minimum, why now? 
Just my airgun deer hunter’s opinion! Hope it all works out.

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Alabama has been doing a .30 minimum for a few seasons now with no ill effect. In fact, .30s have become a favorite of wildlife officials there and their people and our people compared notes. 

The average mature Florida buck weighs 120lb and the average mature Florida doe weighs 70-80lbs. 

We already allow small bore centerfires for whitetails (.17, .204, .22). I’d trust a .30 airgun on a double lung shot way before I’d trust a .17 or .22 centerfire. 
 
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.17 HMR has as much energy at 200 yards as my RAW 1000x .30 cal at the muzzle. It is a devastating round! And that’s the least powerful of the 3 smallbore PB’s you mentioned. Having owned a .30 cal pellet rifle for some time, I can yes, I could kill deer with it. But the shot better be perfect. .30 cal pellets will skip off of a shoulder blade from the wrong angle, whereas a .30 cal bullet fired from a proper big bore will blow through any part of any size deer. Pellets will also skip off of a skull from too far away, or from a bad angle. What would be the harm in NOT treading so close to the line? 

Has anyone here ever regarded a .30 cal pellet rifle as ideal for big game? They’re generally regarded as perfect for small to medium size game, as in raccoon, fox, coyote. 

Think about this: a .30 cal (pellet firing) rifle has less than HALF the power of the WEAKEST firearm you said are currently allowed for deer! 

I know it’s not what you want to hear, but my heart is in the right place and at the end of the day we’re on the same team 👍



 
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FPE is irrelevant to the killing power of an air gun, except that enough FPE is needed to give the pellet or bullet the energy to shoot into and thru the vitals. Beyond penetration, FPE does nothing. Airguns kill by the size of the holes they make. They kill basically like arrows. A whitetail deer will die fast from a .30 hole from the lungs, much faster than what a .17 firearm will offer. The energy of a .17 powderburner is also inconsequential to killing large game, because it still doesn’t have enough energy to cause hydrostatic shock. What you’re left with is a .17 hole in the lungs vs a .30 hole thru the lungs. The .17 hole will clot and let the lungs re-inflate, the .30 hole will not. 

That a .30 airgun has the energy to provide a double-lung shot on a whitetail with full penetration is beyond question. Even the mathematics bear it out. A 50 grain .30 JSB at 900fps will provide about 15 inches of penetration in ballistics gel on paper, and my experience has been that real world testing always outperforms the formula. Its the same energy an arrow has. 

The only argument really is whether a .30 hole shot thru the lungs is big enough to stop the lungs from reinflating upon depressurization. We say that it is. 

You’ll see when I start posting videos. 
 
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To put it another way, the lightest draw weight we require for bows is 35lbs. Its legal to hunt deer here with arrows with less than 50fpe upon release. We understand that its more correct to compare an airgun to a bow instead of a firearm. We discussed as much when we wrote the rules. 

And like I said, the real world results in Alabama are working out just fine. 

 
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I think Florida wanted to expand hunting opportunities as much as possible without restricting suitable .30 cal airguns. With that said not all .30 caliber airguns are created equal and some may not be suitable. I looked on line and found that only one in my search produced more than 98 FPE. It was the the Airforce Texan at 300 FPE. Some only produced 48 FPE or less. Education and common sense will be key to the establishment and preservation of modern airgun hunting.

With regards to FPE here's an article I found interesting called The Myth of Minimum Impact Energy

The Myth of Minimum Impact Energy[/QUOTE]https://whitetail.winchester.com/2013/the-myth-of-minimum-impact-energy/embed/
 
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