Texas Hunting Rules for Airguns ... New rule due for filing deadline 09 July

Was just on the link you provided, pleading your case. I lived in Travis county (Austin) for 5 years and moved (back) to MI. Shared my experience as a lifelong airgun hunter. What I will contend is this: Adopt MI law.. We broached this topic years ago and it was decided that Airguns .35 cal and up were allowed. Period. CO’s (conservation officers) can’t be expected to carry a scale and a chronograph, or look up specific make/model Airguns and the FPE rating. But a set of calipers, or some “go / no-go” gauge is reasonable. By allowing .35 cal and up, you instantly eliminate almost all pellet pushers. It’s working here, fwiw. I realize this doesn’t address hunting small game with small bore air rifles, but it seems the deer / hogs are where the attention is at(?) 

Brian

Arizona was one of the early supporters of pro air rifle hunting laws. If you are shooting .357 and above, and if you have the stones, you can hunt Bear, Mountain Lion, Javelina, deer, etc.
About the only things you cannot hunt with an air rifle are Elk, Buffalo and Moose. Turkey require a shotgun or bow. There are a few air-shotguns out there, so technically you can hunt turkey with an air propelled device. Airbows are still a bit slow on acceptance, but you must hunt in the regular rifle hunting season. They do not (yet) have any hunting seasons carved out for just air rifles; bows and muzzle loaders do have unique seasons.
I always keep in mind my Benjamin Bulldog is only around 200 FPE;. A classical 22 long rifle round is around 100 FPE. So, about twice the energy of a 22 cal powder burner.
Some states have a sweet spot for caliber. If you are hunting with 30 caliber and below, you can hunt with an air rifle within 1/4 mile of a structure without notifying (and gaining permission) from the owner. So in areas where it seems like there is a country house about every quarter mile, smaller caliber air rifles can make sense for smaller game and predators/fur bearers.

I’m not surprised that some certain manufacturers might be pushing for a fpe minimum. If you make the strongest production airgun in the world, it would male sense from a marketing perspective to make that line of guns virtually the only guns legal to hunt with. I’m guessing this manufacturer is also located in Texas? If so, you got a lot more going on than just hunting ethics driving the issue. Its both fortunate and unfortunate that so much money is involved in the air gun industry. 

FPE doesn’t kill regarding air rifles. Whether you dump 100fpe or 300fpe in an animal, its still chump change compared to what a firearm does.

The size of the hole is what kills with an airgun. Airguns are bows by other means. You need enough energy to punch a hole thru the lungs with a hole big enough to not clot. That’s the only relevance of fpe regarding AGs. 

BTW, hogs were already legal to hunt with airguns in Texas without caliber restriction. Many if not most of the airgun videos showing hog hunting on youtube come from Texas. What an amazing coincidence that a complaint like this was made on the eve of legalizing airguns for game other than hogs. 

What air rifles / caliber were the hogs shot with? Were they actually wounded / gut shot? Or did the land owner not have the patience to wait a few minutes for a vitals shot to bleed out? 

Pretty bad timing in all of this ? 

Brian

Good, I’m glad its not Airforce. I’m starting to fall in love with their platforms. My brother has a .45 Texan and I have a .25 Condor. I am planning on ordering a Texan SS next time they go on sale and on featuring the guns on my channel. I was afraid I’d have to swear them off. 

Whoever it is, they need to be exposed IF, and that’s an “if”, they are working against open airgun hunting opportunities. 

Shooting a hog in the meat shield is questionable with any weapon other than a firearm unless you know to shoot them in the armpit when the leg is extended forward. 

Its idiots like that , that give hunters a bad name.
Now do you think that land owner will ever allow an air gun hunter to hunt his land again?

Guys, responding to the TPWD commission with comment is greatly appreciated! Please support the regulations as written if you can. A united front is needed. The situation is critical. Please respond online, and or in person at the meeting, in a positive manner. Much appreciation to all.

"T3PRanch"Being a suspicious sort I also wonder (just a tiny little bit) if the thing could have been staged to throw a fly into the ointment to stop the legislation by a company/s with a vested interest AGAINST dilution of their firearms hunting supplies market by "Airguns"!
Thurmond

Click to expand...

I too find myself being suspicious. I've just seen too much in my time and the timing to too suspect. AGs have been legal for hogs in Texas for a long time. So why did some land owner come forward now to report a bad experience with some hog hunters, and what bearing does that have on hunting non-hog game? Hogs are a lot tougher than deer.

And yet, my initial suspicion of Airforce was apparently unfounded and I am again reminded of the dangers of drawing a conclusion on little facts. Ultimately, there's lots of groups or individuals that could have a motive to try to shut down expanded airgun hunting opportunities. If there's any hi-jinx involved, we may never know.

I do think that given the seriousness of what's at stake (not just air gun hunting itself, but that a state wildlife agency is willing to reverse a major policy decision based on the phone call of an individual), all parties need to be named and all accounts given. Otherwise it won't be possible to test the validity of the accounts or hold someone accountable. The land owner needs to be named so it can be determined whether he has any biases that might make his account suspect. His influence with the Commission also needs to be examined. And the hunting show in question and people involved need to be named both so they can give their side of the story and be taken to task by the AG community if warranted. 

I was REALLY looking forward to deer hunting with my Texan... sigh.
I was worried about just this situation occurring where a novice yahoo shot and wounded a deer
Well, when the first comment period opened I said/commented that based on 25 years of pistol hunting (low power compared to PB rifles and comparable to a class of big bore air rifles) here in Texas and other states and about the same number of years shooting air rifles (Bought my first 30 cal air rifle in early 90's) that they needed to set the caliber to .355 or larger for deer. I have shot close to 45 hogs here in Texas (bout half with a re-valved/modded .25 Mrod n slugs) and have only lost ONE but I do not shoot unless I KNOW it will be lethal... and know my trajectory and FPE at distances AND understand the anatomy of the animal and how to reach the vital zones from different angles. Unfortunately, I knew that most air rifle hunters would not take the time to learn all that and a wounding that went viral is only a matter of time (FYI - Sadly, I have known and encountered multiple bow and muzzle loader hunters who have HORRIBLE records and I wish there was a way to ban them but no one says anything about their sport).

We had a discussion on another forum about measuring FPE and how a game warden could do it in the field - it's possible in a variety of ways that are not THAT difficult.
I have a pocket chronograph that is stuck on the muzzle and shot through (Chinese) that cost less than $50 and is very accurate compared to my ProChrono. Add that to a pocket digital scale to weight the pellet/bullet and calculate the FPE easily with a phone app like Strelok Pro or ChairGun.
My recommendation was minimum .355, with 120 FPE at the muzzle based on my experience.

Note that although I'm not proud of it, I had poor relatives growing up in East Texas in the 60's that to have any meat in the house, I know shot deer out of season, with 22LR's... one shot to the brain, one kill, usually in the pea patch. And everybody local's 'enemy' was the game warden Neiswender who was nicknamed the "Sidewinder" so again, there is 'confirmation' that 120 FPE will kill a deer, haha... another sigh.

Another Elephant in the room is that high pressure gas is ENERGY and handled foolishly or in ignorance somebody is eventually going to get killed using the wrong fitting or hose or handling a tank carelessly. I also recommended that the Hunter Safety course have a chapter on handling HPA and the fill equipment a novice needs to know about.


I have noted the meeting on my calendar and am planning to go.

Well was told a few things in confidence that am not at liberty to discuss.

But basically Parks and Wildlife see air gunners as a bunch of stupid idiots.
Delusional about the power of a pellet to quickly and humanly kill.
What brought it all to a boil was hogs
They point out when some dumb ass says hes going hog hunting with a
grossly under powered air gun all others wish him well
They feel we can not be trusted to exercise responsible use or conduct
ourselves in an ethical manner. And have the evidence to prove it! 

Thurman Trust me brother you got my vote and then some. Am not at all
surprised to hear you are getting a different slant to the story TPW is a big 
place with a bunch of different divisions. I am talking with old friends behind
closed doors. Never once heard anything about a film crew ? Cant really
say much except hogs did indeed come up. Dude im not there going against
this im fighting for it but am seeing some ugly things and a lot of stupidity.
that is quite frankly sickening and undefinable.
You hit the nail on the head when you said people problem.
We are on the same side fighting for the same thing don't kill the messenger
just because you don't like the news. Lets both prey it passes and yes fight
together to get it through.

Fuznut

I too think unity among air gunners is paramount, both among hunters and among industry reps. 

I understand that many of us have differing opinions on where the lines between caliber and fpe should be drawn. I wouldn't expect someone who had an opinion that differed from mine to sacrifice their opinion for the sake of unity. The key is figuring out how to maintain differing opinions while still maintaining unity on what matters. 

Good luck to ya'll Texans. I hope ya'll can preserve your new airgun hunting privileges.