WE DID IT! Airgun hunting has been expanded in Michigan!

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UpNorthAirGunner

UpNorthAirGunner

Member
Oct 19, 2017
400
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MI, United States
Through our demonstration and educational efforts throughout the past year, we set out to bring greater awareness to airgun hunting here in Michigan and helped our Wildlife officials see the full potential of our sport and the technologies that are rapidly pushing airgunning forward.

Per the newly published 2018 Michigan Hunting Digest - airguns are now legal for ANY and ALL hunting seasons where firearms are legal during a given season! Download it here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/hunting_and_trapping_digest_461177_7.pdf

The airbow / airbolt conversation continues into the next legislative cycle, but there were changes made through this more recent publication of our annual hunting digest that really opens up new hunting opportunities for us airgunners.

What this means for us in Michigan is that our hunting seasons have now been extended to now include Muzzleloading for deer and shotgun requirements for Turkey and Waterfowl as long as the pneumatic gun meets the same requirements as their firearm equivalents. For example non-lead shot and 3 shot magazine plugs for waterfowl hunting - shotguns for Turkey - airguns that can only be loaded from the Muzzle for Muzzleloading deer season - etc.

How this was accomplished was basically working with our DNR officials through a grass roots effort to make a blanket ruling on air guns (pneumatic guns) for hunting purposes.

Here is the direct verbiage from our official 2018 Michigan Hunting Digest that was just published:

Pneumatic Guns - Pneumatic guns, ‘air guns’, are considered firearms for hunting purposes. Pneumatic guns must meet firearm requirements for season, species hunted, and zone you are hunting in.

There are some latent effects to this ruling though that I am a bit worried about and not totally on board with. So I think they got it right by requiring: "A .35 caliber or larger air rifle or pistol charged only from an external high compression power source" to be used for deer hunting in the lower part of the state (we call the Limited Firearm Zone).

But if you read these regulations by the letter of the law as written - I can hunt deer with any airgun larger than a .22 caliber North of the limited firearm zone. Hmmmm.... This is not good at all! Here is the exact language:

"All Firearm Deer Seasons - North of Limited Firearm Deer Zone - Deer may be taken with handguns, rifles, crossbows, bows and arrows, shotguns, and muzzleloading firearms, including black powder handguns. It is legal to hunt deer north of the limited firearm deer zone with any caliber of firearm except a .22 caliber or smaller rimfire (rifle or handgun). During the firearm deer seasons, a firearm deer hunter may carry afield a bow and arrow, crossbow and firearm."

So if an airgun is just considered a firearm for hunting season considerations and if the airgun needs to follow the firearm requirements for a given species - zone - or season... Head scratcher!

I will be getting clarification from my contacts at the main DNR office tomorrow - but how this reads as of right now.... Hmmmmm.....

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well its definitely a step better than them saying no to all hunting with air guns. The, "Pneumatic guns, ‘air guns’, are considered firearms for hunting purposes." could be better. I understand the intent in which it was written, that for purposes of easy clarification they will require air guns to meet the same requirements as firearms. would have been better written as:

"Pneumatic guns, ‘air guns’, for hunting purposes will be considered firearms." better yet would be "Pneumatic guns, ‘air guns’, for hunting purposes will need to meet the same requirements as firearms."



either way it seems a positive step
 
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I too support the airgun idea for hunting...but don't take this the wrong way, when I say, "I hope airguns are never classified as firearms." Once we group airguns with firearms, we "could" be forced to live by some of same rules as firearms. Silencers, suppressors, LDC's whatever you want to label them, they could fall under the same requirements as firearms?

Taking this one step further than the hunting issue if airguns are considered firearms the city shooters might lose out. In many municipalities, firearms are illegal to discharge, yet airguns are legal to discharge on your own property, usually with the caveat that the pellet does not leave your property. IF we get airguns classified as firearms, we could lose many of our air gunning rights, or so I fear.

Glad to hear that Michigan airgunners are going to be able to hunt with airguns, but I hope for your sakes the anti-airgunning folks don't come back to use it against you. Just my 2 cents. Sometimes things can have a double edged sword and the unintentional consequences can bite us in the butt. Happy shooting and happy hunting to the folks in Michigan.
 
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I wonder how Moderators play into all this? Does Michigan allow suppressors on firearms while hunting? If they don't you might want to make sure you're meeting that law as well. I'm not sure our rabbit cops in NY are savvy enough to put it together but I'm sure having a moderator on an airgun to hunt with would be illegal here in my state. Law specifically states no silencers while hunting. Let alone we cant have them at all. We are allowed to hunt small game here only. 
 
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My question is a moot point if suppressors are allowed during hunting in Michigan. My concern is NY says no to suppressors for hunting, this was intended for firearms but new rules allow me to hunt small game with an airgun going over 600fps. So I would imagine me using a moderator to hunt small game could be a violation? Clear as mud. Clearly not an issue for you guys in the north country. Congrats.
 
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I too support the airgun idea for hunting...but don't take this the wrong way, when I say, "I hope airguns are never classified as firearms." Once we group airguns with firearms, we "could" be forced to live by some of same rules as firearms. Silencers, suppressors, LDC's whatever you want to label them, they could fall under the same requirements as firearms?

Taking this one step further than the hunting issue if airguns are considered firearms the city shooters might lose out. In many municipalities, firearms are illegal to discharge, yet airguns are legal to discharge on your own property, usually with the caveat that the pellet does not leave your property. IF we get airguns classified as firearms, we could lose many of our air gunning rights, or so I fear.

Glad to hear that Michigan airgunners are going to be able to hunt with airguns, but I hope for your sakes the anti-airgunning folks don't come back to use it against you. Just my 2 cents. Sometimes things can have a double edged sword and the unintentional consequences can bite us in the butt. Happy shooting and happy hunting to the folks in Michigan.
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I agree. Several anti-gun groups are already pushing for airguns to be classified as firearms. I rue the day some jackwad shows up at a school with a .30 airgun and goes postal.
 
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A firearm and a airgun should never be classified as the samething, for large game. This is just the first step in government regulations on our sport. There should be a "airgun" season for big game, just like a "muzzloader" season with a set of rules designed for that discipline. Every state should write it in separately. 

The most powerful air rifles i ever shot was was a benjamin bulldog with a about 170 fpe can maybe take a small deer at 40-50 yards ethically (arguably). Compared to a real powder burning shot 12ga slug at 2,000fpe can take a large deer at 150 yards easy and ethically, in my opinion.

Airguns are out for a more difficult set rules/challenges (just like why and archery hunter chooses a bow over a firearm).


 
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"All Firearm Deer Seasons - North of Limited Firearm Deer Zone - Deer may be taken with handguns, rifles, crossbows, bows and arrows, shotguns, and muzzleloading firearms, including black powder handguns. It is legal to hunt deer north of the limited firearm deer zone with any caliber of firearm except a .22 caliber or smaller rimfire (rifle or handgun). During the firearm deer seasons, a firearm deer hunter may carry afield a bow and arrow, crossbow and firearm."
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The way that regulation reads a person can hunt a deer with a .22 or .177 firearm so long as it is a centerfire and not a rimfire. Florida is the same way. We legally have the freedom to hunt deer with anything we want except a rimfire (remember in the modern era there are no .30 rimfires left, in the old days .30 rimfires were considered good close range deer cartridges, if they were still in production we would allow .30 rimfires). We also allow bows with draw weights of 35lbs and define bows loosely enough to include sling bows. We have ZERO problems with idiots hitting the woods with inappropriate weapons in such a way it causes any sort of bad press for hunters. 

I wouldn't fret over it UNA. I think about it like this; bow hunters aren't going around lobbying States to make bow hunting more restrictive. A 35lb sling bow is probably inappropriate in the novice's hands. But its just fine in the hands of an experienced bowhunter. So it is with many of the PCPs in the sub .35 class. They'll get the job done fine in the right hands. Let the right hands use them and educate the wrong hands to stay away from them until they gain more experience, just like bowhunters do. 

Something that concerns me about how the Texas situation is playing out that some air gunners are willing to concede points they shouldn't concede. That's a big no-no in politics, where the other side doesn't play fair and has no interest in conceding points to you because you're being the bigger person or being more intellectually honest. Something I saw in the Texas situation is that a small minority of air gunners will sometimes go behind the back of the wider airgun hunting community in the name of enforcing their own personal thoughts on what is and isn't appropriate to use on big game. I do believe there were some back door discussions with the Texas commission that basically amounted to "yep, I'm an airgunner, and let me tell you all those other air gunners are crazy and you need to regulate their sorry butts." That almost happened here in Florida after the Texas thing blew up but we shut that down before it spilled over. You don't want that happening where you are. Questioning the new rules too much might send a red flag to your policy makers that there must be something fundamentally wrong with airguns and reinforce stereotypes that anti-airgunners are already putting out there. 

Sounds like you got a good thing in Michigan. I would enjoy the freedom in the North of the State to experiment with different airguns at close range. You may be surprised what can be effective in the right hands, and I think you'll also find the average Joe isn't going to be going out with something silly like a .177 and making a bad name for air gunners.
 
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HI I like to say great , OK well my friend was involved with legislation last year with all large air gun manufacturers trying to make a blanket policy for large game hunting with pcps , I was told it is state by state currently but the proposed bill was this .30 cal 700fps min ,100fpe min , but some states adopted this some havent yet , My concern is once this goes threw , then I feel they mite be considered real guns if this is true , will we need to apply for federal silencers stamp? Currently we fall under radar as they are not guns , I do hope that they do not reclassify this as it would change everything just a thought ,

I do know from when I was a kid popping squirrels at 20 yards was what a crossman 760 did , today It isnt uncommon to take ut varmints at 200m for me , My pcp guns are more accurate then my rim-fire guns , using slugs
 
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In my mind, this is a failure on the DNR’s part. Classifying airguns as firearms took more airgun hunting opportunities away than it created. You could already hunt deer with airguns. The only thing gained by this is to hunt bear and to hunt with the air shotgun. From what I’ve seen of the air shotguns, they don’t have the power for anything much over a dove size at 15-20 yards. I wouldn’t hunt a turkey with one. I’d shoot a pigeon with an air shotgun, but now you can’t at a farm because it’s an occupied dwelling and the airgun is now a firearm. We now lost the ability for urban shooters to hunt their properties because airguns are firearms. There goes my YouTube channel. We also lost the ability to hunt coyotes at night with big bores. The firearm has to be below .265 cal to hunt at night within the firearm limited zone. Sorry .30 cal coyote hunters, you just lost that ability to hunt at night. This wasn’t a win for airgunners, it was a failure. Because airguns are classified as firearms for hunting purposes, you can no longer carry pellets in the same case as your airgun when traveling to hunt. I get the intended purpose of this, but the execution of it was p!$$ poor. 
 
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In my mind, this is a failure on the DNR’s part. Classifying airguns as firearms took more airgun hunting opportunities away than it created. You could already hunt deer with airguns. The only thing gained by this is to hunt bear and to hunt with the air shotgun. From what I’ve seen of the air shotguns, they don’t have the power for anything much over a dove size at 15-20 yards. I wouldn’t hunt a turkey with one. I’d shoot a pigeon with an air shotgun, but now you can’t at a farm because it’s an occupied dwelling and the airgun is now a firearm. We now lost the ability for urban shooters to hunt their properties because airguns are firearms. There goes my YouTube channel. We also lost the ability to hunt coyotes at night with big bores. The firearm has to be below .265 cal to hunt at night within the firearm limited zone. Sorry .30 cal coyote hunters, you just lost that ability to hunt at night. This wasn’t a win for airgunners, it was a failure. Because airguns are classified as firearms for hunting purposes, you can no longer carry pellets in the same case as your airgun when traveling to hunt. I get the intended purpose of this, but the execution of it was p!$$ poor.
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In my conversations with the DNR we didn't have the expressed regulatory ability to hunt Coyote AT ALL before this change. At least that is what I was told. People still did it - but there were muddy waters if it was actually legal or not. Depending on what Conservation Officer got up in your business - up until this 2018 change - you could have had your equipment taken away. There is a mis-understanding that if the DNR regulations don't speak to particular technology as a "means of take" - it is ok to use. NOPE! If it doesn't spell it out in the regulations - you CAN NOT USE IT. I had a guy tell me that he hopes the DNR doesn't start to regulate atlatl spear throwing for deer because then he won't be able to do it anymore on his land. I was like - ummmm.... If the DNR doesn't expressly state you can use atlatl spear throwing for deer - you can't.

I agree this change really got things screwed up for some situations in the limited firearm zone vs. north of the limited firearms zone. It is too restrictive south of the line for Coyote at night and way to liberal north of the line for Deer hunting where .22 cal and higher are legal calibers. .25 cal deer hunting with Airguns? Ummmm.... Nope. Maybe the Texan .257 or .308 with a perfectly placed shot - but c'mon! 
 
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The DNR has a hard time specifying what you can use at all for coyote. They specified for night hunting and stated centerfire rifles may be used to take coyote. Key word there is may. Does this mean you can't use rimfire? No, it doesn't. In this case, because it doesn't specify, you can use it. That's what I've been told by the DNR anyway. I've hunted in many other states and most of them clearly specify what can and can't be used for each species. Michigan is the worst state for clarification that I've seen.
 
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So my .25 caliber which is PCP would be legal to hunt deer with ? I don't know how I feel about that BUT I was a younger kid when the state passed the law NO MORE .22's allowed for deer hunting here in Michigan . Everyone has their theory on why everything from people were emptying their guns that may have held more than 5 rounds to they were finding too many wounded deer with the .22 bullets still in them .
 
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Ain’t that the truth! I think air shotguns are legal. But IMO they don’t make one strong enough yet. I have shot a lot of rabbits and squirrels with my Wingshot. But I wouldn’t chance using it on a turkey. Sure, maybe under 20 yards with a great headshot. Cris upnorthairgunner was working on a 410 barrel air shotgun. I think he had the barrel made. I wanted to try it with my Badger. But I think even 410 is a little on the lite side. But shot placement is what it’s all about.
 
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