Minnesota shotgun zone changes??

[spur60]

I've never seen public lands crawling with coyote hunters. Traffic and human presence in "rural" areas isn't multiple times higher for a weekend during "coyote opener".

I'm not a staunch advocate of maintaining slug only season but i can certainly see some positives.

Might be more people out on deer opener vs a random saturday in the winter, but most everybody is just sitting in stands now. There are very few big family/friends groups left doing post/drive hunts all day long like 20 years ago. I know first hand because I've watched the decline in group sizes and I've watched the corresponding reduction in traffic and mid day deer movement due to hunting pressure. Where as take a February Saturday when there's three or four predator hunts all scheduled for the same day and there's guys all over the county running from one slough or farm grove to the next with rifles either post/drive hunting it, or just ripping off 15 shots into the cover to see what runs out. What's less safe? If a rifle is safe for coyotes it should be safe for deer in the same township.

 

[wind gypsy]

Might be more people out on deer opener vs a random saturday in the winter, but most everybody is just sitting in stands now. There are very few big family/friends groups left doing post/drive hunts all day long like 20 years ago. I know first hand because I've watched the decline in group sizes and I've watched the corresponding reduction in traffic and mid day deer movement due to hunting pressure. Where as take a February Saturday when there's three or four predator hunts all scheduled for the same day and there's guys all over the county running from one slough or farm grove to the next with rifles either post/drive hunting it, or just ripping off 15 shots into the cover to see what runs out. What's less safe? If a rifle is safe for coyotes it should be safe for deer in the same township.

Fair point. I've never been around the type of shit show you describe but it certainly sounds unsafe. "We already do other stuff that's less safe" is a pretty bad reason to change things.

Edit to reiterate: I'm not strongly opposed to rifle state wide, but do lean towards favoring existing laws. The deer get no damn break as it is so i tend to like the idea of anything that doesn't give hunters an even bigger edge than we already have.

 

[spur60]

Fair point. I've never been around the type of shit show you describe but it certainly sounds unsafe. "We already do other stuff that's less safe" is a pretty bad reason to change things.

It's not that I'm trying to use that as a reason to eliminate the slug zone, but I do find it ironic that I can shoot a .50 bmg at a coyote on our land if I wanted to, but I can't shoot deer with a .357 pistol caliber lever action on the same land.

 

[03mossy]

Bumping this back up for this year. There was a vote last Thursday and I heard it passed but can’t find anything to confirm that online???

 

[Scottyboy]

Bumping this back up for this year. There was a vote last Thursday and I heard it passed but can’t find anything to confirm that online???

I haven’t heard or read anything, and like you cannot seem to find anything purposefully looking for it.

 

[spur60]

HF864 and SF3808 are the 2024 bills in MN legislature to eliminate the shotgun zone all together.

Also, SF5108 and HF5047 are bills this year that would alter the shotgun zone, moving the northern border of the shotgun zone from the current "I-94" line down to US hwy 12. I'd be all for that since our hunting land is just north of 12, but I'd still have to bring the shotgun with since a lot of land we party hunt on is just south of 12.

 

[wind gypsy]

Deer drives with semi auto 12s are about to become deer drives with ARs.

 

[spur60]

Deer drives with semi auto 12s AR pistols are about to become deer drives with AR rifles.

Fixed it for ya.

 

[wind gypsy]

Fixed it for ya.

haha, guess that goes to show how long its been since ive hunting in slug/deer drive zones. Didn't even think of the "pistols".

 

[Macintosh]

What did you folks see with regard to the crossbow season this year? I live in VT—which has a management strategy that sounds exactly the same—so curious how it worked out so far. We have the same thing (crossbow now = vertical bow) as of 3 or so years ago, I have my take on it which is mixed, but curious how its working out there so far?

 

[wind gypsy]

What did you folks see with regard to the crossbow season this year? I live in VT—which has a management strategy that sounds exactly the same—so curious how it worked out so far. We have the same thing (crossbow now = vertical bow) as of 3 or so years ago, I have my take on it which is mixed, but curious how its working out there so far?

Super hard to generalize impacts as I'm sure they vary widely based on location. I don't have a good handle on if there was even much for crossbow hunting immediately adjacent to my hunting land. I'm sure some public ground saw increased localized pressure during archery season, others probably didn't.

Total archery harvest (including crossbow) was flat year to year. Crossbows made up 43% of total archery harvest which seems like a lot in their first year of legality. Total overall harvest (for all weapons/seasons) was down about 8%. We had just come off of two terrible winters that had really hurt the population in much of the state going into last season.

 

[03mossy]

Minnesota's shotgun zone for deer likely to remain as House, Senate strike bargain on environment, natural resources supplemental spending bill - Outdoor News

This indicates that the shotgun zone for deer hunting in Minnesota will remain in place after much debate in recent years about eliminating the shotgun zone and allowing rifles statewide.

www.outdoornews.com

 

[DominikSmith]

I don't think there will be many people who actually use crossbows in my area as long as the slug szn is still during the rut.

 

[BryanLo]

I feel more confident with my rifled barrel shotgun than my old 30:06. I can still reach out 150 yards w confidence and know I have the knock down power.

 

[03mossy]

I haven’t used a shotgun in 15 years just because I’d rather use my muzzleloader. But I’d sure like to use my Tikka 30-06 build more!

 

[wind gypsy]

I feel more confident with my rifled barrel shotgun than my old 30:06. I can still reach out 150 yards w confidence and know I have the knock down power.

That must be a pretty lousy 30-06 you’ve got..

 

[03mossy]

I'm bumping this back up to the top again this year. The bill was in the works again, but I can't find out if it passed.

 

[marjje]

This was the latest I could find in a quick search. Doesn't appear to have been voted on yet.

Lawmakers seek to end ‘shotgun-only’ deer hunting zone - Albert Lea Tribune

By Yvette Higgins, Report for Minnesota After more than 80 years, the Legislature appears poised to change a rule that restricts the kind of firearms that deer hunters can use in large parts of Minnesota. A bill by Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, would allow people to hunt deer in any part of...

www.albertleatribune.com

 

[GrayGoose]

I'm bumping this back up to the top again this year. The bill was in the works again, but I can't find out if it passed.

HF 623 in the house and SF 660 is what I could find when searching online.
Does not look like it was passed nor even voted on.

 

[fulldraw1972]

Both the shotgun zones and the crossbow addition extended for another year (or made permeant) have been attached to the ENR Omnibus bill and will be voted on in the special session.

Didn’t realize until now the crossbow addition had a limited time line. If it doesn’t get a vote or it does and it doesn’t pass it will end after this season.