There has been some discussion in the Reloading sub-forum about the recent development of wildcat cartridges that meet Indiana's legal guidelines for caliber and case length, but do not necessarily adhere to the spirit of the restrictions. For most of the last 60 years, Indiana deer hunting has been restricted to short or medium-range firearms. In fact, until the refinements in shotgun slugs and barrels, along with the in-line muzzle-loader developments, most Indiana deer were harvested with guns that were not capable of good accuracy at 100 yards. As little as 25 years ago, this was the case.
Today's rifled slug barrels and 150gr-capable ML's are accurate and powerful enough to come very close to 200 yards worth of effective range. They do so at the cost of rather substantial recoil, which makes them a poor choice for recruiting women and youth to the sport. Recognizing this, along with an increased need to harvest more deer to control the overall herd numbers, Indiana decided to start allowing pistol-chambered rifles..."PCR" regulations. Since being introduced, the number of folks using these less powerful options has grown by leaps and bounds.
OK, so none of this is news to many folks on this forum. What IS becoming a bit of a hot topic is the development of these powerful wildcat cartridges. The latest round of 1.800" cases, necked to shoot 35 caliber bullets, push the envelope of performance into the 300 yard range. These rounds can be compared to the 35 Remington, 358 Winchester and even 35 Whelen factory cartridges, in terms of distance and effectiveness. On the other end of the scale, smaller rounds are offering young shooters and women options that allow them to shoot and hunt with cartridges that do not create enough recoil to bother them.
So, how did these regulations come about in the first place? Why did Indiana limit hunters to shotguns only, back in 1951, when excellent rifle cartridges were available for use? The commonly accepted reasoning given today, is that these restrictions were put in place for reasons of safety. That seems logical enough; shotgun slugs don't travel as far as bullets from high-powered rifles. But, was this the REAL reason behind why the DNR limited hunters to slugs, back then?
In 1951, the population of Indiana was still spread out the way it is today, but the total number of people was a whole lot less. Also, the locations where hunts were allowed back then were largely forested or had a lot of wetlands. In other words, the hunting was not being done near farmhouses or sub-divisions, as it sometimes is today. I can't go back and ask the guys who made these decisions what their motivation was, but what I can tell you is this: After the first season or two, which was "any deer", the population was reduced rather substantially. This was not the goal of the DNR, at the time. Subsequently, the next 30 years of Indiana deer hunting was restricted to mostly bucks, hunted with shotguns or MLs.
It is my opinion, then, that the idea behind restricting folks to short-range weapons, way back when, was to also restrict the harvest of deer. I do believe that safety was a concern, as it always is, but the primary reason was to try and prevent hunters from over-harvesting deer with long-range rifles. For the sake of this discussion, I would ask that you accept this premise; that Indiana only allowed shotguns for deer hunting back then to protect the growing herd, not because of long-range rifles presented a safety hazard, at that time.
Move forward to today and the message behind the deer hunting gun regulations in Indiana has clearly become one of safety. I have never heard that stated in so many words by the DNR, but it is commonly accepted as conventional wisdom by deer hunters in Indiana. In some areas, it is probably very sound wisdom, to be honest. However, the reality of what constitutes safe gun handling and use has never been proven to be related to what caliber or cartridge that gun fires. Gun safety will always be about how the individual using that gun handles it and fires it. Period.
Beginning in the early 1980's, something started happening in Indiana. The deer population, which had been stable, but growing slowly for 30 years, began to grow by leaps and bounds. There are likely many factors that contributed to this, including reduced hunting pressure, milder winters, and a sort of "critical mass" in the population, where their ability to reproduce began to greatly exceed the various types of predation to control their numbers. Indiana has no large predators, aside from man and car bumpers, so deer numbers are limited largely by suitable cover, winter habitat and their own highly reproductive nature!
By the mid-90's, the DNR started getting a little concerned about this growing deer population. Harvest quotas and regulations started to change. Doe hunts became more and more common. The number of hunters was also increasing, as the odds of success were much higher. By this time, bow-hunting had its own season and muzzle-loader got one, too. The DNR was doing everything it could to control deer numbers, and they're still working on that today!
Shortly after the turn of the century, the idea of allowing some kind of "rifle" to be used for deer hunting started to have a lot more appeal. There was a need to increase the harvest and there was also a serious concern about the inability to recruit younger hunters. Lever-action rifles in 357 and 44 Magnum seemed like just the ticket! But, the DNR didn't want true, long-range rifles out there, so they had to make a decision on exactly what they could do to allow some rifles, but not all of them. They went with very specific caliber and case length restrictions. In hindsight, they may now wish that they just defined a list of cartridges and been done with it.
You see, their regulations created a significant amount of confusion concerning one very specific cartridge. The original PCR reg's allowed for the use of a 44 Magnum and a 500 (S&W) Magnum. Many hunters did not read the details of the regulations and presumed that a 460 Magnum (right in-between 44 and 500, numerically) must also be legal. Well, as many of you know, it WAS NOT LEGAL. That didn't prevent many well-intentioned hunters from buying or making one and hunting deer with it. One of the biggest bucks I ever saw harvested was killed with an Encore, fitted with a 24" Katahdin barrel, chambered in 460S&W. This was 3 years ago, making it an illegally harvested deer, technically.
Seeing the ambiguity in their own regulations, the DNR increased the legal case length from 1.625" to 1.800", thereby allowing the 460S&W to be a legal cartridge for deer hunting with a rifle in Indiana. Personally, I think they missed a great opportunity to fix the regulations, once and for all. I believe they will change the rules again, sooner or later. Whether it is to allow all rifles larger than a certain caliber (22?) to be used, except in certain urban "zones" where they stick with the existing regs, or if they decide to finally create an expanded list of approved cartridges for deer hunting, I do feel pretty strongly that Indiana WILL eventually allow "regular" rifles to be used.
Why do I feel that way? Several things point in this direction. Since the introduction of the PCR regulations, gun safety has continued to be very high in Indiana. There were folks opposed to those changes who claimed more and more accidental shootings would occur during hunting season. That has not materialized. Many hunters use elevated stands these days, which means their shot angle is typically quite safe.
Perhaps the main reason I feel the regulations will change again is that a unique time is coming in the history of deer hunting. As aging baby-boomers pass on, or find that they can no longer head out to the woods, there is going to be a substantial drop in the number of hunters each fall. This is coming at a crucial time, when there is a tremendous need to control burgeoning deer populations. It will become vital to recruit and retain hunters to the sport, while actually increasing the effectiveness of each individual who is out there hunting.
To this end, "normal" deer-hunting rifle cartridges, like the 243, 270 and 308 Winchester, along with many others, would allow fewer hunters to harvest more deer. It would also make it easier for your every-day "Joe Hunter" to harvest deer at 200 to 300 yards. Younger hunters would have low-recoil options that wouldn't limit them to under 100 yards of effective range. Deer standing 400 yards away, in a cut bean field, would no longer be out of range for a skilled rifleman. (You can use a 25-'06 to shoot coyotes at that range, but not deer...what kind of sense does that make?)
The wildcat cartridges that have been created for the 1.625" and 1.800" case length regulations have allowed folks to shoot deer at ever-increasing distances. There have been no negative repurcussions from this, so far, despite the effective range being doubled from where it was as little as 20 years ago. Hunters are proving that careful shot selection, including knowing your backdrop, is the key to gun safety during deer season. The cartridge being used has very little to do with whether or not the HUNTER is being safe, and it never has.
Improvements in slug guns, MLs, and the advent of relatively long-range, but legal, wildcat rounds has greatly extended how far away Hoosier deer hunters can consistently and humanely harvest a deer. This has been accomplished along with hunter education efforts that have actually IMPROVED hunter safety, during the same time frame. In my mind, this proves that it is safe hunters who make for safe hunting seasons...not the type of firearm used or the range it is capable of shooting. As this trend continues, along with the need to improve hunter recruitment and harvest rates, I believe the Indiana DNR will finally conclude that most common rifle cartridges will be safe to use for deer hunting, throughout most of the state.
I do not apologize for being long-winded. This is fairly complicated topic with a lot of history and changes to discuss. I would very much like to hear from other folks who will undoubtedly have differing opinions on this subject. Let's keep the discussion civil and positive!
Today's rifled slug barrels and 150gr-capable ML's are accurate and powerful enough to come very close to 200 yards worth of effective range. They do so at the cost of rather substantial recoil, which makes them a poor choice for recruiting women and youth to the sport. Recognizing this, along with an increased need to harvest more deer to control the overall herd numbers, Indiana decided to start allowing pistol-chambered rifles..."PCR" regulations. Since being introduced, the number of folks using these less powerful options has grown by leaps and bounds.
OK, so none of this is news to many folks on this forum. What IS becoming a bit of a hot topic is the development of these powerful wildcat cartridges. The latest round of 1.800" cases, necked to shoot 35 caliber bullets, push the envelope of performance into the 300 yard range. These rounds can be compared to the 35 Remington, 358 Winchester and even 35 Whelen factory cartridges, in terms of distance and effectiveness. On the other end of the scale, smaller rounds are offering young shooters and women options that allow them to shoot and hunt with cartridges that do not create enough recoil to bother them.
So, how did these regulations come about in the first place? Why did Indiana limit hunters to shotguns only, back in 1951, when excellent rifle cartridges were available for use? The commonly accepted reasoning given today, is that these restrictions were put in place for reasons of safety. That seems logical enough; shotgun slugs don't travel as far as bullets from high-powered rifles. But, was this the REAL reason behind why the DNR limited hunters to slugs, back then?
In 1951, the population of Indiana was still spread out the way it is today, but the total number of people was a whole lot less. Also, the locations where hunts were allowed back then were largely forested or had a lot of wetlands. In other words, the hunting was not being done near farmhouses or sub-divisions, as it sometimes is today. I can't go back and ask the guys who made these decisions what their motivation was, but what I can tell you is this: After the first season or two, which was "any deer", the population was reduced rather substantially. This was not the goal of the DNR, at the time. Subsequently, the next 30 years of Indiana deer hunting was restricted to mostly bucks, hunted with shotguns or MLs.
It is my opinion, then, that the idea behind restricting folks to short-range weapons, way back when, was to also restrict the harvest of deer. I do believe that safety was a concern, as it always is, but the primary reason was to try and prevent hunters from over-harvesting deer with long-range rifles. For the sake of this discussion, I would ask that you accept this premise; that Indiana only allowed shotguns for deer hunting back then to protect the growing herd, not because of long-range rifles presented a safety hazard, at that time.
Move forward to today and the message behind the deer hunting gun regulations in Indiana has clearly become one of safety. I have never heard that stated in so many words by the DNR, but it is commonly accepted as conventional wisdom by deer hunters in Indiana. In some areas, it is probably very sound wisdom, to be honest. However, the reality of what constitutes safe gun handling and use has never been proven to be related to what caliber or cartridge that gun fires. Gun safety will always be about how the individual using that gun handles it and fires it. Period.
Beginning in the early 1980's, something started happening in Indiana. The deer population, which had been stable, but growing slowly for 30 years, began to grow by leaps and bounds. There are likely many factors that contributed to this, including reduced hunting pressure, milder winters, and a sort of "critical mass" in the population, where their ability to reproduce began to greatly exceed the various types of predation to control their numbers. Indiana has no large predators, aside from man and car bumpers, so deer numbers are limited largely by suitable cover, winter habitat and their own highly reproductive nature!
By the mid-90's, the DNR started getting a little concerned about this growing deer population. Harvest quotas and regulations started to change. Doe hunts became more and more common. The number of hunters was also increasing, as the odds of success were much higher. By this time, bow-hunting had its own season and muzzle-loader got one, too. The DNR was doing everything it could to control deer numbers, and they're still working on that today!
Shortly after the turn of the century, the idea of allowing some kind of "rifle" to be used for deer hunting started to have a lot more appeal. There was a need to increase the harvest and there was also a serious concern about the inability to recruit younger hunters. Lever-action rifles in 357 and 44 Magnum seemed like just the ticket! But, the DNR didn't want true, long-range rifles out there, so they had to make a decision on exactly what they could do to allow some rifles, but not all of them. They went with very specific caliber and case length restrictions. In hindsight, they may now wish that they just defined a list of cartridges and been done with it.
You see, their regulations created a significant amount of confusion concerning one very specific cartridge. The original PCR reg's allowed for the use of a 44 Magnum and a 500 (S&W) Magnum. Many hunters did not read the details of the regulations and presumed that a 460 Magnum (right in-between 44 and 500, numerically) must also be legal. Well, as many of you know, it WAS NOT LEGAL. That didn't prevent many well-intentioned hunters from buying or making one and hunting deer with it. One of the biggest bucks I ever saw harvested was killed with an Encore, fitted with a 24" Katahdin barrel, chambered in 460S&W. This was 3 years ago, making it an illegally harvested deer, technically.
Seeing the ambiguity in their own regulations, the DNR increased the legal case length from 1.625" to 1.800", thereby allowing the 460S&W to be a legal cartridge for deer hunting with a rifle in Indiana. Personally, I think they missed a great opportunity to fix the regulations, once and for all. I believe they will change the rules again, sooner or later. Whether it is to allow all rifles larger than a certain caliber (22?) to be used, except in certain urban "zones" where they stick with the existing regs, or if they decide to finally create an expanded list of approved cartridges for deer hunting, I do feel pretty strongly that Indiana WILL eventually allow "regular" rifles to be used.
Why do I feel that way? Several things point in this direction. Since the introduction of the PCR regulations, gun safety has continued to be very high in Indiana. There were folks opposed to those changes who claimed more and more accidental shootings would occur during hunting season. That has not materialized. Many hunters use elevated stands these days, which means their shot angle is typically quite safe.
Perhaps the main reason I feel the regulations will change again is that a unique time is coming in the history of deer hunting. As aging baby-boomers pass on, or find that they can no longer head out to the woods, there is going to be a substantial drop in the number of hunters each fall. This is coming at a crucial time, when there is a tremendous need to control burgeoning deer populations. It will become vital to recruit and retain hunters to the sport, while actually increasing the effectiveness of each individual who is out there hunting.
To this end, "normal" deer-hunting rifle cartridges, like the 243, 270 and 308 Winchester, along with many others, would allow fewer hunters to harvest more deer. It would also make it easier for your every-day "Joe Hunter" to harvest deer at 200 to 300 yards. Younger hunters would have low-recoil options that wouldn't limit them to under 100 yards of effective range. Deer standing 400 yards away, in a cut bean field, would no longer be out of range for a skilled rifleman. (You can use a 25-'06 to shoot coyotes at that range, but not deer...what kind of sense does that make?)
The wildcat cartridges that have been created for the 1.625" and 1.800" case length regulations have allowed folks to shoot deer at ever-increasing distances. There have been no negative repurcussions from this, so far, despite the effective range being doubled from where it was as little as 20 years ago. Hunters are proving that careful shot selection, including knowing your backdrop, is the key to gun safety during deer season. The cartridge being used has very little to do with whether or not the HUNTER is being safe, and it never has.
Improvements in slug guns, MLs, and the advent of relatively long-range, but legal, wildcat rounds has greatly extended how far away Hoosier deer hunters can consistently and humanely harvest a deer. This has been accomplished along with hunter education efforts that have actually IMPROVED hunter safety, during the same time frame. In my mind, this proves that it is safe hunters who make for safe hunting seasons...not the type of firearm used or the range it is capable of shooting. As this trend continues, along with the need to improve hunter recruitment and harvest rates, I believe the Indiana DNR will finally conclude that most common rifle cartridges will be safe to use for deer hunting, throughout most of the state.
I do not apologize for being long-winded. This is fairly complicated topic with a lot of history and changes to discuss. I would very much like to hear from other folks who will undoubtedly have differing opinions on this subject. Let's keep the discussion civil and positive!
