Deer hunting in Ohio

[KMart]

This question in prompted by another thread and this statement

"Thinking I might try getting back into deer hunting this year and straight wall brass is allowed and here in Ohio most shots are well under 100yds because of the underbrush."

Can anyone explain the thought, or lack there of, that goes into this law? You can only shoot deer with a shotgun or a rifle that shoots a round that has a straight wall case.
Yet, you can hunt groundhogs, with anything short of an artillery round at any distance.

Some things make no sense to me.

 

[GSPV]

A. They treat the state as a whole. Not by county or region.

B. Lots of the state are flat as a pancake cropland.

C. There are a crazy number of people out hunting during gun season.

That’s my take on it.

There are obvious points of contention.

 

[hogpatrol]

Same here in DE. I hunt in NJ where 6mm is legal for varmints but ML and shotguns only for deer. My guess, groundhog hunters are generally precision shooters, certain of their target and background. Deer hunters? At least here where they shoot fifty five gallon drums with a deer hide hung over them at night, or smoke a joint before first light, whole other ballgame.
Here's a common scenario in DE, cornfield, a couple hundred yards wide and several hundred yards long with hedgerows on both side, "hunters" in both hedgerows. Deer runs down the center, parallel to the hedgerows from one end to the other. Hunters on both sides throwing lead at it. Probably safer in Afghanistan.

 

[KMart]

Here's a common scenario in DE, cornfield, a couple hundred yards wide and several hundred yards long with hedgerows on both side, "hunters" in both hedgerows. Deer runs down the center, parallel to the hedgerows from one end to the other. Hunters on both sides throwing lead at it. Probably safer in Afghanistan.

Does the landowner have any control over who is hunting on his property? The groundhog hunter has to get permission to hunt that same property, doesn't he?
I guess I am use to hunting in a controlled environment where the property has boundaries and everyone knows where everyone else is hunting.

 

[hogpatrol]

Does the landowner have any control over who is hunting on his property? The groundhog hunter has to get permission to hunt that same property, doesn't he?
I guess I am use to hunting in a controlled environment where the property has boundaries and everyone knows where everyone else is hunting.

When the hunter is in an altered mental state, boundaries are flexible. Shoot a deer on someone else's property and they'll either come back at night or just leave it for the buzzards. I've hunted Pennsy state forest land where boundaries can be ill defined and had bullets whizzing by me.

Regards to the straight wall cases, just another attempt to please everyone and at the same time bring in more money. Hunter populations are falling dramatically and the game commissions and other taxing entities are scrambling to fill the gap.

 

[fredo]

My AO useta be 'shotgun only' for deer, but I could use CF rifle for chucks & coyotes (outside of open deer season)...

Think that mandate was indeed area specific, as deer hunting was traditionally done via 'drive' hunting, where many shots were akin to jump shooting. Ergo, lobbing an ounce of lead slug mitigates the risk of that projectile traveling further than the intended shot distance...

Makes sense, until ya factor in the changing state of deer hunting, in general. Deer populations have exploded, private land has broken up many large parcels where 'deer drives' were traditionally held, and more hunters are 'stand hunting'. Those factors, amongst others, have allowed CF rifles to become a valid tool in some areas that useta be 'shotgun only'...

However, one factor that does not change, is terrain. My AO is rolling farm country, not at all flat! So, several,years back, thanks to sound logic & with the intention of managing deer #s more effectively, CF rifles became legal to hunt deer with...JOY!!! Now, instead of tresspassin' man drives with lead flyin' evawhurrr, most hunters will sit on stand & wait to take controlled, high % shot with a CF. if you've ever done a deer drive, you'll know for a fact which method is safer!

If your AO is mostly flat, and hunters still 'drive' deer, then I just don't see a great argument for anyone to push for changing your 'shotgun only' laws. But, you'll never know unless ya try! Get with your local hunters, and open a dialogue with your state's game commission to see what y'all can come up with...

Good luck!

 

[KMart]

My AO useta be 'shotgun only' for deer, but I could use CF rifle for chucks & coyotes (outside of open deer season)...

Think that mandate was indeed area specific, as deer hunting was traditionally done via 'drive' hunting, where many shots were akin to jump shooting. Ergo, lobbing an ounce of lead slug mitigates the risk of that projectile traveling further than the intended shot distance...

Makes sense, until ya factor in the changing state of deer hunting, in general. Deer populations have exploded, private land has broken up many large parcels where 'deer drives' were traditionally held, and more hunters are 'stand hunting'. Those factors, amongst others, have allowed CF rifles to become a valid tool in some areas that useta be 'shotgun only'...

However, one factor that does not change, is terrain. My AO is rolling farm country, not at all flat! So, several,years back, thanks to sound logic & with the intention of managing deer #s more effectively, CF rifles became legal to hunt deer with...JOY!!! Now, instead of tresspassin' man drives with lead flyin' evawhurrr, most hunters will sit on stand & wait to take controlled, high % shot with a CF. if you've ever done a deer drive, you'll know for a fact which method is safer!

If your AO is mostly flat, and hunters still 'drive' deer, then I just don't see a great argument for anyone to push for changing your 'shotgun only' laws. But, you'll never know unless ya try! Get with your local hunters, and open a dialogue with your state's game commission to see what y'all can come up with...

Good luck!

I understand the deer drives. East Texas use to be a haven for that kind of activity. About 20 years ago, that began to change. The timber companies began to sell off some their large tracts due to changing tax laws. As I understand it, standing trees became inventory and was taxed accordingly. With the reduction of drive hunting and people hunting with one eyed dogs, the deer population has gotten much better. And the bucks have better racks.

 

[grovey]

I think I read it had to do with management too. You'all have some bruisers in OH, and more of those would surely die if you were able to use modern flat shooting centerfires.

 

[Dave Berg]

I grew up in central Ohio and have hunted there since the 1950's. About 40 miles east of Columbus. I still own a small farm there.

Until the 1970's a great deal of the land was small family dairy farms. Farming practice was crops in the open fields and use the creek bottom land and wooded areas as pasture. There was no cover, no browse and no deer. It would show up in the local paper if one was spotted. IIRC the year I left, 1967, the total deer harvest for the state of Ohio was around 3,000.

Then the small farmers went out of the dairy business. Around where I grew up it went from all dairy farms to none in less than ten years. Suddenly there are no cows so the bottom land and wood lots became overgrown and the deer population exploded.

There is very little public hunting land in Ohio. There are a whole lot of hunters in Ohio. It was a shotgun only for deer state and anything you want for groundhogs and coyotes for decades. It makes a lot of sense in that there's probably only one hunter shooting at a groundhog out in an open field. When there are eight or seven guys all shooting at the same deer running through the woods or corn field you don't want the bullet going very far.

Sometime in the 1980's I believe they made handguns legal. Lots of qualifications but the big ones were the cartridge had to have been originally designed for a handgun (they may have even specified 44 mag, 357 mag etc) and it could not be a bottleneck cartridge. Originally it also had to be a revolver or single shot. Over the years they loosened the restrictions - I had a T/C Contender in 357 Maximum that was legal and worked great. It eventually got to the point that a Desert Eagle in 50 AE was legal. So it would seem to follow that if a handgun chambered in those calibers was legal, why not a rifle?

All this had no relationship with game management. The Ohio deer population was managed properly from the get-go. Possibly by accident but it still worked. Either sex harvesting worked just fine. Today in some counties you can shoot up to three deer but only the first one can be antlered.

Ohio's biggest problem is way too many hunters and almost nowhere to hunt. The second is, or at least was, a serious shortage of personnel to enforce the laws. Ten years ago there was a single game warden to cover both Licking and Knox counties. He was a very nice guy but not all that young. As a result Ohio's law requiring written owners permission on an annual basis and identifying the specie(s) to be hunted went largely ignored. Guys just hunted wherever they wanted. I own 27 acres and a number of years ago I had given no one permission to hunt anything. Before dawn on opening day I had four guys in blaze orange in tree stands on my property. They had checked the tax records, saw I was from out of state, and figured nobody would bother them. That's when I quit going.... it's a lovely place in some respects but I'd advise you to stay out of the woods and corn fields during deer season.

 

[biggen0_8]

We went through the same kind of laws in Indiana for quite a few years. But what was even stupider here was, that for many years when we were restricted to straight wall or 1.800" case length in rifles, you could shoot anything you wanted in pistols as long as it was 6mm or bigger.

The first year that they allowed CF, bottleneck cartridges without limiting the case length, they screwed up the terminology of the law, and you could ONLY use 6mm or .308" diameter rifles. So .243 Win. was fine but a .270 Win. was a no no, but a 300RUM was ok.

They got it fixed the second year, but what a demonstration of people who know nothing about a topic, writing the laws.

 

[jepp2]

FWIW, just to put things in the proper perspective. With the continued decrease in hunting accidents with the requirement for hunter safety, you are FAR safer deer hunting in even the worst conditions than you are driving to your deer hunting spot. And while I understand there are slob hunter, trespassers, hunters under the influence etc, you meet those same type of folks on two lane roads and they are driving a 2-4 thousand pound automobile hurtling toward you at speeds that will kill both of you.

 

[AP2020]

I've been using a 45-70 in Ohio since they made them deer legal hunting rounds!

 

[Mark W]

I usually get a couple of opportunities to hunt a small farm in Columbiana Ct, OH. It sure would be nice if I could use my old Marlin 336 30-30. I absolutely hate the pounding that I get from my 12 gauge slug gun. The season is so short that it’s not really worth it for me to buy another specialty gun that I might shoot twice a year.

 

[hogpatrol]

Can you use a smokeless muzzle loader in Ohio? If so, it's the next best thing to a centerfire.

 

[1shot]

I live in Ohio and hunted with a 454 Casull for several years. Sold the pistol and since I had a pile of brass I had MGM make a 21" bbl. for my Encore. 2,144 fps. ES of 6 with a 300 gr.Hornady XTP should be heathen on deer this year.

Lloyd

 

[1shot]

Can you use a smokeless muzzle loader in Ohio? If so, it's the next best thing to a centerfire.

Yes you can.

Lloyd

 

[hogpatrol]

Yes you can.

Lloyd

The ones converted to .45 caliber shoot saboted 200 gr. SSTs at a touch over 2600 fps, MOA of deer out to 350 yards.

 

[danny]

This question in prompted by another thread and this statement

"Thinking I might try getting back into deer hunting this year and straight wall brass is allowed and here in Ohio most shots are well under 100yds because of the underbrush."

Can anyone explain the thought, or lack there of, that goes into this law? You can only shoot deer with a shotgun or a rifle that shoots a round that has a straight wall case.
Yet, you can hunt groundhogs, with anything short of an artillery round at any distance.

Some things make no sense to me.

I am going to go at it "old school", with a slug gun. I just need to get a grenade launcher sight mounted so that I can "drop the rounds in", near, or hopefully on target. Those that only come near the target will be "softening up the area" for the next hunters.

Danny

 

[hogpatrol]

Thinking back and even now, I wonder what the reasoning is behind shooting a 437.5 grain slug to kill a 100 plus pound aniimal.

 

[fredo]

The ones converted to .45 caliber shoot saboted 200 gr. SSTs at a touch over 2600 fps, MOA of deer out to 350 yards.

Those smokeless MLs gotta be BADAZZ!

I shoot 200gr saboted Shockwaves outta my ML, and figgered they runnin' 1940fps, per drop data & ballistic calc tweaking. Makes for an honest 250yd deer killer...
For a smokeless ML to gain ya 6-700fps on top of that, would be some kinda luxury, if your AO allows for some longer shots! I don't doubt that velocity gain would make for a 350yd capable deer schwacker!