Yes sir, it seems to mostly be driven by two things...population and flatness of the land. Where I live, the communist, left wing, liberal democrat state of Maryland, you can use high powered rifles to hunt deer in the mountains of the western part. The rest of the state is shotgun slugs only, no buckshot either. Not sure about now, but one county on eastern shore that was sparsely populated allowed rifles, yet it was flat as a pancake.
Strange thing about all democrat written laws...they miss the boat every time and never make sense. Here you have to use a shotgun 20 ga. or larger with a slug for deer, but there is no caliber or weapon restriction on squirrels. If you want to hunt squirrels or any other small game you can use a 460 Weatherby magnum if you want to. There is only one day you cannot, opening day of deer, because everything else is closed on that day but deer.