A Little Light in Maryland

[Loyalist Dave]

So, the state seems to have opened up areas once restricted to shotgun and muzzle loader for deer, to allowing "straight walled" cartridge rifles to be used in the restricted areas. I write "seems", as I believe that each of the counties has a say in the matter as well.

I think the regulators are thinking of rifles using .357 Magnum, and .44 Magnum cartridges, as there is a minimum level of 1200 ftlbs. required of the cartridge as well. Of course this would also open up a rifle in something like .454 Casull and .500 Smith & Wesson as well as other cartridges.

I wonder if they considered AR's in .350 Legend or .450 Bushmaster? I mention this as the state seems to legislate based on aesthetics, not reality, and folks in Annapolis seem to be afraid of the AR and anything that looks like an AR.

They write weird laws as a result (imho). For example there have been areas where it was legal to handgun hunt deer with a .357 Magnum or a .44 Magnum (or larger) but one could not use a rifle in those cartridges. (see what I mean?)

It would not surprise me if the old .45-70 Government was excluded, as it's technically a "tapered" cartridge, not a "straight walled" one. Another quirk of my state..., you can hunt with a muzzleloader that launches a 405 grain lead bullet using 120 grains of black powder...., but in the same place you could not use a rifle that fired a .45-70 Government cartridge with 70 grains of powder and a 405 grain bullet.

OH well there seems to be a bit more "light" on the horizon for deer hunters in Maryland.

LD

 

[FL-NC]

I think laws restricting the use of rifles like this are somewhat over-reaching. It would make more sense to me if the laws stated that rifle hunters should be required to fire from some type of elevated stand VS ground blinds and the like, if safety over errant rounds is truly the concern. By doing this, misses or pass-throughs are pretty much guaranteed to "lawn dart" into the ground. I think most people who are shot accidentally deer hunting are shot due to a stupid hunter not identifying the target and shooting at movement. Its pretty hard to mistake the shoulder of a deer with anything else, let alone determining if the alleged deer is a legal shooter. In this scenario, such an accident could occur with any hunting implement with the right amount of incompetence in play. In this sense, blaze orange pays dividends on public land. I know some locales cite restriction of rifles based on "flat terrain", but states I hunt in (FL, NC, TN, etc.) tend to be pretty darn flat most places, and we somehow manage not to wipe ourselves out due to deer being missed by rifle hunters every fall. Sorry for the rant, but this gets under my skin.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I think Ohio has that straight walled rifle restriction
I believe there is a maximum case lenght that you can not go over.
So cartridges like the 444 Marlin & 45/70 would be out as well.as a few others.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Ohio has a list of allowable cartridges. All the mainstream straight walls will be in it including 45-70 and 444 Marlin.

 

[gotboostvr]

Ohio is any straight walled case, 357 caliber or larger. They had a list a few years ago that you had to pick from, but have since relaxed a bit. No max case length currently. They even allow tapered cases (like 9mm of all things specifically).

The also recently dropped the requirement for blaze orange headware during gun season. We were all sitting around the cabin's dinnertable the night before opening day going through the regs when someone noticed and collectively we went "we're still gonna wear em".

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Ohio is any straight walled case, 357 caliber or larger. They had a list a few years ago that you had to pick from, but have since relaxed a bit. No max case length currently. They even allow tapered cases (like 9mm of all things specifically).

The also recently dropped the requirement for blaze orange headware during gun season. We were all sitting around the cabin's dinnertable the night before opening day going through the regs when someone noticed and collectively we went "we're still gonna wear em".

Yes Maryland for a while only required blaze orange headgear..., now they require something like a vest, AND headgear. As for the 9mm, in Maryland the 1200 ftlbs. cartridge requirement stops hunters using .38 Special 9mm, 10mm, .45 ACP, .44 special, and many factory loadings of .45 Colt, and even some .357 magnum loads with lighter bullets.

How a hand-loader could probably get safe loads especially with a 20" barrel on a lever action rifle or single shot, for some of the borderline cartridges that meet the requirements, but the DNR officers would likely use what a factory round lists as ftlbs. and the hunter would need to demonstrate the a judge the round met the 1200 ftlbs. threshold.

IIRC Alabama allows "single shot rifles, using straight a walled cartridge" in that state's "primitive" deer hunting season.

LD

 

[gotboostvr]

Yes Maryland for a while only required blaze orange headgear..., now they require something like a vest, AND headgear.

They still require the vest/jacket, they used to require both in Ohio.