Author Topic: hunting with semi-autos (Read 2785 times)

c1skout · « **on:** January 26, 2010, 04:02:07 PM »

I live & hunt here in Cambria co. I think it's silly that I could use a semi-auto shotgun for birds and such, but not a semi-auto 22 for squirrels, or an M1 Garand for deer. I don't own any self loading long guns and probably wouldn't use them if I could (I'm a single shot guy), but I still think the laws are dumb. Any opinions?

davem270win · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2010, 02:58:57 PM »

Given the large number of hunters in PA, which means a lot of places have high hunter density during deer season, and with growing development, and the urge to 'spray and pray', a ban on semi-autos seems reasonable. It's been in place a long time, before hunter orange requirements and hunter safety classes, so a re-evaluation might be in order. I don't have a particular objection to it.

However, it's how we hunt in PA, and I doubt this will change. As for me one bullet = one deer.

Cheesehead · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2010, 04:27:38 PM »

I hunt with a semi-auto, and it is either one bullet-one deer, or two bullets- two deer, or three bullets-three deer. That is a stupid law.

Cheese

mrloring · « **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2010, 04:48:16 PM »

At least in my part of Pennsylvania it would be a bad idea during deer season. I already hear so many spraying and praying with the manual loading rifles they have. I sure would like to squirrel hunt with my 10/22 though.

Bigeasy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2010, 05:26:35 PM »

A lot of states more densely populated than PA allow semi's without problems. My favorite tree rat gun was a Ruger mark 2 H.B pistol with a scope, until I moved to PA. Hunter density in PA during deer season is not any more than say, the neighboring Catskills. A lot of guys shoot at trees, logs, tin cans, what ever with their bolts and levers. Don't think it would be any worse with a semi. I don't think too many guys just empty a 30 round clip into the woods at a sound or shadow, but I guess it could happen, there are some real idiots out there. A lot of states try to limit that from happening by specifying a 5 round magazine while hunting big game.

Larry

mrloring · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2010, 06:21:39 PM »

I think the problem in my area is we have too many deer shooters and not deer hunters. The first year my wife went hunting she shot at a doe and it ran over the gas line and I must have heard ten shots when it topped the hill in a full run. You are right that most wouldn't unload on anything they see but I don't want to be in the woods with the guy that will.

Bingo · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2010, 11:20:15 AM »

I too think a hunter should be able to hunt squirrels with a semi auto 22. However, I hate the thought of some of the people I've seen in the woods carrying a semi-auto deer rifle. I see no need for it. Learn to shoot and you don't have to spray and pray. Spray bullets and pray you don't hit someone.

Cheesehead · « **Reply #7 on:** February 02, 2010, 12:25:02 PM »

I hunt with a semi-auto and I DO NOT spray and pray! That generalization is absurd.

Cheese

Graybeard · « **Reply #8 on:** February 02, 2010, 12:30:30 PM »

Semi autos are really no faster to use than pump guns which is why PA is what is keeping the Remington pump gun line alive. It's a silly law but it's one of those PA traditions that ain't likely to change.

shotgunner · « **Reply #9 on:** February 02, 2010, 02:21:00 PM »

I agree with Greybeard, that PA is not likely to change. I think that the semi-auto is viewed as a " city hunter's gun". Let me state that I do not agree. I think that the law came into being in an attempt to limit the accidents that might be caused by "down state" hunters. I know that hunters who come up to Tioga county from NJ are not always favored by the locals. We all know that it is not the gun but the hunter who is responsible for where his bullets land. I do not deer hunt with a semi auto, even when I hunt in NY where it is legal. I would like to use my S&W 46 with a scoped barrel on squirrels. It is a law that has kept the Remington 760 line going for so long. I would bet that half the Remington pumps made are sold in PA. Shotgunner

1marty · « **Reply #10 on:** February 02, 2010, 03:10:05 PM »

I hunt in NY where semi-autos are allowed. Found the hunters who use semi's are in a small minority. Most of the hunters still use the bolt action. I don't believe semi's give you any big advantage. The first well placed shot is the most important.

Cheesehead · « **Reply #11 on:** February 02, 2010, 04:46:55 PM »

I have bagged as many as 3 deer in one shooting event, with my semi-auto, could not have done that with a bolt or pump action. It is a very appropriate rifle.

Cheese

deerhunter87 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 02, 2010, 05:01:06 PM »

alot of you guys brought good points and gray beard is right on. you can get out shells just as fast with a pump and a lever gun as a semi-auto but is more of a princible. like other said we got the deer shooters and my thought with having to manualy action the new round you are thinking about it more for me it is a two round max per deer some time it might take a fallow up shot if something did not go right. but i do feel that the squirrel guns should be ok but not for the semi's for deer just my personal thoughts.

Doug B. · « **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2010, 12:18:16 AM »

Quote from: Cheesehead on February 02, 2010, 04:46:55 PM

I have bagged as many as 3 deer in one shooting event, with my semi-auto, could not have done that with a bolt or pump action. It is a very appropriate rifle.

Cheese

I have had more than one occasion where multiple deer came out in one drive. Two shots........two deer. Could I have done that with a bolt action? Likely not. Could I have done that with one of my levers or pumps? Perhaps. I have nothing against the use of semi autos.

Graybeard · « **Reply #14 on:** February 03, 2010, 03:37:22 AM »

With the way the law is in PA I don't think shooting multiple deer as some are mentioning here is legal anyway. I believe you must tend to the first deer before shooting a second even if you have two tags you can use on that particular day. I guess as far as deer hunting in PA goes the only advantage a semiauto could offer you would be a fast follow up shot if the first misses or only wounds. In reality if you are practiced and proficient with your rifle whatever the type it's not that much of a handicap.

Where I see the law being most limiting to PA hunters is for small game and bird hunting. I'm sure it applies on small game and guess it does for wingshooting of birds as well.

I long ago used a semiauto to hunt deer but after a couple or three seasons put it behind me and for the most part take a bolt gun and have for most of my deer hunting career. I have used single shots and lever guns as well as a short time use of a pump but in the end I prefer the bolt gun and so while all are legal where I hunt I still chose a bolt gun.

shotgunner · « **Reply #15 on:** February 03, 2010, 10:55:03 AM »

Greybeard

We are allowed to use a semi-auto shotgun to hunt small game. We can not use a semi auto rifle or hand gun and we can not use a semi auto shotgun with slugs. The only time I used a semi auto for deer hunting was when we were required to use slug guns in NY, and they are better with recoil. I never liked it much, the guns are "fat" and the triggers poor, and was thrilled when the Ny side decided to allow rifles. Shotgunner

45-70.gov · « **Reply #16 on:** February 03, 2010, 11:03:45 AM »

our simi-autos are limited to 5 shots for centerfire rifle
3 shote for a simi-auto shot gun

not a bad law on management areas

and infringement on freedom on private property

i have been in the woods with a spray and prey attempt

heck on public land maybe even a single shot rule
if thats what the public wants

Bingo · « **Reply #17 on:** February 03, 2010, 01:22:56 PM »

Cheesehead, you are only allowed to shoot one deer at a time in Pa. You have just made a good point for those of us who don't like the idea of people using a semi in deer season. Thank You!

COR · « **Reply #18 on:** February 03, 2010, 02:50:16 PM »

We are all adults and can make this decision about which action type without the help of a rule against it. These random generalizations about "spray and pray" are just an another poster said "absurd". I wouldn't carry a semi auto much anyway but I'd sure like the option. My MKII is with me a lot anyway but I'd never, ever kill a tree rat with one....oh heaven's no! That would be far too dangerous!

Cheesehead · « **Reply #19 on:** February 03, 2010, 02:52:12 PM »

I am in WI, not PA, and I like 2-3 deer in my freezer, and my semi-auto. This anti semi-auto thing is playing into the hands of the anti gun folks, good luck with that. Any other guns you would like outlawed?

Cheese

JoeG52 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 05, 2010, 10:09:09 AM »

Semi-auto shotguns are legal for deer and you don’t have to attend to the first deer before shooting a second one in the special regulations areas.

From the hunting digest…

Special Regulations Areas: (All of Allegheny County in western
Pennsylvania and all of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery
and Philadelphia counties in the southeast): Muzzleloading long
guns 44-caliber or larger, bows and arrows, manual or autoloading
shotguns .410 or larger using slugs and 20-gauge or larger using
buckshot.

Field Possession Limit: When multiple harvests of deer per day are authorized,
only one deer at a time may be taken (except in Special Regulations
Areas).

cephas53 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 05, 2010, 04:44:18 PM »

Live in rural PA and think this should be our right of choice. Personally have been choosing single shots lately. Unfortunately not everyone is responsible. Have a group that come to the area every year, and they are the main cause of every private land owner in the area posting their land. Don't want these bozos on my land with slingshots much less any kind of firearm, especially semis. Never hear about the decent hunters just the twerps. Add that to the general public preception of "assault" rifles and I think It'd be a long shot to ever have them legal for hunting here.

edit: by choice I mean if you want to hunt with semi you should be able to.

Cheesehead · « **Reply #22 on:** February 05, 2010, 05:14:12 PM »

Sounds like a "people" problem, not a gun problem. It is wrong to blame the guns.

Cheese

shotgunner · « **Reply #23 on:** February 05, 2010, 11:49:54 PM »

Once again I also hunt in NY, where semi-autos are legal. I do not see much difference, don't even hear much difference on opening morning. I am sure that it is a perception thing, and that if they were allowed it would not make much difference. I do hear less shooting on the NY side then when many people hunted with semi auto slug guns, I believe that rifles are safer. I gave up hunting with a semi auto long ago, somehow I did not enjoy it as much as hunting with a lever, bolt or single shot. I would not mind if others did, but I think several of us here have decided to go in a different direction. Shotgunner

DDZ · « **Reply #24 on:** February 06, 2010, 01:39:12 AM »

I guess I could care less if they made semi's legal. Most hunters are responsible but some are not. I would never use one for hunting. I use an Encore, and used to hunt with a bolt action. If someone wants to carry a semi, they should be able to do so. I really can't see an advantage. I have never seen a deer stand still and let you unload on it. When a deer starts running you increase your odds of wounding the deer ten fold.
I guess I have a perception of guys with semi's just unloading on deer. If the first one doesn't fall keep shooting until one does. I know this is not true will all, but how many times have you seen a hunter give a half hearted follow up on their shot. Like the deer didn't fall so I must have missed it. There are some that do everything in there power to recover a wounded deer. Then there are some that could care less. They just move on to the next deer they can unload on.

haliaetus · « **Reply #25 on:** February 25, 2010, 10:42:47 AM »

As a hunting resident of PA, I would personally like to have the opportunity to hunt with a semi-auto. I don't wish to so that I may "spray and pray," and heretofore I have always been a practitioner of one shot one kill on deer. However, I also have several semi-auto firearms in my collection that I'd like to hunt with. I'd like to take game with one of my SKS carbines (I like to hunt with my military rifles), my 10/22 (it's very accurate), or my Sig Trailside .22 pistol (also quite accurate). Will these firearms outperform any of the firearms I currently use to hunt in PA? probably not...but I'd like to be able to have that choice.

I'd also like to be able to hunt on Sundays, but that is a whole other issue in this state.

Flash · « **Reply #26 on:** February 25, 2010, 11:39:43 AM »

Yeah, it's that "Old School" mentality that doesn't really have any hard evidence to go on, it's just illegal to use a semi auto rifle or handgun. Personally, I would enjoy using my scoped MKII's and MKIII's for squirrel hunting but as for deer, I never found any use for a second shot. If I could shoot six deer a day like I can squirrels, I may want a 7600 but for now, a bolt gun is fine for deer

Oldshooter · « **Reply #27 on:** February 25, 2010, 12:08:32 PM »

I recently bought a R25 Remington in Semi Auto to hunt with. Now I'm in Texas, but that has nothing to do with it. My plan was to reduce the number of firearms that I have. So a Semi auto in 308 sounded like a practical way out. It has a 4 round magazine, for hunting and a 19 round magazine for "Whatever" else. It has been used to take an axis deer at 220 yards. With one shot by the way! Now whether or not I eliminate any of my older rifles remains to be seen. Kinda depends on if the Wife calls me on it!

Bottom line is I don't like the government telling me nut-tin about what firearms I can use and not use to hunt with! It goes back to the original intent of the second amendment. If the founders were here today and writing the second amendment they would not say you could only keep and bare single shot muzzle loaders.

Good luck to you guys in PA!

Ethan · « **Reply #28 on:** February 25, 2010, 01:04:50 PM »

I think the law should stay the same I here WAY to much blasting from guys near by my stand

COR · « **Reply #29 on:** February 26, 2010, 01:37:17 AM »

Quote from: Ethan on February 25, 2010, 01:04:50 PM

I think the law should stay the same I here WAY to much blasting from guys near by my stand

This is an interesting comment which actually proves that the weapon system has nothing to do with being a slob hunter since semi's are NOT legal currently. Your assumption is that legalizing a type of firearm somehow contributes to being an ethical sportsman. My contention is one has nothing to do with the other.

You should probably move your stand too, the other guys are shooting at all the deer.