I'm glad they FINALLY got rid of the ridiculous shotgun-only zones. I lived and hunted in a shotgun-only county for 15 years (Fond du Lac). Supposedly a "safety" thing... bullsh!t!!!

Since they allowed handguns and muzzleloaders in those counties as well, many hunters were out there with Contenders in .243, 7x30 Waters, etc, that shoot just as far as any rifle. And a LOT of people have been hunting with saboted 20-gauge shotguns that will shoot a 200 gr bullet a mile (my daughter, f'rinstance). Hell, the inline muzzleloader I shot my last half-dozen WI deer with fires a 300 gr saboted bullet into a sub-MOA group at 200 yards.


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I can't find a photo of a 200-yd group, but this is a 4-shot group at 100 yards using 295 gr PowerBelt (plastic tip) bullets over 2 pellets of Jim Shockey Gold, shot out of a CVA Optima Pro with a Nikon Monarch 3-9X scope. Ballistics hold out to 200 yards, and get a bit wonky past that... but I've killed deer with this combination at 220-230 laser-measured yards, and in most of WI that's a LONG shot. Not braggin', just sayin' you don't need a centerfire rifle to make a "rifle" shot.

The "shotgun-only" rule was superseded by technology a decade ago.

As for back tags, I see no problem with them, since you've got to have 50% of your body wrapped in hunter orange anyway.

"I'm gonna have to science the schit out of this." Mark Watney, Sol 59, Mars