Amazing our demorat governor signed a bill allowing semi auto and air rifles to be used for hunting. The Game Commission must still set regulations. I expect it will be a slow process as we try to drag them kicking and screaming into the modern world. At least it is a start and you never know we may get pleasantly surprised.

Excellent!

What are the standards going to be? Minimum Power levels for specific species?

The standards and allowed use are up to the Game Comm. Hopefully they will look at what works well in other locals. This was part of a bill that made semi auto's legal also. I expect the use will be phased in over several seasons. At least its a start.
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Good deal on the legislation!

In most states the Game Commissions need to come into the modern era.

More states need to do this, and more.

Suppressors also need to be made legal, nationwide.

Absolutely Pa. is still hanging on to 100 year old laws and attitudes. The sad part is some of the old timers are our biggest problem. They can't put forth any valid arguments they refuse to look at what is happening in other states. They just don't want to change. I am 70 but refuse to oppose every new idea because it isn't the way we did things back in the day.

Air guns are legal here for small game but they don't mention it in the book. I called one day because someone asked me about it. Personally, I'll stick to a .22, but can see where an airgun would be advantageous for some..

Airguns are legal in CA for turkey. Have been for the last several years. I believe the regulations say the airgun has to be at least .177, which isn't really much of a regulation, but I am not complaining.
Connected with this bird at around 15 yards with my FWB124. I called it in. Hit it in the head, right behind the ear. Through and through. Dropped and only flopped around for a few seconds. (The turkey that is, not me!) Not sure what dropped faster, my jaw or the bird. I would like to believe it wasn't just a stunt, but I have not been able to repeat the performance, with the air rifle.

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/morty22/Airgun%20turkey/2FWB124Dnbirdwoflash_zps23d7660b.jpg~original

[img]http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/morty22/Airgun%20turkey/2FWB124Dnbirdwoflash_zps23d7660b.jpg~original[/img]

This year I cheated using a crossbow, but it did allow for a body shot. It did require a bit of follow up however.

Lou M

PS: I have inserted pictures before, but tonight, its just not happening after several tries.

PSS:I'll try this
[img:left]http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r54/morty22/Airgun%20turkey/2FWB124Dnbirdwoflash_zps23d7660b.jpg~original[/img]

Suppressors are already legal to hunt with in PA, although many like to argue that they aren't. There is some movement on dropping them from the NFA requirement, but we'll see how that progresses?

Doubt they'll get any cheaper though, if the Federal tax stamp/NFA classification goes away?

No idea how that "snuck through" in PA, where nothing much changes in a hurry with guns/hunting, but so many other issues like more Sunday hunting, semis and air rifles remained sticking points for so long.

Most figure rim fire semis will be adopted for small game and maybe limited use of center fires, probably varmints and predators to start. There is plenty of opposition for semis in deer and bear seasons.

These issues will most likely be addressed at the next Game Commission meeting in January. Even if adopted, it takes two meetings for final approval, so that'd be April.

Well call it modern day thinking or whatever you like, but changing regulations isn't going to improve anything, including the modern trend toward hunting. There isn't enough interest today among a growing number of people to hunt at all. They seem to have other interest that are more important. More and more camps, many inherited from the older generation, aren't even opened during hunting seasons.
Somehow a million licenses a year were sold when average Joe hunter was carrying a 30/30 with no scope. If the modern day thinking is that ARs and Sunday hunting can reverse the trend so be it. But a valid argument can be made that it is simply pandering to a specific group, and will have little affect on overall hunter interest and numbers.

Is there really that much of a demand for air gun hunting in PENN? Maybe sparrows and starlings in rural areas? For small game I would stick with a 22LR or 22MAG.

suburban squirrel hunting i suppose. i like the idea for that type of application.

When hunting game birds you can limit out head shooting quail. They font fly or get spooked from the noise of a gun shot. Ive killed lots of them this way. Turkeys too.

Good luck finding a limit, or even a couple of quail in PA, or anywhere else in the Mid Atlantic region. We used to have them in the woods where I grew up in suburban Maryland, in Adams County, PA where I started bird hunting, and even here in Jefferson County, WV where I live now, but they're very scarce now.

I suspect in some places, a feller might get strung up for ground-sluicing quail with an airgun, or anything else.

I think that term is a shotgun thing?

Hardly ground sluicing with a single shot air rifle. Further you pick out the males only. Far better management then wing shooting whatvever jumps in front of you

My feelings only, maybe why we still have tons of quail here. I see flocks of 40-50 all over my farm. I Never shoot hens

It's a little different hunting in the northeast compared to the west... The ground cover is much thicker and it is much harder to see birds especially until they flush. There also aren't the numbers of birds and small game that there is in the south and west. And since the coyotes moved in small game populations have plummeted... Used to have great cottontail hunting here in NH till the early 1990s...since then I've never even seen a cottontail killed on the road let a lone in the woods...

Have been hunting Pa. since 2003. I see more deer in an afternoon there than the ten years I hunted Maine/Vermont/New Hampshire. I find their game management practices MUCH better than the New England states. Since they put their doe management and three point buck rule in we see tons more bucks that we ever used to.

One can use a crossbow during the regular archery season without a disability permit and semi-autos are now legal for hunting...

Bob

If it's not in the printed regulations I certainly wouldn't take the word of someone over the phone.

If it's truly legal it's written somewhere.

I live in a rural neighborhood, with a small patch of woods here and there. There is enough room to stay in the legal shooting zone (at least 150 yds. from an occupied house or building). I still do not like discharging a firearm in everyone's back yard. I do a lot of bow hunting for rabbits and squirrels because of this. This air gun law is the ticket for such places. I'm a great fan, and I'm sure there are many like me, who have similar areas that are perfectly suited for air rifles. I like everyone else, use either my Marauder .22 or Marauder .25 to get rid of... well things that just have to go quietly. I got rid of the garbage can bandits, at 3:00 am, and the neighborhood slept.
sometimes you don't hear bang in the night. I hope the Game Commission look at some of the other states, and follow their criteria. We have management areas, bow hunting only for deer. It would be nice to be able to use one of the big bores in such areas. I think people get nervous when they hear a close shot. Kind of like I do on New Years Eve, when at midnight, gunshots are ringing out all over the place. I guess firing an air gun off at midnight would not have the same effect, But I'd feel better hearing nothing. Many a rabbit or squirrel has fallen to the old bb guns we all had. New springer's,pcp's, and even co2's have come a long way. Sunday hunting.....most all want it, but it may be a while. I believe we are only allowed to shoot crows and predators. I never saw much of a difference. Hunting is hunting. Allow it for everything. Just my opinion.

I hear next week doctors will be approved to use penicillin here. In another 50 years we might be able to hunt on Sunday!!

Texas just recently legalized air guns for regulated small game, but I guess our lawmakers don't know about the newer, more powerful models, and they do not address big game with air guns (hogs are not protected, so they are OK to shoot with anything).

Mike

Wow, finally?

Will there be mass advertisements on cheap Amish machine guns for sale?

Lived in that great state in 99-00 and was hoping for Sunday hunting then. Still not happening I see. Good luck with that folks. Maybe in 2050?

Geno

PS, folks I knew wouldn't shoot does then either, but they'd shoot a yearling button buck just so they could shave and say they got their buck. Folks is funny, eh?

Don't get too excited. The law just gave the Game Commission authority to change the rules. Semi's can be used for small game and coyotes, not big game. If inline muzzle loaders and crossbows are any indication, AR manufacturers will need to buy ads in the regulation book for several years, then they will be approved.

Our game commission is a big joke, I watched on the news on TV where so many people are against semi's for hunting. All they interviewed where nursing home ex hunters, they have opions but are like azzho!es everyone has one. I my self wouldn't use a semi for deer hunting but come on limit the magazine to 5 rounds. Now useing a air gun for small game, my 25 cal Benjamin marauder does squirrels and ground hogs like grease lighting.

The southern part of WV had them too at one time. Mercer, Monroe, and Greenbrier, but it's been years since I've seen or heard one.