Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ohio Rules

And therein lies my beef with fish&game dept.'s that rule in favor of shotguns/muzzle loaders only for deer in highly populated or flat country, such as the eastern half of Maryland. Such impressive performance as you describe Pappy overshadows Ye Olde .30-30 yet is considered "safer" than such. Said regulations were instituted by well meaning Natural Resource boffins a couple generations ago, and not altogether wrong in doing so. Little did they imagine the ingenuity of man when it comes to arms races- and now we see the results. Small wonder I do all my hunting in western Maryland where such regs don't exist.

Ohio did well to change up. I'm glad for all the folks out there who may now employ better weaponry. But I still wonder which is worse- a 400grain .45 caliber bullet crashing through my picture window, or a 150 grain .30 caliber? Seems kinda arbitrary and based on fake science, but I'm willing to listen to their reasoning.

Actually there was no science involved, and when science (of a sort) did get applied, the lighter bullet was judged as safe or safer. I discussed it here:

Shotgun vs. Rifle

Just be happy they are moving in the right direction.
Here in Indiana we had to go through baby steps until we got the nod for .243 cal and up cf's.
It was a slow process and they can only be used on private property but none the less we are finally here in the 21st century.
Just be patient yet persistent with your cf efforts and it will be rewarded.

As for felt recoil, shotgun vs. Rifle, we Ohioans have never had the opportunity to shoot the lighter kicking rifles, (other than squirrel hunting) so shotgun thump is what we know. We do not develop a flinch, because it's NORMAL for us. Changing over to the lighter kicking rifles, will seem odd. Any young teen here can handle a .20ga, and most prefer a .12ga.

ALL straight wall, or tapered wall, from .375 to .50 are now Ohio legal. No neckdown cartridges.

Correction for typo .357 to .50.

Pappy,

The 9.3 x 74 R would make a nice Ohio deer rifle but will not qualify since it has a definite shoulder. Ballistics are similar to a .405 Winchester (300 gr bullet @ 2200 vs 286 gr @ 2350) so recoil will also be similar in guns of the same weight as will the .45 70 w/300 gr. bullets.

My Ruger #1 .405 weighs 9 1/4 lbs w scope. Recoil isn't bad at all but it's definitely going to be used mostly as a stand rifle due to the weight. I would like to have a lighter rifle in a .375 Winchester for still hunting but I don't do much of that any more & I've got several slug guns with rifled bbls that work very well in that role so its mostly a "want" rather than a "need" on the .375 Winchester.

I have shot my .50 Knight @ 200 yds on paper w/ the Barnes 250 gr expander & 150 gr 777 & drop is about 8" from a zero of 2 1/2" high @ 100 yds . I don't feel comfortable with that combination past 150 yds. because of the difficulty of estimating range & holdover in actual hunting conditions.

I was one of the folks who worked/lobbied with the ODNR to expand the list of calibers. This was for a purely selfish reason. I want to use my drilling with the rifle tube chambered in 9.3x72R to hunt my land. Now I can.
I have taken a doe with another drilling using a 16 ga. slug. She took two leaps and dropped. Last season I used a Marlin in 444 and had to track a short 50 yards. Both were lung shots. Both rounds went through. I figure the 16ga left a bigger hole and thus the quicker drop.
All my hunting is on my land and shots are 50 yards or so. Never more as brush and trees make it impossible.
Previous years my hunting was always with a 12ga. slug gun.
The folks at ODNR are true professionals and a real pleasure to work with. For those of you in Ohio I encourage you to attend one of their open houses and get involved.

Mikev is talking about the 9.3 x 72 R which is straight walled & should qualify under the ODNR rules. I don't think the 9.3 x74 R will.

I've got an 1886 in .45-90 that would fit the bill. With a full charge and the Hornady monoflex MPBR is about 240y. Falls off the face of the earth after that though. Pleasant to shoot but heavy.

Normal soft points in a .405W would be the bees knees.

Oops!

I deleted my post to avoid confusion.

I picked the wrong cartridge.


Here's the right pic:



That looks like a decent choice.

An old Marlin 1894 carbine in 357 mag with Hornady's 140 gr FTX LEVERevolution would be nice.

Who needs a 450 anything to kill deer?

I do. Some of us can not afford a different rifle for every day of the month. The .450BUSHMASTER was designed from the get-go for ALL large game in North America, predator or prey. And with the AR platform, if and when I need a squirrel round or longer range, it's just a change of upper, (optics attached) and ready to go as a new rifle.

He didn't ask about the AR platform, he asked about the .450

I'm aware of that. It fit best with what I require, to conform to my state's laws, my needs large and small, and is adaptable as needed.

You're right about the shoulder; never looked closely before. I mentioned it because there are some bargain-priced Number 1s out there. There are also some .405 Ruger and Winchesters, a bit much under full steam, but that's why we handload.

Besides old Number 3s, EABCO will build one of their 97s in .375W, but they sure think highly of them these days! In one fell swoop, the price jumped way over my interest level. Encores and Contenders will handle it too but I just have a hard time with their looks and feel.

All this is academic for me as WV and VA are still solidly in the rifle camp, where I hunt anyway. My cousin has a great opportunity on some Ohio property, but he bought a Browning A-bolt slug gun.

It's amazing how fqukked up those northern states are. You can't use a 30/30 on deer but you can use a 50BMG for coyotes.

I can use ANY rifle or shotgun on squirrel, but can't use the same gun in the same woods for deer. True.
I asked ODNR. Why.
"Squirrel is not very popular any more, so very little chance of any shot hitting another hunter. But when deer-gun opens, EVERY guy who ever called himself a hunter, is in the woods with you. Much higher chance of an accident, so shorter range weapons are preferred."

I always figured it wasn't the weapon as much as the numbers. One guy with a 243 hunting coyotes it no big deal but 35,000 guys hunting with 243s on opening day might be an issue. Only thing that makes sense to me, otherwise I do not understand the laws point whatsoever.

Not to say anyone gave it any reasoning to begin with. Reasoning never stopped a lawmaker.

You could have just typed 'Yankees'