Rifles allowed in three more counties!

[NYH1]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Hunters in three New York counties will be allowed to hunt deer with rifles under bills signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Sponsors note that in several areas of the state, sportsmen can already use rifles in addition to shotguns to hunt deer and bear during open hunting season.
They say the change for Wyoming, Cortland and part of Chautauqua County may help control deer populations, and rifles have good safety records in other counties.
Rifle bullets can travel farther than shotgun slugs.

[LanceR]

Madison County was made a permanent centerfire rifle county, too.  Normally the legislature passes the initial law (and sometimes a subsequent one) for 2-3 years to see how things work out and to lessen the resistance to the initial change.

Both the DEC Division of Public Safety and the NY State Police clearly state that there has never been an incident in a newly authorized centerfire area when there has been a safety issue that was aggravated by a centerfire rifle being involved versus what would have happened if it were a shotgun.  As long as we take care of our safety business I hope and expect that this will keep the  worries about safety to a reasonable level.

Good hunting

Lance

[NYH1]

Cortland County should have been one of the origanal Counties allowed to use rifles when they started allowing Southern Zone Counties to use them a few years ago.  Other then the City of Cortland, Cortland County is mostly farm land and woods.  It's less populated then some of the Counties in the Northern Zone, Cat Skills and previous Counties that were allowed to use rifles a few years back. 
 
Both my 11-87's, 12 and 20 ga. shoot good with their 21" fully rifled, cantilever scope mount barrels and Leupold VX-II 2-7x33mm Shotgun Scope's on them.  However, I hunt mostly in Cortland and Oswego Counties.  Some times in my home County, Onondaga, which rifles will never be allowed for deer hunting. 
 
Looks like my slug guns will be scarcely used now.  I love using my Marlin 336C 35 Rem., Winchester model 88 308 Win. and Remington model 700 Classic 280 Rem. instead of a slug gun.  I'm ecstatic that we can FINALLY use rifles in Cortland County. 
 
NYH1!               

[LanceR]

NYH1, where do you live?  Our farm is between Auburn and Skaneateles in Cayuga County.

Many years ago the shotgun was chosen for the primary deer hunting implement in most counties because the smooth bore gun and Forster style slug meant that darn few deer would be taken at more than 50 yards and the then small population would survive in breeding numbers.  It was NOT a safety call back at that time.

I will note that in 1905 the state deer harvest was well under 10,000.  Last year it was more than 220,000.  We sure don't need to worry too much about wiping the things out and I think we've done darn good at bringing them back.

I sit on both the state fish and wildlife management board and the conservation fund advisory board.  I was traveling back from a CFAB meeting in Albany this afternoon with the Region 8 rep and we were talking about the silliness over big game hunting implements.  There are no caliber restrictions on rifles for furbearer or  small game hunting nor are there any for non regulated species such as wild hogs or groundhogs.  You can hunt squirrels with a .50 BMG rifle.

We have used centerfire rifle cartridges in long barreled pistols for big game hunting for years.  A modern high pressure muzzleloader or sabot firing shotgun will outperform many centerfire loads.  If I decide to run a Barnes Original semi-spitzer 300 grain bullet up to a max charge in my Savage muzzleloader I can get it over 2400 FPS.  My 20 gauge slug gun throws a 273 grain Barnes tipped Expander at just under 2000 FPS.  So much for the "safety" argument. 

The whole deal is like watching somebody pole vault over a mouse turd.

Lance

[NYH1]

I'm in the Syracuse area. 
 
I'm a rifle guy through and through, always have been.  I can't wait to be able to use them for most of my deer hunting.  It'll be nice to be able to use a rifle while hog hunting during the southern zone gun season for deer.  Can't wait! 
 
NYH1!