High-powered rifle bill triggers opposition

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has signed into law a bill that critics say will endanger hunters and suburbanites, and possibly cut too deeply into the state's deer herd.

When deer firearms season opens for two weeks in November, hunters for the first time will be allowed to use high-powered rifles when hunting on privately owned property. Historically most Indiana deer hunters have used shotguns since the only other types of allowable long arms were muzzle loaders or rifles that fire handgun-caliber bullets.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources last year considered making the change but decided against it after hearing heavy opposition from the public, including many hunters.

“We now have the legislature micromanaging the DNR and wildlife management and hunting methods,” said Doug Allman, spokesman for the Indiana Deer Hunters Association. “What’s next, fishing lures?”

Allman said today’s high-powered rifles can hit a deer from a half-mile away, “and if you miss, that bullet is still going.” That situation becomes increasingly dangerous as land development pushes hunters closer to highly populated suburbs.

“Rifles are allowed to be used for some animals in this state but you don’t have 250,000 hunters out there on opening weekend (of deer firearms season) shooting, sometimes at running animals,” Allman said.

South Bend deer hunter Dave Holcomb said he doesn’t like the new law and will continue using his muzzle loader or .44-caliber revolver this fall. He also has concerns about safety since Indiana has such flat terrain and high-powered rifles can shoot further distances. But he’s more worried that hunters, able to hit more deer from further away, will reduce the deer population too much.

Holcomb, 28, said he’s been hunting deer since he was 8, and last year was the first year ever that he didn’t kill a deer in either firearm or archery season. His father hasn’t gotten a buck for eight years.

“The whole idea of high-powered rifles seems asinine to a lot of guys,” Holcomb said. “I don’t see why they feel this is a necessary change.”

Holcomb’s perception that he’s seeing fewer deer would seem to be supported by the DNR’s annual deer harvest statistics. In 2014 hunters killed 120,073 deer, down 12 percent from the 136,248 bagged in 2012. In St. Joseph County the decline was even larger during that time, dropping 18 percent, from 1,415 to 1,155.

But the bill’s author, Rep. Lloyd Arnold, R-Leavenworth, said he isn’t worried about safety or overly reducing deer herds.

“We aren’t increasing the season, we aren’t increasing the deer count you can take,” Arnold said. “There are only five new calibers you can use (the .243, .30-.30, .300, .30-06 and .308), and we already have muzzle loaders that can shoot over 300 to 400 yards. I can use every one of those guns 365 days a year for any other species besides deer. Why do we have that restriction? It doesn’t make sense.”

Arnold noted that the bill directs the DNR to study effects of the change in 2020, and he vowed to reverse it if critics' fears are realized.

Of the 43 states with reportable whitetail deer harvests, Indiana had been one of nine that didn’t allow high-power rifles, said Dan Schmidt, editor-in-chief of Iola, Wis.-based Deer & Deer Hunting, the world’s oldest and largest deer hunting magazine. Indiana formerly joined Iowa, Illinois and Ohio in banning high-powered rifles because of flat topography. Five others have it because of their higher population density — Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Delaware. Michigan allows high-powered rifles for deer only in the northern part of the state, which has more hills.

Schmidt said he doesn’t expect more injuries and significantly more deer taken under the new law because that hasn’t happened in states that have made the change. His native Wisconsin formerly was divided, like Michigan, but two years ago started allowing high-powered rifles statewide and have seen no increase in accidents, Schmidt said.

Pence also angered hunting and conservation groups this week when he signed a bill that formally legalizes the existing practice of hunting deer in preserves that are enclosed by 8-foot fences, derided as “canned hunting” by critics.

The DNR had tried for 10 years to ban the preserves but lost a court case in February, paving the way for the legislation.