Slug / rifle zone

[emptymag]

Anyone care if they get rid of the slug zone?

I’m torn. Most people by me will be shooting across property lines with rifles I feel.

Deer drives with ar style rifles could be a riot and /or dangerous as shiot

I’m in south central MN mostly flat ag country

[maplelakeduckslayer]

I'm fully against it in bluff country se mn. There's enough fugging drunk idiots with shotguns shooting off ridge tops and having their slugs go way further than they realize

[snowsnblues]

Really don't matter to me. I don't hunt shotgun area anymore, but when I did I never felt at a disadvantage with my Savage 220. I personally would rather shoot deer close than far.

[Drunk_Dynasty]

I'm somewhat indifferent. I think straight-walled cartridges would be a nice compromise.

[Fish Felon]

There are guys already shooting rifle calibers in the slug zone....since you can shoot whatever as long as the barrel is less than 16" and the overall length is less than 26." The DNR will tell you straight up that AR's are legal as long as they don't have a stock you can shoulder.

Hunters accidentally hitting stuff beyond what they're aiming at hasn't been an issue....it's not like there's routine numerous cases of guys shooting occupied dwellings or people. In the rare few instances it happens it's either a random freak occurrence when a bunch of variables line up in powerball like odds in the bad sense, or the person shooting the gun is a total idiot....no amount of regulations will ever stop either from happening. It'll always be an extremely rare and very unfortunate byproduct of hunting.

I personally think that if you're worried about safety making rifles legal is the better option than a bunch of dudes walking around with those same calibers being shot from a handgun. If shit starts happening then readjust the regs accordingly and make it a pure shotgun slug zone then. I don't see it as being a problem, and with the Southeast having the highest deer density and most liberal hunts and bag limits for deer due to the DNR's gay CWD crap.....if the goal is to kill more deer I see it being effective that way....in killing a lot more does. Big bucks aren't going to be wandering out in open fields in the middle of the day during gun season regardless of whether it's slug only or high power zone.

[Quack]

Seems like most people here agree that the general public is a bunch of unskilled idiots so that is my concern-

My family tends to be sitting in a duckblind, on a point, on a lake surrounded by woods, during deer season. We can easily see deer hunters in tree stands around the lake. Sure, the odds of getting shot are slim but the consequences would be catastrophic.

I would like to use a rifle though.

[Fish Felon]

It's years of built up irrational fear stemming from wive's tales based on nothing that rifles are dangerous in open areas. I actually think they're less dangerous in open areas and make more sense there than in the woods....it's a lot easier to avoid hitting a house when it's unobstructed in plain sight. Plus, how does it make sense for guys to use rifles in the woods when most shots are 50yds or less...95% Probably under 100yds....and not let guys use rifles in the open country where they could legitimately use them like done on other plains to shoot 300-400-500ydz??

Guys in the woods are probably more likely to take a dangerous shot uphill because they can't see more than a hundred yards....despite there being plenty enough space between trees where if you get unlucky? It's definitely possible to thread the needle.

The red river valley is the flattest most open area in the state.....the whole NW Ag region used to be slug only and part of what used to be Zone 4. They put it into Zone 2 and allowed rifles despite the same exact concerns being aired as right now, and how'd it shake out?

In what? Ten, probably fifteen years now....the only hunting accident I remember hearing about in that part of the state was the Felon poaching on White Earth who shot a dude supposedly aiming and missing a deer silhouetted by blue sky standing at the top of a hill. That one doesn't really count since it was on the rez and had it still been a slug area (if it ever was) I'm guessing the dude would've been shooting a rifle anyways. Ultimately the only thing it proves is that it's impossible to legislate stupid people from doing stupid stuff....no amount of laws is going to prevent an idiot from doing something stupid and getting their name in the paper every so often.

Other than that....I don't remember a single accident from the NW Ag region going from Shotgun to Rifle. I'm guessing a few have happened...probably to a lesser amount than how many occurred in Zone 1 and the traditional Zone 2.

I'm all for expanding what people are allowed to do....especially when it comes to what firearms they get to use. There's Zero reason to justify not allowing rifles in the Ag region of the state....a bunch of fear mongering over what might happen that we've already witnessed won't happen....and a bunch of anti-gun, anti-everything liberal lawmakers and bureaucrats aren't valid justification for not letting guys use deer rifles to hunt deer. The Dakotas, most of out West, hell...look at a lot of the areas of Alaska hunted for big game....Wide Open. How is it in all these wide open places where guys are hunting big game with rifles it isn't an issue? Don't shoot at deer if you're uncertain what's behind it. It's really not very hard. How often do deer present a shot when standing at the top of hills? Not very often.

I mean....dudes doing deer drives with guys posting are literally voluntarily creating a crossfire scenario where they're shooting in the direction of each other as their hunting plan of attack. If that fairly common practice doesn't kill a shitload of people annually then why wouldn't we give hunters the benefit of the doubt for not being completely reckless degenerates and let them shoot rifles statewide?

In the era of the nanny state nanny'in us more and more....it's always nice to see something go against that for a change that allows guys expanded liberties.

[emptymag]

I don’t really care either way but, I do want to shoot a deer with a rifle in this state and not go “up north”.