Slug Zone for deer season only?

[Konaseven]

For deer season there is a definite demarcation line on the maps for the slug zone while deer hunting. Why is this zone in effect for deer hunting and not for other types of hunting as well? Let's say Turkey season for example, I can find no Legal Cartridges for Turkey season as there is for Legal Big Game Cartidges.
Coyote and fox with a slug would be strange.
So is it the large numbers of firearms during deer season the reason for the theoretical limiting of range via the slug zone rule?

[DeanC]

You can't use any cartridges for turkey, only shotshells with #4 shot or smaller.

[BRIT_in_the_weeds]

I think it's a lethal range deal. Southern portion of the state having a higher population density.
But who am I...............
1/9

[Konaseven]

You can't use any cartridges for turkey, only shotshells with #4 shot or smaller.

Hmmm I can't seem to find that for turkeys. (Page?) Is that a MN rule? I can find non-toxic shot rules for Turkeys in certain areas if using shot.

ETA: A shotshell is not a cartridge?

Legal Big Game Rifle Cartridges
# 700 Nitro Express
# 10 gauge Shotgun slug
# 12 gauge shotgun slug
# 16 gauge Shotgun slug
# 20 gauge Shotgun slug
# .410 gauge Shotgun slug

[Konaseven]

I think it's a lethal range deal. Southern portion of the state having a higher population density.
But who am I...............
1/9

Well sure. But is the range only lethal during deer season?
.243 shoots pretty far on coyote in the same zone.
(I'm trying to find an online article that tested slugs vs. rifles in medium dense wooded land and the slugs traveled through the forage farther than the rifle bullets. Which tended to fragment when hitting branches.)
And the folks from SoDak wonder why we ruin our turkey meat with shot when a rifle is so much better.

[BRIT_in_the_weeds]

They laugh each pheasant season too.

[Konaseven]

I did find a reference that said when,

A person hunting for coyote or fox from Jan. 1 to March 15 may use
an artificial handheld light under the following conditions:
• While on foot and not within a public right of way
• Using a shotgun
• Using a calling device
• Not within 200 feet of vehicle

So a shotgun must be used if you want to use a handheld light. Interesting.

Trying to decipher these DNR rules and the related state statutes is crazy. They contradict and append themselves in so many places.

ex. How many deer can you harvest with an all season deer license? heh heh It depends. (on a great many things)

All-Season Deer License
• Depending on deer area, up to three deer may be taken with this
license.
• The license comes with an either-sex/buck tag and two antlerless
only tags. Use of the tags is dependent on the bag limit for the deer
area being hunted.
• One tag is either-sex under the following conditions (otherwise it is
buck only):
- Statewide during the archery season.
- In managed or intensive areas during the firearm and muzzleloader
season.
- In lottery areas during the firearm or muzzleloader season only
if the hunter was successful in the either-sex lottery.
• Antlerless tag options:
- Only one tag total may be used in lottery deer areas during the
archery, firearm, or muzzleloader season. It can be used during
the firearm or muzzleloader season only if the hunter was successful
in the either-sex lottery.
- Up to two antlerless tags total may be used in managed deer
areas during any open season.
- Up to two antlerless tags may be used in intensive deer areas
during any open season.

Here it seems clear however:

1. Bag Limits – All-season hunters will have the same bag limit regulations
as all other deer hunters. The total bag limits are lottery areas – 1,
managed areas – 2, intensive areas – 5. These bag limits are per year, not per
season. Functionally, if an all-season hunter takes a deer in the archery season
in a lottery area, they cannot take another deer in any lottery areas for the rest
of the year.
2. Lottery Applications –This year, all-season license holders who hunt in
lottery areas during either the firearm or muzzleloader season must apply for
an either-sex permit by September 6, 2007. Successful applicants can use the
permit to take an antlerless deer during any of the open seasons. Unsuccessful
applicants and people who purchase their license after the application deadline
will be restricted to bucks only during the firearm and muzzleloader seasons
within lottery areas. This regulation should have the effect of decreasing the
number of antlerless deer that are taken during the muzzleloader season,which
should lead to increases in deer populations. If the regulation does not have
the desired effect, bucks-only regulations may be implemented in 2008. Allseason
hunters can still take an antlerless deer during the archery season without
applying; however, the bag limit is still one deer per year in those areas.

[DeanC]

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/turkey/fallhunt2007.html
Legal methods - Shotguns, including muzzle-loading shotguns using No. 4 or smaller diameter fine shot, or legal bow and arrow.

The detailed turkey regs aren't usually spelled out in detail in the big hunting regulation book. If you are successful in the tag lottery, they send you a booklet with the specific turkey regs.

Successful applicants in the drawing will be mailed the 2007 Fall Wild Turkey Hunt Book and landowner list as their winning notification.

If I would have said you can't use rifle cartridges, you would have said "What about pistol cartridges?"

[Konaseven]

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/turkey/fallhunt2007.html
Legal methods - Shotguns, including muzzle-loading shotguns using No. 4 or smaller diameter fine shot, or legal bow and arrow.

The detailed turkey regs aren't usually spelled out in detail in the big hunting regulation book. If you are successful in the tag lottery, they send you a booklet with the specific turkey regs.

Successful applicants in the drawing will be mailed the 2007 Fall Wild Turkey Hunt Book and landowner list as their winning notification.

If I would have said you can't use rifle cartridges, you would have said "What about pistol cartridges?"

Bingo! Thanks for that link Dean! I will dig out my pamphlet I got with my lottery stuff. I'm am now confident I will find it there also.

Ha ha! Well not in this case, but you make a good point.

It must be the large number of firearms involved with the deer season (vs. varmint hunting with rifles now) that provided the impetus for the slug zone. Were there documented cases of long range bullets causing damage?

Also, has anyone seen that article on rifle bullets vs. slugs penetrating a stand of trees?
I did find a similar article when Googling by Chuck Hawks, but that is different than what I remember. Not sure how to take info from that site yet.

[1911fan]

It also has to do with how people tend to hunt. Its often hard to find a suitable tree for a deer stand in slug zones. Quite often it is a flush and shoot scenario on many farms. You and the neighbors get together and walk thru the high grass, the ditches and the windrows and then its just shoot as they break cover. Almost like quail hunting for big game.


Shooting horizontally dramatically increases the likelyhood of a "flyer" or wild shot taking off for who knows where. Tree stand hunting is much more likely to have a wild shot just hit the dirt in the near vicinity of the animal. Population density has some to do with it as well, as does densities of deer.

Now while coyote hunting allows a rifle, the numbers of hunters working coyotes is much smaller, and they tend to be a little more "gunny" orientated than the joe six pack deer hunter who never hunts except for that first weekend in November.

[Dick Unger]

The DNR is reportedly considering allowing rifles in the South if used from tree stand, to increase the number of hunters. Actually, the ballistics on something like a 12 ga Partition Gold slug are about like the 45-70. There was a case by Benson about 10 years ago where a stray slug went about 520 yards, thru a closed car window and broke a guy's jaw. I was never able to find out what kind of slug it was. The shooter was in the bottom of a drainage ditch shooting at a deer running up the side.

I don't think the safety concern is valid. In fact, the slugs go much farther than most shooters realize, they are just lose accuracy. People don't think about the background with slugs as they do with rifles. So slugs may be MORE dangerous. We have blackpowder rifles, and there has been no safety problem, even though they can shoot over the horizon as well. People shoot 30.06 Thompson "pistols", no problems. With anything, don't shoot without knowing the background. Just basic gun safety.

There were no deer in the slug zone until after WWII. The conventional wisdom from returning servicemen was that a rifle would go "5 miles". Since at that time there were 3 or 4 families per sq. mile of farm land, and few people in farm country had rifle experience except for what the army told them, they never allowed rifles for deer. Slugs were shot without sights, at close range, lots of banging. It used to sound like a war zone in the Minnesota valley on the one "slug day". Everyone walked and drove deer all day and emptied their bird gun at anything they saw. Now we get lots more deer and you only hear a few shots, usually from trees stands, because slug guns now have sights on them and people actually "hunt" the deer.

I'd really like to see rifles legalized. They work better and are lots more fun. People who are used to rifles often will not slug hunt. The DNR wants to increase the number of hunters,and this would do it. The DNR asks for suggestions occasionally. If enough people suggest it, it could happen. We could even do a special "service rifle" week, similar to the blackpowder thing.