Air-powered guns, bows get a second look
Issues of lethality prompt TPW body to reconsider its unanimous approval
In an unprecedented move, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has delayed official publication certifying 2018-19 hunting and fishing regulations, including hunting season dates and other changes it unanimously adopted in March, until the group reconsiders a rule change making certain guns and bows powered by compressed gas legal to use in taking some game animals, game birds and alligators.
The nine-member commission plans to readdress its earlier decision to significantly expand legal use of air guns and air bows for hunting certain game species during the group’s next public meeting, scheduled for May 24 in Lubbock. The air gun/bow issue is the only provision of the wide-ranging 2018-19 Statewide Hunting and Fishing Proclamation that will be reopened for discussion, public comment and commission action, the agency said. More input sought
The Statewide Hunting and Fishing Proclamation, which sets season dates, bag and size limits, legal means and methods of taking fish and game, and other state regulations governing recreational hunting and fishing, is adopted annually by the TPW Commission. Its provisions take effect each Sept. 1, the start of the state’s fiscal year.
Although the commission had voted unanimously to adopt the proclamation, questions about the lethality of the airpowered guns and bows triggered a decision to delay publication of the proclamation in the Texas Register, the journal of state agency rule-making, until the issue could be re-examined, TPWD officials said.
“This is new and evolving technology, so we want to make certain any actions we take do not present undue risks of wounding of wildlife,” Ralph Duggins, TPW Commission chairman, said of the issue of expanding legal use of air guns and air bows. “I’ve asked staff to provide the Commission with additional information as well as to invite testimony from industry experts.
“I also want to give the public the opportunity for more input on this issue at our May public meeting. We appreciate everyone’s patience while we fully evaluate any action on the proposed rules,” Duggins said in an agency news release.
Recent development and marketing of “air bows,” which use compressed air to propel an arrow/crossbow bolt projectile, and “big-bore” air rifles, which use a burst of highly compressed air to propel a .30- to .50caliber bullet, have seen increased use of the devices by hunters.
Currently in Texas, squirrels are the only game animal that legally can be taken by an airpropelled projectile. But big-bore air rifles are legal in Texas for taking nongame animals such as feral hogs and are used for that purpose.
About a dozen states have adopted rules allowing use of air guns or air bows — so-called “pre-charged pneumatic” devices — for hunting some game animals and birds, with about 10 of them allowing their use when hunting large game such as deer. Florida is the latest state to legalize air rifles of .30 caliber of larger for deer and .20 caliber or more for turkey. Few hunters impacted
The move to legalize air guns and air bows in Texas stemmed from a petition for rule-making that air-gun manufacturer Crosman Corp. filed last year with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
TPWD wildlife division staff researched the issue and recommended legalizing use of the air-powered rifles and bows with requirements that would ensure the air-powered bows and rifles meet minimum effectiveness standards.
Under the staff proposal, which the TPW Commission approved at its March meeting, air rifles used to hunt alligators, deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, javelina and furbearers would be required to fire a bullet of at least .30 caliber, and those of .177 caliber of larger would be legal to take squirrel, quail, pheasant and chachalaca. The arrow or bolt used in airpowered “bows” would have to meet the same requirement that currently applies to archery gear used in bowhunting. Air bows and air guns would be legal to use only during general hunting seasons in which firearms were allowed; air bows would not be allowed during archery-only hunting seasons.
Those are only slightly more restrictive than Texas’ current liberal minimum for archery and firearms used for hunting deer and similar-size game. Under current Texas regulations, the only requirements for archery hunting with a longbow, recurve or compound bow is that the arrow used cannot be treated with a poison, drug or explosive device and must have a fixed or mechanical broadhead at least seven-eighths of an inch wide. The only restriction on firearms for use in hunting deer, alligators, pronghorn and bighorn sheep is that rimfire ammunition is prohibited; any centerfire rifle or shotgun is legal and there is no minimum caliber or shot size mandated.
Only a relative few of Texas’ million-plus hunters could be expected to take advantage of the opportunity to use air guns or air bows. The air-powered bows and big-bore air rifles are not an inexpensive alternative to “regular” bows, crossbows or firearms. They typically cost more than $800, with many models costing more than $1,000.
Also, the effective range of air bows is similar to crossbows, and the bigbore air rifles are similar in effective range to modern muzzle-loading firearms.
That effectiveness — or questions about their effectiveness — appears to be the issue giving TPW Commission members second thoughts about their earlier decision to legalize the devices. Muzzle velocity at issue
While big-bore air guns have been used to take game animals as large as bison and have been demonstrated to be effective on white-tailed deer when used within the gun’s limited range, the airpowered guns do not produce anywhere near the muzzle velocity or muzzle energy of firearms commonly used by hunters targeting deer and similar-size game.
That ballistic difference is stark.
A 130-grain bullet fired from a modern .270-caliber firearm, a very common combination used by Texas deer hunters, has a muzzle velocity of just over 3,000 feet per second and generates 2,700 foot/ pounds of muzzle energy.
The 145-grain bullet fired by a .357-caliber air gun exits the barrel at 800 feet per second with muzzle energy of 200 foot/ pounds. Even the largestcaliber air rifles — those propelling a .45-caliber bullet weighing 340 grains — muster only 1,000 fps muzzle velocity and 550 foot/pounds of energy.
Is that enough to be reliably effective, producing a quick, clean kill with minimal chances of wounding?
Proponents of the bigbore air guns say it certainly is if the hunter stays within the gun’s limited effective range, similar to that of muzzleloading firearms. And they point to these airpowered bows and guns effectiveness at taking feral hogs, quarry that are as large or larger than deer.
It is obvious by the TPW Commission’s unprecedented move of holding up official publication of the annual statewide hunting and fishing proclamation until it reconsiders its earlier approval of the change in air gun/bow rules that at least some commissioners aren’t convinced.